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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Coastal Razor Clams This weekend is the last chance for razor clam aficionados to dig a limit of clams during the current spring season, according to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife clam manager Dan Ayres in the agency’s Montesano office, and there likely won’t be another until some time in October. Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks are all open Saturday, but it drops to only two - Long Beach and Twin Harbors - on Sunday. Tides are as follows: May 9, minus 1.2 feet at 7:23 a.m., and May 10, minus 1.2 feet at 8:02 a.m. Ayres said the weather forecast looks okay, and swells are subsiding from a couple of days of bad weather, so he’s looking for a pretty good opening. Average clam size right now is excellent he said, on most beaches, but the area north of Grayland has been producing particularly large clams. “You may not find quite as many clams there as on some of the other beaches,” Ayres said, “but the area has been putting out some really nice limits.”   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, May 7, 2009 Fishermen come out in droves By Wayne Kruse Special to The Herald The wind wasn't too bad and rain was negligible Saturday morning on local saltwater, but nevertheless it was the perfect storm. Shrimp season opening. First weekend of lingcod fishing. Opening day of boating season. And did it bring folks out of the woodwork? You must be joking. I haven't seen the parking lot at the Port of Everett ramp that full since humpy season two years ago. Blacktop parking was completely gone, and folks were leaving their rigs in the weeds and gravel of the overflow areas. Out on the water, Hat Island, the racetrack and Camano Head were wall-to-wall pot buoys. So were both sides of Saratoga Passage, at all the better-known spots. In Port Susan, where TJ Nelson and I set our gear in 250 to 280 feet of water, it was difficult to find a patch of bottom bare enough of buoys to support our pots. We did okay, however, averaging maybe 15 or 16 nice spot shrimp per pot, per two hours of soak, which was pretty close to the state Fish and Wildlife Department's checks in the area. "With the better tides for the opener this year I expected participation to be up, but I was surprised at how drastically it went up in some areas," said state biologist Mark O'Toole. "It had seemed to me that fishing effort in most areas had kind of leveled off over the past couple of years, but I guess not, after what we saw Saturday." O'Toole said effort was up particularly in the San Juan Islands, where a survey on last year's opener counted 92 boats, and this year 258 boats. Average number of pots per boat was a little over three, and the catch rate was much better than last year at 59.1 prawns per pot day compared to 35.1 in 2008. Iceberg Point, where the catch rate was checked at 64.4, was again the most popular and productive spot. In marine areas 8-1 and 8-2 (Everett, Port Susan and Saratoga passage), effort was also up. The state counted 1,183 buoys Saturday, compared to 858 last year, and catch rates were also higher -- 58.6 prawns per pot day compared to 48.7 in 2008. Those numbers could be a mixed blessing, according to O'Toole. "Area 8 was open four days last year, but that will probably be cut to three days this year," he said. Since the area is open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, that could mean this Saturday will be the last day of recreational shrimping in local saltwater. Areas 9 and 10 (Admiralty Inlet to Seattle and Bainbridge Island, including Elliott Bay) closed late yesterday, after only two fishing days. That's the same number of days this year as last in Area 9, but a day less in Area 10. Checks around Edmonds showed effort about the same as last year -- 587 buoys vs. 563 in 2008 -- but a better catch rate at 61.4 prawns per pot day compared to 48.9 last year. As usual, O'Toole said, this area had the smallest shrimp outside Hood Canal, averaging 13.2 to the pound. Hood Canal seems to be about the only inland water where shrimp fishing effort is slowly decreasing each year, according to O'Toole, and this opener was no different. Some 1,358 boats were counted on the Canal this year, compared to 1,467 in 2008, but the catch rate -- at 61.6 prawns per pot day -- was about the same. Halibut The opening week patterns continued for halibut fishermen -- good fishing by the numbers to the north and on the east-Strait banks; slower but with a scattering of really big fish in Admiralty Inlet and along the