SILVERS ARE IN off Sekiu as the coho capital is living up to the nickname with quick and easy limits for experienced anglers. And even some absolute novices are finding the fish judging by Marine Area 5’s red-hot creel reports.
Anglers are reporting fast and furious fishing action in front nearer to shore at Sekiu and also in the traditional silver spots near the shipping lanes.
Almost anything is working on the downriggers, with the traditional cop car or army truck-patterned spoon with a chrome or speckled flasher set to 50-to-90 feet while fishing in deeper water.
Pink and purple hoochies also will work.
The hardest part will be wading through the wild stock to find hatchery coho keepers with ratios in the range of 2-to-1 and 3-to-1.
Tuna in closer
Quilcene resident Ward Norden weighed in with an albacore tuna report.
“There have been a surprising number of good reports about albacore tuna fishing out of Westport. in the last couple weeks,” Norden said. “Some of the boats have reported bringing in over 100 tuna.
“Even more surprising to the anglers is that the fish that are normally 40-to-100 miles out have been found only two hours from the dock. Usually, the closest point of approach to the northwest coast is off Oregon’s Tillamook Bay where the tuna make an abrupt offshore turn to avoid the freshwater from the Columbia River. Not this year.
“This year’s stronger than usual upwelling current of cold water coastwide keeping tun out had a small finger of blue ocean water pointing right at Westport. This mysterious tiny break in the upwelling currents has been there for a few weeks but could disappear at any moment.
“If a 100-pounds of fresh tuna caught on 20-pound test line sounds interesting, a quick trip this holiday weekend might be in order.”
Quillayute River survey
Steelheaders and salmon anglers take note: a survey of Quillayute River recreational users is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QuillayuteRiver.
The Quileute Tribe is in the early stages of planning a multi-phased restoration effort on the Quillayute River to improve salmon habitat and reduce flood and erosion risk.
Restoration work is planned to begin on tribal land near Richwine Bar in 2025 and, in the years to follow, occur upstream to the confluence of the Bogachiel and Sol Duc Rivers at Leyendecker Park.
Halibut numbers
From the resumption of halibut fishing Aug. 16-18 in the North Coast area (La Push and Neah Bay) 1,369 anglers caught 995 halibut for a total of 12,313.2 pounds and in Puget Sound (Marine Areas 5-10) 835 anglers caught 102 halibut for a total of 1,507.2 pounds.
Total remaining state quota is 64,923 pounds, or about 22-percent as of Aug. 18.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
