EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct the day of the chinook closures in Marine Areas 5 and 6 to Saturday, rather than Sunday.
CHINOOK? CHECK. COHO? Check. Pinks? Check.
All three salmon species are hopping into boats near Sekiu.
“There’s good fishing. It’s still really good, like it was last week,” Brandon Mason of Olson’s Resort (360-963-2311) in Sekiu said.
“The coho are starting to move in now. They’ve got some size to them already for this early in the season. We’ve had a lot of 7- to 8-pound coho.”
The food also has arrived, so the hatchery silvers are only going to get bigger.
“The shrimp’s moving in now, so they’ll [the coho] put on 1 pound a week,” Mason said.
And there’s plenty of time to fish for silvers in Sekiu (Marine Area 5).
The hatchery coho season lasts until Oct. 31, and starting Sept. 12 anglers can retain wild coho every weekend for the remainder of the month (Sept. 12-14, 19-21, 26-27). Then, beginning Oct. 1, wild coho can be harvested through Halloween.
“It’s only getting better, and the fish will keep getting bigger,” Mason said.
“There could be some darn big ones, especially in October.”
The chinook fishery, on the other hand, is running out of time. It closes at the end of the day Saturday in Marine Areas 5 and 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca).
Mason said that in its final week, the Sekiu chinook season remains strong.
“A lot of 20-plus-pound kings coming in,” Mason said.
Many pinks are being harvested off Sekiu as well, Mason said.
With plenty of kings, silvers and humpies, some boats are catching their limits within a few hours.
Anglers can keep two salmon each day, plus two additional pinks.
This weekend also is the Clallam Bay-Sekiu Lions Club Kid’s Salmon Derby.
Registration, which is free, opens at 5:30 a.m. Saturday at Olson’s and Van Riper’s resorts. The derby runs from 6 a.m. to noon.
Brothers’ bounty
Last week, Matt and Mitch Blore of Port Angeles traveled to Petersburg, Alaska, to spread the ashes of their brother Mike, who died last year, on the beach in front of his cabin on the Wrangell Narrows.
Like his brothers, Mike Blore was originally from Port Angeles before moving to Alaska in the 1960s, according to Matt Blore.
Matt and Mitch arranged the trip so it would coincide with Mike’s birthday, which was Aug. 3.
While in Alaska, Matt and Mitch also did some fishing with Derek Lopez, who married Mike Blore’s daughter.
In three days, Matt and Mitch caught 24 salmon — coho and pinks — and seven halibut.
Matt’s four halibut weighed 30, 40, 45 and 140 pounds. Mitch’s weighed 15, 45 and 70.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton, who is filling in for outdoors columnist Michael Carman, can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
