A HUNTING REVIVAL begins Saturday when a brant (geese) hunt is held for the first time in decades in Clallam County.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said stable populations of brant that do not return to western high Arctic breeding regions have allowed for new hunting opportunities in Clallam and Whatcom counties. The hunt will start Saturday, continue Wednesday and wrap up Saturday, Jan. 13.

Fish and Wildlife said counts in those two counties have increased in recent years and have remained above the 1,000 brant threshold for the past three years, the state criteria required to consider seasons in each area.

Estuaries as habitat

“Brant are a goose that eats eelgrass along saltwater shorelines,” said Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Company.

“I have never looked to see if they are on Dungeness Bay (there must be) but there are sizable flocks that come onto Oak Bay [in closed to brant hunting Jefferson County] to feed on the eelgrass there.”

Norden said they are good eating.

“They are a quite tasty bird. They are about two-thirds the size of a regular migrating canada goose or half the size of the Great Basin Canadas that live around here all year.

“To hunt them you have to watch the tide tables carefully and hunt when the eelgrass is most accessible for the birds at low tide, setting up your decoys about a couple hours before low tide.”

Traditional brant hunting hot spots also are found in Skagit County and Pacific County.

Hunters in Clallam County are advised to consult the closed zones of Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge at tinyurl.com/PDN-RefugeRules.

Information on brant seasons is available at wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/.

Brant hunters must possess a valid migratory bird authorization and brant harvest report card.

Steelhead switch

Steelhead anglers are approaching that point in the season where the focus switches from hatchery returnees to wild stock.

“The first few wild fish started showing up a couple of weeks ago and more have been coming in,” said Forks’ Mike Zavadlov of Mike Z’s Guide Service (360-640-8109).

Zavadlov said he hooked up with his first wild fish of the season (and promptly released) a 17-pound beauty on the Calawah late last month.

“There are a few hatchery stragglers left,” he said.

“It’s been a beautiful hatchery season, water has been nice and clear and the weather has been really good. We haven’t had too many big rains wipe us out. We’ll get a little weather, rivers will rise, but then they’ve dropped back into shape pretty quick each time.”

A positive step

In what could help alleviate congestion along West End steelheading rivers, Fish and Wildlife will hold public meetings to discuss a proposed recreational catch-and-release wild steelhead fishery in the Skagit Basin, where rivers have been closed to steelhead fishing since 2010.

Zavadlov is hopeful they signal a change for the better, for anglers living in the Puget Sound area, and those fishing the West End.

“I heard that, and its looking like a season on those rivers would run Feb. 15 to the end of April,” he said.

“I think it would be great. Any decrease in pressure would help improve the fisheries out here.

Zavadlov said the Skagit, Sauk and Siuattle were attractive rivers to fly fishers before the closure. They and other steelhead anglers moved on to the only show in town — the West End.

“We get a lot of fly guys coming in over now,” Zavadlov said. “Those rivers were the mainstay for flyfish anglers. Now, you float the Hoh River and every bend there’s a fly guy above a pool.

“So any pressure relieved off the Peninsula will help us.”

The presence of more anglers on already popular rivers created a ripple effect.

“It sped things up,” Zavadlov said. “More anglers want to get out and get first water, so they are heading out earlier and earlier each morning. The Coffee Shop in Forks closed as a result, because there was no time to stop and grab a bite before hitting the river.”

Those Skagit basin steelhead meetings are scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at:

Mill Creek: Friday, Jan. 12, Fish and Wildlife Regional Office, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd.

Sedro-Woolley: Tuesday, Jan. 16, Sedro-Woolley Community Center, 702 Pacific St.

“In recent years, we’ve seen more steelhead returning to the Skagit Basin than before we closed the rivers to fishing,” said Edward Eleazer, Fish and Wildlife regional fish program manager. “Given the low number of steelhead mortalities associated with this sport fishery, we don’t expect it will harm efforts to recover steelhead populations.”