THE DUNGENESS RIVER may be roiling with recent rainfall, but hatchery coho are still being landed on the 11.3-mile open stretch from its mouth up to the hatchery.
Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim confirmed the river’s high waters haven’t dampened fishing efforts since the Dungeness opened last Sunday.
“People are getting fish out of the Dungeness even as high as it’s been,” Menkal said. “Even Sunday and Monday when it was recovering from the storm, people were getting them.”
Thursday morning’s rain had the river on the rise once again.
“It’s [gage height] looking vertical now after that downpour [Thursday] morning,” Menkal said.
“So that means they won’t be out in the middle of the channel. They will be right next to the bank looking for slow water and can be found in the pockets and holes off to the sides.”
Equipment-wise, Menkal said everybody has their own preferences.
“Spoon and spinners will smack them hard,” he said.
“Corkies and yarn is more of a finesse approach because it’s not a real hard take.
“Everybody’s got their little secrets.”
An ability to adapt to what will agitate the fish into a strike also will help.
“I was fishing this spot near the Railroad Bridge and I put three colors of spinners into a hole where I knew there were fish,” Menkal said.
“I finally changed up to a silver and purple spinner and I had two fish in two casts. So if you know there are fish there, switch to a different color and don’t get into a rut.”
Rains, winds hamper hunts
The rains came, the winds as well, even if less drastic than forecast, across the North Olympic Peninsula.
Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Company, said duck hunting on Hood Canal was pretty much a nonstarter.
“Waterfowl season started last weekend with howling gales and pouring rain making it virtually impossible to get out on Hood Canal bays,” Norden said.
“There were a few hearty hunters out, but shooting had to be tough.
“Over the years, I have noticed even the ducks abandon the bays for parts unknown for a few days. In the days before [the storm system] I counted several hundred local mallards and pintails out on the marshes, so when conditions calm down enough, those ducks will come back, unless the winds really kick up again.”
Menkal had one customer in his shop who had taken a 3-point buck east of Sequim.
He also heard some shots while he was fishing the Dungeness on Sunday.
“Tides were hard for ducks,” Menkal said.
“I talked to one guy who got to his spot at 1:30 a.m. and got his ducks at 1:30 in the afternoon.
“That’s a long day.”
But at least there was some payoff for spending 12 hours in the wind, rain and cold.
Razor digs coming
The stormy weather knocked out the fall razor clam opener at Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks beaches last weekend.
And when the winds abated Sunday, diggers were averaging 11 clams, four off the legal limit, the Seattle Times reported.
That tells me that the clams tunneled deep into the sand to avoid the worst of the weather and had yet to climb back toward the surface in great numbers.
Hopefully, better weather awaits when a proposed dig runs Oct. 28 through Nov. 1 at Twin Harbors.
Final approval of that dig is expected today.
“We decided to add a few extra days to this upcoming dig at Twin Harbors,” said Dan Ayres, the head state Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish manager.
“Unfortunately we cannot open Long Beach this time around. Marine toxin levels had increased above the action level, and we need at least two clean results before we can think about opening a beach.”
Ayres told the Times that toxins were found in a different spot of Long Beach, its central portion.
Previously, toxins had been predominately confined to the northern stretch of beach.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
