PLANS FOR A Port Angeles Salmon Club Halibut Derby in 2018 are moving forward, according to club members.
The derby went on hiatus this year — the 2017 halibut fishing season didn’t allow for consecutive weekend dates for anglers on the derby’s traditional Memorial Day weekend schedule.
Club members didn’t think anglers would get their money’s worth with a one-day derby.
The 2018 derby might not return to Memorial Day weekend, either.
Club members won’t set the derby date until the state Department of Fish and Wildlife sets the season dates using catch quotas adopted by the International Pacific Halibut Commission for coastal fisheries from California to Alaska.
But I’ve heard Saturday and Sunday, May 5-6, are the likely dates.
And weigh-in for the derby might move to City Pier in Port Angeles, provided the city’s moorage floats are in place.
The thinking here is contestants could bring their fish to the pier for the weigh-in and have their fish returned immediately. They could then take their fish and vessel back where they launched.
May 5-6, 2018, would be the opening weekend of halibut season.
A preliminary 2018 halibut season schedule was floated by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife at the Pacific Fish Management Council meeting last month in Spokane.
That report is available at tinyurl.com/PDN-Halibut18.
Fish and Wildlife hasn’t conducted any meetings or sought public input on this “example season” 2018 schedule, but the report states halibut fishing would be open “every Saturday and Sunday in May and the first four weekends in June” for a total season length of 16 days.
Anglers would have a one halibut daily limit, and a two-halibut season limit — a big change, likely to be unpopular with most halibut fishers.
There will be opportunities for anglers to weigh in on this example season, including a meeting on Aug. 29 in Olympia.
I’ll have more details on that meeting as it gets closer.
Different derby dates
Another popular derby, the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, also has had to reshuffle its schedule because of changes in the 2017-18 fishing regulations.
The Marine Area 6 blackmouth chinook fishing season will begin March 1 and run through April 15.
Derby organizers had moved the event from its usual President’s Day Weekend once already, but found a new conflict with the Murray’s Geoduck Tavern Salmon Derby in Brinnon (March 3-4, 2018).
Recognizing the Geoduck derby’s long-standing tradition, Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby organizers have moved their derby again, this time to March 9-11, 2018.
Mark your calendars for those blackmouth derbies.
Area 9 going fast
After a week of fishing in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) anglers have landed 3,435 of the 5,599 alotted hatchery chinook quota (61.4 percent) according to Fish and Wildlife.
Even with a higher quota this year, this is a fishery that always ends quickly due to Marine Area 9’s proximity to Pugetopolis. Add in better fishing this season, and even with a one-chinook limit (two-fish total), the quota will be met quickly, likely before Area 9’s scheduled end date of Aug. 15.
And word comes from our sister paper, the Everett Herald, that king fishing picked up over the last few days at Possession Bar at the extreme south end of Whidbey Island. That’s even closer for anglers fishing out of Everett and other ports on that side of Puget Sound.
My advice? Fish Area 9 as soon and as often as you can.
Sanddab record
A King County angler, recently retired Fish and Wildlife regional director Bob Everitt of Kirkland, has set a new record for the biggest Pacific sanddab caught in state waters, fishery managers confirmed.
A Pacific sanddab is a small, left-eyed, flatfish that prefers sand or mud bottoms. Most weigh less than a third of a pound.
Everitt was one day into his retirement after 37 years with the state, when he caught the big little fish July 1 at Jefferson Head near Port Madison.
“We were mooching deep, looking for salmon, and two sanddabs hit the two hooks on my line,” said Everitt, who was the director of regional operations in northern Puget Sound. “These are small fish, and I thought about shaking them off,” he added.
But, Danny Garrett, Everitt’s fishing partner and a Fish and Wildlife biologist, took a second look and noted that one of the fish might be a record, which was later confirmed at a certified scale in Bothell.
Everitt’s sanddab weighed in at 1.22 lb. and measured 14 inches.
Juan Valero of Seattle set the previous record of 1 lb. and 12.5 inches on May 25 while fishing near Possession Point in Puget Sound.
“I had a fun day and a fun career, and if I had any advice for anglers, it would be to get out there and fish often,” said Everitt. “You never know what you might catch.”
Good advice, indeed.
