So how did the widely anticipated recreational crab opener fare over the long Fourth of July weekend?
Comments ranged from “good” to “awesome.” From “we did pretty well” to “It was probably the best crab trip I’ve ever been on.”
Most reports indicated an excellent opener, with a lot of
crab available at the usually productive spots, but particularly in Marine Areas 8-1 and 8-2. The crabs were generally large, hard-shelled and in good condition.
“Most of our customers were very pleased with crabbing over the weekend,” said Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood. “It was actually a lot better than I had anticipated. We only had a few guys come through who hadn’t done very well — the ones who set in an area that had been worked over by the commercials or the inexperienced guys who think you can use skimpy bait and toss your pot out anywhere to get crab.”
Chamberlain said best bets for this weekend are along either side of Saratoga Passage, the Langley and Clinton areas, Utsalady (although it’s hit pretty hard), Camano Head, Hat Island and Port Susan.
“If you’re not finding anything, keep moving,” Chamberlain said. “Go shallower, go deeper, watch the guys around you to see how they’re doing, and ask them what they’re using for bait and how deep they’re fishing.”
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife was watching this Puget Sound opener closely, since it was the first under new, more generous regulations giving a larger share of harvestable crabs to recreationists. There was a mandate from the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to increase education efforts and to cut rule violations by sport crabbers.
That apparently worked, at least to a degree.
“Compliance is still an issue,” said enforcement captain Bill Hebner, who works out of the state’s Mill Creek office, “but I think we saw an improvement over previous years. It was better, but we still have a way to go.”
Hebner said two problem areas stood out over the weekend — overlimits and a failure to record immediately on the required catch-record card. “But it was a good opener, and there were a lot happy crabbers out there,” he said.
Puget Sound crab manager Steve Burton said this could turn out to be a banner year for recreational crabbers if success rates continue at last weekend’s levels. He added, however, that several agents indicated recreationists keeping undersized crabs was a problem area they would be looking at as the season progresses.
Baker Lake sockeye
Biologist Brett Barkdull said nothing in the pattern of arriving Baker Lake sockeye suggests there won’t be a fishing season this year, and his best guess is an opener somewhere around July 15. Last year’s sport season, the first in many years (in the lake, as opposed to the more common fishery at the mouth of the Baker River), opened July 22.
Barkdull said he needs 1,400 sockeye this week in the Baker River/lake system to satisfy production requirements, which includes fish for artificial spawning beaches and the new hatchery facility. He had 600 as of Tuesday morning, and said there were roughly 200 fish per day coming through.
“The run appears to be a little later than last year’s and we’ve seen no big push yet,” he said. “But it could happen any time.”
San Juan’s salmon
Another major summer fishery came on line Friday with the reopening of the San Juan Islands salmon season, and reports indicated some very nice chinook in the area.
“It was hot,” said Stuart Forst at Holiday Sports in Burlington on Tuesday. “One party on Saturday boated a 40-pounder, one in the low 30s and one in the mid-20s. Another group stopped this morning with two fish in the low 20s, and said they were done and off the water before the sun came over the mountains.”
Forst said there were a lot of chinook in the 20-pound range showing and that some of the better areas included Point Lawrence, Eagle Bluff/Tide Point, Obstruction Pass, Thatcher Pass and Sea Acres.
Most fishermen, he said, were using herring or — especially where dogfish were a problem — spoons such as the Kingfisher and Coho Killer. Top colors included Irish Creme, Irish Flag, white lightning, and a couple of others.
State checks at the Washington Park ramp west of Anacortes showed 61 anglers on Saturday with 16 chinook, and on Sunday, 33 with nine fish.
A new fisherman
The Washington fishing clan hooked a new member a couple of weeks ago when Camano Island resident John Gildow took his grandson, 11-year old Jaedin Graham, to Westport. Slow fishing, Gildow said, with just four keepers for the 11 people aboard the Fury, out of Deep Sea Charters. Jaedin beat the odds, however, boating a beautiful 22-pound hatchery king on his first ever salmon trip.
I think I can guess which of the two fishermen was the proudest.
Waterfowl stuff
The next meeting of the Northwest Chapter of the Washington Waterfowl Association is a swap meet, with a lot of decoys and other good waterfowl-related stuff for sale or trade. The event starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Conway Fire Hall. For more information, email nwducks@frontier.com.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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