The 2022 saltwater salmon season opened up off Sekiu in Marine Area 5 last week with excellent fishing for the smaller, year-round resident blackmouth chinook before the wind switched directions midweek. Forecasts call for a more southerly wind this weekend, rather than those rough spring easterlies that can rile up the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Former fisheries biologist and lure manufacturer Ward Norden of Quilcene ventured out west to sell his wares at Sekiu last Friday.
He believes the introductory catches bode well for summer salmon success, provided anglers are fast enough to get out on the water.
“The chinook fishing is spectacular with success rates up to two [fish per angler],” Norden said. “This is the first sign that my prognostication from three months ago that chinook numbers being way up may be on target. The next sign will be spring chinook numbers climbing the ladders at Bonneville and Willamette Falls, which likely won’t get serious until water temps in both rivers get to about 50 degrees. That is likely to be a month away.
“Brandon [Mason of Mason’s Resort] and I agreed that such good chinook fishing will mean a very short chinook season this summer. Good fishing is bad news for sport fishers since summer quotas will be filled quickly.”
Norden thinks the summer fisheries could be limited by good fishing with anglers possibly getting a week and change fishing for kings in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) and off Sekiu.
“Sadly, dynamic scoring of fish population only goes one way for sports anglers, the ones who pay the bills,” Norden said.
Puget Sound Anglers meeting
The North Olympic Peninsula chapter of Puget Sound Anglers is back to holding its monthly meetings in person after a two-year layoff.
Expert halibut angler and charter operator John Beath will present Halibut Fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Wednesday’s meeting at the Sequim Elks Lodge, 143 Port Williams Road. The meeting is open to the public and will begin at 6:30 p.m. to gather and swap fish tales before the meeting itself begins at 7 p.m.
Regarding COVID-19 precautions, the club said it follow the county mandate at the time.
North of Falcon meeting
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife released preseason salmon forecasts as the North of Falcon season setting process heats up.
Off the coast, coho returns are expected to be up significantly over 2021’s forecast. An estimated 454,693 fish are expected to return to coastal areas, up more than 200,000 from last year’s forecast of 241,800 coho. The biggest increases are expected in Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay, but returns to many coastal rivers are also expected to improve over 2021.
Coho returns to Puget Sound and surrounding rivers are forecast to be up overall in 2022 over the previous year, at 666,648 wild and hatchery coho. The forecast called for about 615,000 fish in 2021.
Fish and Wildlife said that continued low returns to some areas — including the Snohomish River, Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca — are expected to impact fisheries in the region. North Sound stocks look slightly more positive, including returns to the Nooksack and Skagit rivers.
Puget Sound chinook are also expected to be up slightly in 2022, reversing a downward trend from recent years. An estimated 250,440 chinook are expected to return to the Puget Sound region, about 19,000 more than last year’s prediction.
To hear discussion of these forecasts, the traditional Sequim North of Falcon meeting is still virtual this year, and will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday. To register for the Zoom meeting, visit https://tinyurl.com/PDN-NOFSequim.
