Most of Puget Sound opened to halibut fishing on Sunday and while no trophy 100-pounders were caught, the fishing was generally pretty good.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has opened the in-Sound fishery early the past two seasons, and it seems to have made a significant difference in the opportunity for anglers to nail a few more of the big flatfish before they migrate westward out the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The general feeling among knowledgeable halibut anglers is that these two openers have far outstripped the 10-year average.
State checks on Sunday were best, as could be expected, on the Strait. At Port Angeles’ Ediz Hook ramp, 96 boats had 45 halibut. At Cornet Bay, 64 boats had 15 fish, and at the Port of Everett ramp, 63 boats were checked with 10 fish.
Most local halibut came from Mutiny and Admiralty bays on the west side of Whidbey Island, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett.
Banks to the north also put out fish, including popular Hein Bank for those launching out of Washington Park west of Anacortes. McArthur Bank, just south of Lopez Island and north of Smith Island, and Partridge Bank, south of Smith Island and just northwest of Partridge Point on Whidbey Island, are good bets early in the season for those with smaller boats, being closer to shelter in case of inclement weather.
Krein said Eastern Bank and Dungeness spit were producers as well, on a day when good weather, favorable tides and flat water in the Strait combined to bring out larger than usual crowds.
Standard procedure is to drift the “softer” tides with enough lead on a spreader bar to get to bottom in 80 to 200 feet of water, and baited with a horse herring or a chunk of squid or octopus. The fishery is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, one fish daily limit with no minimum size, barb-less hooks required.
Salmon seasons for the Pacific Coast were set late last week in Sacramento, Calif., to much hand-wringing over severe restrictions on commercial fisheries, mostly off the Oregon and California coasts. Washington recreational fisheries for this summer escaped most of the carnage, except that quotas on the coast have been reduced substantially: 31,000 chinook and 73,200 coho compared to 43,250 chinook and 121,800 coho in 2005.
In-Sound seasons are almost identical to last year. Various minor restrictions include parts of the Puyallup and Skokomish rivers, and the popular Elliott Bay fishery, which will be open only from July 14 through Aug. 20, Fridays through Sundays.
Local anglers will enjoy the return of a short opportunity for coho in Marine Area 9, which was taken away last year, July 16-30. And, the largely experimental catch and release season which ran in Area 10 last year from June 16 to 30, has been expanded to include the whole month of June. The fishery, largely on adult chinook migrating to south Sound, drew only minimal participation, but it is also true that it had little negative impact on chinook and so was enlarged for the C&R folks.
Local seasons are as follows:
Marine Area 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, Skagit Bay, north half of Saratoga Passage) closed May 1-July 31. Two fish limit, release chinook, Aug. 1-Sept. 30. Two fish limit, release wild chinook, Oct. 1 – April 30.
Marine Area 8-2 (Port Susan, Port Gardner, lower half of Saratoga Passage) closed May 1-July31. Two fish limit, release chinook, Aug. 1-Sept. 30. Two fish limit, release wild chinook, Oct. 1-April 30.
Tulalip Bubble open June 2 through Sept. 25, Friday morning through noon Monday weekly, except closed June 17, inside Tulalip Terminal Area boundaries only. Two fish daily, min size for chinook 22 inches.
Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet, Possession Bar) closed May 1-July 15. Two fish limit, release chinook and chum, July 16-Sept. 30. Two fish daily, release chinook, Oct. 1-Oct. 31. Two fish daily, only one chinook, Nov. 1-Nov. 30. Closed Dec. 1-Jan. 31. One fish limit, Feb. 1-April 15. Closed April 16-30.
Edmonds Pier open year-around with a two-fish daily limit, only one of which may be a chinook. Release chum Aug. 1-Sept. 30.
Chinook: Low counts at Bonneville Dam have prompted WDFW salmon managers to close the spring chinook season on the mainstem Columbia below I-5, effective Friday. While fishing picked up the past couple of weeks around Longview and Cathlamet, only 128 adult fish had been counted at Bonneville as of April 10, compared to an average of about 19,000 fish at this point in a normal year.
Through April 9, an estimated 52,800 angler trips had been made to the area, accounting for 4,500 hatchery chinook kept.
Fishing will remain open for hatchery spring chinook in Columbia River tributaries, including the Cowlitz, Kalama and Lewis, where fishing has been at least fair recently. Seasons scheduled above Bonneville will remain open, at least for the time being.
Locally, the occasional spring chinook to 20 pounds continues to be taken along the Columbia Beach shoreline and on the racetrack, between Hat Island and Camano Head. This fishery, composed of Tulalip and Snohomish system hatchery stocks, will continue to build through the month.
Steelhead fishing in pleasant spring weather is an attractive option for this weekend on the lower Sauk and the Skagit from Rockport to Concrete. Both fly and standard gear anglers are scoring catch and release action on prime native fish to 20-plus pounds, according to guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram.
Side-drifting 4- to 6-inch pink plastic worms is perhaps the most popular technique right now, Ingram said, although Aero flies and plugs modified with a single hook, are also taking fish. Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington said right now is prime time for fly fishers to try for a native winter-run, as portions of the two rivers remain open under selective gear rules through the end of the month and water conditions are ideal. Ferber said flies in blacks and purples are more effective during bright daylight hours.
Lings: The local lingcod season runs May 1 through June 15 this year, and Gary Krein will present a free how-to-do-it clinic tonight, 6 p.m., at Everett West Marine, 1716 West Marine View Drive (call 425-303-1880). Lings are becoming a more popular target each year, but it takes a fairly sophisticated approach to catch the ugly critters on a consistent basis. Krein will tell you how and where.
Trout: The majority of year-around waters in the county have been planted by now, so it’s time to get out and around. Blackman’s too crowded? Try up the road at Flowing Lake, where pressure is a little lower and just about as many big, fat, multi-pound triploid rainbow are available. Try slow trolling brown or green woolly bugger flies on mono, shallow, along the edge of the weed beds.
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