IT TAKES MORE than a little wind to cure flatty fever.
Anglers were undeterred by slightly gusty conditions last Saturday, hitting the Strait of Juan de Fuca in droves for halibut openers in Marine Areas 6 (eastern Strait) and 9 (Admiralty).
And early returns, including word of another productive day on Thursday, point toward a fantastic fishery . . . however abbreviated it might be.
Creel checks this past Saturday had 149 boats bringing 118 halibut to the docks; good numbers considering the sort of crowd one gets on an opening day (i.e. yahoos aplenty).
Those figures just might have held steady Thursday as well, according to Ryan Gedlund of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles.
With just 11 more days of halibut fishing left in the season — certainly a big motivator for the masses to get fishing — let’s hope so.
“It’s nuttier than a squirrel shed,” Gedlund said. “There’s lots of tackle flying out of here.
“I’ve heard of lots of 20- to 50-pounders caught. They were getting fish in just about all of the normal spots.
“[Swain’s manager] Bob Aunspach’s son-in-law caught a 38-[pounder] this morning, and they got it just right out off Port Angeles. They actually got two to the boat.”
The story is pretty much the same across the Strait: lots of chicken halibut mixed in with the occasional bruiser.
Rumor has it one particular angler hooked into a 160-pounder off Dallas Bank on Saturday. There was word of another 80-pound beast near Port Angeles.
For some reason nobody wanted to confirm.
Go figure.
“It’s been pretty good,” said Randy Jones of Venture Charters (360-895-5424), who fished Dungeness Bar both days.
“I haven’t heard of a whole lot of really big ones. There’s a lot of 25- and 30-[pound fish] out there. But hey, that’s all good.”
This weekend’s tides should make for some prime-time fishing in both areas.
That won’t be the case next week, when Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) join the flatty foray.
LaPush and Neah Bay waters both open May 13, and will reopen each Thursday and Saturday through May 22.
If enough quota remains, the fishery will reopen June 3 and 5.
Areas 6 and 9 are open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through May 30.
The exception will be Memorial Day when both areas open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the Port Angeles Salmon Club’s annual halibut derby.
Shrimp news
Two days of recreational shrimping in Hood Canal proved it.
The Peninsula’s favorite fjord is full of cantankerous crustaceans with an insatiable cat-food fix.
Shrimpers pulled in an average of 4.4 pounds per pot during the Saturday and Wednesday openers on the Canal.
That’s the second-best start in the last seven years, trumped only by the 2006 season (which lasted just four days).
On Saturday alone, 65 percent of Hood Canal shrimpers got limits, according to state Puget Sound shrimp management biologist Mark O’Toole.
“The percent of limits was kind of remarkable,” said O’Toole, who noted Canal harvesters got approximately 15 shrimp per pound.
“[The minus tide Saturday] did affect the catches in some other areas. When the pots are moving around, you’re not catching anything. But it was still good in the Canal.
“There’s just a good abundance there this year.”
Shrimping wasn’t nearly as productive in Discovery Bay, where spot shrimp harvesting opened for the first time in five years last Saturday.
“Things were not real good on Saturday,” O’Toole said. “The catch per boat was fairly poor [approximately 6.5 pounds], and the shrimp were very small [about 20 per pound].”
“Not a whole lot of ‘adult’-sized shrimp around.”
Hood Canal will get two more openers Saturday and next Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
More dates will be added if additional quota remains, although I wouldn’t hold out a whole lot of hope for another Saturday harvest.
“Unless things change, if we get an extra day it probably won’t be a Saturday, it will likely be a Wednesday,” O’Toole said.
Kalaloch clams
The last of the razor clam dates are here.
As was expected, that doesn’t include more dates at Kalaloch Beach inside Olympic National Park.
The reason, according to park coastal ecologist Steve Fradkin, has nothing to do with clam populations, but rather a lack of available enforcement personnel.
“Historically, we’ve never been able to host a dig further into May,” Fradkin said. “Now that we’re getting to the summer season, our ranger staff is really spread thin in a variety of ways.”
Obviously, not everyone is happy about that.
Said West End photographer and accomplished clammer, Lonnie Archibald, “That’s a load of [bovine manure].
“Write that up in your column.”
Clammers did well during last weekend’s digs at Kalaloch, averaging approximately 10 clams per person on Sunday.
