Buffeted by blustery winds, the first few days of salmon fishing off of Port Angeles in Marine Area 6 did not provide optimal conditions for anglers.
“This morning it was better,” said Tim Allison of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles.
“It was the first time conditions weren’t real, real windy. First couple of days it was rough. The people that were able to go out had mixed results. One guy I spoke to said ‘it was suicidal, but he was catching fish,’ so he was enjoying it.”
Allison has plans to fish this afternoon and stay out on the water to take in the Port Angeles fireworks display. He’s made a fun little tradition out of it and it sounds like a great way to spend Independence Day.
Anglers targeting the waters west of Freshwater Bay fared the best with state fish checkers counting 21 chinook landed by 42 anglers.
Ediz Hook checkers counted 14 kings on opening day reeled in by 42 anglers and the Port Angeles West Ramp counted six chinook caught by 17 anglers.
One of those Ediz Hook opening-day kings caught by Roger Ross is pictured above.
Ross was fishing with Port Angeles lure designer Pete Rosko. Rosko called it the “salmon of the day” on a “cold, blustery day at that.”
Sekiu great start
Brandon Mason and the crew of Mason’s Olson Resort (360-963-2311) in Sekiu made the switch from halibut to salmon fishing and the king bite has been red-hot thus far.
“A few coho were mixed in in the 3-to-5-pound range, but it’s been mainly all kings,” Mason said.
“Bait and spoons, hoochies, everybody is kind of all over the board, gear-wise.
“A couple of guys pulling whole herring caught some really big kings. We are talking Blue Label-size [herring].
What a run
When more than a quarter of Neah Bay’s area chinook guideline is eaten up by king catches in a week, you know the fishing has been off the charts.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife catch estimates put the number of chinook caught June 24-30 at 1,416 with another 526 coho landed by a total of 1,824 anglers.
That puts Neah Bay at 28.4 percent of its 5,200 chinook guideline and 4.5 percent of the 16,600-coho quota.
“What a great weekend of king fishing,” Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay posted on its Facebook page.
“Green buoy to Waddah island and Mushroom Rock-area produced nice kings. Swiftsure Bank was awesome fishing. Lots of bait out there, so they will stick around for a while. Not your typical Swiftsure kings, they are very nice fish.”
Crabbing open
The summer crab fishing season opens today across the North Olympic Peninsula and will run Thursdays through Mondays through Sept. 2.
This includes Marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9 (Admiralty Inlet) and 12 (Hood Canal north of a line projected true east from Ayock Point).
Crabbing is closed and pots must be removed from the water on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The daily limit throughout Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6¼ inches. Crabbers may also keep six red rock crab of either sex per day in open areas, provided those crab are in hard-shell condition and measure at least 5 inches across.
Crabbers may not set or pull shellfish gear from a vessel from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.
Puget Sound crabbers are required to record their harvest of Dungeness crab on their catch record cards immediately after retaining the crab and before re-deploying the trap. Separate catch record cards are issued for the summer and winter seasons.
Catch record cards are not required to target Dungeness crab in the Columbia River or on the Washington coast, where crabbing is open year-round.
Enjoy the fourth, everybody.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
