It was a bit of a lumpy ride if you were out on the saltchuck for the lingcod opener last week, which probably explained a relatively slow fishery.
A brisk, chilly south wind whipped spray off the two-foot chop, and blew contrary to the direction of the tidal run most of the morning, making it difficult to position for a consistent drift across Possession Bar.
The tides were only borderline manageable to begin with, and the wind didn’t help hardly any.
All Star Charters’ Nick Kester of Snohomish was out there with a party of four, in his sparkling new aluminum Wooldridge, and managed to come in with two lings in the 30-inch range and one slightly larger. Kester was fishing live flounder, caught for the purpose on the sand flats south of Hat Island and kept in a live well.
The boat was custom built for Kester, and is set up, he said, just like a southeast Alaska six-pack charter. It has a very roomy fishing deck, good seating, a better ride than you might expect, and because of decking and an overhead liner, doesn’t feel as “cold” as some aluminum hulls. It flies, too, with the help of a 250 E-Tech Evinrude two-stroke outboard.
Gary Krein, the charter company’s owner, had a motion-sensitive group of six aboard the Morning Star, and decided to stay inside the protection of Whidbey Island. He took four just-legal fish off the artificial reef southeast of Hat, also on live bait.
Checks by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel at the Port of Everett ramp tallied 46 anglers with six lings on Saturday, and 80 anglers with 10 lings, three cabezon, and 11 rockfish on Sunday. One-for-eight on lings in local waters is okay, but not great.
The better lingcod habitat — rock, rock, and rock — is found in the San Juan Islands which, according to Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports in Burlington, had a pretty good opener. “At least until Sunday, when the tides went bad,” he said.
One of the better spots was right under the Deception Pass bridge, working herring on the slack tide. Ferber said gas prices apparently influenced weekend anglers, at least to a degree, with the close-to-home ling habitat hosting the crowds — such places as Burrows and Allan Islands from the Cornet Bay launch, and bird Rocks, Blakely Island, and the west side of Cypress Island in the San Juans proper. The west side of San Juan Island is farther away, he said, but is known to host big lings at several places.
His customers fish herring in the blue size, to a degree, but plastics are more popular — scampi or the scented Berkely Power Worms, with three or four ounces of lead head, up to a maximum of about eight ounces, depending on tidal run. They work the drop-offs and steeper slopes between 40 and about 160 feet or so, using Spectra line with two feet of monofilament “shock” leader of 40 pounds test.
Checks at the Washington Park ramp west of Anacortes on Sunday showed 141 anglers with 38 lings, 30 rockfish, 11 greenling, and one halibut. Out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 8 anglers checked at Olson’s Resort, fishing Area 5, had three lings, 13 rockfish, and two cabezon.
Shrimp: Quotas of spot shrimp were taken quickly after the May 3 opener in parts of Puget Sound, as recreational shrimpers once again proved too skilled (and/or too numerous) for their own good. Marine areas 9 and 10 closed at 3 p.m. yesterday, and one or two others may have been scheduled for closure by the time you read this. For the latest information, visit the Fish and Wildlife Department Web site at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shellfish/shrimpreg.
The good news is that it has been at least an average, and possibly slightly better, season so far. Marine Area 7, the San Juans, again produced the largest spot shrimp in Western Washington, at an average of 10.1 to the pound. Effort in the islands was similar to last year and well below that of 2006, probably because of marginal tides, and the WDFW counted 92 boats shrimping on Saturday. The average number of pots per boat was a little over three, and catch rates were also similar to 2007 (35.1 shrimp per pot day vs. 38.7 last year). Iceberg Point was again the big producer, and put out the highest catch average in Area 7. Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports said other good spots included Biz Point and the area off Spring Passage.
Marine Area 8, Everett/Saratoga Passage, showed a buoy count identical to last year, 858 buoys, but catch rates were down somewhat at 48.7 shrimp per pot day vs 56.3 in 2007. The area was open three days last year and will probably repeat in 2008. The west side of Hat Island put out a good catch, as did Madrona Beach and the Onomac area.
