OUTDOORS: Matt Schubert’s five best things to do this weekend

• Strait salmon — Want some alone time out on the water?

Most anglers have fur on the brain at this point in the year, so the Marine Area 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet) fisheries are virtual ghost towns. That’s despite the fact there’s still some salmon swimming around those waters.

“They are still catching silvers out there,” Bob Aunspach at Swain’s General Store said. “We had a guy come in yesterday that caught four or five.”

• Dungeness days — It’s gray, cloudy and cold.

In other words, it’s salmon season on the Dungeness River.

The hatchery had more than 1,000 fish reach its traps in the past week, so there’ plenty of coho to go around.

That’s if you can find some elbow room to actually fish, of course.

• Bird watching — The Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society will take a field trip to Dungeness Bay on Saturday morning.

A group will meet at Dungeness Landing County Park at 8:30 a.m. before heading out in the field to look for wintering shorebirds and seabirds.

• Love some leaves — The rustling of golden and auburn leaves by a steady autumn wind almost always brings out my contemplative side.

The passing of life, as beautiful as it may be, just has that way of making one reflect. And in no way is that a bad thing . . . especially when its during a bike ride on Olympic Discovery Trail between Port Angeles and Sequim.

• Quack attack — I think we saw this in 2006.

A promising UW football start followed by a string of losses that end the team’s bowl dreams.

With the Dawgs hosting No. 11 Oregon (10-point favorites) this Saturday, there’s a good chance they might fall to 3-5 with four games to go. In fact, I’d bet on it, even with the 10 points.

Matt Schubert

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