After 21 years of fighting wind and rain, Bill Hayes finally got lucky. The 22nd running of his Hot Plug’s Salmon Derby last weekend was flat, calm, dry, and best of all, productive.
“Got a break with the weather, after all those years,” Hayes said. “This was the nicest derby we’ve ever had, and the guys brought in some good fish, to make it even better.”
First place and a check for $3,105 went to Arlington resident Mark Kingsman, at 16 pounds, 4 ounces; second and $1,725 to Don Coker at 15 pounds, 8 ounces; third and $1,035 to Ken Lungrin at 13 pounds, 6 ounces; and fourth, worth $345, to Chris Muscolo at 13 pounds, 4 ounces.
The derby drew 115 entrants, Hayes said, and there were 49 blackmouth weighed in. “We caught a lot more than that, however,” he said. “No one was weighing the 7- and 8-pounders.”
Generally, Hayes said, Marine Area 8-1 and the north portion of Area 8-2 put out the best fishing — Rocky Point, Onomac Point, and around Greenbank, particularly. Elger Bay also produced several nice fish, Hayes said, and there was at least one good blackmouth entered from Camano Head.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife checks at the Camano State Park ramp over the weekend reinforced word of pretty good fishing in Saratoga Passage. Some 46 anglers there on Saturday had 20 blackmouth, while on Sunday it was 59 with 24 fish. At the Port of Everett ramp, 41 anglers had 12 chinook on Saturday, and 123 on Sunday had 23 fish.
MORE SALMON: Fishing interest in the San Juan Islands picked up over the weekend, as regulations in Marine Area 7 changed March 1 to allow retention of one chinook, either wild or hatchery. The reason for the optimism, of course, is the relatively high number of beautiful, unclipped blackmouth in the 15- to 20-pound range released to this point in the season and one of which may now be kept.
Action continues to improve out toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca as in-Sound resident blackmouth drift westward this time of year. Some outstanding checks at Sekiu over the weekend showed 12 anglers in five boats out of Olson’s Resort with 11 legal blackmouth.
ANACORTES DERBY: Anthon Steen at Holiday Sports in Burlington said this year’s Anacortes Salmon Derby is showing serious signs of selling out its self-imposed limit of 800 slots, and anyone interested in participating should get on the proverbial stick. Particularly if you’d like to end up with one of the free moorages at Cap Sante Marina. Derby dates are March 29-30, with a top prize of $10,000. For more information go to www.anacortessalmonderby.com.
SALMON FORECAST: The first step in the annual “North of Falcon” salmon season setting process is the publication of run-size predictions by state salmon biologists and managers. The predictions came out Tuesday and, as usual, there’s a mix of good news and bad for recreational salmon fishermen in the state.
A big loser this summer will be the Lake Washington sockeye fishery, almost certain to be a casualty to an expected depressed return of 105,500 adults. That’s well below the minimum escapement goal of about 350,000 fish needed for spawning, and the outlook for future years isn’t all that bright, either. Proposals for a permanent sockeye hatchery on the Cedar River, which could raise fry production (hatchery plus natural) to the 50-million fish level needed to produce a fishery each year, have been held up in litigation by Roz Glasser, former employee of the King County Department of Natural Resources. Anti-hatchery forces apparently aren’t swayed by the $8.6 million in estimated benefits to the Lake Washington basin produced by the last successful sockeye season in 2006.
Another loser is the Stillaguamish River, where a severely depressed chinook run will not only result in no summer/fall fishing season, but which will also be the driver making “creative solutions” necessary to set chinook seasons “downstream” from the Stilly.
Coho coming back to the Columbia are in trouble this year, the expected 196,000 fish some 266,000 fewer than last year and the lowest number since the 1990s. Not many anglers from this area fish Columbia-system silvers, but the depressed stock will effect coastal salmon seasons.
Coho expected back to our area are also down, some 16,000 fish, but the relatively small drop is not expected to impact the season-setting process.
A major winner in the forecasts is the chinook run to Puget Sound, which is generally in pretty good shape and is predicted at a slightly higher level — about 245,000 fish — than last year. What this means for sport fishermen here is that while nothing’s set in concrete until the process plays out, last year’s highly successful and extremely popular series of “selective fisheries” for fin-clipped kings is, according to fishing activist and longtime North of Falcon participant Gary Krein, likely to be repeated. That’s great news.
Other winners include chum salmon, due back in big numbers again this year, and fall chinook on the Columbia. For the aficionado of “upriver brights” on the Hanford Reach, this should be a very good year.
If you’d like to have some input in the process, or to simply see how the process works, the nearest public meeting set to discuss regional fisheries issues will be March 12, 6-8 p.m., at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Mill Creek Office, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek; phone 425-775-1311.
CLAM DIG: Razor clammers have the opportunity to switch from evening to more popular morning hours during a portion of the upcoming coastal dig, March 7-12. Diggers got the green light from state health authorities to hit Twin Harbors, open for digging all six days, or Long Beach, open on the March 8-9 weekend only.
The state is offering the March opener because poor weather conditions caused low participation in the February dig, according to Dan Ayres, state coastal shellfish manager in Montesano. Future digs may also be scheduled in April at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks, if enough clams are available for harvest, Ayres said.
Tides are as follows: March 7, plus 0.3 feet at 6:21 p.m.; March 8, plus 0.5 feet at 6:58 p.m.; March 9, plus 0.3 feet at 8:28 a.m. (switch to morning tides; daylight savings time starts); March 10, 0.0 feet at 9:12 a.m.; March 11, minus 0.1 feet at 9:59 a.m.; and March 12, 0.0 feet at 10:51 a.m.
FLY EXPO: The fifth annual Olympic Peninsula Flyfishing Expo is scheduled for Saturday, March 22, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Port Townsend, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with speakers, programs, exhibits, other good stuff. For more information, including driving directions, go to www.cataraft.com/ffexpo08/.
SALMON UNIVERSITY returns to Renton for a two-day run, March 29-30, at the IKEA Performing Arts Center, 400 S. 2nd Street. Saturday features a full day of seminars emphasizing the basics of salmon fishing; Sunday moves on to more advanced techniques and fishing styles. The comprehensive clinic features some of the best sport fishermen in the area — Jeff Boyer, Terry Rudnick, Tom Pollack and a half-dozen others — for a fee of $88 for the first day, or $150 for the full weekend. For more information, or to register, visit salmonuniversity.com.
BIG LAKERS: The month of March is noted as “trophy time” for Mackinaw trout on Lake Chelan, according to guide service owner Anton Jones (antonj@aol.com; phone 1-866-360-1523). “Last year, during the first three weeks of March, we produced as many 20-plus-pound Mackinaw as the remainder of the year combined,” Jones said. “We’re fishing the area for a half-mile on either side of the Narrows for big fish, using T-4 purple glow Flatfish and Rushin’ Wobbler Spoons by Critter Gitter.”
SMELT: While a larger run could still develop, best intelligence from the lower Cowlitz says predictions for a small return are spot on, and the possibility of dipping a bucket of eulachon is probably over for the year. Test dipping by state personnel last week resulted in no fish taken, and there were no reports of seal or bird activity either.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
