THE FISHING FOCUS has shifted from salt water to freshwater with coho clambering their way up North Olympic Peninsula rivers and streams on a pell-mell mission to multiply.
There are plenty of fish in area rivers, but access has been hampered by water flows from our on-again, off-again rainfall patterns.
Just when a river starts to round back into form, a storm comes along and raises the flow rates, complicating matters for those looking to float along or even stand and cast on shore.
Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim said the fall deluges have meant big trouble for the angling population.
“Fishing has been spotty,” Menkal said.
“The rain has been the biggest problem because there are plenty of fish in the Dungeness and the rivers out west like the Sol Duc, Quillayute, Bogachiel and Calawah.
“You get one good day where it’s clear and the water’s dropping and then a storm comes along and spoils everything by blowing things out.”
Anglers will just have to keep fighting the good fight, checking weather patterns and flow charts and peeking up at the sky to see if the time is right to fish.
“The water conditions are really dictating the fishing right now, that’s the thing we’ve all been fighting,” Menkal said.
Lake trout comment
Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist from Quilcene, checked in with a comment on last Friday’s outdoors column.
In that piece I wrote about the state’s stocking of Leland, Gibbs and Teal lakes in Jefferson County with leftover hatchery steelhead from this spring.
“If you plant those young steelhead in a lake that is full of food like Leland, Ludlow or maybe Gibbs but not Horseshoe or Sandy Shore, which have little food, those trout grow like weeds and fight like tail-walking demons,” Norden said.
“They are a real hoot to fish for. If they are planted now, they will reach almost 2 pounds by next April.”
The fish were stocked in those lakes in the early portion of October, so by the time opening day rolls around next year, an angler might encounter a big surprise and a delicious meal.
Norden has been out at Lake Leland checking water temperatures and encountered a couple of anglers on the fishing pier last Saturday.
“I checked two of the anglers at the fishing pier and they had three beautiful large trout over 1 pound each that seemed bigger than the ones the state said they planted,” Norden said.
“They were using bait with marshmallows to float the bait off the bottom.”
He ventured out again this week and pulled up a water temperature of 51 degrees, good weather for fishing until a cold front comes in and puts the freeze on the bite.
Dabbling ducks
Norden is an avid marksman and hunter and passed along some info on duck hunting.
“Duck hunting is good when weather allows on Hood Canal bays and other bays for mostly local birds, primarily mallards, pintails and teal,” Norden said.
“The problem for hunters has been the wind storms that have driven the ducks off the bays, and it takes the ducks a couple days to return from their hiding places during bad weather.”
Norden said that he saw the first of the northern migrant birds traveling through the area last week, specifically some smaller flocks of widgeons, but cautions that the first large wave of birds is still likely a couple of weeks away due to the lack of cold weather thus far this fall.
Deer to elk season
Hunters can take advantage of a rare overlap in the rules and regulations and make a last-gasp try at bagging a buck today, the final day of black-tailed deer season in our game management units.
Then, when the clock strikes midnight Saturday, the modern firearm season for elk begins on the North Olympic Peninsula and around the state.
“People are gearing up and I’m sure there are some people who will head out today or tomorrow to take advantage,” Menkal said.
The wet and blustery conditions that try the patience of anglers serve to work in hunters favor.
“If you have a clear night, the deer and elk will feed all night and be hard to find in the morning,” Menkal said.
“You get a real dark and stormy night, they will hide away and then will be out in the morning to try and feed.”
High winds also help the hunter, with trees and limbs creaking, it’s hard for even the well-developed ears of ungulates to pick up every sound, and the wind also can carry away human scent.
Menkal went hunting recently out west on the Dickey River and saw a couple of gut piles from recent kills and has heard many stories from customers in his store.
“Some three-points, several spikes, two-points,” Menkal said.
“People have been having some luck.”
Intro to salmon/steelhead
Menkal will offer another of his excellent two-part Introduction to River Salmon and Steelhead courses on Tuesday, Nov. 11 and again Tuesday, Nov. 18.
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.
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.
________
Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
