WHEN SEA LIONS are looking hungry, you know its a tough go on the water.
Few and far between is the best way to describe the action off of Port Angeles as the hatchery-selective chinook season comes to a close in Marine Area 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) on Monday.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife creel reports show that angler pressure also has dipped around the North Olympic Peninsula.
Croonquist’s report
Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Peninsula chapter member Dave Croonquist went out twice recently off Ediz Hook and out at Freshwater Bay.
Croonquist fished off Ediz Hook with his wife Judy last Sunday.
“We got one [bite] 18-inch clipped chinook just off the Coast Guard base in 120-feet of water on a watermelon coho killer at 90 feet on the [downrigger] wire,” Croonquist wrote.
“That was it. We trolled the front of the Hook almost to the mill, then cut across to the red buoy on the humps and then back to Coast Guard base. [We] saw one other sub-legal fish brought to a boat.
“[We] marked lots of bait along the Hook in the 120-feet range. Not much going across the the buoy and back.”
Croonquist tried his luck Tuesday off Freshwater Bay.
“Fished Freshwater all day, three shakers, one 23-inch clipped which we let go. Finally a 12-pound wild that we let go.
“Not much bait, but we did see a sea lion that looked hungry. But there aren’t many fish to steal from anglers.
“My experience on the water has been poor to poor.”
Hoochies help out
Croonquist did pass along another report, this time of some small successes right in front of the Coast Guard base.
“He landed an 8-pound chinook and an 11 using very strange gear,” Croonquist wrote.
“One was on a cop car [spoon] with some kind of weird hoochie attached, and the other was an old freshwater trout lure with a hoochie attached.”
There was one silver lining in Croonquist’s reports: he said the crabbing has been good.
A tasty Dungeness crab is certainly a worthy consolation prize if the kings aren’t hitting.
Canal, river opening
Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) from Ayock Point north as well as the Big Quilcene River will open to coho fishing Tuesday.
For the river, anglers can fish from Rodgers Street up to U.S. Highway 101 during daylight hours and only with single-point barbless hooks.
The minimum size is 12 inches and the daily limit is four coho.
Fish and Wildlife’s easement allows anglers to fish on the north side of the river only from the U.S. Highway 101 bridge downstream about 1 mile.
Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Company, enjoys checking in on the coho stock’s progression to the Quilcene National Fish Hatchery.
“The hatchery already appears to have all the fish they need for eggs from this unique early summer coho run and plenty more are coming,”Norden said.
“Fishing for these coho in the river might be a bit different than in previous years since the river, like our local lakes, is much cooler than usual.
“Fish are moving up quickly to the hatchery and not holding in slack water. Most of the fish I have seen are much larger than usual as well.”
The coho catch limit also is four on Hood Canal. Anglers must release chinook and chum.
Norden said it may be a tough go on Hood Canal and in Quilcene’s Dabob Bay.
“Out on Dabob Bay, these early summer coho are already ‘off the feed,’ so jigging over schools to bring an instinctive strike response might be a better method.
“If you wish to use more traditional trolling methods for the coho, you should consider the main Hood Canal north of Point Hazel where the fish might still be ‘on the bite.’
Norden also pointed out a difference in temperature on Jefferson County’s lakes.
“Bass fishing has been very good on all of the East Jefferson County lakes I have been fishing, in spite of the fact that all are dramatically cooler than normal for early August,” Norden said.
“All have had a water temperature of about 66 degrees at a depth of 18 inches, which is over 10 degrees cooler than this time last year.
“As always this time of year, bass fishing may be good but only for about 45 minutes per day and every lake is a bit different time- wise.”
________
Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
