November 2010 - Commission makes decision on Puget Sound crab allocation

On October 1st, in a public hearing room at the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, the 9-member Fish and Wildlife Commission took historic action, voting 7-2 to change the catch sharing allocation of Dungeness crab, between sport and commercial crabbers in Puget Sound.

From my corner, it was the conclusion of a process that began with a very contentious public hearing in Tumwater, five years ago, where Puget Sound commercial and sport crabbers took off the gloves in front of the Commission, arguing for a greater share of the annual crab catch. Tasked with setting policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Commission has been challenged in taking on this tough issue. Doing the right thing, the Commission, after years of debate and scrutiny, pulled the trigger to shift more of the Dungeness crab resource to the sport fishery.

One of the strong arguments from the commercial fishing industry included the lack of compliance to the crab fishing rules by sport crabbers. Undersized crabs, too many crabs, failure to record their catches, and the list goes on. They argued that why should the sport crab fishery be rewarded with more crab when the lack of compliance to the rules is unacceptable to the Department and the Commission. Good point.

Many of us in the sport fishing industry leadership intend to take the issue on, through accelerated education efforts that hopefully will reduce violations. My employer, for example, which produces the annual Seattle Boat Show in January, intends to feature promotions focusing on crab fishing opportunities and related fishing rules. There have been discussions about crab races with live crab, a large display tank with live crab and experts talking about crabbing and again, encouraging knowledge of the crab fishing regulations before going crabbing.

I think the crab race concept is pretty cool. Maybe crab riding Harley Davidson motorcycles around the show or parachuting out of airplanes over the Boat Show, landing perfectly in the live tank, only to live another day.

At last count, there were about 225,000 crab licenses issued by the Department for the privilege of crabbing in Puget Sound. If all of these license holders went crabbing at the same time, there would be nearly a half million crab pots (2 allowed per person) dropped into the Sound, with hopes of these yummy, highly sought shellfish, crawling into a pot.

The bottom line, when the new rules take effect in 2011, we need to know the crab fishing rules BEFORE we go crabbing. Since the 2011 rules and season do not come on line before early July, you’ve got lots of time to understand the rules and enlighten your fellow crabbers. It is up to us, to bring this violation rate down, as we are on probation with the Commission. They intend to review this issue again later next year, particularly after the summer season and I am on board to help with the education task.

While I have been writing in this column about the important decision by the Commission, it is critical to understand what the decision means for the crab sport fishery. The decision means all areas of Puget Sound, from Sekiu to Olympia will open in early July on a 5-day a week (including both weekend days) schedule through early September. It means that crabbing will re-open on or around October 1st through the end of the year, 7 days a week. South Puget Sound, currently, south of the Narrows Bridge, is the only area that has open Dungeness crab fishing, 7 days a week through January 2nd. Uh-oh, that’s right now! Does that mean I’m going crabbing today? Yep!

Next fall, when October, November and December roll around, crabbing will be open in all areas. So think ahead, don’t be in a hurry to winterize your boat at least until the end of December, if you want to pull on your crab gear and put a pinch of Dungeness between your cheek and gum. Works for me!

Fall has become one of my favorite times of year. We can’t do anything about the rain, especially hearing the forecasts of a strong La Nina trend until next spring. I’m having a blast down here in south Sound doing business with the Dungeness and, blackmouth season opens in north Puget Sound (Area 9) on the first. As I have written, which seems like forever in this column, I dig blackmouth fishing. Sure, I can gripe about the wet and cold as well as anybody, but at least I’m on the water, doing my thing and living outside here in the Pacific Northwest. The payoff comes when friends gather around the table, on a Friday or Saturday night helping me consume fresh chinook salmon, hot off the grill, accompanied by my favorite grape juice! Once again, works for me.

So, it’s November and I’m going outside, yes, with my Grunden’s rain gear, blackmouth fishing gear and a crab pot or two. And next Friday or Saturday night, you might want to join me and pull up a chair at my table, for some of Washington’s best fresh chinook salmon, sweet Dungeness and oh yeah, quality grape juice!

See you on the water!

October 2010 - La Nina forecasts & a Big Crab Vote

I read about it in the local Olympia newspaper. It was on the front page and it’s called La Nina, which results in a gray, wet and cold fall/winter. Oh goodie!

