HIDE THE PIXIE sticks and alert the local soda distributors.
The return of the Port Angeles Kids Fishing Derby means the Lincoln Park Ponds will be the site of massive tween takeover the likes of which can be absorbed only once a year by the North Olympic Peninsula.
Lures will fly, hooks will draw blood and fish will be caught. Oh yes, fish will be hooked indeed.
A plant of approximately 900 rainbow trout from Sol Duc Hatchery — thanks in large part to donations from the Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers and Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles — should make Saturday’s derby a veritable free for all.
“The kids are going to have a field day,” said Fly Fishers club member Chuck Whitney. “They are all from the state hatchery, and they vary all the way from four inches [in size] to 24 to 25 inches.”
Fishing will be open from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Children between the ages of 5-14 are welcome to fish for free, although they are required to register prior to dropping a line in the ponds.
There will be prizes up for grabs in five age groups separated into two-year increments (5-6, 7-8 and so on).
Several rods and reels have been donated to the prize bag, including a complete rod and reel setup for the largest fish caught regardless of age.
“They can hook as many as they want, [but] we only count their largest fish,” Whitney said. “They can only get one prize.”
Fly fishing is prohibited at the derby for obvious reasons. No need for a woolly bugger to take someone’s eye out.
“It’s all spin casting,” Whitney said. “They can use lures, power bait or whatever they want, as long as it’s not fly fishing.
“We’ll have a bunch of volunteers out there. We’ll help them with equipment and tackle if they need help putting it on. [And] we will measure the fish.”
The Kiwanis Club will also be serving free drinks and hot dogs for the kids (adult freeloaders must wait their turn) at the Loomis Log Cabin.
Port Angeles Recreation Coordinator Amber Mozingo, who has run the event the last nine years, said she expects a crowd.
That means it’s probably a good idea to show up and find a fishing spot early . . . even if it means missing a few Saturday morning cartoons.
For more information, visit http://cityofpa.us.
Tributary triumphs
The elusive spring chinook don’t take too kindly to taking too kindly.
It takes a seductive serenade to get those notoriously fickle fish to bite. And anglers out west are attempting just that right now.
Yes, with steelhead season winding down, and the Hoh closing on Wednesday, the Peninsula’s piscatorial focus is beginning to shift to springers.
Retention of such fish is currently only allowed on the Sol Duc and Quillayute rivers.
“Right now most of them are targeting the kings,” Bob Gooding at Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks said.
“They are fishing for steelhead, but what they really want right now is a springer.”
The tastiest, and perhaps also the fattest, fish around these parts demands nothing less.
So far, Gooding has heard of spring chinook as large as 20 pounds, although most have been in the 10-15-pound class.
“You never catch a ton of them, but for this early on it’s really been pretty decent . . . knowing full well that ‘decent’ springer fishing is catching just one,” Gooding said.
“It’s usually later on into May when it really starts getting better, but it’s actually been fairly decent.”
Spinners, eggs, shrimp, half-smoked Pall Malls . . . it’s all worth a whirl with the springers.
Just don’t get too discouraged if it takes a while to get a bite.
Saltwater fishing
Blackmouth season done come and gone, my oh my.
The last of the winter chinook fisheries in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet closed this past week. Luckily, the flatty fishing isn’t too far behind.
Marine Areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet) open to halibut next Thursday. Fishing will remain open Thursdays through Mondays until June 5.
As for those that can’t resist the sweet siren song of the salt, a red hot Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay) lingcod fishery is calling your name.
Anglers were pulling in lings by the boatload, according to Dawn Lawrence at Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay.
“They are catching a lot of lingcod out here, one after another,” she said. “They are catching 50 at a time and having to catch and release quite a few.
“I can’t believe how busy we are out here.”
Some of that might have something to do with the imminent Hood Canal Bridge closure on May 1.
I suspect quite a few city slickers will hit the Peninsula in the next couple of weeks so they can get their licks in.
And then after that, it’s all ours.
Coastal cleanup
Spring cleaning comes to the state’s coastline this Saturday with the Washington Coast Cleanup.
Volunteers can join the throngs expected to hit the coastal beaches from Hobuck Beach all the way down to Long Beach.
All sorts of trash, including apparently some poisonous bottles (as was reported in Thursday’s PDN), wash up on the coast all year.
Groups will walk along the beaches, bags in hand, picking up all the flotsam they can find.
Those interested can help with general beach cleanup or other tasks to help the event run smoothly.
For more information, or to sign up, visit www.coastsavers.org.
Also . . .
• The statewide lowland lakes opener is but a week away my dear Peninsulites.
That will more than likely include that toxic dump of a lake in Jefferson County (Anderson Lake), which was getting tested for toxic blue green algae this week.
Toxicity levels tend to be safe early in the season before rising as the weather warms up, leading to Anderson’s closure.
Once that happens, I’m not sure if it’s even safe to look at the lake.
• Digging was hit or miss during last weekend’s razor clam harvest dates at Long Beach and Twin Harbors.
Diggers averaged 14.8 clams per person on Saturday, but only 8.2 clams per person during Sunday’s volatile conditions on the coast.
“It was a mixed bag,” state coastal shellfish manager Dan Ayres said. “It was less than what we thought we’d harvest because I expected better weather, which makes the possibility for a May dig more likely.”
Morning digs are tentatively scheduled for April 25-27 at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks.
• The ninth annual Port Angeles Kayak Symposium returns to Hollywood Beach and adjacent Red Lion Hotel in Port Angeles beginning today.
A detailed story, including a schedule of events, is on Page C1 of today’s PDN.
• The Dungeness River Audubon Center will host a “Birding by Ear” class focusing on the songs and calls of Peninsula birds five straight Thursdays beginning April 23.
The class will go from 9-11 a.m. each Thursday, and costs $40 for River Center partners and $60 for non-members. To register, contact the River Center at 360-681-4076 or send an e-mail to rivercenter@olympus.net.
• Admiralty Audubon’s Ken Wilson will lead a field trip for spring songbirds through North Beach and Fort Worden on Sunday from 8-10 a.m.
A group will meet at the North Beach parking lot at 8 a.m. To participate in the trip, contact Wilson at 360-821-1101.
• Recreational shrimp season is set to begin on Saturday, May 2 throughout much of the Peninsula.
Areas 4, 5 and 6 will open daily from May 2 to Sept. 15, while Area 9 will open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Wednesday through the end of May (or until quota is reached).
Hood Canal will open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 2, 6, 9 and 13, or until the quota is reached.
• Washington Trails Association is gathering a volunteer trail-work party at Dosewallips River Trails next Thursday, April 23.
Workers should bring work gloves, water and a lunch. Volunteers must pre-register 48 hours in advance. To pre-register, contact Washington Trails at 206-625-1367.
Call us, photos welcome!
Want your event listed in the outdoors column?
Have a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique, why not share it with our readers?
Send it to me, Matt Schubert, Sports Department, Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362; phone, 360-417-3526, fax, 360-417-3521; e-mail matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays.
