With a little advance planning, it should be possible to work in a couple of hours of salmon fishing between football games this weekend, and there are blackmouth to be had. Nothing hot in local marine areas 8-1 and 8-2, but at least fair opportunity according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett.
“We’ve been picking up a fish or two every day,” Krein said. “They’re on the small side — some just legal — going 5 or 6 pounds. I haven’t seen a solid 10-pounder in quite a while.”
Krein said south Hat Island, “the racetrack” between Hat Island and Camano Head, and Columbia Beach are all holding fish, but that seals have been bothersome on the racetrack.
Productive terminal tackle has included Gibbs flashers in white or green, about 38 inches of leader, and a Kingfisher Lite 3 1/2-inch spoon in herring aid, cop car, or any of several in a green/white combination.
Krein has also been putting out a couple of crab pots and says crabbing has remained fairly strong in local waters. There’s just time to squeeze in one more crab foray before the winter season closure at 5 p.m. December 31.
Popular Marine Area 9, which includes Possession Bar, is tentatively scheduled to reopen for chinook on Jan. 16, but Krein says he doesn’t think that will happen.
“We (recreational fishermen) don’t have enough quota left for a full season, so state Fish and Wildlife Department salmon managers have been discussing the best way to maximize what quota we have left,” Krein said. “The most logical way is to shorten the season, and since most of our knowledgeable sport fishermen would rather have more days in March and April, I see the department delaying the opener by two or three weeks.”
Krein expects a decision by Jan. 5.
And speaking of crabbing, turning in your winter season harvest data by the deadline, Feb. 1, online, may require a little study this time around. That’s because WDFW has instituted its new online license system as of Dec. 18.
“Crabbers should be prepared to take a few extra minutes to navigate our new online system,” said WDFW shellfish policy lead Rich Childers.
To report online, crabbers will need to establish an account by creating a user name and password and providing an email address. Individuals can use these accounts for a variety of purposes other than crab reporting, such as purchase of fishing or hunting licenses.
Anyone with questions about the new online system can contact WDFW’s Licensing Division at 360-902-2464, or licensing@dfw.wa.gov. The crab reporting system will be available Jan. 1 at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/. Crabbers may also send their catch record cards to WDFW by mail at WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia 98501.
After Dec. 31, all Puget Sound marine areas will be closed to recreational crabbing until summer season opens.
Ice fishing?
Not yet, according to a couple of different sources on the eastside. Potholes Reservoir has ice in the northern, sand dune, portion of the lake, but nothing near safe ice as of early this week. A spokesperson for MarDon Resort said she had heard of ice fishermen on Moses Lake, at the I-90 bridge, but didn’t know about the safety factor there.
At Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee, a spokesperson for The Cove Resort said the lake had maybe an inch and a half of ice, which is not enough for safe ice fishing. If the fishery should develop later this winter, yellow perch are the most popular target and they seem to be a little larger than usual this year, the spokesperson said.
Steelhead
The winter steelhead fishery in the Forks-area rivers is underway, sort of. The Bogachiel, with a hatchery at Forks, is putting out fish, as usual, and so is the Calawah, but nothing much yet for a couple of other streams.
WDFW creel checks last week showed 13 bank and 25 boat anglers with two wild steelhead released and 11 hatchery fish kept. On the Calawah, 12 bank and two boat fishermen had one wild fish released and seven hatchery fish kept. On the Sol Duc, 4 fishermen had zip, and on the Hoh, there was very little fishing pressure and no catch reported.
Farther south, on the Cowlitz last week, four boat fishermen released one steelhead, and 41 bank anglers kept two coho.
Razor clams
A fair number of families have made a tradition out of a trip to the coastal beaches for New Year’s Eve and some razor clam digging, and the state tries to provide the opportunity if tides and other conditions are right. Tides are pretty good late this week, and WDFW coastal shellfish manager Dan Ayres in Montesano tentatively scheduled Dec. 30 and 31 for an opening on Copalis and Mocrocks beaches. Twin Harbors and Long Beach will not open, Ayres said, because of too-high levels of domoic acid, a marine toxin, in clams from those beaches.
Samples from Copalis and Mocrocks were being analyzed by the state Health Department early this week, and the final decision to open or not open for the two days will probably be available as you read this. Check the department web site, www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish for the earliest word.
The tides are a minus 0.4 feet on both days; at 7:22 p.m. Friday, and 7:57 p.m. Saturday. That will be digging in the dark, so Ayres reminded diggers to bring a lantern or head lamp. He checked the coastal weather and surf forecast on Tuesday, and at that point, he said, conditions looked a little iffy.
Clams and oysters
Among season adjustments by WDFW on several Puget Sound clam/oyster beaches, a couple involved beaches popular with shellfish gatherers from this area. Freeland County Park beach was allowed a longer season for clams and oysters than in 2016, Jan. 1 through May 15. On the other hand, West Penn Cove beach’s season was shortened to June 1 through Dec. 31, 2017.
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