You can toss your crab pot in the boat along with your fishing gear this weekend, or toss your fishing gear in the boat along with your crab pot, depending on where your emphasis lies, and enjoy a combo trip for crab and blackmouth in Marine Area 9. The area opens for catch-and-keep chinook fishing Saturday morning, and at the same time — because harvest analysis showed additional quota remaining — reopens for late-season crab.
All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett said there will be catchable numbers of decent-sized blackmouth on Possession Bar but, if you’re entered in either the Bayside or Grady White derbies and are looking for a winner, the better bet would be to the west.
“The San Juan blackmouth fishery turned on over the past week or so,” Krein said, “and the western portion of Area 9 seems to be on the edge of that same group of fish. If I were entered in one of the derbies, I’d head for Point No Point, Double Bluff or, probably even better, Port Townsend.”
There’s plenty of bait around, he said, so the system would be to find a good bait concentration, then put down a green flasher/green squid setup. Squids have been outproducing spoons recently, Krein said, an unusual pattern for this time of year and with so many shakers in the water.
Area 9 will open on a selective basis, for up to two clipped chinook.
The Bayside Marine Derby runs Saturday and Sunday, to benefit local food banks, with a first prize of $2,000. Entry fee is $30 for both days, but drops to $25 if you donate five cans of food to the pot. The weigh-in day, Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will also serve as the official dedication of the new Bayside digs next to the Port of Everett launch off Marine View Drive. Fishermen and the public are invited to see the place and take advantage of the free barbecue, refreshments, raffles, and other good stuff. The phone number for more information is 425-252-3088.
The Grady White derby is running out of Edmonds, for Grady White owners, oddly enough, on Sunday.
Area 9, along with areas 6 (eastern Strait), 10 (Seattle), and 12 (Hood Canal) will remain open to crabbing seven days a week through January 2. Currently open seasons will also remain in place in areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), and 13 (south Sound). Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife crab manager Rich Childers said sport crabbing will not reopen this year in areas 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 and 8-2 (waters east of Whidbey Island), and 11 (Tacoma), where the summer catch reached the annual quota.
Crabbers might try the shoreline south of the shipwreck, Picnic Point into Brown’s Bay, in Area 9. Gary Krein (above) said he would set at 60 to 80 feet, a little deeper than standard summer depths. Useless Bay, between Scatchet Head and Double Bluff, can be very good, at about the same depths.
In area 10, Krein said the stretch of shoreline from Kingston down to President’s Point is popular with crabbers, but is also hit hard commercially.
Anthon Steen at Holiday Sports in Burlington said blackmouth action in the islands has been very good over the past couple of weeks but, since it closes at the end of the day Friday, you have only a minimal time left to take advantage of the situation. Steen said charter owners reported limits of fish to 14 pounds, taken in such places as Fidalgo head, Lopez Flats, Thatcher Pass and Guemes Channel.
State checks Saturday at the Washington Park ramp in Anacortes showed 15 fishermen with 6 chinook, and at the Bellingham ramp it was 15 with 7 fish.
STURGEON: Prime time to find a keeper sturgeon from the bank on the Columbia River now, according to state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver, and catch rates continue to increase. Latest checks showed a crowd of over 600 bank fishermen on the Washington and Oregon sides below Bonneville Dam during a flight Saturday, with success rates running about one legal keeper for every seven rods on the Washington side, and boaters scoring at a one-for-six clip. Many more under- and over-sized fish were released.
Hymer said fish move closer to shore this time of year, making ultra-long casts unnecessary. Sand shrimp are considered the top bait, but anglers also use squid, smelt, anchovies and nightcrawlers.
COHO: This could be a record year for hatchery coho returning to the Cowlitz Hatchery, and anglers are taking advantage of the huge run. Through Oct. 22, over 27,000 silvers had returned, with more to come, and some of these have been really big fish in the 15- to 20-pound range. The word has spread, and up to 300 bank anglers have been counted on weekends at the barrier dam, catching fish on a wide variety of bait and lures, including nightcrawlers.
Fishing has also been good near the hatcheries on the Lewis and Kalama, where bank fishermen have been averaging about one adult coho for every two rods.
The popular Cascade River (tributary to the Skagit at Marblemount) coho run never really amounted to a major event this fall, and the fishery is on its downhill side.
NEW BOOK: I don’t review many publications in this column, but there are exceptions. One is certainly the latest edition of John Martinis’ Saltwater Fishing Journal, a reasonably-priced (read Christmas gift?) and eminently useable handbook on fishing the local saltwater scene. Martinis is a longtime avid angler and owner of John’s Sporting goods in Everett, and his journal reflects his expertise. Everything in it is proven and tested, and designed to be utilized by the average angler. It covers salmon, saltwater steelhead, crab, shrimp, halibut, ling and rockfish.
The slick-cover, spiral-bound, 130-page publication tells you when, where and how to fish all the hot spots in north Puget Sound, the San Juans, and the Strait, including chart references and GPS waypoints. It covers tackle and techniques, includes fish identification, tackle setup diagrams, bait rigging, knots and more.
This latest edition, by Evergreen Pacific Publishing in Mukilteo, is by far the best-looking and most professional of its long and popular history, with heavy stock, great color and crisp typeface.
The tab is $24.95 at Ted’s Sport center in Lynnwood; Hook, Line &Sinker in Smokey Point, and John’s, 1913 Broadway, Everett, 98201. Martinis will mail the book, at no extra shipping charge. His phone number is 425-259-3056.
STEELHEAD CLINIC: Your favorite outdoor radio entity, Northwest Wild Country (Saturdays, 6-8 a.m., on Sportsradio 950 KJR), has scheduled another of its very popular steelhead shows for Saturday, Nov. 15, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Viking Marine &Tackle (formerly North River Boats), 15202 Smokey Point Boulevard in Marysville. All day, free, and even a free lunch included. The last time this event was held here, more than 400 people showed up, so NWWC asks that you RSVP by calling 360-657-7380.
The lineup of experts is exceptional: Bill Herzog on bank fishing (he’s caught almost 100 20-pound steelhead from the bank); Eli Rico, guide, with steelhead tricks you never knew existed; Bill Swann, master of the egg and shrimp cures; Jim Stahl, float fishing guru; Adrienne Comeau, steelhead opportunity on BC’s Fraser River system; and a lot more.
Giveaways; show pricing; special guide packages; discount cards at Outdoor Emporium and Joe’s Sports; new gear and information from a double handful of top tackle and gear manufacturers.
The latest Arbitron ratings, according to NWWC host Joel Shangle, rate the show as the dominant fishing/hunting radio vehicle in the Seattle metro market, nearly doubling the audience of closest competitors KMPS and KISW.
“Arbitron tells us we have 50,000 to 63,000 listeners per month in the critical “males 25 to 54” demographic, and an additional several thousand in other categories,” Shangle said.
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