south shore of the Strait. Jumbo-of-the-week was a truly barn-door specimen of 224 pounds, caught two miles west of Point Wilson, according to the Kitsap Sun, by Ray Frederick of Silverdale. Frederick was fishing in the Kitsap Poggie Club's annual halibut derby and, needless to say, won the $440 first prize. The big flatfish measured six feet, eight inches in length. Anthon Steen at Holiday Sports in Burlington said halibut fishing has been good in northern waters, particularly on Partridge, Eastern and Hein banks, and only a step behind on Middle and McArthur banks and Mutiny and Admiralty bays. Steen said a setup becoming more popular each season for halibut is a large glow-green squid skirt, with a purple label herring inside, fished behind a spreader bar. Lingcod fishing has also been good in the islands since the May 1 opener, Steen said. There is a lot of ling habitat in the San Juans, but Steen said good reports have been coming from the east side of Cattle Pass and McArthur Bank, among other spots. State checks at Cornet Bay on Saturday, 160 fishermen with 22 rockfish, 38 lings and 8 halibut; on Sunday, 123 fishermen with 12 rockfish, 20 lings and 8 halibut; and at Washington Park (Anacortes) on Saturday, 113 fishermen with 38 rockfish, 42 lings and 3 halibut. Out on the Strait, 117 fishermen at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles were checked by state personnel Saturday with 35 halibut, and on Sunday, 155 fishermen with 32 halibut. Honor Congratulations to All Star Charters of Everett and owner/skipper Gary Krein for being named the best fishing charter in Western Washington by KING TV 5's Evening Magazine show in its annual "Best of Western Washington" contest. The results of viewer voting were announced Monday evening and are on the show's Web site, with a link on Krein's site, www.allstarfishing.com. More charters/guides Joe Heinlen's Web site is now up and running, at lakechelanadventures.com. Heinlen, a longtime Lake Chelan/upper Columbia River guide for Anton Jones, has struck out on his own and solicits public comment on his new site. He will continue to fish Mackinaw and chinook in Lake Chelan, and big triploid rainbow in Rufus Woods Reservoir. Local Snohomish River system guide John Thomas (Rotten Chum Guide Service) is offering a special deal on humpy trips this summer, Aug. 16 through mid-September, with the guarantee that if your boat on a half-day trip does not hook a fish, you don't pay. Limits are the norm and the limit this year is four pinks per person, and Thomas also runs chinook and steelhead trips. For more info and prices, go to www.rottenchumguideservice.com, e-mail lamiglas@hotmail.com, or call 425-280-5494. Upper Columbia guide and Brewster resident Rod Hammons (R&R Guide Service) said the forecast is for low, warm water in the Okanogan River this summer, which means chinook coming up the Columbia will stop below the Okanogan, in the Brewster area, and should offer good fishing for an extended period of time. Hammons said his open salmon dates are going fast. E-mail him at randr@swift-stream.com, or phone 509-689-2849. Other good stuff The spring chinook return to the Cowlitz so far is one of the strongest in the past 20 years, and anglers on the lower river are taking fish. Summer steelhead have shown up, as well. Spring chinook effort on the Columbia above Bonneville Dam has increased, and the catch has also picked up. Checks at Drano Lake showed one salmon for every 7 rods, for both boat fishermen in the lake proper, and bank anglers at the bank-only area between the bridges. At the mouth of the Wind River, the boat catch average over the weekend was one for about every six rods. The size of the much-touted springer run on the Columbia, by the way, is still very much in limbo. Counts over Bonneville through May 3 totaled 38,396 fish, compared to 51,667 last year at this point and to the 10-year average of 107,389. Washington and Oregon salmon managers will probably have a run update by next week some time, according to state spokesman Joe Hymer in Vancouver. The perception that commercial fishermen took their quota right off the top and got 100 percent, while sportsmen are being shut down without reaching theirs, is wrong, Hymer said. Commercials got 60-some percent of the spring chinook they were expected to take, while "sporties" are at 80-some percent, Hymer said. Reader Jack Hanson of Bellingham said smallmouth fishermen are doing well on Lake Whatcom, but that the lake's kokanee haven't shown up yet. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. 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