IT’S ALMOST TIME for Sekiu to awake from its winter slumber.
Fishing season in Marine Area 5 begins Tuesday with the blackmouth opener.
But first, some halibut talk.
Those rumors circulating about an eight-day season for Marine Areas 5-10, and a three-day season on the North Coast?
They’re true, according to Brandon Mason, the owner of Olson’s Resort (360-963-2311) in Sekiu.
Mason said he went to meetings at which the halibut seasons were set, and the following dates are currently unofficial, but are expected to hold up.
They have been submitted to the International Pacific Halibut Commission for approval, and Mason said that they rarely change.
The eight days that Marine Areas 5-10 will be open to halibut harvest are Saturday, May 7; Thursday through Saturday, May 12-14; and Thursday through Sunday, May 26-29.
The North Olympic Peninsula areas open for those dates are 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet).
On the coast, Marine Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) will be open Saturday, May 7; Thursday, May 12; and Saturday, May 14. If quota remains, Areas 3 and 4 could reopen May 26 or May 28.
Marine Areas 6 and 9 have three less days of halibut fishing than 2015, and Areas 3 and 4 have one less day.
Sekiu has the same amount of days, but still will experience a major change: it will open the same day as all of the other areas, rather than a few weeks later. And its halibut season won’t stretch into June.
Mason said dispersing the pressure is reason for the common starting date.
“What they’re trying to do is spread it out so there’s not just a bunch of fisherman showing up and trying massacre the fish,” Mason said.
The different starting dates allowed anglers to bounce around from one area to another. This year’s dates should prevent that, which should help conserve halibut.
“It’s safer from a conservative point of view,” Mason said.
“They’re trying to keep halibut around for years and years to come
“We have to make sure we don’t put a big hurt on them and dwindle them down.”
Mason, though, said he wishes the starting date was a bit later so that Sekiu still had halibut days in June, when there aren’t many fishing options.
“It’s a slow month,” he said.
May 7 isn’t quite a statewide opener because Marine Area 2 (South Coast) opens May 1 and Marine Area 1 (Columbia River) opens May 8.
Find more on the upcoming halibut seasons, including quotas, on the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website at tinyurl.com/PDN-HalibutSeasons.
Blackmouth opener
The chinook fishery opens in Sekiu on Tuesday.
Olson’s Resort is ready.
“We’ve been fixing some docks. We’re going to start putting them in this weekend,” he said.
Mason said Olson’s also will have bait, snacks and ethanol-free fuel available.
It’s too early to tell what kind of blackmouth harvest Sekiu will have.
“If we’re going off Area 6,” Mason said, “it’s going to be fairly good because Area 6 is going to get shut down [Monday, Feb. 22].”
“There’s not telling. If it gets later, the fish get bigger, no doubt about it.”
A bonus for Area 5 is that the chinook fishery will be extended this year through April 30.
The daily salmon limit in Area 5 is two.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton is filling in for outdoors columnist Michael Carman, who will be back in the saddle next week.