If you’re an outside person like me, you’ve recently observed enduring the coolest, wettest summer in 30 years. Just like southern California, but different.

The article went on to say, expect above average rainfall, increased snow pack and lower temperatures until spring. Sounds like the summer of 2010.

While we attempt to understand why we live here, especially in the months ahead, salmon are happy campers when Mother Nature delivers La Nina conditions.

Starting with summer, the northwest winds blow on the ocean, creating incredible upwelling conditions as the northwest currents blast the continental shelf, producing megatons of zooplankton and phytoplankton onto the coastal pasture, setting the table for northwest salmon stocks, fattening up for a northern migration, while passing their adult relatives, heading south, on their way home. While the plankton produces the right food for salmon smolts and baitfish, such as herring, anchovies and sardines, the entire food chain benefits producing greater survival rates for the next few years.

Mark Cedergreen, who represents the Westport Charterboat Association and resides in the Westport community, knows about La Nina and El Nino conditions. He has witnessed the poorest of ocean salmon survival rates as the result of warm ocean waters produced by El Nino conditions. And more recently, he has monitored high ocean salmon survival rates from La Nina conditions.

Earlier last month, I spent a few days salmon fishing in the ocean out of Westport. In two days of fishing, an Olympia fishing buddy, Greg Kluh and I estimated we hooked around 90 big Coho salmon, along with a dozen kings. It was Nirvana. At the end of the second day, I declared, “I’m done.” It was time to head back home, hang upside down in the closet for 48 hours, and return to daily life. It was a couple of salmon fishing days memories are made of.

During that fishing trip, Greg and I could not escape tough, fat young Chinook salmon from 6-10 pounds. “Don’t fish under 30 feet,” I said to Greg, “or one of these pest Chinook will eat you.” Thick as fleas.

One of those evenings, in talking to Mark Cedergreen, he suggested that the La Nina conditions will likely produce another great Chinook summer, hopefully similar to this year. Make my day.
Therefore, in summary, while we listen and live to the driving cold rain this fall and winter, you are right... La Nina, baby. However, focus on the payday of next summer, when the kings of 2011 are heading home. Nirvana, all over again!

The Big Crab Vote

Today is a very important day, for recreational crab fishers in Puget Sound. After four years of consideration, data collecting, listening to crab biologists, sport and commercial crab fishermen, along with a few legislators, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on one of three options (A, B or C) designed to adjust the allocation of Puget Sound crab.

The road to this day, and this vote, has been long and challenging, as the Commission will likely endure the wrath of the commercial industry if the sport crab fishing season is expanded, or the sport crabbers will scream injustice if the vote is anything less than the preferred option A, providing more fishing opportunity for sport crabbing. It is a good day not to be a Fish and Wildlife Commissioner.
As you may recall in previous writings, Governor Gregoire, in meeting with sport fishing organized groups, vowed to recognize the growing economic importance of sport fishing in Washington, which includes the crab fishery in the comparatively calmer waters of Puget Sound. Statistically, at last count, there are about 235,000 sport crab license holders in Puget Sound. Commercially, the number is around 200. Sound like a no brainer? Will the Commission, appointees of Gov. Gregoire and her platform have the courage to do the right thing? Or, will they back down to legislators who threaten their existence on the Commission. It’s political as usual and the outcome will be public following the vote at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 1.
In the meantime, October is a time of change. Mature Chinook and most adult Coho salmon have cleared marine waters and are preparing to make their offerings to perpetuate their stocks in the streams and rivers of their origins. For freshwater anglers, October is prime time to do business with these migrating fish as they enter the last chapter of life.
For this cat, I’ll continue to sniff the waters of Grays Harbor, attempting to intercept jumbo Coho salmon bound for the Chehalis River system. The South Channel, along with the North Channel, up to the mouth of the Little Hoquiam River has been good to me in recent years during October.
Following October and Grays Harbor, it’s back to late fall and winter blackmouth fishing in Puget Sound and the cycle repeats itself, year after year after year.

So chin up, rain gear on and get ready for a long, gray and wet fall/winter. Don’t expect it to slow me down. So many fish and so little time. See you on the water.

September 2010 - Coho Salmon Fishing in the Pacific Northwest

Forecasting salmon runs is similar to forecasting Pacific Northwest weather. Sometimes it’s accurate, sometimes it’s not. Regardless like the television weather forecasters, right or wrong, they all get paid.

