The Everett Blackmouth Derby is set for March 16 in marine areas 8-1, 8-2, and 9, offering $3,000 for first place, $1,500 for second, $500 for third, and $250 for fourth. Tickets, at $100 per boat, are on sale at John’s Sporting Goods, Ed’s Surplus, Everett Bayside Marine, Greg’s Custom Rods, Harbor Marine, Ted’s Sports Center, Performance Marine and Three Rivers Marine.
Fishing in north Sound has been at least fair the past couple of weeks, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein in Everett.
“There have been a few fish around,” Krein says. “Outer Possession Bar would probably be the best bet numbers-wise, but often the winner of this derby comes from the racetrack, Elger Bay, Baby Island, Onomac and other spots in Saratoga Passage.”
The event is one of the derbies included in the Northwest Salmon Derby series, making participants eligible for the $60,000 boat/motor/trailer package drawing at the end of the season. For more information on the derby go to www.everettblackmouthderby.com.
State Fish and Wildlife Department creel checks over the weekend included the Port of Everett ramp, where 27 anglers on Saturday had two hatchery chinook, and Camano State Park ramp, 16 with three.
John Martinis of John’s Sporting goods in Everett will again host his popular pre-derby chinook seminar, starting at 7 p.m. on March 16, at Bayside Marine, just south of the Port of Everett ramp. Martinis will present winning strategies designed to put more chinook in your boat, including rigging flasher/spoons correctly and fishing herring. He will also go over charts which will show the correct fishing spots on the right tides. The seminar should take a lot of the guesswork out of chinook fishing, and it’s always well attended.
The Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club, derby sponsors, will have a raffle at the end of the seminar for rods, reels, salmon tackle and a Scotty Pot Puller, among other items.
Both All Star Charters skippers — Krein and Nick Kester — will be at Cabela’s Tulalip this weekend, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days to answer anglers’ questions. Additionally, Kester will give a seminar Saturday on salmon fishing electronics. For a complete schedule of Cabela’s Spring Great Outdoor Days events, call 360-474-4880, or go to www.cabelas.com/tulalip.
Jim Brauch memorial
Everett resident Jim Brauch died a year ago from cancer, and his daughter, along with the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club, is putting together a petition drive asking Snohomish County to install a permanent memorial to Brauch at North Gissberg Pond (Twin Lakes) in Smokey Point.
I’ve been around this biz a long, long time, and there’s no one I can think of more deserving of this honor than Brauch — Marine Corps veteran, retired Everett Police Department lieutenant, ESSC founding member and past president, and on and on. But most important was his mentoring of hundreds of Snohomish County youth through the dozens of kids’ derbies and fish-ins he organized. North Gissberg Pond is a juveniles-only lake, and the crown jewel in Brauch’s annual kids’ fishing event schedule designed to introduce youngsters to the traditional outdoor sports. Fortunately, ESSC has chosen to carry the torch, but no one can hope to match the hundreds of hours Brauch put in doing good things for the young people of Snohomish County.
Brauch’s daughter says she hopes friends and acquaintances will write a short note with a signature, saying they support a monument to Jim at Twin Lakes, and mail it, or scan and e-mail it, to Danielle Irwin, 10513 27th Drive S.E., Everett, dbrauch@yahoo.com.
Lake Tye kids fish-in
Another guy who knows the value of kids and trout is Gary Bee of the Sky Valley Chapter, Trout Unlimited, ramrod behind the really big Lake Tye kids’ fishing day, held each year on opening-day weekend at the small lake on the west edge of Monroe, off Fryelands Boulevard. So if you have a kid who needs an introduction to a healthy outdoor sport, circle Sunday, April 24. The event is open to young people 12 and under, it’s free, and runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at a netted enclosure on the lake’s south end. Bring your own gear, or use one of the loaners available for the event. Be ready, because there is $5,000 worth of rainbows waiting.
Following the kids fish-in there will be an adult derby from 2 to 5 p.m., entry fee $10, with a cash prize of $250 for largest trout, and a bonus prize of $500 for the person catching the special tagged fish.
Turkey seminars
The WDFW will host free turkey hunting clinics around the state before the April 15 spring turkey season opener, taught by department staff, Hunter Education Division instructors, master hunters, and members of the National Wild Turkey Federation. The clinics will provide basic instruction and key information on how to be a successful turkey hunter. Hunter Education Division manager Dave Whipple said the clinics are a helpful starting point for new turkey hunters, or for those interested in refining their skills.
The two one-day clinics in western Washington are scheduled for March 26 and 27, both at the Tacoma Bass Pro Shop, 7905 S. Hosmer Street, and will last about four hours each. For more information or to enroll in a clinic, go to http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/clinics.
Later this year, similar clinics will be held for deer, elk, waterfowl and upland birds.
Women and waterfowl
Don’t forget the women’s one-day workshop on “Introduction to Waterfowling,” March 19, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at a Snohomish County private hunt club. Participants need no prior hunting experience.
Activities will focus on shotgun use, shooting clay targets, decoying, calling, retrieving and field-to-table waterfowl preparation. For details call Ronni at 425-455-1986, or Kristie at 253-380-8966.
The event uses certified instructors and is sponsored by Washington Outdoor Women.
Area 6 reopens
WDFW has announced a short salmon reopening in Marine Area 6, the eastern portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to run March 12 through March 18, limit one hatchery chinook. The agency says 90 percent of the quota was taken in the last fishery, but that enough fish are left for the brief opening. On March 19, the area will again close through April 10.
Limit cut in Area 7
The limit for chinook in Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands) has been reduced by WDFW to one hatchery fish, effective March 12 through April 30. Biologists estimate that sport fishermen have reached 79 percent of their allotted chinook “encounters, so a season modification is necessary to control impacts on stocks of concern and increase the likelihood of providing a season-long fishery.
Steelhead closure
Steelhead fishing has been closed by WDFW until further notice on the Okanogan and Similkameen rivers, and the Columbia between Brewster and Chief Joseph Dam. Rivers in that area still open until further notice include the Wenatchee below Tumwater Dam, the Icicle below the Leavenworth Hatchery, and the lower half-mile of the Entiat.
Fishery buffet
Anglers can now fish for bass, walleye and channel catfish without daily catch or size limits from the mouth of the Columbia 545 miles upriver to Chief Joseph Dam. A recent regulation change simply removed the remaining limits for those species on the Columbia below the Washington/Oregon line, 17 miles above McNary Dam to be consistent with rules on the rest of the river. The change also removes limits on those species from most tributaries on that stretch flowing into the Columbia.
The goal, of course, is to increase the catch of those non-native species, which are considered predators of juvenile salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.
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