RIVER LEVELS APPEAR to be dropping back into fishing form after a coast-wide blowout caused by Sunday and Monday’s deluge of rain.
Grays Harbor County took the brunt of those downpours, but Mother Nature saved enough rain to derail even the most diehard steelhead anglers for a couple of days.
With dry weather forecast today and Saturday, fishing is likely to improve on our West End river systems.
Rain showers are in the forecast for Sunday afternoon so the weekend looks like a solid fishing window for those wanting to vie for steelhead.
I headed west to Neah Bay for basketball coverage on Wednesday and was able to witness water conditions for the Hoko and Pysht rivers.
Obviously, these aren’t the primary steelhead rivers, but the Hoko, at least, looked fishable with a greenish-gray tint to its water.
The Pysht was running hard and brown in the sections I encountered on state Highway 112 near the Merrill and Ring Tree Farm.
Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim had just returned from a sojurn to a trade show in Las Vegas when I called to pick his brain Thursday.
Menkal mentioned that he had a customer come in the store before he left for Nevada that visited the Bogachiel Hatchery and talked with workers.
“He told me the Bogachiel Hatchery said they had all the eggs they needed but had only seen about half the run they expected,” Menkal said.
“Now, that would have to be independently verified but it does bode well.”
Blackmouth uptick
Menkal also said that Dan Tatum, the president of the Gardiner Salmon Derby Association, the group that puts on the annual Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, stopped by with better news on the blackmouth front.
“He said the blackmouth bite has picked up a little bit,” Menkal said.
Checking creel reports, low activity after Christmas and over the New Year’s weekend contributed to some low catch totals around Port Angeles.
A total of nine chinook were brought in by 23 anglers in 12 boats at Ediz Hook last Saturday, so there are fish to be had so long as wind conditions allow for access.
The daily limit in Marine Area 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) is two salmon.
Tickets for the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, set for Friday through Sunday, Feb. 20-22, are available for $40 at www.GardinerSalmonDerby.org.
Norden checks in
Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist living in Quilcene reports that beach casting for steelhead remains good up on Whidbey Island.
“So I expect that once the rivers like the Bogachiel, Sol Duc, and others get back into shape this weekend, a lot of fish will be caught,” Norden said.
“The rivers should be almost perfect by Saturday with that nice jade green color and 3 feet of visibility.”
Trout fishing has slowed at Lake Leland and the culprit is cold water.
“On New Year’s Day I put a thermometer in the water [and it read] 33.5 degrees,” Norden said.
“No wonder the bite is a tad slow. Catching those trout requires serious patience. Even steelheading gets slow at that temperature.”
Maple syrup
Norden is a true woodsman, passing along his advice on tapping maple syrup from native big leaf maples here on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Norden says that unlike in New England, where sugar shacks get busy in late winter, “sugaring time” begins here right after New Year’s and ends by mid-March.
“Our syrup is every bit as good, maybe better, than the traditional sugar maples on the East Coast,” Norden said.
He said that in the past his best-producing trees were smaller, 9 to 14 inches in diameter.
“This is a great excuse to get out and run around in the woods for a cabin fever cure, if you don’t already have one,” Norden said.
“Two gallons of sap reduces to about 1 to 1½ cups of real maple syrup.”
Anglers meeting
Joan Drinkwin will cover the work that has been done and what is still needed to clean up derelict crab pots and fishing nets that litter the bottom of Puget Sound during a meeting of the Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Peninsula chapter on Thursday, Jan. 15.
Drinkwin, who serves as program director for the Northwest Straits Foundation, will present “Ghost Pots of Puget Sound” at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., at 6:45 p.m.
The Northwest Straits Foundation has removed 4,700 nets and 3,400 crab pots from Puget Sound since 2002.
Over 12,000 crab pots are lost in Washington state’s Puget Sound every year, costing an estimated $700,000 in lost harvest revenue, and damaging the sea floor environment, according to The Associated Press.
For information on Northwest Straits Foundation, visit www.nwstraitsfoundation.org.
For more on the Puget Sound Anglers, visit psanopc.org.
Salmon/steelheading
Menkal will offer an introduction to salmon and steelheadcourse, a two-part class that begins this Tuesday and again Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Menkal will cover all the gear you’ll need, where and when to hit each river, alternative fishing locations and when the different runs are expected on each route.
Cost is $25.
Phone 360-683-1950 to sign up.
Send photos, stories
Have a photograph, a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique?
Send it to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.