As is often the case, brisk winds messed with two salmon derbies held in the San Juan Islands over the weekend. It blew pretty good on Friday, according to Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington. That kept a lot of derby hopefuls on the beach for the first day of the two-day Friday Harbor Salmon Classic (Dec. 2-3) along with those who wanted to do some test fishing to locate bait and blackmouth for the Resurrection Derby (Dec. 3-4).
The Islands offer a lot of water protected from the wind, however. John said most participants “found a couple of spots to duck into,” and the two events pretty much went off without a hitch.
Jim Lawson of Hawg Heaven Charters said the Friday Harbor derby drew 295 anglers and weighed 194 chinook. That’s a .658 batting average, and most salmon fishermen would take that any day.
“Fishing was way better this year than last,” Lawson, the derby organizer, said, “and when the wind slowed down, the weather was better, too.”
Mike McAuley won the derby and the $15,000 first prize with a fish of 18.06 pounds taken on Parker Reef on a Silver Horde spoon. Second and $5,000 went to Shannon Franks, at 13.11 pounds; and third, worth $2,500, went to Randy Carr, at 12.91 pounds. Lawson said the derby also donated $10,00 to the Salmon for Soldiers program, which takes wounded warriors on fishing trips.
The blackmouth were scattered widely through the Islands. “You could go anywhere and catch fish,” said Lawson, who noted Spring Pass was as good a prospect as any.
The Anacortes-based Resurrection Derby, sponsored by the Fidalgo Chapter of the Puget Sound Anglers, was won by Chris Tawes, with a 14.22-pound chinook. Second went to David Parsons, at 11.4 pounds; third to Corey Coleman, at 10.88; and fourth to Kent Hawley, at 9.48 pounds. Making the point that the fish were not as large as those caught last year in the Islands was a comparison with the first-place fish in 2015 of 19.6 pounds, caught by Ryan Kies. The 10th-place blackmouth this year weighed 8.9 pounds, caught by Kyle Butterfield, while the comparable entry last year weighed 11.22 pounds.
Kevin John said there appears to be a pretty good blackmouth population in Marine Area 7, although anglers are hooking quite a few small fish as well as a fair number of chinook with “one fin too many,” unclipped wild-stock blackmouth that must be released.
Fishing has been good all the way up Rosario Strait since the Dec. 1 opening, John said, from Lopez Flats to Eagle Bluff and beyond. When the weather allows, John said, action can be very good on Salmon Bank and other banks “outside” the Islands.
John said the relatively new one-chinook limit was imposed by the state, hoping to stretch out the winter season. Public input indicated most San Juan Island anglers would rather do it that way than cut the season short with a two-blackmouth limit.
River closures
The only section of the North Fork Stillaguamish open to fishing in January (closes Feb. 1) will be from French Creek upstream to the Swede Heaven Bridge, allowing fishermen to catch remaining summer-run steelhead. The remainder of the North Fork closes Dec. 5 through Jan. 31, along with the main Stilly, the South Fork to Granite Falls, Canyon Creek and Pilchuck Creek.
The reason given by the state for the closure is that the Whitehorse Hatchery is expecting a very low return of early hatchery winter steelhead this year. There were no hatchery releases of smolt in 2014 or 2015, and all returning hatchery winters will be needed as broodstock.
The same scenario is true of the Snoqualmie system, which closes to fishing Dec 16 through Feb. 15: the main river to the falls; the Raging to the Highway 18 bridge; the Tolt to the forks confluence; and Tokul Creek to the hatchery intake.
Clam beach
A good clam beach north of us has opened to year-around digging after state Health Department officials determined water quality had improved enough to warrant a change from seasonal closures. Called “Drayton West” by the state, the beach is part of Semiahmoo County Park in Whatcom County. It’s on the inside of Semiahmoo Spit, the west side of Drayton Harbor, and offers toilets and ample parking.
According to state shellfish managers, the beach offers better than average digging for Manilla clams, native littlenecks and butter clams, along with cockles and varnish clams, and probably horse clams. Most of the digging occurs toward the north end of Drayton West, but stay south of the Semiahmoo Resort and Marina, where digging is closed because of water pollution.
From the south on I-5, take exit 274 and continue west on Peace Portal Way. Turn left at SR 548 (S. Bell Road), turn right at Drayton Road and continue on to Drayton Harbor Road. Turn right onto Semiahmoo Parkway.
For a map and further information, visit www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish and click on “Public clam and oyster beaches.”
Fishing regs
A public meeting of the state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Dec. 9-10 in Olympia will consider proposed options for implementing the state’s reform policy on Columbia River salmon management.
If that makes your eyes glaze over, perhaps a more interesting discussion will cover a proposal to require all vessels fishing for bottomfish or halibut in Puget Sound to carry a descending device that allows anglers to safely return rockfish to deep water.
Sol Duc coho
Salmon retention on the Sol Duc River is scheduled to end Nov. 30, but a new regulation extends the harvest of hatchery coho through Dec. 15. Coho broodstock needs at the Sol Duc Hatchery have been met and there are still a lot of hatchery coho below the hatchery.
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