Park officials must wait until their annual July stock assessment until they can get a complete picture of the relative health of Kalaloch’s razor clam populations.
“It will be interesting to see what the stock assessment shows,” Fradkin said. “Anecdotally, it appears as though maybe some of the densities have decreased a little bit.”
Added Fradkin, “It’s still a healthy population. It’s not like what it has been in past years where we’ve had a very low population.”
Long Beach and Twin Harbors are expected to open to morning digs May 15-16, pending marine toxin tests.
Copalis and Mocrocks will open May 15 only.
For more information on coastal razor clamming, visit http://tinyurl.com/oyekj.
Freshwater fishing
The Anderson Lake closure watch hits two weeks this Saturday.
Surely, little microbes of blue-green algae are conspiring to end trout fishing season at the popular lake sometime soon.
In the meantime, anglers continue to catch trophy rainbow trout at a decent rate, using everything from power bait to a trolled woolly bugger.
“There were some nice fish taken . . . 21- to 22-inch fish,” Brian Menkal of Swain’s Outdoor (360-385-1313) in Port Townsend said. “The carry overs are working.”
A few other notes on the freshwater scene:
• Anglers are running into some nice-sized springers on the Sol Duc, according to Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks.
• Lake Sutherland received 3,000 more catchable rainbows Monday, putting the season total at 10,000.
Lake Wentworth is sure to get the leftovers from the Forks Kids Fishing Derby any day now.
• A reader, Charles Simis of Nordland, responded to my inane rant on lake names (remember: Lake Name versus Name Lake).
“There is a fairly simple answer to your lakes names query that has a scientific/educational basis:
“Lakes that were formed and existed before the last glacial period were named with the lake first, and lakes that were post-glacial were named with the lake last.
“Some lakes have two names, [for example] Great Salt Lake for the post-glacial lake, and Lake Bonneville for the pre-glacial lake. Locally, we have Lake Crescent [pre] and Anderson Lake [post].”
So there you go: Thoughtful, educated writing.
A rarity for this column.
Also . . .
• Hunters can now purchase special-permit applications for the 2010 season.
The application forms are posted on Fish and Wildlife’s Web site (http://tinyurl.com/2bk2j46) and are also available at license vendors around the state. Hunters must return their applications by May 26 to be eligible.
All completed applications must be submitted via a toll-free telephone number (1-877-945-3492) or on-line (http://tinyurl.com/24sfw5a).
• The North Olympic Peninsula chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association will hold its second meeting in Sequim on Thursday night.
The recreational angler advocacy group will meet the second Thursday of each month at the Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 South Blake Ave., starting at 6:30 p.m.
To learn more about the CCA, visit www.joincca.org.
• Troy Hatler will talk about “Palapas Ventura” fishing resort in Mexico during the Puget Sound Anglers-East Jefferson Chapter monthly meeting Tuesday.
There will also be a raffle and refreshments at the gathering, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Marina Room at Hudson Point Marina in Port Townsend.
• Peninsula Sierra Club member Norm Baker will talk about restoring depressed Puget Sound rockfish populations at the Puget Sound Anglers-North Olympic Peninsula chapter’s monthly meeting in Sequim on May 20.
Baker will explore the state’s ecosystem-based management plan and how it could help save rockfish in our local waters.
The meeting begins at 6:45 p.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., in Sequim.
• The Peninsula Friends of NRA will hold its third annual banquet and auction at Vern Burton Community Center, 308 W. 4th St., in Port Angeles on Saturday.
The doors open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. and the auction to follow.
For reservations, contact Mike Stenger via phone (360-457-7205) or e-mail (cg_aviator@wavecable.com).
• Admiralty Audubon’s Ron Sikes and Jill Silver will lead a “Home Landscape Wildlife Habitat Tour” this Saturday on the Quimper Peninsula.
The tour will take participants to a handful of backyard habitats designed to foster wildlife, with a group meeting at 9 a.m. at the North Beach parking lot.
To register for the trip, contact Sikes at 360-385-0307 or Silver at 360-385-4518.
• Puget Sound Anglers-North Olympic Peninsula Chapter will holds its annual Kids Fishing Day at the Sequim reclamation ponds next Friday.
The free fishing event will run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the ponds, located just north of Carrie Blake Park. It is open to children 14 years old and younger.
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; e-mail 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.