WANT SOMETHING TO be thankful for?
All the snow you see sitting on the ground right now should be gone by the end of the weekend.
Now that’s a relief.
Outside of perhaps the Pacific Islands, I don’t think there’s a region less adept at dealing with the white stuff than Western Washington.
It’s like Evergreen State kryptonite; a slushy scourge that forces the citizenry to recoil in fear.
Where I come from — the snowy Midwest — this stuff would’ve been salted and plowed off the roads faster than you can say, “Get dressed and go to school.”
Here, of course, the entire region shuts down Chernobyl-meltdown style.
Certainly, the snow is a bit different here. But radioactive?
Luckily, it could all be gone by Sunday.
And we can go back to what we know best: Rain . . . and lots of it.
Steelhead: hot start
Hopefully we can keep the wet stuff at a minimum.
The way winter steelhead fishing is going right now, the longer the rivers stay in shape, the better.
If things remain close to form, anglers ought to do pretty well this holiday weekend, according to Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks (360-374-6330).
“They are killing them,” Gooding said. “It’s been snotty, but the weather let up and it ain’t bad at all.
“There’s quite a few steelhead around.”
Indeed, reports of limits have spread to all corners of the North Olympic Peninsula.
The Bogachiel and Calawah, in particular, have produced a fair amount of fish during the past week.
Those two rivers are the epicenter of the West End’s hatchery steelhead run and tend to come into shape by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.
This year appears to be no different.
“I’ve had guys that said they quit counting when they were in the 20s,” Bob Aunspach of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles said.
“I talked to one customer that said they caught four limits out of the hatchery hole [on the Bogachiel].”
Added Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim:
“If I had an opportunity to go someplace for fishing, that’s where I would be. Without a doubt.”
The Bogachiel Hatchery steelhead run is the largest of its kind on the Peninsula.
Several other rivers in the area receive a hatchery run of some form or another, including the Hoh, Elwha, Lyre, Clallam, Pysht, Hoko and Sekiu.
Some of those fisheries will end after this winter, however, due to budget cuts within the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The peak for hatchery steelhead typically comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when hordes of anglers eschew those holiday shopping plans for a shot at the steelies.
This weekend is considered the unofficial kick off to the season.
“There’s fish around, a lot of people have four-day weekends, and it’s always pretty busy,” Gooding said.
Snider Creek meeting
Speaking of steelhead runs on the chopping block, the fate of the Snider Creek steelhead enhancement program could be up for grabs.
Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting concerning the broodstock at the West End Sportsmen’s Club, 243 Sportsmen’s Club Road, in Forks from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The program, first created as a joint project with the Olympic Peninsula Guides’ Association in 1986, supplements the Sol Duc River tributary
Now that the project’s 25-year contract is set to expire, Fish and Wildlife has begun the process of re-evaluating it.
Larry Scott, vice president of the guides’ association, said he believes the project is viable and wants those who value the fishery to come to the meeting and voice their opinion.
“We’re just concerned that this great resource is going to be pulled out from underneath us,” Scott said.
“We just want people to stand up and just voice their opinion that ‘Hey, I come out to catch these Sol Duc River fish’ and that it is a good program and it is working.”
The guides’ association, along with several other community members, have put in countless volunteer hours to make the program work in the past.
That includes assisting with egg takes, clipping fins (Snider Creek fish have their ventral fins clipped) and catching and delivering the wild steelhead used to produce the broodstock.
“It is working,” Scott said. “We’re all out there catching a lot of these fish.”
Public comments on the program will be taken through Dec. 15.
Comments can be submitted at the meeting, by e-mail to snidercreek@dfw.wa.gov or by U.S. Mail to: Snider Creek, 48 Devonshire Road, Montesano, WA, 98563.
Information on the program is available on Fish and Wildlife’s website at http://tinyurl.com/2uqhc33.
Elk hunting
No need to stuff yourself silly with turkey leftovers.
With hunting conditions looking up on the North Olympic Peninsula, there are elk steaks to be had.
“You couldn’t ask for better hunting as far as elk,” Aunspach in Port Angeles said.
“They are going to stick out like a sore thumb [in this snow], and you’ve got tracks to follow.
“When the snow leaves it’s going to get a little tougher, but [the cold weather] is going to shove those elk down to where they are a little more accessible.”
The late archery and muzzleloader elk seasons kicked off Wednesday in select Peninsula Game Management Units (GMUs)
Aunspach came across a success story that morning — a three-point taken out of the Clearwater.
Hunters also took down a few bucks during the modern rifle deer season last weekend.
Whether that will transfer over to the late archery and muzzleloader deer seasons — both of which started earlier this week as well — is anyone’s guess.
Getting crabby
Crabbing continues to be hit or miss around the Peninsula.
While good reports have surfaced out of Hood Canal, Port Angeles and Dungeness Bay, few will come out and say it’s hot.
“They just kill them one day and the next day nothing,” Aunspach said.
The good news: “The crab have been big for the ones they are getting,” Aunspach said.
Crabbing is open seven days a week inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) and 12 (Hood Canal).
The entire area will close after Jan. 2.
Also . . .
• Thanks to our recent snow storms, ski season could be just around the corner at Hurricane Ridge.
The rope tows and Poma lift may operate as early as Dec. 12 on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays.
The amount of snow accumulation atop the Ridge often determines how early things get up and running.
Typically, organized winter sports activities don’t begin until sometime after Christmas.
• Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters in Port Angeles plans to hold a spey casting class on the Hoh River, water levels permitting, at 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 5.
Instruction will be geared toward beginner and intermediate spey casters.
Rods, reels and lines will be provided. Steelhead fishing techniques will be covered as well.
Cost is $95. To sign up, contact Waters West at 360-417-0937.
• Fish and Wildlife will conduct a public survey to help assess the agency’s Enforcement Program through the end of 2010.
The survey, available on Fish and Wildlife’s website at http://tinyurl.com/23weqw8, consists of about 20 questions concerning the program’s performance in the field.
It takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Those who would like the survey mailed or faxed to them should contact Jonathan Neville at 360-902-8358 or e-mail jonathan.neville@dfw.wa.gov.
• Washington Trails Association will hold a volunteer appreciation party at the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 State Highway 101, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5.
Food and refreshments will be provided. To register, visit www.wta.org.
• Dungeness River Audubon Center will warm up for its annual Christmas Bird Count with a trip around Dungeness Valley on Saturday, Dec. 11, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A group will meet at Railroad Bridge Park to view birds of the forests before heading to Dungeness Landing Park at noon to view saltwater birds.
• The Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby — formerly known as the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby — hits the eastern Strait on Presidents Day Weekend, Feb. 19-21.
The derby will span 500 square miles of fishing, with launch ramps and weight stations in Freshwater Bay, Port Angeles, Sequim, Gardiner and Port Townsend.
First prize wins $10,000. Tickets cost $40 and will go on sale the first week of January at numerous area merchants.
For more information, visit www.GardinerSalmonDerby.org.
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.
