THREE REASONS TO visit sunny Sekiu this weekend:
A)It’s the only place anglers can score a halibut the rest of the season.
B) Anyone lucky enough to reel in a fatty flatty this Saturday and Sunday could very well score a handful of Benjamins to boot, courtesy of the Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce’s 14th annual Halibut Derby.
C) Salivating “Twihards” won’t come within 30 miles of the place.
Yes, one might say it’s the perfect combination to coerce hundreds of halibut hounds out of their respective hovels and into the waters off Slip Point.
It also helps that the fishing has been off the hook, so to speak, the past few weeks near Sekiu.
“I’m seeing more halibut than I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been here for 19 years,” Gary Ryan of Van Riper’s Resort (360-963-2334) in Sekiu said.
“I’ve probably seen eight or nine this morning [on Thursday]. Last Saturday might have been at least two to a boat, and that’s pretty good for Sekiu.”
Actually, that’s pretty good for anywhere.
Creel check numbers back up Ryan’s bravado, with counters tallying 50 halibut from 80 anglers last weekend.
A sequel of such exploits would make for quite an exciting halibut derby on Saturday and Sunday.
Derby tickets cost $10, with the top fish bringing in $10 for each pound (translation: a 100-pound fish nets $1,000). Second place gets $200, third place $100, and the top sea bass is also worth $100.
Fishing is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 5 a.m. to noon on Sunday. The final weigh-in will be at Van Riper’s Resort.
For more information, call 360-963-2334 or 360-963-2311.
No bonus halibut
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will not be offering bonus halibut dates in Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay), according to Dawn Lawrence at Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay.
“We did have a conference call, and the state decided not to open it again,” Lawrence said.
“They said there was a small percentage of poundage left. It was surprising to everybody. All the charter boat captains couldn’t believe it, but that’s the way it goes.”
That means coastal anglers will just have to wait for the upcoming salmon seasons, set to kick off June 27.
The fishery will be open on Tuesdays through Saturday until Sept. 20 or whenever the seasonal quotas are met. With a large contingent of pinks and coho expected to return this year, it just might be worth the wait.
Skinny rivers
Hordes of anglers hit the West End’s skinny streams for last weekend’s Free Fishing Day.
And the fish came out of the traumatic event a little schizo, according to Brian Menkal of Swain’s Outdoor (360-385-1313) in Port Townsend.
“Those fish were battle weary, shell shocked, whatever you want to call it,” Menkal said of the steelhead swimming around the lower Calawah on Sunday.
Rivers remain low and clear, with the notable exception of the Hoh, which is running pretty high with all of the glacial run-off coming from the Olympics.
Anglers might be able to score a cutthroat here or there, but hooking a summer steelhead or spring salmon will likely be a difficult proposition for the foreseeable future.
“There’s fish here to see, but they aren’t going to bite anything in this stuff,” Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks said.
“I heard we’re supposed to get some rain here Saturday. We’ll see. It needs to be a decent splash, I’ll tell you that.”
More freshwater
There are places where sunny weather doesn’t spell piscatorial doom.
We’ll put Lake Sutherland in that category. The 361-acre lake has been producing trout at a steady clip for the better part of two months.
Now that the water has warmed up even more, those kokanee and rainbows are sure to be even more active.
Just make sure to get down deep, Bob Aunspach at Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles said.
“As it warms up a little bit you have to go a little deeper to get to those fish,” he said. “If you got them up high a couple of weeks ago, you might have to double that depth to catch them this time.”
Tarboo in Jefferson County might also be worth a look. From what Menkal in Port Townsend has heard, it has been a consistent fishery this spring.
Salmon info
Salmon secrets of the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca will be unlocked at next week’s Puget Sound Anglers-North Olympic Peninsula chapter meeting on Thursday.
The presentation, held at Trinity Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., in Sequim starting at 6:45 p.m., will include the mechanics, lures, and techniques of trolling for king and coho salmon as well as this year’s abundant pink run.
The club will even have a fully rigged boat on hand available for review.
It should be the perfect primer for the upcoming salmon seasons in Marine Area 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), set to open July 1.
A portion of Area 12 (Hood Canal) opens on the same date. Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) doesn’t open to salmon fishing until mid-July.
For more information on the Puget Sound Anglers meeting, visit www.pugetsoundanglers.org or call 360-582-0836.
Also . . .
• The Gray Wolf River, an upper tributary of the Dungeness, is now catch-and-release for all game fish with only selective gear allowed.
The rules change was made to protect wild summer steelhead inhabiting the affected waters that are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
• Crabbers can begin tracking down crusty crustaceans in Marine Areas 4 (Neah Bay) and 5 (Sekiu) next Thursday. Both areas are open seven days a week through Jan. 2.
Areas 6 (eastern Strait) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet) open to Dungeness crab fishing July 1. Those areas will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays only, plus the entire Labor Day weekend, through Sept. 7.
• Olympic National Park will begin its summer program in two weeks.
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.
• 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.
• Admiralty Audubon’s Bob Whitney will lead a morning bird field trip around Point Wilson on Saturday from 8 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
A group will meet at the lighthouse parking lot. For more information, contact Whitney at rlw@cablespeed.com or 360-531-0116.
• Admiralty Audubon will hold its annual potluck picnic at Chtezmoka Park — enter at Blaine and Jackson streets in Port Townsend — on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The picnic is the last gathering of the season for the club. For more information, call 360-385-0307.
• The Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society will hold its annual potluck dinner at the Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 West Hendrickson Road in Sequim next Wednesday at 6 p.m. Dinner will be followed by the club’s monthly meeting 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.
