DOWN HOODSPORT WAY, the chum run is peaking in and around the hatchery.
Right around mid-November the chum typically pack Hood Canal, heading for their natal streams, and this year is no exception.
Last week, I had a longtime angler phone in asking what I knew of the chum run down south as he’s headed to the canal with his buddies for decades.
He was interested in when the tribal boats were netting in their “usual and accustomed areas” on the canal.
Hatchery staff said the tribes will be netting Tuesdays and Thursdays for the duration of the run, so weekends are wide open for the recreational fishery.
These fish are close to spawning, so their table quality has substantially deteriorated, i.e. they are beat up from their journeys and look a little ragged.
Because of this, smoke curing and kippering are often a preferred choice for preparing sport-caught chum.
Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist, witnessed the chum run firsthand during a recent trip along the canal.
“If you enjoy combat fishing, chum fishing off the beach at Hoodsport is red hot with limits everywhere, in spite of the commercial fishers only a few hundred yards away,” Norden said.
“This year’s run is huge with a lot of the fish in the teens.”
Norden thinks the reason the run is so large, in contrast to El Niño-affected pink and coho runs, is the chum’s large geographic range.
“Chums range so far out into the Pacific, even as far as Russia, they were impacted far less than our coast-hugging salmon species by the El Niño,” Norden said.
He believes the fishery should last about three more weeks and says Salisbury Point County Park at the east end of the Hood Canal Bridge is another good spot to intercept the waves of chum.
Norden says you’ll get “three hours of dead time and 15 minutes of pure excitement” during these periods.
Chartreuse or cerise corkies and yarn have been a popular tactic to lure chum in the rivers, but Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim told me that there is an easier method.
“Most anglers are casting off the beach with a Buzz Bomb,” Menkal said.
“It doesn’t get much simpler than that.”
Dungeness report
Menkal hasn’t been hearing a lot of chatter about fish in the lower reaches of the Dungeness River, but more salmon may be coming.
“There are fish still in the Dungy,” Menkal said.
“Most of those are up above [U.S. Highway] 101 and up nearer the hatchery.
“I’m not hearing a lot of fresh fish lower down.”
Menkal did hear an interesting bit of gossip while fishing on the river.
“Last weekend, I was on the Dungeness, and I talked to a guy who said the hatchery had only seen 1,500 silvers so far and were expecting 6,000,” Menkal said.
“If that’s true, then there should a be a lot of silver left in the salt water, and they are really late if that’s the case.”
Could be a nice end to the silver season out on the Dungeness if those coho do end up coming through in larger numbers.
Sol Duc report
With this cold snap, the rivers are dropping back in place after last week’s deluge, so if you are in the mood for a jaunt out west, a forecast full of sunny skies awaits.
Menkal went elk hunting out west last Sunday and stopped by the Sol Duc Hatchery.
“The water was a little high, but it had turned that nice green color,” Menkal said.
“I talked to a guy fishing at the hatchery that had hooked into eight or nine good-sized coho. Most of them were dark but he had one nice silver in there.”
Menkal didn’t hear much about steelhead action, so everyone will just have to wait until Thanksgiving and the unofficial opening of winter steelhead.
Late-season deer
The late-season deer season opened Thursday and runs through Sunday.
“Bucks are in the rut and have been for a few weeks now, so with this cold weather it should make for some good news this weekend,” Menkal said.
Intro to salmon/steelhead
Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More in Sequim, will offer another of his excellent two-part Introduction to River Salmon and Steelhead courses Tuesday, Nov. 25 and again Tuesday, Dec. 2.
For $25, anglers will receive five hours of instruction on where to go, what to use and how to target salmon and steelhead in our area rivers.
The store is located at 542 W. Washington St., in Sequim and the class starts at 6 p.m. each night.
Long Live the Kings
Michael Schmidt, program director for the nonprofit organization Long Live the Kings, will speak at the monthly meeting of the Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Chapter.
The talk is set for Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim, at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
The group’s mission is “to restore wild salmon and steelhead and support sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest.”
Schmidt will highlight one of its larger efforts, the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, a comprehensive study of the physical, chemical and biological factors driving salmon survival.
For more information on the group and its activities, visit www.lltk.org.
For more on Puget Sound Anglers, visit www.psanopc.org.
Careful out there
With winter-like weather already sweeping through the area, from drenching rains to frigid, freezing temperatures, it makes sense to remind those who love the outdoors to be careful when enjoying them.
This note of caution was spurred by a recent rescue conducted by a Jefferson County Sheriffs Department deputy.
A West End-stationed deputy recently evacuated a pair of hunters camping along Braden Creek off the Hoh River when the river and creek quickly rose and flooded just after midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The rapid rise caught the pair unawares, and the duo was forced to leave their belongings, including their vehicles in the turbulent waters.
Check your weather reports, find higher land to camp, and wear plenty of warm, waterproof clothes, and bring along food and water with you when out in the wild.
And wear your life preserver when on the water.
Mother Nature is never to be trifled with.
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.
