ANY DAY THAT provides the option to fish for salmon out on the salt water is a good one.
Even with that thought in mind, the opening weekend of salmon season in Marine Areas 3 (La Push) and 4 (Neah Bay) were a little light on catches.
La Push was lacking in angler effort and in fish, according to Wendy Beeghley, an ocean salmon manager with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Our checkers didn’t see much at all in La Push,” Beeghley said. “La Push had about 60 boats total for the weekend and anglers had an average catch rate of 0.08 chinook per person and 0.16 coho per person. We didn’t see any pinks landed at all.”
“It was a very slow opening there in terms of effort and results, but there was some wind and the water wasn’t perfect.”
Neah Bay fared better but was short of great.
“Neah Bay saw a 0.63 chinook per person average, and coho was slow at 0.11 per person,” Beeghley said. “And overall, I think we sampled one pink.
“I think altogether for the weekend we had about 180 to 190 boat trips out of Neah Bay for the two days. That’s pretty average effort for an opening day.”
Anecdotal evidence
Anecdotal evidence suggests the catches are improving off Neah Bay.
“It’s been good. We had one windy day where everybody had to stay within Tatoosh [Island],” said Joe Ward of Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay.
“Swiftsure, Mushroom Rock and right off the green can by Waadah Island has been the most consistent lately.
“It’s pretty much all chinook. I’ve only heard of a few coho, and I haven’t heard anything about any pinks.”
Ward said there’s been a difference in the contents of the stomachs of kings caught far offshore in the Pacific Ocean at Swiftsure and those landed inside in the nearshore waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
“Seems like in the straits the salmon are coming in with squid in their bellies and at Swiftsure it’s been herring,” he said.
That squid information jibes with a report on the tentacled set coming later in this column.
“Guys are using a lot of herring [as bait],” Ward said. “The usuals that love their spoons and hoochies are sticking with those. I have seen a lot of the new Jughead hoochie coming off the shelves.”
Ward said the Army truck color pattern and the green and white color combination have been popular.
Tom Burlingame of Excel Fishing Charters (360-374-2225) fished one day for salmon so far, the rest bottom fishing trips.
But he’s heard plenty of chatter down at the docks.
“There’s a fair amount of chinook, especially Swiftsure Bank seems to be the good place,” Burlingame said.
“Even with the big tides [last weekend], even with the tide action you get out there. And the tides have been getting better for fishing every day since.
Burlingame said his boat used the traditional trolling technique while fishing for kings.
“We were pulling a flasher with either a spoon or hoochie,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything special as far as bait goes.”
The bottom fishing has been steady and consistent, Burlingame said.
“Bottom fish and lingcod have been really good this year,” he said. “We’ve hit limits every day. “A little bit of wind, but all in all it has been bad pretty nice, the ocean is really flat right now.”
Budget deal “in principle”
Anglers can’t yet exhale, but the Associated Press reported Wednesday that a state lawmakers had reached an agreement “in principle” on a new two-year operating budget.
If lawmakers are unable to produce a budget for the signature of Gov. Jay Inslee by Friday, the state will go into a partial government shutdown beginning Saturday — effectively curtailing any and all fishing on lakes, rivers and shutting down the salmon season before it starts along much of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.
The opening of crab season would be impacted, as well as shrimping, and all Fish and Wildlife launches, and all state parks and campgrounds would close just in time for the July 4 holiday.
Only those fish hatcheries which receive federal funding would remain in operation during a shutdown.
Let’s hope for the best. If the worst comes to pass, don’t blame Fish and Wildlife employees for the lawmakers’ failure.
Sockeye meeting
Fish and Wildlife is hosting a public meeting today on the reintroduction of sockeye into Mason County’s Lake Cushman using salmon eggs from Whatcom County’s Baker Lake.
The meeting is at 6 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Sedro-Woolley High School, 1235 Third St., Sedro-Woolley.
Staff from WDFW, Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power will provide an overview of this collaborative effort to reestablish a sockeye population in Lake Cushman on the Olympic Peninsula. Sockeye have not been documented in the lake in decades.
Last year, 250,000 sockeye eggs were transferred from Baker Lake to the Saltwater Park Sockeye Hatchery along Hood Canal for release next spring into Lake Cushman.
The eggs were taken from approximately 200 fish. The egg transfer last year was the first of several planned egg transfers.
Depending on the effort’s success, fishery managers hope to allow sockeye fisheries in the lake and Hood Canal area in the future.
Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Company, is in favor of this move.
“I think it is absolutely wonderful,” Norden said.
“Sockeye are a rather primitive salmon that can’t be moved from place to place like coho, chinook or steelhead because moving them would interrupt the migration pattern.”
“Baker Lake is similar to Cushman, so it would be a worthwhile experiment since the spawning river in both lakes enters on a northern end of the lake.
“The worst that can happen is that they become kokanee [landlocked sockeye] when they get lost. I hope the experiment takes. We would know in four or five years if the sockeye are meant to head to salt water.”
Squid on the move
Norden also said that squid jigging time is upon us in the Strait of Juan De Fuca.
“Piers in Port Angeles and the private pier in Discovery Bay are already seeing some action,” Norden said.
“There is a new product on the market that is not meant for squid jigging, but I can’t wait to try this fall in Hood Canal for those fat calamari. The product is being marketed by our mutual friend, John Beath, and is a submersible LED light for crab pots. I think that light is bright enough to attract squid, so you wouldn’t have to hang a heavy lantern over the pier.”
________
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