Marine Area 9, the Edmonds area, is now closed. Effort was up slightly from last year, at 563 buoys this year compared to 533 in 2007, and catch rates at 48.9 shrimp per pot day was very similar to last year. This area again had the smallest shrimp (14.5 per pound), outside of Hood Canal, in Western Washington. Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood said customers reported good shrimping after rough water on the opener. He said the Edmonds-to-Meadowdale stretch was popular.
Farther south, Elliott Bay put out a phenomenal per-pot catch rate of 61.2 shrimp, compared to 50.5 last year, for 414 pots counted (439 last year). It was open three days last year and may or may not repeat.
The Bainbridge Island area saw significantly less pressure but higher catch rates (46.3), and the Vashon Island area hosted pressure similar to last year but a higher catch rate (45.7 vs 39.6).
Gas prices may have had something to do with less participation in the state’s most popular recreational shrimp fishery, Hood Canal. WDFW shellfish biologist Therese Cain said opening day boat numbers were down by five percent; down by 3.1 percent in the number of pots per boat, down 7.9 percent in total number of pots; and down 15.3 percent in total number of shrimpers. But since the catch rate rose from that in 2007, Cain said the total catch for the day of 22,800 pounds was down less than 900 pounds from last year.
Springers: The North Fork Lewis (one king for every seven rods last week) is the best of the lower Columbia River tributaries now, but that’s not saying much. Success rates on the Kalama last week were one for 20.5 rods, while last year boaters were averaging a half fish per rod, and on the Cowlitz a dismal one for each 23.5 rods. Biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said the Cowlitz hatchery should have 500-plus spring chinook in the holding pond by now, but only 33 adults had returned through April.
At the mouth of the Wind River, the success rate last week was one for every 10 rods (one for 5.5 last year at this point) and at Drano Lake, one chinook for every 8.6 rods (one for three last year).
The Yakima River is open, in part (closed between Prosser and Benton City), for spring chinook, but biologist John Easterbrook in Yakima foresees the run timing as problematic for the sport fisherman. “We have a big snowpack this year, and what’s going to happen is that about the time the fish get here, it will warm up and all that snow melt will come down and blow us out.”
No chinook have been showing yet in the lower river, he said, and suggested that the Ringgold bank fishery on the Columbia, 12 or 15 miles north of Pasco on the river’s east bank, will probably be much more productive. A large run is expected back to the hatchery facility there.
Decoy Show: The 34th Northwest Decoy Show runs Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Best Western/CottonTree Convention Center, 2300 Market Street, in Mount Vernon, with a $3 admission fee. See 50 tables with 1,000-plus decoys and associated hunting items. For more information about the show and/or table reservations, contact Brett Stark, 206-963-8800; brettstark2003@yahoo.com. The CottonTree Center is just west of Riverside Drive and just south of the Skagit River bridge leading to Burlington.
Another show: Coincidentally, the Washington Brant Foundation scheduled its annual fundraising event for the same day, Saturday, at the Farmhouse Inn, La Conner (actually, alongside Highway 20, north of La Conner, between Burlington and Anacortes). Hours are 9 a.m. to noon, and it’s free and open to the public. Exhibitors can set up outside or tailgate for free, or set up inside the restaurant for $20 (call for reservation). One can sell, trade or buy any and all outdoor items except guns. It features the annual Puget Sound Open Decoy Competition, with carving entries from across the country. Judging is noon to 2 p.m., and many entries will be auctioned at 3 p.m. Live and silent auctions — bid on Hagerbaumer art, outdoor trips, gear, decoys and more.
Go to www.washingtonbrant.org, or call Ben Welton, 360-466-4749; Maynard Axelson, 360-445-6681; Jason Otto, 425-422-1648; or John Otto, 425-232-9934.
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