HALIBUT DERBY TICKET sales started Monday for the Port Angeles Salmon Club’s annual Memorial Day weekend festivities.
Anglers can pick up a $40 ticket at three North Olympic Peninsula locations.
These outlets are Swain’s General Store and Jerry’s Bait & Tackle in Port Angeles, and Brian’s Sporting Goods and More in Sequim.
Fishing will be contained in Marine Area 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), from Low Point to the west and the Dungeness Spit to the east.
Hours are daylight to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 23, and daylight to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 24.
A total of $20,000 in cash prizes will be up for grabs, including $5,000 for the winner.
Anglers can launch their boats for free thanks to the Port of Port Angeles.
The weigh-in will be held at the West Boat Haven Ramp and Docks, and all fish must be brought in by water.
Tribal boats out
Anglers out fishing for the final blackmouth of the season will likely see tribal boats out harvesting halibut.
The season opened for Port Gamble and Jamestown S’Klallam tribes last Saturday.
Meeting tonight
A state Department of Fish and Wildlife-sponsored North of Falcon meeting will be hosted tonight by the Puget Sound Anglers’ North Olympic Peninsula chapter.
The meeting will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., in Sequim, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Fish and Wildlife personnel will discuss salmon season dates, catch limits and some new proposals to expand salmon fishing opportunities in 2015.
Public input will be taken.
More information about the salmon season-setting process for Puget Sound, the Columbia River and the Washington coast is available at www.tinyurl.com/PDN-NorthOfFalcon.
Flatfish meeting
A public meeting is set for tonight in Port Townsend to discuss a proposal to reopen recreational fishing for flounder, sole and other flatfish — excluding halibut— in Quilcene Bay and the northern portion of Dabob Bay in Hood Canal.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will host the meeting, which is set for the Marina Room at the Point Hudson Marina, 130 Hudson Street, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.
Public comments on the proposal also are accepted through April 1 at tinyurl.com/PDN-Flatfish.
Under the proposal, fishing for numerous species of flatfish would be allowed in waters shallower than 120 feet in Quilcene and Dabob bays, north of a line stretching east from Point Whitney to the Toandos Peninsula.
Watch for bears
The unseasonably warm weather we have experienced over the past month has stirred hibernating bears and even led to sightings in King and Chelan counties and “coastal areas,” according to Fish and Wildlife.
“Black bears usually start making appearances in mid-to-late April, but warm weather can cause them to stir earlier,” Fish and Wildlife bear and cougar specialist Rich Beausoleil said.
“Black bears are hungry when they emerge from their dens because they lose up to half of their body weight during hibernation.”
Natural foods are scarce this early in the year, so bears often start looking for the easiest source of high-protein food, Beausoleil said.
That means we should secure our garbage cans, remove seed from backyard bird feeders and bring pet food indoors.
It also means those out on the hunt for a steelhead or a spring chinook in bear territory should take care and pack bear spray, mace, or if properly licensed, a firearm.
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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.
