BAITFISH BALLS VISIBLE on the water and via sonar displays typically lead to excellent salmon fishing prospects. Find the bait, find the fish is the old adage, and that proved true over and over off Sekiu during the hatchery chinook salmon opener in Marine Area 5.
“There is so much bait, we haven’t seen bait like this in years,” said Brandon Mason of Mason’s Olson Resort (360-963-2311).
“If you didn’t catch a fish, a king for sure, I’d beg to differ you put a line in the water because everybody was catching fish. Everything is working out here. Any spoon, Coho Killer, or bait. There’s nothing that’s not working out here right now.”
Creel reports compiled by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife back Mason up.
A total of 81 hatchery kings were landed by 116 anglers in fish checks at the Mason’s docks Wednesday, a success rate of 0.69 fish/per angler.
Another 24 hatchery coho were reeled in as well.
Mason said the biggest fish by far was a 36-pound hatchery king landed while trolling Wednesday.
“It was just shy of 37 pounds, and you never see hatchery fish get that big anymore,” Mason said. “We’ve seen a lot of nice upper teens and 20-plus pound kings coming in as well.”
There’s also plenty of small coho already in the area, but those fish aren’t found in the normal spot for silvers, out in the shipping lane in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
“The silvers are intermixed in close in chinook areas near shore,” Mason said. “Sometimes you are fighting to get down through them, so some folks are rigging up a larger-sized spoon.”
And some anglers are taking the ride from Sekiu west into Marine Area 4 to fish for wild or hatchery kings.
“It’s been pretty quiet on the outside [Pacific Ocean] at places like Swiftsure, but those running from the Green Can to the Cape are finding plenty of bait and big fish.”
And business was booming at both Mason’s and Van Riper’s Resort.
“It feels good to see Sekiu so busy,” Mason said.
Port Angeles slower
The fish/per angler rate only hit 0.24 at the Port Angeles West Ramp during the opener with seven kings landed by 24 anglers.
There is a silver lining for chinook anglers, plenty of bait in the Strait.
“There is just a ton of bait out there, which is great,” said Leif Rinearson of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357). “Guys are getting a lot of dogfish, too. One of the guys we talked to said it was about one fish per boat. They were marking some really big bait balls, though.
“We hope they head east from Sekiu and show up here pretty quick.”
No 2021 derby
The closure of 2021 winter blackmouth fisheries in Marine areas 6, 7 and 9 has led the Gardiner Salmon Derby Association to cancel the 2021 Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby.
“The board voted to cancel the annual event as opposed to rescheduling it to a later date in 2021, leaving open the possibility for an alternate event that could raise funds for the numerous nonprofit organizations it has supported with past derby proceeds,” Association president Kathy Watrous said in a press release. “The salmon derby has traditionally been held each year in either February or March since 1973, and has been run by volunteers from Gardiner and surrounding areas.”
The 2020 derby, held March 13-15, was the last major sports event to be held on the North Olympic Peninsula before the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were put in place.
A total of 820 tickets were sold and 144 salmon weighing 6 pounds or more were caught. Brandon Leeper’s 15.7-pound blackmouth earned the Bellingham angler the $10,000 top prize, part of a prize ladder worth more than $20,000.
Watrous said the COVID-19 crisis has caused numerous 2020 derbies, which were also a part of the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s Northwest Fishing Derby Series, to be canceled through the end of summer. The grand prize 2020 Derby Series boat valued at $75,000 will still be awarded in September following the conclusion of the Everett Coho Derby.
The Northwest Fishing Derby Series will not be held in 2021, and the association is hoping for a return of the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby in 2022, provided the state Department of Fish and Wildlife re-opens winter blackmouth fishing by that time.
Any updates will be posted at www.gardinersalmonderby.org or Facebook.
Virtual meeting
Avid fly fisher and hiker Jim Cox from the Western Rivers Conservancy will speak at The Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers online meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 14.
Cox will discuss the many rivers in the American West and Pacific Northwest that the WRC has helped to protect.
The conservancy owns land along the Hoh River between Olympic National Park and the river mouth and selected the Hoh as its “River of the Month” for June.
Cox’s presentation is expected to last a good hour.
Nonmembers can ask for the Zoom webinar address by emailing crwinc@olypen.com.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.
