HALIBUT ANGLERS RECEIVED a bonus when the state Department of Fish and Wildlife moved to reopen the season for one day, Saturday, June 11, in Marine Areas 3 (La Push) and 4 (Neah Bay).
The state said sufficient quota remains to open the recreational halibut fishery for another day.
The decision to add another day of fishing also coincides with Fish and Wildlife’s free fishing weekend.
“Halibut fishing is absolutely part of it. There are no exceptions to the free fishing weekend,” Fish and Wildlife’s Larry Phillips said.
“Fisheries like that don’t especially attract a lot of people who are fishing for free.
“Halibut fishing requires a lot of investment, and can be dangerous especially in off-shore locations like La Push and Neah Bay.
“It’s already a trip that will probably cost in the hundreds of dollars, but this may attract some prepared anglers who understand the risks involved.
“And hopefully the experience hooks them so to speak, and gets them buying a license and out fishing.”
Phillips cautioned that anglers need a catch record card, which can be requested online at wdfw.wa.gov or available free at license dealers throughout the state.
“You should be able to get it online as long as they hurry,” Phillips said.
While no licenses are required on free fishing weekend, other rules such as size limits, bag limits, and closures will still be in effect.
Early crab season
The summer recreational crab-fishing season will open earlier than expected this month in three areas off the North Olympic Peninsula.
State and tribal fishery managers agreed that legal-size Dungeness crab will reach hard-shell condition by the June opening dates, allowing those areas to open a month earlier than most other crab fisheries in Puget Sound.
Marine Areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu) and 12 (Hood Canal) will open at 6 a.m. Thursday, June 16.
Crabbing will be allowed Thursday through Monday through Sept. 5 in those areas.
The northern section of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) also opens at 6 a.m. Thursday, June 16 in waters north of the Hood Canal Bridge to a line connecting Foulweather Bluff to Olele Point.
Crabbing will be allowed Thursday through Monday each week through Sept. 5.
Marine Area 6 (East Strait of Juan de Fuca) and the remainder of Area 9 are expected to open at the traditional time, before the July 4 holiday.
“We’ll send out a schedule for crab fisheries throughout Puget Sound in the coming weeks, but there was no good reason to hold off on these areas,” state shellfish policy lead Ron Childers said.
“Sport crabbers in these areas have fallen short of reaching their catch quota in recent years, so we can afford to give them more time to fish during the upcoming season.”
Childers noted that test fisheries in Hood Canal continue to show that crab are far more abundant north of Ayock Point in Mason County than in the southern end of the canal.
“We will continue to monitor the crab population throughout the canal, but current indications are that crabbing will be much better in the north end,” he said.
Childers said Hood Canal Dungeness crab numbers were “abundant” at a meeting of the state Wildlife Commission in Port Townsend last December.
The daily limit for crabbers throughout Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6 ¼ inches.
Crabbers may keep six red rock crab of either sex per day, provided those crab measure at least 5 inches across.
Crab fishers may not set or pull shellfish gear from a vessel from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.
All shellfish gear must be removed from the water on closed days.
Childers reminds crabbers that they are required to record their harvest of Dungeness crab on their catch record cards immediately after retaining crab.
Separate catch record cards are issued for the summer and winter seasons.
Catch record cards are not required to fish for Dungeness crab in the Columbia River or on the Washington coast.
Fly Fishing expo
This weekend’s Atlantic Salmon Fly International Expo in Renton will offer the next best thing to fishing a fresh, clean steelhead stream for fly anglers.
The event, which celebrates the art and passion of the Atlantic salmon fly, runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Sunday at the Pavilion Event Center, 233 Burnett Ave. S. in Renton.
More than 70 world-class fly tyers will be on hand, including Ryan Houston, Mikko Stenberg, Marvin Notle and Marc LeBlanc.
Fly fishing outfitters will exhibit their products, and presentations, demonstrations and silent auctions are planned.
All proceeds from the event will benefit Olympic Peninsula Fishing Innovations, a Sequim-based nonprofit that helps wounded veterans and stroke and breast cancer survivors fish again.
Admission fees are $15 per day for ages 15 and older, with three-day passes available for $30.
Youth age 14 and younger are free.
Funds from silent auctions held at the expo also will be given to Olympic Peninsula Fishing Innovations.
For more information on the expo, visit www.asfi-expo.com.
For more information on Olympic Peninsula Fishing Innovations, visit www.fishagain.org.
Send photos, stories
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Send it to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 57050 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
