Where in the world is TJ Nelson?
Snohomish County’s own sportfishing celeb was last seen in Sitka, catching kings. Or was it down in Tillamook Bay, catching kings. Or was it riding off toward Possession Bar aboard his faithful Big Red, hoping to catch a chinook, a coho and a chum for a single-day grand slam?
Hard to keep up with the Lake Stevens resident, entrepreneur par excellence, charismatic radio talk show host and University of Washington School of Fisheries grad. But wherever he is, it will no longer be aboard Big Red. He sold the hard-to-miss, 25-foot, salmon catching machine and will reappear in a fresh out of the box 28-foot Weldcraft from Master Marine in Mount Vernon.
“A lot more deck room,” Nelson said, “and we added 100 more horses. This boat should pass everything but the gas dock.”
Nelson said he plans to debut his new boat at the Resurrection Derby, Dec. 6-7, in Friday Harbor. The derby, which draws movers and shakers in the north Sound saltwater fishing community, is a team event with a 100-boat limit at an entry fee of $400 per team. Go to resurrectionderby.com for more information.
“The event is a kick in the butt and, with top rods coming down from Canada to compete with ours for the $10,000 first-place cash, it’s the place to be in early December,” Nelson said. “If you dropped a bomb on that skipper’s meeting, you’d wipe out three-quarters of the best salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest.”
Nelson also has another debut ahead. Starting after the first of the year, he’ll host a television outdoor show on Root Sports called ProGuide Outdoors. The show will involve well-known athletes on fishing and hunting trips, and you’ll be surprised at some of the names of ballplayers with outdoor expertise.
And no, Nelson has no plans to fold The Outdoor Line in favor of TV.
Local saltwater
The local winter blackmouth season has started off very well, according to Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood. He said one customer has been out five times and come back with five limits, fishing the edges of Possession Bar, right on the bottom in 150 feet of water.
“The blackmouth have been running 7 to 11 pounds or so,” Chamberlain said. “He’s been fishing No. 632 Tomic plugs, a glow green with black scale pattern.”
Most serious blackmouth fishermen are still hitting the occasional chum and coho, Chamberlain said, but it looks like most of the chum run is heading toward south Sound now. Predictions by state salmon managers was for a weak chum year, and they decided area rivers would not open for dog salmon.
Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington, who also is vice president of the Fidalgo-San Juan Islands Chapter of Puget Sound Anglers, said the islands (marine areas 6 and 7) are closed until the Dec. 1 general blackmouth opener. However, he added, there have been pretty good reports from Possession Bar and Double Bluff in Area 9, and at least fair fishing in Area 8, around Rocky Point/Maple Grove, and Camano Head.
Chamberlain said local crabbing has been fair for those willing to cover water and search out areas that haven’t been hit too hard previously. “If you start getting females and undersize males, move,” he said.
Skagit River
There’s good fishing for coho (closed to chum retention) in the Lyman area and from the pipeline down to the steelhead club. Try Brad’s Wigglers, or No. 4 or 5 Vibrax spinners in blue or watermelon. Hardcore spoon fishermen have also been finding fish in the lower river, from I-5 to the Memorial Hwy Bridge, tossing the standard No. 1 Dick Nite in 50/50, or the chrome Billy Bee’s.
Waterfowl
Kevin John and Anthon Steen made a duck hunting run last week to the lower North Fork Skagit, below Blake’s, and while they didn’t find a ton of ducks yet, there were enough widgeon in the area to keep things interesting. Conditions weren’t ideal, with the lack of wind, but fog kept most of the birds low.
John also said there’s “a pile ” of snow geese around the area, from Bow to Fir Island, including a good percentage of “uneducated” birds.
Methow steelhead
Word from the Methow is that steelheading is only fair, at best, and that the bulk of the fish are wild. That was the prediction earlier this year from state biologists, who warned an early closure could be in the works because of incidental mortality of wild stock steelhead.
Rumors have it that fishing will close in a couple of weeks.
Squid
The Edmonds fishing pier offers squid jigging now, some nights have been pretty good.
East Coast moose
If you’ve ever driven in New England, you’ve noticed the road signs warning of moose crossings, and other warnings listing the appalling number of moose killed on the roads each year and the human fatalities as well. It’s a serious problem in some areas, particularly in parts of Maine.
So it’s interesting to see this year’s moose hunting results from Vermont, where an archery season ran Oct. 1-7, and a regular season Oct. 19-24. The Outdoor Wire reported a preliminary count showed 50 archers taking 23 moose, and 362 regular-season hunters with 197 animals.
Vermont’s first modern moose season was held in 1993, when 30 permits were issued and 25 moose harvested.
Report injured swans
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has re-established a hotline to report dead, sick or injured swans in three counties as part of its ongoing effort to assess the impact of lead poisoning on trumpeter swans.
People can call 360-466-4345, ext. 266, to report affected swans in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties. Callers should be prepaared to leave a message including name and phone number, and the location and condition of the swan(s). The hotline is available 24 hours through the end of March.
Some trumpeter swans in the three counties, and in southwestern British Columbia, die each winter from lead poisoning after ingesting lead shot in areas where they feed.
Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting in the area for more than a decade, but swans can still pick up and ingest lead shot while foraging in shallow underwater areas in fields and roosts where lead shot is still present.
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