Case in point; if you spent time this summer chasing king salmon off the Washington coast, with success or failure, do you believe the spring modern day forecast record of 650,000 fall king salmon is accurate?

While I have been hearing this question repeatedly the last month, I have been one of those anglers, chasing king salmon most of the summer.

Yes, the ocean fishery has been inconsistent the past two months, in terms of the presence of chinook, but I like the bigger picture. Analyzing the catch data, for example, out of Westport during the last week of July and the first two weeks of August, I am blown away by the results. Literally, thousands of anglers, like me, in search of the big one, encountering more often than not, good numbers of kings. The data suggests that during the timeframe fore-mentioned, that anglers averaged a king salmon per person during those three weeks. In my career at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, paying attention to similar data, these catch rates are off the chart. My mentor, Frank Haw, told me eons ago, that when the chinook salmon catch achieves a half fish per angler, that means that the fishing is red hot. Therefore, a king salmon per angler must qualify as white hot.

I spent the third week of August fishing out of Ilwaco at the mouth of the Columbia River. My catch results were very good, especially on my last day (Aug. 27) when three of us landed five kings and one coho in the ocean. Remember, the king salmon limit in the ocean this summer was expanded to allow two kings per day, per angler. That happens in the fishing world about as often as pigs fly.

September, from this writer’s perspective, is the bell lap for this year’s summer fishing season. It is a time when most anglers shift their attention from chinook salmon to coho salmon and wow, are there ever great fishing options to consider.

My first recommendation has got to be the ocean: Ilwaco, Westport, La Push and Neah Bay. Each of these four ports, are currently open to salmon fishing, traditionally driven by the coho salmon quota. If the coho quota is not achieved by the date for each port, then each of the areas will close on a season closing date, leaving some level of coho salmon on the quota table. Make sense? For example, the cutoff date for Ilwaco this year is September 30. For Westport, it’s September 19 and on the north coast, at La Push and Neah Bay, it’s September 18. Do you realize what that means? It means incredible coho salmon fishing, coastwide. It means, in a year like this, coho salmon as big as semi-trucks.

Fishing near the mouth of the Columbia, and in the river per se a week ago, I saw a coho salmon driving a 20-foot trophy boat! And, it was missing an adipose fin, the result of the fin clipping process at a WDFW salmon hatchery. Somebody get a large hook into that coho! Seriously, mid-teen coho were not uncommon. Big, cart-wheeling, sprinting shades of chrome, screaming around the boat like a formula one race car on the first lap. Gotta love it. Go fishing on the coast this month and you’ll see what has put this salmon angler on spin cycle.

Sekiu in mid-September is money too. Salmon biologists suggest mid-September is prime time for the peak of the big ocean run coho to make their way from ocean pastures to Puget Sound. Sekiu is lights out in mid-September. Good luck finding a room as the town will be plugged with anglers who understand prime time. Sleeping in a tree is always an option.

Finally, I can’t overlook north Puget Sound in mid-September. The Edmonds Coho Salmon Derby (Sept. 11) and the Everett Coho Derby (Sept. 18-19) are great, well attended salmon derbies offering tons of prizes. Having attended these two events for the last six years, I have witnessed strong coho fishing on Possession Bar near Edmonds. While the coho are found deeper in the water column in this region, usually around 100 feet, similar to the coastal stocks, I anticipate they will be as big as Clydesdale horses this year. A coho 20 pounds or better will likely provide the winning angler with a wheel barrel load of cash at both events.

It’s coho salmon fishing time in the Pacific Northwest, hey-now, hey-now. Giddy-up and I’m saddled up to find that big coho behind the wheel of the Trophy Boat I saw last week. See you on the water.

August 2010 - "Get on a Boat, any Boat, and Go!"

August! How did that happen? Sure seems as the summer screams by, a time which many of us wait for all year, and as quick as it comes, it’s gone. And each year, as I set my summer fishing schedule, I try to relive great fishing memories while continuing to find new special places.

I continue to firmly believe that following the chinook and coho salmon forecasts will, at a high percentage rate, produce the highest quality fishing experiences. As reported in this space during the last two reports, this is the year of the king. Kings, lots of kings coming home to the Pacific Northwest. King salmon lit up like the 4th of July from mid-May to mid-June in southeast Alaska, as most stocks congregated, preparing for a strong push down the Alaska and Canadian coasts. In fact, king salmon seemed to be everywhere, between Westport and all points north. When July rolled around, especially in ocean waters, the king salmon seemed to be in pockets along our coast. Find the bait, and you usually found the kings. However, finding a day when the wind didn’t blow has been a challenge.

