OLYMPIA — Crabbers, start your pots.
Much of the Strait of Juan de Fuca will be opened to crabbing beginning Saturday, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week.
The late-season crab openings were approved by fishery managers after summer catch assessments by WDFW indicated additional crab are available for harvest, said shellfish manager Don Velasquez.
Brian Menkal with Brian’s Sporting Goods in Sequim said there’s no real “honey hole” of hot crabbing spots, but that if people have had success in a spot in the past, they should keep exploring it and areas in the general vicinity, as crabs do like to migrate.
One thing to keep an eye out for is if crabbers see a bunch of weather buoys in a compact area, that might mean there’s a lot of crabs being caught right in that spot.
Areas opening to sport crabbing Saturday include marine areas 4 (Neah Bay, east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca from Low Point east to Partridge Point), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardiner), and 9 (Admiralty Inlet), except for waters south of a line from Olele Point to Foulweather Bluff.
In each of these areas, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Dec. 31.
Sport crabbing will be closed in marine areas 10 (Seattle and Bremerton), 11 (Vashon Island), 12 (Hood Canal), 13 (South Puget Sound), and in the remainder of Marine Area 9.
You can find maps and descriptions of Marine Area 9 at https://tinyurl.com/Marine-maps.
The daily catch limit in Puget Sound is five dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6¼ inches. In addition, crabbers may catch six red rock crab of either sex per day, provided those crab measure at least 5 inches across. Additional information is at https:// wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/.
All dungeness crab caught in the late-season fishery must be recorded immediately on winter catch cards, which are valid through Dec. 31. Winter cards are free to those with crab endorsements and are available at license vendors across the state.
Winter crab catch reports are due to WDFW by Feb. 1, 2019. For more information on catch record cards, visit WDFW’s website at https://tinyurl.com/crab-cards.
Kids fishing day to return
The long-awaited Kids Fishing Day event at Carrie Blake Park Reclamation Pond, canceled in May due to adverse water conditions, is going to be a fall fishing opportunity for kids 14 years and younger.
“We decided to plant trout in the Carrie Blake Park Reclamation Pond this fall to provide fishing opportunities throughout the fall and winter rather than have a one-day event like we have been holding,” said Bob Keck, Puget Sound Anglers-North Olympic Peninsula chapter president. “Trout are cold water fish and we are hoping that this fall plant will make for a longer fishing season for the local kids since the pond really gets too warm in the summer months to sustain the fish.”
Seven hundred trout were planted beginning Wednesday will be continually planted periodically over the next few months.
This will utilize the fish that had been raised for the canceled May 2018 event. The Hurd Creek Hatchery has already received the 2019 fish. The annual Kids Fishing Day, hosted and coordinated by Puget Sound Anglers, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the City of Sequim, will be moved up one month to April 2019 (exact date to be determined) to avoid the ongoing problem of high water temperatures.
The trout being planted are nice sized and each youth can take two per day. They need to keep the first two fish caught as catch and release or sorting is not permitted. Kids 14 years and under do not need a fishing license.
The Sequim RC Aquanauts sailboat club has the use of the pond from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays.
If people go to the pond at the sailboats are not there, they are advised that they can go ahead and fish. If the boats are there, people are asked to honor the sailors’ time slot.
Salmon biting out west
Menkal also said that there are lots of salmon, both coho and chinook, biting in the rivers in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula in the Sol Duc, Hoh, Quillayute and Bogachiel rivers.
“This is an excellent time for river fishing,” he said.
Menkal said he is offering two salmon and steelhead fishing classes from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 and 16. The cost is $40. For more information, call 360-683-1950.
