Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish manager Dan Ayres seemed reasonably happy with the results of the 2013/2014 razor clam season.
“Yeah,” he said, “it was spectacular.”
Ayres seldom resorts to superlatives, so was the dig something special?
“It was by far the best season any of us here have seen since at least 1982,” he said. “Some 450,000 digger trips and 6.3 million clams in the bucket. It was something.”
The average number dug per person for the entire season, Ayres said, was about 13.9 clams. Remember that the daily limit is 15, and that the beach crowd includes not only grizzled veterans and determined experts, but also kids, aunts and uncles from Iowa, rank beginners and others who might not be expected to dig a limit. That’s an incredible number, and indicates a lot of tides when limits for all hands was the rule.
And even better news is that Ayres expects this season, which opened Tuesday, to be very similar. The state has authorized 41 days on four ocean beaches through the end of the year, when the schedule for spring, 2015, will be out. Twin Harbors beaches, Ayres said, will be open to digging 105 days total, for the full season.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that many days,” he said.
This year Long Beach and Twin Harbors get the nod for the best clam populations and the most digging days, and Twin Harbors will have perhaps the largest clams. The one sour note, Ayres said, is that the Copalis beaches are in the middle of a short, and minor, downturn in clam populations.
“That includes the Ocean Shores area,” he said, “but because it’s our most popular beach we find it difficult to manage clam numbers by cutting the number of digging days too drastically.”
The early season dig at Long Beach will include a high percentage of younger clams, averaging maybe 4 inches, but they’ll grow quickly, Ayres said.
The popular New Year’s Eve tide, which has become an “event” for a number of people, will be open to digging on all beaches except Kalaloch, but Ayres warned it only will be a mediocre tide. It falls on a Wednesday, with a low of 0.6 feet at 3:05 p.m., which means one could go out, dig a limit of clams, then go on to other New Year’s activities later in the day.
Here’s the first series of clam tides, currently underway: Oct. 9, 7:58 p.m., minus 1.1 feet, at Long Beach and Twin Harbors; Oct. 10, 8:43 p.m., minus 1.1 feet, at Long beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks; Oct. 11, 9:28 p.m., minus 0.8 feet at all beaches except Kalaloch; Oct. 12, 10:15 p.m., minus 0.3 feet at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks.
The next series of digging days runs Oct. 22 through Oct. 28, and the best tide in the series is minus 0.6 feet on the 25th and 26th.
Umtanum elk
In a rundown of statewide hunting prospects here last week, Game Management Unit 342, Umtanum, was listed as a new addition to the modern firearm late-season elk hunt. That’s not correct. It’s a new addition to the Nov. 26-Dec. 8 late archery elk season.
Wolf management
Wanna toss around some wolf talk? Complain? Applaud? Learn? You might want to attend the public meeting Tuesday, Oct. 14 in Lynnwood, with state wolf management leaders. Place is Room 1EF of the Lynnwood Convention Center, 3711 196th Street, Lynnwood; time is 6 to 9 p.m.
State officials will provide information on recent wolf attacks on livestock involving the Huckleberry pack in Stevens County and the Profanity Peak pack in Ferry County, along with a discussion of wolf management in general.
For more info, call the state Wildlife Program at 360-902-2515.
Puget Sound crab
Most marine areas of Puget Sound reopened to recreational crabbing on Oct. 1, and while the winter season traditionally gets less attention than its summer equivalent, that might be changing.
“We’ve been inundated with requests for winter crab licenses,” said Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington.
Areas now open include all those from 4 (Neah Bay) through 13 (south Puget Sound except for areas 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island). In open areas, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Dec. 31.
Early results are sketchy, but state biologist Don Velasquez, in Mill Creek, had some information from commercial tribal and non-tribal fisheries, which also opened on Oct. 1. Area 13 has been slow, Velasquez said, while comercial fishers in areas 8-1 and 8-2 have been doing pretty well. Marine Area 8-1, particularly, seems to have been better than last year, Velasquez said.
Area 12, Hood Canal, still has problems with its crab population, but it’s open, and Velasquez had no information from Area 9. “I consider that a good thing,” he said. “At least we haven’t had any major complaints.”
Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood said he has been getting some very good reports from recreational crabbers working local waters, particularly from the northwest corner of Camano Island.
The majority of crabbers probably bait with chicken, Chamberlain said, because it’s relatively cheap and readily available. He likes a turkey leg better, and a salmon carcass better than either. Almost everyone now uses a scent of some kind, he said, and the hot item is a brew a California guy mixes up and peddles.
“He calls it just “Crab Attractant,” Chamberlain said. “It’s a little hard to find, and pricey, but my customers swear that it really works. Spray it on your bait and let it marinate for a few hours before going out.”
Chamberlain said he hasn’t tried the system yet, but he’s willing to bet a piece of sponge soaked in the California juice would work as well or better than using the stuff with bait.
The guy’s website is www.crabsman.com.
Coho
Saltwater is still a better bet than the rivers for coho, Chamberlain said, from Mukilteo all the way down to Shilshole. Nothing much is biting in the Snohomish system and Chamberlain said even the guides are scratching.
“We’re probably a couple of weeks early yet for the rivers,” he said, “and we need a shot of fresh water.”
He said a few chums are already showing in the salt.
Columbia and tributaries
Fishermen at Buoy 10, on the lower end of the Columbia River, averaged three coho per boat over the weekend, according to state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver, while a portion of the upper Columbia and its tributaries was opened to coho on Oct. 4. Silvers are now legal quarry in the Columbia from Priest Rapids Dam upstream to Chief Joseph Dam, including the Wenatchee, Icicle, and Methow.
The daily limit is two coho; selective gear rules are in effect, except that bait is legal on the mainstem Columbia; night closures are in effect; all tagged coho must be released, and motorized vessels are not allowed on either the Wenatchee or Icicle.
Yakima River
State creel checks last week tallied 124 anglers on the lower Yakima with 29 adult chinook, five chinook jacks and two coho. Fishermen averaged one chinook for every 11 hours of fishing time. Biologist Paul Hoffarth said fishing should continue to improve each week through the end of the season on Oct. 22.
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