Inside Puget Sound, the king salmon season took off July 1st in the San Juans and the reports were moderate, continuing at that catch level even at this writing. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a biological desert in the Islands and possibly, the incredible king salmon fishing that region enjoyed a year ago may have pickled a few angler’s minds.

The Puget Sound region from the north end of Vashon Island to Pt. Wilson, Port Townsend opened on July 16th and Mid-Channel Bank was so hot, it melted all the way to Tokyo. So don’t be alarmed at all the Asian restaurants in Port Townsend. It is the result of the meltdown. King salmon fishing comes and goes on Mid-Channel Bank, like the tide and wind, but it’s still a good bet, again, even at this writing.

So, what to do in August? Are there still plenty of king salmon around? The answer is a big YES! My counsel is to get to the ocean, quick, preferably Wesport in the next couple of weeks. Strong numbers of kings, bound for the Columbia River at a modern day record forecast are currently woofing baitfish in every direction. The table is set.

Beginning in the middle of August, thousands of king salmon will be moving into the lower Columbia River, between Ilwaco and Astoria daily. Trainloads, dude, of king salmon should produce some of the best king salmon fishing many of us have witnessed in years. I am so there.

August offers some other great fishing shows in Washington like the annual migration of albacore tuna which occurs along our coast around Ilwaco and Westport in peak numbers during mid and late August. If you haven’t done a tuna trip, do it. Good sized sport boats in the mid-20 foot range and larger will be making the run to intercept these great fighting fish, usually found in ocean water temperatures ranging from 59-62 degrees. That’s prime albacore water. The key is picking the right days, as the wind blows, especially offshore during the warm days of summer. Charterboats also run daily out of Westport and Ilwaco when the albacore are in the neighborhood. Get on a boat, any boat, and go!

August is also a time of the year when the coho salmon, mixed with king salmon begin showing in good numbers off the coast and the western Strait of Juan de Fuca. I’ve done a zillion coho salmon fishing trips out of Neah Bay in my fishing career during late August and early September. Many anglers consider this area as world class coho fishing on light tackle and it represents one of the few areas in Washington where a coho salmon will absolutely maul a surface fly.

In the meantime, it’s time to get very thirsty my friend, for the peak of salmon fishing in Washington. So many options, so little time. Go fishing! Okay, that’s exactly what I am going to do when I hit the send button on this column. See you on the water.

July 2010 - Here Come the Kings!

Bet your bips on it. Here they come! Big, chrome bright, fresh from SE Alaska’s rich ocean pasture with an attitude. Bone crushing strikes, monofilament peeling off the reel, hard head shakes attempting to get those sharp hooks out of their chops......yeah, it’s king salmon time baby. Giddy up!

King salmon, a term used in the Pacific Northwest for mature Chinook salmon, are entering the prime of their lives and on their way home to salmon hatcheries or the rivers of their origin. Three, four and even five years ago, these king salmon jumped a train northbound, foraging on bait-fish, squid and zooplankton, destined for the waters off northern British Columbia and SE Alaska. They hit every diner on this journey, putting on weight like a sumo wrestler at a steak house. This all-you-can-eat behavior prepares them for their migration into Washington and Oregon rivers where their feeding appetite ceases and they live off their bodies until they begin spawning, usually by late September and throughout October.

The 2010 version of this annual phenomenon is a special chapter in recent strengths and weaknesses of the chinook salmon population, due largely to the strength of the Columbia River king salmon forecast. As reported in this space a month ago, this is clearly the largest return of king salmon since the modern day record was set in the Columbia River back in 1987, when three-quarters of a million king salmon produced a tsunami wave of silver migrating into the lower Columbia. I know, as I was there.

In last month’s column, I encouraged anglers to head to Westport, on the central Washington coast, to participate in a new hatchery-produced, fin-clipped king salmon fishery. At this writing, that fishery is history (June 12-30) and the news is out: 7,000 anglers popped around 4,600 hatchery kings. The ratio of hatchery fish to wild fish was about 60% or greater. In the commercial troll fishery in May and part of June, the rate was around 80%. Non-tribal trollers took around 40,000 kings during this timeframe, which again suggests that the kings are off our coast now, and should continue their pasturing before entering the Columbia River in mid-August. The coastal salmon season re-opens July 1st (Neah Bay, La Push and Ilwaco) and July 4th (Westport). Check WDFW for regulations regarding which days of the week these four coastal areas are open before charging down to the beach.

