MARINE AREA 9 (Admiralty Inlet) has entered the chat.
Salmon season opened Thursday in the waters off Port Townsend with a two-salmon daily limit, only one of which may be a hatchery king 22 inches in length or larger. All chum, wild coho and wild kings must be released.
The catch quota for Area 9, a large stretch of the Salish Sea that includes Puget Sound to the south of Edmonds, stands at 6,529. Typically, this fishery is a quick one as being so close to more highly-populated urban areas brings out high numbers of anglers hoping to find success at traditional hot spots such as Possession Bar at the southern tip of Whidbey Island, Point No Point near Hansville at the top of the Kitsap Peninsula and Midchannel Bank off Port Townsend.
Midchannel holds blackmouth chinook in the winter and will continue to do so, despite the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s closure of the winter blackmouth fishery beginning in 2021.
In the summer, the bank serves as a migratory route for Puget Sound-bound kings, with most coming through on the incoming tide in a stream, so better fishing can usually be found on the outgoing tide when the fish have to work a little bit harder.
Candlefish (sand lance) are abundant in the area and just coming off a large winter bloom in the surrounding area, so bait shouldn’t be an issue.
Port Townsend angler Don Arnett walked me through his trolling process after great success on the 2019 opener.
“We caught all these on either a green hoochie or a 3.5-inch Kingfisher Herring Aide spoon, the magic spoon as I call it,” he said. “I install a red eye on that spoon to make it a little bit better and use herring oil for scent on every bait I drop.
“I only use two flashers at Midchannel — a purple haze or a red racer. For summer kings, no matter what, no less than a 42-inch leader and a 30-pound test leader, always. That provides the action between the flasher rotation to give your spoon or bait the action it needs.”
Arnett said summer time is the best time to use bigger bait as the kings are migrating and have been eating what they can find on the way on their return trips to spawn.
“It’s important to tap the bottom for blackmouth [resident chinook] because migrating fish aren’t necessarily focused on the sand lances,” Arnett said. Residential blackmouth, every meal they eat is sand lances. Migrating fish are used to bigger baits — hoochies, squid, anchovies or whatever.”
The western boundary of the fishery juts up against Point Wilson, where a swift rip current comes together as the Strait of Juan de Fuca connects with Puget Sound, forming Admiralty Inlet and its offshoot, Port Townsend Bay. Point Wilson inspired the Point Wilson Dart line of jigs, and provides a solid shore fishing spot for land-bound anglers.
Chinook retention is allowed through Aug. 15, but this fishery hasn’t gone the distance in my six-plus years writing the outdoors column, so hit the water sooner rather than later.
A hatchery coho fishery will run from Aug. 16 to Sept. 30.
Hog quest fulfilled
Port Angeles’ Bob Withrow brought in the catch of the week while fishing solo in the inside waters of Marine Area 4 just off Neah Bay between Waadah Island and Mushroom Rock on Wednesday morning.
Withrow was trolling in 150 feet of water with 100 feet on the downrigger cable while rigged up with a flasher and white hoochie. He hooked the fish around 9:45 a.m., which was just about the time of a tidal change.
“Water was lumpy and it was windy,” Withrow said in a text message. “Fish took a couple long runs. If I had a partner I’d have backed down on him. Just had to go inch-by-inch myself.”
Withrow also had to maneuver the hog into his net by himself after bringing it to the boat. And that was a precarious situation.
“Netting it was tough, too,” Withrow said. “I could see the hook wasn’t in good. It popped off once he was in the net.”
It was the second-largest king Withrow said he’s ever been able to keep.
“Had a clipped 44-pounder in Freshwater [Bay], 10 years ago,” Withrow said.
Withrow said he encountered three other kings, all of them 10 pounds or less, and all before the tide change. He also mentioned that the coho were thick after the tide and he saw one nice one, but many of the silvers were wild, with intact adipose fins.
Neah Bay totals
Three full weeks and four full weekends into the recreational salmon fishery, it’s a good time to share catch estimates provided by Fish and Wildlife ocean salmon manager Wendy Beeghley.
Through last Sunday, a total of 1,247 chinook and 1,314 coho have been landed.
That accounts for 22 percent of Marine Area 4’s 5,600-chinook guideline and 48 percent of the area’s coho subquota of 2,760 silvers.
Neah Bay and the Makah Tribe’s lands and marina remain closed to the public, so anglers are making the jaunt from Sekiu to Marine Area 4.
It is OK to anchor in the bay if needed, but the public can’t come ashore.
Shellfish downgrade
The Strait of Juan de Fuca from Low Point near the Lyre River to Dungeness Spit is closed to all species of shellfish, the Clallam County Environmental Health Division announced Thursday.
All species means clams (including geoduck), oysters, mussels and other invertebrates.
These closures do not apply to shrimp. Crab meat is not known to contain biotoxins but the guts (butter) can contain unsafe levels, so to be safe clean your crab catches thoroughly and discard the crab butter.
Discovery Bay in both Clallam and Jefferson counties also is closed to all species of shellfish, and the Pacific Ocean beaches are under a seasonal closure.
Sequim Bay is closed to butter and varnish clams only.
Jefferson County also has recreational shellfish closures at Fort Worden State Park and nearby North Beach and along the beaches of Fort Flagler State Park and Kilisut Harbor.
Always check the state Department of Health’s Shellfish Safety Information map at fortress.wa.gov/doh/biotoxin/biotoxin.html before heading out to dig.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
