ONE OF THE more glamorous events on the Outdoors calendar is coming up later this month, the annual Kids Fishing Day fundraiser hosted by the North Olympic Peninsula chapter of Puget Sound Anglers.
The event will be held at Sunland Golf and Country Club in Sequim on Feb. 22, with doors opening at 4:30 p.m.
Guests can mingle and bid on silent auction items until dinner is served at 5:30 p.m. A live auction featuring auctioneer and club member John Beath will begin at 7 p.m.
Auction items include all manner of fishing trips on the salt or in freshwater — salmon, steelhead, halibut, ling cod, rockfish or even shrimping.
The buffet pasta dinner features spaghetti with red sauce (with meat) or Alfredo clam sauce, Caesar salad, garlic bread and dessert.
Tickets are $25 and seats are limited to 180 attendees.
To purchase tickets, email Sherry Anderson at sherryandangus@olypen.com or call 360-681-4768.
Puget Sound Anglers’ mission is to organize and fund educational events and learning that promote stewardship, conservation, camaraderie, safety and enjoyment of local fisheries.
This fundraiser checks all those boxes by supporting the club’s Kids Fishing Day and kids fall fishing at Carrie Blake Park, scholarships for area students, Dungeness Fish Hatchery operations, the Crab Fest Grab-a-Crab Derby and Salmon in the Classroom in conjunction with the Dungeness River Audubon Center.
The 2020 Kids Fishing Day will be April 11.
Wolves in Washington talk
Julia Smith, wolf coordinator with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, will speak at Tuesday’s Olympic National Park Perspectives Series.
The talk will be held at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., at 7 p.m.
Smith will provide the history of wolves in our state, discuss wolf biology and natural history, provide information about the department’s conservation and management of wolves, delve into resource for coexisting with wolves and hold a question and answer session.
Since 2008, the state’s wolf population has grown by an average of 28 percent per year — putting the species on a path to recovery.
Fish and Wildlife even confirmed a wolf living in Western Washington in 2019.
The free series is sponsored by Olympic National Park, the Friends of Olympic National Park and the North Olympic Library System.
Razors in the rain
Razor clam diggers can return to ocean beaches for seven days of digging beginning Thursday.
State shellfish managers with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife approved a dig on evening low tides after marine toxin tests showed the clams are safe to eat.
The approved dig is for the following beaches, dates and low tides:
• Today: 4:40 p.m. -0.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks.
• Friday: 5:26 p.m. -0.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.
• Saturday: 6:09 p.m. -1.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks.
• Sunday: 6:51 p.m. -1.4 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.
• Monday: 7:32 p.m. -1.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks
• Tuesday: 8:13 pm -0.8 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis
• Wednesday: 8:55 pm -0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Salmon derby tickets
Tickets for the 2020 Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby are on sale online and at area retailers.
A $10,000 first prize is awarded to the winner.
The derby itself will run Friday through Sunday, March 13-15.
A post-derby barbecue is traditionally held Sunday along with an awards ceremony at the Gardiner Boat Ramp.
Clinton’s Mark Thompson bagged the winning blackmouth in 2019, a 19.35-pounder that he caught on the derby’s first day.
Tickets are $40 at retailers and are available on the North Olympic Peninsula at Swain’s in Port Angeles; Brian’s Sporting Goods in Sequim; the Longhouse Market and Deli in Blyn; Four Corners Store, the Fish ‘N’ Hole and Quimper Mercantile in Port Townsend and Olympic Equipment Rentals in Port Hadlock.
Online at gardinersalmonderby.org, tickets are $44 per person.
Proceeds go toward the nonprofit Gardiner Salmon Derby Association, which supports scholarships for college-bound students and community and emergency services.
Murray’s (Geoduck) Derby
Tickets are on sale for the 38th annual Geoduck (Murray) Salmon Derby on Hood Canal on March 7-8.
The blackmouth derby is $15 per angler and tickets can be purchased at the Geoduck Restaurant and Lounge along U.S. Highway 101 in Brinnon or at the Brinnon General Store.
Top prize is $1,500, with multiple other prizes up for grabs.
The derby wraps up that Sunday afternoon at the Geoduck Restaurant and Lounge along U.S. Highway 101 in Brinnon.
For more information, call the Geoduck at 360-796-4430.
