They call it the “Iron Man Derby,” because of its exposed location and the often-lousy weather conditions in late February. The Olympic Peninsula salmon Derby can be a witch indeed, and last year’s event was a perfect example, with gale warnings flying, waves crashing, and fishermen thrashing. Wind gusts were pushing 40 to 50 mph and pummeling derby participants mercilessly.
The 2014 event drew 600 participants and many — obviously the more intelligent ones — didn’t even bother to put a boat in the water. The deluded souls who did go out, however, managed to scratch up 171 hatchery chinook, and no one had to call the Coast Guard.
You didn’t need brass, let alone iron, to fish the 2015 derby last Friday-Saturday-Sunday, because beautiful weather and flat water prevailed all three days. That and good fishing reports brought out 860 entrants, according to derby chairman Dan Tatum, the best ticket sales since 2003.
And the crowd found fish. Some 292 hatchery winter blackmouth over 6 pounds were submitted, which is an all-time derby record, Tatum said, handily beating the previous 249-fish mark.
For the second year in a row, mainland anglers showed the Kitsap Peninsula regulars how the boar went through the buckwheat, when Mount Vernon resident Jerry Thomas (who also won the 2013 event) walked away with the $10,000 first-place prize for his chinook weighing just a shade under 19 pounds. Another Mount Vernon fisherman, Larry Quesnell, won last year’s event as well, with a fish of 15.4 pounds.
In second place last weekend, worth $2,000, was Julia Hunter of Neah Bay, at 16.6 pounds, and third, worth $1,000, went to Ron Lampers of Snohomish. Lampers took fifth and 15th in last year’s derby.
Among other local anglers, Bob Edwards of Marysville placed eighth with a blackmouth of 14.2 pounds.
Despite over 500 square miles of water available to derby participants, the first-place chinook was taken off Diamond Point, at the mouth of Discovery Bay, only two miles from the derby headquarters in Gardiner. Tatum said the most productive general area, in fact, was the traditional derby hub — Discovery Bay and Protection Island.
For a complete list of the fish submitted, visit the derby website www.gardinersalmonderby.org or the derby Facebook page, www.facebook.com/salmonderby. Photos are on Facebook.
We lost a friend
Jim Brauch, a major player in the Snohomish County sportfishing community, died Feb. 18 of a rare and fast-moving form of cancer, according to wife Bonnie. A dedicated community activist, Brauch influenced the lives of hundreds of young people in the area through his fishing classes and clinics, and the kids’ fish-ins he coordinated over the years for the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club and other groups.
Those events will be continued by the club, said ESSC board member Woody Woods, but “It will be tough, trying to fill Jim’s shoes.”
In addition to trout, Brauch fished salmon, here and on the B.C. coast, plus steelhead and other gamefish species, and reported on his adventures in The Reel News, a fishing tabloid published in Lake Stevens. He was arguably one of the best trout fishermen in the area, hitting local lakes such as Goodwin and McMurray at every opportunity, but it was the young people and their introduction to fishing, the outdoors and conservation that was his passion. He desperately wanted every kid who attended one of his dozens of fish-ins to catch a trout.
A Marine Corps veteran of Viet Nam and a retired Everett Police officer, Brauch had planned a trip with his brother to Asia to see some of the places where he had served, and to end the journey with — what else? — a guided fishing trip in Thailand.
Cancer caught up with him in Viet Nam, resulting in flights to Saigon, Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan Hospital at UCLA, Providence and Swedish. The disease, Bonnie Brauch said, was too far along to successfully treat at any of those stops.
The young people of the area and the sportfishing community have lost a true champion.
Steelhead
This odd winter has been a boon to steelhead anglers, according to Bob Gooding at Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks, if for no other reason than that there have been fewer extreme river levels — too high and dirty, or too low and clear. “This has been a pretty decent season,” Gooding said, “including the wild-stock fishery going on right now.”
Certain of the Olympic Peninsula rivers are the only ones left in the state where regulations allow retention of one unclipped steelhead per season per person.
The Sol Duc and Hoh are the top two streams currently, and Gooding said March is traditionally the best late-season month. He said the Calawah is currently too low to float, and the Bogachiel does not host a large wild-stock run.
State Fish and Wildlife Department creel checks on the Calawah for Feb. 16-19 show eight bank and six boat anglers with 15 wild steelhead released and three hatchery fish kept. On the Sol Duc it was 24 bank and 43 boat anglers with four wild fish kept and 35 wild fish released; on the lower Hoh, 26 bank and 58 boat anglers had 31 wild fish released and three hatchery fish released; and on the upper Hoh, 20 bank and 50 boat anglers had 31 wild fish released.
North of Falcon
Anyone interested in Washington state salmon fisheries can get a preview of this year’s returns and potential fishing seasons during a public meeting March 2 in Olympia. The WDFW will present initial forecasts for 2015 runs to kick off the annual salmon season-setting process known as “North of Falcon.”
The meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in room 172 of the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St., S.E., in Olympia.
The agency has also scheduled additional public meetings including, usually, one at the Mill Creek office, focusing on regional salmon issues through early April. A schedule of meetings and more information about the season-setting process for Puget Sound, the Columbia River, and the coast is available on the website http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfaalcon/.
Springers
Nice weather last week brought an increase in the number of anglers looking for spring chinook from I-5 to the mouth of the Columbia, according to Joe Hymer, WDFW biologist at Vancouver, but the catch remained very light.
On the Cowlitz over the weekend, eight boat fishermen kept four winter steelhead.
Boat show
In case you missed the Seattle event, you have another chance at the Puget Sound Boat Show, scheduled for March 12-15 at the Tacoma Dome. Parking is free, as are a wide range of boating and fishing seminars.
Show hours are Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are $12 for general admission, and free to young people 16 and under. Get $2 off discount coupons online at www.otshows.com/tbs/.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing
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