A 107-pound halibut is a very large fish, and on many a Memorial Day weekend would have won the $5,000 first prize in the annual Port Angeles Halibut Derby. On the first day of the 2015 event last weekend, Josh Constant of Port Angeles topped the leader board with his 107.9-pound “barn door” and looked to be cruising to the winner’s circle.
But Sunday brought a huge flattie of 143.2 pounds to bump Constant into the second spot. Phillip Flanders of Ocean View, Hawaii, walked away with the big bucks, while Constant settled for $2,500. Heidi Bernier of Bellevue took third and $1,500 at 74.3 pounds, and Mark Amoroso of Port Angeles took fourth and $1,200 at 72.8 pounds. The last fish on the board, in 30th place, weighed 42.6 pounds and paid $135 to Brook Boardman of Tacoma. Phillip Flanders’ fishing partner, Stratos Flanders, also from Hawaii, placed 11th, with a fish of 58.8 pounds and won $450.
Other long-distance participants included anglers from Reno, Nevada, and Riece, Minnesota.
The derby pulled 539 entries, which was down about 100 from last year, according to spokesman Norm Metzler, but there were a lot of fish caught.
“We had a bunch in the 25- to 35-pound range,” Metzler said, “and I would estimate we weighed 65 or 70 fish total. They were all nice-size halibut and probably a record for the average weight on the board.”
While bait choice and location of fish caught are held close to the vest by many derby fishermen, rumor has it Flanders was using horse herring, Metzler said.
The more local halibut fishery on Admiralty and Mutiny bays has not been one of the better ones this year, but there’s still the chance to find a nice fish. You’ll have to hurry, though, since Saturday is the final day of the season.
Shrimp
The third and last day of the recreational spot shrimp season in Marine Area 8 (areas 8-1 and 8-2) probably will be June 24 and will consist of just four hours, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. That’s “probably” because as of Wednesday morning the emergency regulation had not yet been formally released by the state Fish and Wildlife Department.
Shrimp guru Mark O’Toole, at the department’s La Conner office, said the May 2 and 13 openings in Area 8 resulted in a harvest of 15,100 pounds, leaving 3,900 pounds in the recreational quota.
“That’s not enough for another full day,” O’Toole said. “In 2013 we had 2,000 pounds remaining and had a four-hour opening in 8-1 only. That resulted in a catch of 1,900 pounds. So theoretically there should be enough available for a four-hour opening in both halves of Area 8.”
He said June 24 has a good shrimping tide, lingcod will be closed so the two fisheries will not conflict, and it gives shrimpers time to arrange an outing.
Marine Area 8-2 includes Port Susan, the south half of Saratoga Passage, and the Everett area south to the shipwreck. Marine Area 8-1 covers the north half of Saratoga Passage, and Skagit Bay north to Deception Pass.
Wenatchee springers
It was a banner opening of the spring chinook season on the Wenatchee (May 23) and Icicle (May 20) rivers late last week, according to Rick Graybill at Hooked On Toys in Wenatchee.
“There was a pile of fish in the (Wenatchee) river,” Graybill said. “Beautiful springers, averaging probably 12 or 13 pounds.”
Plunking is the local technique of choice, he said, using herring, tuna balls or eggs. Drifting eggs under a float is getting more popular, and some anglers bottom-bounce with the same techniques used by westside steelheaders. Boat and bank anglers are about equally split on the Wenatchee, Graybill said.
Last year’s salmon fishery on the Wenatchee was pretty much a washout, with the river running high from snow melt.
“This year’s a different story,” Graybill said. “The normal flow this time of year is around 9,000 cubic feet per second, but as of early this week it was at 5,170 and dropping. It’s fishing better every day.”
The salmon are scattered throughout the river, he said, and fresh fish are still coming over Rock Island Dam.
“The Wenatchee should be good fishing for weeks yet,” he said.
Bass tournament
The MarDon Open Bass Tournament went off without a hitch last weekend, according to Annie Meseberg at MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir in Grant County. Each of the 36 teams weighed fish on the first day, except for one boat with engine trouble, Meseberg said. Dana Steiner and Andy Smith took the early lead with an impressive day-one bag of 26.82 pounds — an average of better than 5 pounds per fish.
That same team went on to win the tournament with a two-day combined weight of 49.09 pounds (10 largemouth). Second place went to Paul Hall and Jarrid Turner, weighing 45.56 pounds in two days; and Moses Lake resident Aaron Echternkamp fished with his 14-year old son, Mason, and finished in third place at 42.38 pounds.
Participants boated a total of 335 bass, with a 3.2-pound average. All fish were returned to the water.
The catch-and-release tourney is a fund-raiser for the Central Washington Fish Advisory Committee, a non-profit group that, among other things, builds and installs fish habitat boxes for the Reservoir.
The winning team stayed in the sand dune area, but moved around and utilized different techniques, according to Meseberg. It was mostly sight fishing, using spinner baits, Senkos, topwater lures such as the ProPopper Frog, and some drop-shotting.
Meseberg also reports good smallmouth fishing in Lind Coulee and in the rocks around Goose Island; crappie to 12 and 14 inches in the dunes; and bluegill to a full pound and rainbows to 8 pounds off the resort dock.
Nearby Warden Lake is putting out trout for those fishing Power Rait, and Corral Lake is good for both trout and bass.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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