If ocean salmon fishing does not turn your wheel, you have more options than attempting to pick winning numbers in the state’s lottery. First, the San Juan Islands opens July 1^st, seven days per week. This is the beginning of their king salmon season. Last year, it was hotter than Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980, especially in the eastern San Juans. Anglers from Bellingham to Everett hope that is the case again this year. Second, the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Sekiu east to Ediz Hook in Port Angeles also opens for hatchery kings only, on July 1^st. This region is a special king salmon fishery attracting anglers with boats deemed not safe for ocean water conditions. Freshwater Bay, just west of Port Angeles has been very good the last few years, along with Sekiu, the premier small boat fishery in inland waters.

Third, beginning July 16^th, for the fourth consecutive year, Puget Sound waters from the north tip of Vashon Island to Pt. Wilson, Port Townsend will enjoy another six week hatchery-only king salmon fishery. Port Townsend has been the big ticket on the opener the last few years and that’s a good bet again this year. Do not overlook Kingston or Pt. No Pt. on the ebb tide or Possession Bar west of Edmonds.

If your head isn’t spinning with salmon fishing options by now, golf is an option. My two older brothers are big time golfers. As I have said to them, if you can suggest a receipe for grilled fresh golf balls, that rival a slab of king salmon on the barbe, then sing it to me.

In the meantime, I am heading for the big show, the smell of a fresh caught king salmon emanating out of my cooler in the morning. Mercy! Somebody help me now! See you on the water... it’s show time!

June 2010 - Tony's Tackle Box

I don’t know about you, but these months are going by like days of the week. That’s the bad news. Are you ready for some good news? June will be a tsunami of fishing and shellfish options on our saltwater and freshwater systems. Spin cycle baby and get ready to get outside!

Think about this:

• New coastal chinook season, June 12-30, 2 hatchery kings daily
• Columbia River summer kings, see regulations for dates
• Dungeness crab, south Sound & western Strait, June 18, daily
• Lingcod open through June 15
• Skykomish summer kings, June 1-July 31

Rarely, maybe once or twice at the most, every 10 years, the ocean opens in June for chinook salmon fishing. This is one of those years and salmon forecasters are predicting the big enchilada, to the tune of about 650,000 kings bound for the Columbia River. This forecast should produce some incredible fishing in July and August too, as the main herd wanders down the Washington coast from southeast Alaska and British Columbia, smelling their way to the Columbia River. Reports from the north are all ready stellar.

Scientists say this big run is the result of a couple of years of good ocean productivity. It’s payday, baby, and time to reel down on some ocean fat-boy chinook. Make my day.

This fishery, by the way, is a first time ever for “hatchery only” fin-clipped chinook. We continue to talk about selective fishing for hatchery chinook and coho salmon, and the evolution of this fishing regulation continues to expand. If we truly care about doing our part, to protect and restore wild chinook and coho salmon, then this is the road for salmon anglers who are passionate about the sport. Put me in, coach.

If freshwater salmon fishing is your bag, then take a good look at the hatchery-only chinook fishery below Bonneville Dam in June. Anglers refer to these big, bright king salmon as “summer kings.” These fish can easily beef up into the 30-pound class and as table fare, they are competitive with spring chinook. Anglers who pound the lower Columbia River, taking advantage of stocks of chinook, coho and steelhead pay particular attention to this summer chinook stock which clearly is on the rebound. Be there or be square. As you read this column, I am dropping my worm in the water at Sitka, Alaska, for my 19th year in a row. Sitka is considered Chinook salmon mecca, which always turns my wheel. Toss in some hook-ups with Pacific halibut and lingcod and watch me tip over.

This year, coming back home, I am jacked about all of the great fishing options in June. My boat and fishing tackle are completely ready. Let the parade begin. I hope you’ll get outside during this upcoming month as these kinds of fishing opportunities seem to be an exception, rather than the norm. Consider June as the kickoff to the summer sport fishing season. Watch this old guy crank up the chinook shuffle. See you on the water.