PERUSE THIS PAPER, then beat feet down to the nearest Port Angeles boat launch to put in for a nearly guaranteed shot at coho.
If you don’t believe me, take the trusted word of Bob Aunspach of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles as proof.
“This has been the best coho fishing I’ve seen in my 30 years of fishing around here,” Aunspach said.
Aunspach recently returned from a buyers trip to Reno, Nev., and went out by himself to drop a line last Saturday.
“I must have hooked into eight or 10,” Aunspach said.
“These were probably 5-pounders, but it was a lot of fun and a lot of action.”
Coming home with a limit of salmon for dinner after an entertaining day in gorgeous weather? Hard to top for a Pacific Northwest angler.
“The fish aren’t big, but I’ve never seen as many,” Aunspach said.
“It slowed off a little as the rain came in this week, but I think the bigger fish will move in soon.
“I’d be going out if the weather holds.”
Indeed, weekend conditions look optimal for some stellar silver fishing in Marine Area 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca).
“You have to do a little weeding through the wild [stock], but it’s all about the rod action,” Aunspach said.
He mentioned that the expanse of water between the Yellow Can and the Rock Pile off Port Angeles is the best spot to target.
“Fish east and west between those two points and you’ll be bound to bring back something,” Aunspach said.
Jerry Wright of Jerry’s Bait and Tackle (360-457-1308) in Port Angeles confirmed the top-notch coho conditions.
“All you need to send down is a white T-shirt,” Wright joked.
“It’s just been outstanding.”
Wright’s lure recommendation is an Ace Hi Fly mixed in with a hoochie.
He also has a new product from Olympic Tackle that functions like a fly that he’s seen coming off his shelves.
“Pretty much everything people have been putting down the coho have been hammering,” Wright said.
Wright’s heard of a bigger average for the coho, he thinks they are coming in around 7 to 8 pounds.
“I have heard of a few in the teens, but I think the bigger ones will come in the next few weeks,” Wright said.
Season wraps
Salmon fishing will close at 11:59 p.m. Sunday in Marine Area’s 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay).
Anglers have a two-salmon daily catch limit in all four marine areas off the Washington coast.
Up to two chinook may be retained in all four ocean areas.
However, chinook must be released east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh Line in Marine Area 4.
Anglers are allowed to keep both hatchery and wild coho in all four areas as part of their daily limit.
Salmon fishing will wrap at the end of today off Westport and the end of Sunday at Ilwaco.
LaPush will reopen for a late-season salmon fishery from Saturday, Sept. 27, to Sunday, Oct. 12, or until attainment of the total area quota of 4,800 coho or 2,400 chinook.
Fewer than 200 coho were recorded as caught last week at Neah Bay, so head west for a beautiful drive along state Highway 112 and your last crack at salmon off Neah Bay.
Use GPS coordinates
The No. 2 Red Buoy located to the northeast of the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse has detached, forcing anglers to use GPS coordinates of the location as a boundary marker.
Anglers should program their GPS and avoid waters westerly of a line from the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse to 123 degrees 5.61 minutes west longitude to 48 degrees 11.55 minutes north latitude, and then to the Port Williams boat ramp.
Regulations within the Dungeness Bay closure and fishery remain unchanged.
Dungeness Bay is closed to salmon fishing except from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, with a daily limit of two coho only.
West End rivers
Out west, things are still dry and water conditions remain low.
“We went out to the Hoh on Sunday and got a few smaller salmon to bite,” Wright said.
“Lots of dragging on the bottom.”
Wright has heard some reports from the mouth of the Quillayute River that bode well for future fishing on the Bogachiel, Calawah and Sol Duc rivers.
“I’ve been hearing the salmon are starting to wash,” Wright said.
He’s referring to salmon moving in from the ocean into the mouth of the river to check conditions before heading back to the ocean.
“They come in and sniff and see what’s going on and then head right back out,” Wright said.
Lake fishing
Many of the kokanee in Lake Sutherland have turned that lovely spawning shade of copper.
Angler Pete Rosko went fishing Wednesday and he and his fishing buddy Al Brown had success fishing kokanee 6 feet off the bottom in depths of 55 to 65 feet.
“In four hours time, we easily caught 50 kokanee along with a dozen cutthroat and rainbow trout,” Rosko said.
He recommends vertically jigging a ½ to ¾-ounce kokanee orange Sonic BaitFish.
Bass fishing remains hot in the lowland lakes of Jefferson County, according to Ward Norden, a fishing tackle wholesaler and former fishery biologist from Quilcene.
Norden wouldn’t reveal his location but did have a hot hand, literally, last Saturday.
“I had to give up early because I caught so many bass on consecutive casts that the tendons in my lipping hand I use to hold the fish while releasing tightened up so painfully I had to quit,” Norden said.
Norden said the bass weren’t hitting surface plugs, so try something that goes down a ways.
He said many of the bass were sizeable, from 3 to 4 pounds.
Send photos, stories
Have a photograph, a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique?
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. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
