RIVERS NEARING FLOOD stage. High-wind warnings.
While this type of news is certainly appreciated information from the meteorological set, these are not exactly the type of notices that warm the hearts and brighten the faces of the piscatorially inclined.
The West End was battered with gusty winds Wednesday and it looks like the entire North Olympic Peninsula will share in today’s buffeting breezes.
Add in the fact that this series of weather systems has come from the south up to our corner of the Pacific Coast and nobody is coming out winners in this weather.
When Mother Nature turns mean like this it basically means sit home, stay dry and stay alive to fish another day after these raging rivers have subsided to a more navigable level and these winds have calmed.
The warm temperatures associated with the fronts also have pushed snow levels to the 6,000 to 7,000 feet range, denying Hurricane Ridge at 5,242-feet, the opportunity to pack on any snow from all this wet and wooly.
With the Ridge completely bare as of Wednesday morning, there will be no snow sports activities conducted there until a series of storms drops about three feet of snow.
Winter steelhead fishing had been going pretty well before this stretch of storms.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife fish checkers were busy interviewing 184 anglers from last Thursday through Sunday on the Bogachiel and Quillayute rivers.
In an estimated 993 hours of fishing, the 98 bank anglers and 86 boat anglers kept 66 hatchery steelhead, releasing four.
One wild steelhead was caught but thankfully, released.
Same goes for the Calawah River, where one wild steelhead was landed and placed back in the stream.
A total of 58 anglers, all dropping lines from shore, caught and kept 32 hatchery fish and put back four during an estimated 229 hours of fishing.
The Sol Duc was a washout, with 13 anglers racking up no fish, wild or hatchery.
Puget Sound Anglers
Bob Kratzer, of Angler’s Guide Service of Forks will speak about the Northwest Olympic Peninsula Sportfishing Coalition at the next meeting of the Puget Sound Anglers North Olympic Peninsula Chapter.
That meeting will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim, starting at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18.
The coalition works to promote sport fishing as a priority contributor to the North Olympic Peninsula and the state economy.
It serves as a platform for local businesses and sport fisherman to advocate for a more strategic approach, including conservation, to manage our fishery resources for the long term economic benefit of this rural area.
Coalition membership is open to anyone that would like to promote sport fishing as a priority economic component of the rural communities on the North Olympic Peninsula while ensuring that our natural resources are managed for long term sustainability.
For more information, visit www.nwopsfcoalition.org.
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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.
