ANGLERS HAVE TO ask themselves a question this weekend.
How much do I really need a steelhead?
If it’s enough to risk your life, rig and drift boat, then have at it, hoss.
Otherwise, Bob Aunspach of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles has some advice for you: “Stay home and watch some playoff football.”
As much as it pains me to say it, you might have a better time watching hated New England quarterback Tom Brady than drifting the rivers of the West End this weekend.
It’s either going to be cold or terribly wet. It could even be both.
The weatherman doesn’t seem to know these days.
If the latter is the case, expect rivers to be blown out in epic proportions.
If it’s the former, than the rivers will be in decent shape . . . it’s just your will to live that might take a hit.
“Fishing in the snow is fun, it’s really neat. It’s pretty as can be, but boy it’s pretty chilly out there,” Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks said.
“It’s not a lot of fun to be sitting out there freezing your butt off.
“More than anything, you can’t tie a knot because your hands are freezing. If the wind is blowing at all, it’s just unbearably cold. If you are catching a fish a minute, it isn’t fun.”
All of that being said, there should be plenty of steelhead around.
Snider Creek broodstock have been entering the Sol Duc River the past few weeks, and now is about the time that the native population begins to grow throughout the West End.
That includes the Hoh and Calawah rivers as well.
The Bogachiel River was beginning to tail off before Mother Nature got all blustery, but there’s still likely a fair number of hatchery fish swimming around that stream as well.
As long as things don’t get blown out — a distinct possibility — any of those rivers would certainly be fishable this weekend.
“If it warms up and rains, [the rivers] aren’t going to come up a couple of feet, they are going to come up 20 feet in two hours,” Gooding said.
Saltwater still
Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) officially opened to blackmouth fishing Monday.
Good luck finding more than a small handful of people who have actually participated in the fishery thus far.
Jerry Johnson of Puget Sound Anglers-East Jefferson Chapter has yet to get out on the water, and hasn’t heard of anyone else dropping a line in the salt, either.
“It’s been pretty quiet,” Johnson said. “If it clears up . . . somebody might break out and go out there. Right now, I don’t know of any activity at all.”
On another PSA note, this week’s extreme winter weather also led to the postponement of the North Olympic Peninsula Chapter’s annual fundraiser, originally set for Thursday in Sequim.
Former chapter president Mike Schmidt said a makeup date has yet to be set, but there is a chance the event will be moved to the third Thursday in February.
The fundraiser benefits the Olympic Peninsula Kids Fishing Program, which includes Kids Fishing Day at the reclamation pond near Carrie Blake Park in Sequim.
The free fishing day is set for Saturday, May 19, this year. The pond is stocked with 1,500 trout, some of which weigh as much as five pounds.
For more information on the events, contact Herb Prins at 360-582-0836.
Ridge return
Sometimes Jack Frost doesn’t know when to say when.
Take this week for example. We’re begging for snow, then the sardonic little snot decides to dump on us Snowpocalypse style.
Now, it’s not having enough snow that’s the problem. It’s having too much below Hurricane Ridge.
Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club President Lori Lynn Gray said this weekend’s planned ski and snowboard school opener will be postponed another week due to inclement weather.
With some of the ski school’s students possibly stuck in their own neighborhoods, it didn’t make much sense to begin things Saturday and Sunday.
“People are having trouble getting out of their driveways,” Gray said Thursday afternoon.
“I just think it would be safest to postpone it for a weekend. It will be fine, we’ll just start the weekend after this. The Ridge will be open, just no ski school.”
The Ridge actually opened to organized ski activities for the first time this past holiday Monday.
Enough snow fell over the weekend for mountain manager Craig Hofer to get things into place on the intermediate and bunny slopes.
Obviously, some extra powder has been thrown into the mix. Hofer said he plans on getting things up and running once again Saturday.
As for the Poma lift, it’s probably going to take another two or three feet of snow before Hofer can get that going.
See Page B1 of today’s PDN for more information on winter sports activities at the Ridge.
For information on skiing and snowboarding, visit hurricaneridge.com.
Hunter Education
Prospective hunters have plenty of opportunities to enroll in mandatory Hunter Education courses this fall and spring.
The class is required for any new hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1972. Here are some of the classes offered on the Peninsula:
■ A total of five separate Hunter Education courses will be taught at Port Angeles Veteran’s Center, 216 S. Francis St., this year.
The five-session courses begin on Feb. 7, March 6, May 1, June 5 and Aug. 8.
Each in-class session starts at 5:30 p.m. A separate field class scheduled at the end of the course.
For more information, email pahuntered@gmail.com.
■ Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association will host a Hunter Education class the week of Feb. 27 through March 3.
Each session will meet from 6-9 p.m. during the weekdays at the Association’s club at 112 Gun Club Road in Port Townsend.
The Saturday class begins at 10 a.m.
For more information, contact Riley Brazil 360-774-0429, Rick Olson at 360-765-3947 or Mark Castillo at 360-732-4402.
To enroll in either course, visit http://tinyurl.com/23p4b5o.
Also . . .
■ Clammers armed with studded tires and a sense of adventure can make the journey down to four ocean beaches for razor clam digs today and Saturday.
Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks all open to afternoon digging both days.
Luckily, the shortest trip of the four — Mocrocks — also happens to be the most productive beach this season.
The National Park Service last week announced plans to open Kalaloch Beach for a razor clam dig April 7-9.
■ Brian’s Sports Goods and More will host a free river steelhead fishing clinic on successive Tuesday nights, beginning Jan. 24.
Each session will go from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Sequim shop located at 542 W. Washington St.
To register for the class, contact Brian’s Sporting Goods at 360-683-1950.
■ Admiralty Audubon’s Paula Vanderhuel will lead a birding trip through Chimacum Creek Park and Estuary this Saturday at 9 a.m.
A group will meet at Chimacum Creek in Irondale, then head out into the field to view the various birds of the area.
To register for the trip, contact Vanderhuel at pvanderheul@gmail.com.
■ Ken Wiersema will lead a class titled “Corvids in Winter” focusing on the lives of crows, ravens and jays at Dungeness River Audubon Center on Saturday, Jan. 28.
The class will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the River Center, located at 2151 Hendrickson Road in Sequim. Cost is $10 per person.
To register for the class, contact the River Center at 360-681-4076.
■ Crabbers have until Feb. 1 to report their winter harvest to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
To submit catch reports, crabbers can send catch record cards to Fish and Wildlife by mail or file on a special webpage.
The mailing address is WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091. The online reporting system can be found at http://tinyurl.com/yhjxf79.
Send photos, stories
Want your event listed in the outdoors column?
Have a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique, why not share it with our readers?
Send it to me, Matt Schubert, Sports Department, Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362; phone, 360-417-3526; fax, 360-417-3521; email matt.schubert
@peninsuladailynews.com.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays.