ANGLERS CAN ACTUALLY get a free lunch this weekend.
The return of Free Fishing Weekend, set for Saturday and Sunday, gives anglers a chance to patrol waters throughout the state without a license.
Of course, you still have to buy all the gear, bait, rods, etc.
But hey, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife can only do so much.
Given the current economic climate — several state hatcheries will see cuts in its budgets this year — I suppose you have to take what you can get.
Coastal halibut
Marine Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) can expect a conga line of boat trailers to head its way this weekend.
With the Hood Canal Bridge back in action and both areas open to halibut fishing on Saturday, people will come.
They’ll show up to the North Olympic Peninsula for reasons they can’t even fathom.
They’ll pull their rigs up to the boat launch, not knowing for sure why they are doing it. They’ll arrive at the Garbage Dump as innocent as children, longing for a tug on their cut plug herring.
“Of course, we won’t mind if you throw out a line,” state department of Fish and Wildlife officials will say. “It’s Free Fishing Weekend . . . although you still have to moorage.”
They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and frozen flatty fillets they lack.
Ohhhhh, people will come, Peninsulites.
People will most definitely come.
Some fish?
Hopefully the flatties will be there to greet them.
Fishing was a bit quiet during this Thursday’s halibut opener in Area 4.
The largest fish submitted to Big Salmon Resort’s halibut derby ladder by mid-afternoon was a 67-pounder. Not exactly what one would expect from perhaps the most productive flatty fishery in the state.
“It’s kind of a slow takeoff on weigh-ins, but it’s still early,” Big Salmon’s Joe Lawrence said, adding that the derby ends at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“It looked to me like we still had half the anglers out [around 3 p.m.], so they were putting in a long day.”
They might have been chasing after lingcod.
The less sought-after white fish have been tugging at lines in Area 4 at a steady clip this season. Now if only the halibut would play along as well.
“The deep sea lingcod on the halibut days have been going well,” Lawrence said.
“It seems like a lot of guys have been trying to go out toward Swiftsure [Bank] and Blue Dot area because they’re getting some lingcod mixed in with their halibut there. They get a little bit more variety at those two spots.”
Things were a bit more vibrant down south in Area 3 on Thursday, according to Randy Lato of All-Ways Fishing (360-374-2052) in Forks
“The fish are showing a little size to them now,” he said. “Everything was over 40 pounds today [in my boat].
“Not everybody had that kind of size, but it wasn’t unusual to have that.”
Both areas close to halibut fishing after Saturday’s opener.
If there is additional quota remaining, the fishery will reopen June 18.
Strait halibut
Quota or not, halibut season in Areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet) will come to a close after today.
I’ll go ahead and say it’s been a good run.
While the total numbers of fish caught haven’t been through the roof, there have been quite a few monsters brought in during the past two months, including a pair of 200-plus-pound halibut caught near Protection Island.
And if Thursday’s fishing was any indication, the season won’t go out like a lamb either.
“There’s been a fair amount of halibut caught today,” Ryan Gedlund of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles said.
“We weighed a 76- and a 46-[pound] halibut. And I think there was a number of people that just didn’t bring anything in because it’s so close to the end of the season.”
Area 5 (Sekiu) should be a nice option for anglers that don’t got their fill today.
The western Strait fishery remains open to halibut fishing through July 3 on Thursdays through Mondays.
And Donalynn Olson at Olson’s Resort (360-963-2311) in Sekiu said the fishing has been decent out in front of Clallam Bay.
“Most are between 15 and 30 pounds,” she said. “Every once in a while a 50-[pounder] will come in, but nothing huge. The weather, the water, and the fishing. . . it’s all good.”
River opener
Several Peninsula rivers reopen to fishing this Saturday as part of the state-wide river opener.
Here’s guessing that the Bogachiel and Calawah will see the most action when things get started. Both rivers are prime territory for early-arriving summer steelhead.
“A couple of weeks ago there were probably 20 of them [down at the Calawah Ponds],” Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks said. “Hopefully there are more by now.”
Even if there are, the fishing doesn’t promise to be easy.
Most of the rivers out west are running low and clear under these warm, sunny skies. That makes hooking any fish, including those finicky spring chinook, much harder.
“There’s a fish here and there [on the Sol Duc], but those salmon in this stuff are not going to bite plain and simple,” Gooding said.
Brian Menkal of Swain’s Outdoor (360-385-1313) in Port Townsend said he’ll likely make a trip to the Calawah this weekend. But he isn’t expecting to knock ’em dead.
“The early [summer steelhead] are the hardest ones to catch because they are so fresh and the water is so low,” he said. “But you’ve got to do it.”
Rule change
Anglers won’t have an option with the upper Dungeness River this weekend.
A portion of the river will be the subject of a rule change that goes into effect during Saturday’s opener.
Everything upstream of Gold Creek will now be catch-and-release for all game fish, and subject to selective gear restrictions.
Up to two hatchery steelhead can be retained below the Dungeness Forks Campground (good luck on that). The waters between the campground and Gold Creek remain closed.
The rule change was made to protect wild summer steelhead, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, from incidental fishing mortality.
Tidal wave
Hood Canal shellfish will be exposed for what they are this weekend . . . shellfish.
Another set of minus low tides should make for some decent clam and oyster harvesting on the eastern Peninsula.
Among the beaches worth a gander (translation: open and not containing shellfish that will make you sick) are Bolton Peninsula, East Dabob and West Quilcene Bay (mostly oysters). The following are the prime low tides this week:
• Saturday — -1.77 feet at 10:53 a.m.
• Sunday — -1.93 feet at 11:28 a.m.
• Monday — -1.95 feet at 12:03 p.m.
• Tuesday — -1.82 feet at 12:38 p.m.
For information on beach openings, visit http://www.doh.wa.gov/, and click on “Shellfish” under the heading “Beach closures.”
Also . . .
• Lake Crescent opened to mixed reviews this week.
I only say that because I didn’t see a fish or get a bite in two hours of late afternoon fishing on the northeast side of the lake on Tuesday. So take it for what it’s worth.
• Olympic National Park will begin its summer program June 26.
The weekly schedule, which remains the same through Sept. 6, includes numerous ranger-led walks through various parts of the park as well as several special presentations.
To get a complete listing, stop by one of the park’s visitor centers and pick up a copy of the OlympicBugler.
• Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) reopened to recreational coonstripe and pink shrimp fishing, with a 150-foot maximum fishing depth restriction, on Monday.
The spot shrimp fishery in those waters, as well as in Area 12 (Hood Canal), closed last month.
• Clallam County’s Streamkeepers will begin training new volunteers to collect stream health data, perform data entry and analysis and conduct education and outreach.
Free training begins on June 22. No previous experience is required.
For more information, contact Streamkeepers at 360-417-2281 or streamkeepers@co.clallam.wa.us.
• The East Jefferson chapter of Puget Sound Anglers will hold its monthly meeting at the Marina Room in the Hudson Point complex in Port Townsend on Tuesday.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m.
• As was mentioned in Thursday’s outdoors column, the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association and Clallam County Family YMCA will begin offering on-water rowing lessons inside Port Angeles Harbor on Saturday.
The lessons will run in five-week sessions on successive Saturdays, except for July 4, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Men and women ages 16 and older are welcome to participate. The program costs $60 for YMCA members and $120 for non-members.
For more information, contact Clallam County Family YMCA sports director Tim Tucker at 360-452-9244.
• Flotilla 42, Coast Guard Auxiliary will host boating safety classes in the second floor training room of the Pease Building on Ediz Hook on June 12-13.
The cost is $25 per person or $35 for two if they share a book. Pre-registration is required, and can be done by calling 360-681-4671.
The class is required for boaters 25 years or younger. The requirement will increase by five-year intervals each year, meaning boaters 30 or younger will have to take the class next year.
• The Greywolf Fly Fishing Club will hold its monthly meeting at the Gardiner Community Center, 980 Old Gardiner Road, this Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Call us, photos welcome!
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.
