Recreational crab fishing will close Monday across much of Puget Sound, including the waters off Olympia and Tacoma.
The only two areas of the Sound that will remain open to crab fishing after Labor Day are marine areas 7-North and 7-South near the San Juan Islands. Sport fishers who crab in those two areas after Tuesday must record their catch on winter catch-record cards.
With the summer season closing, the summer catch reports due by Oct. 1. Crabbers can submit catch-record cards to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife by mail at CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091. They also can report their catch online at bit.ly/WkXeA from Tuesday through Oct. 1.
Crabbers who fail to file their catch reports on time will face a $10 fine when they purchase a 2013 Puget Sound crab endorsement.
RIVERS
Nisqually: People are starting to catch some salmon, just not in great numbers like other rivers in the area.
Puyallup: Coho are coming in greater numbers, and anglers are crowding the popular fishing spots. Most are using corkies and yarn in orange, black or red.
Skokomish: Fishing remains very good for chinook. People are using multiple methods but having plenty of success drifting eggs under a bobber.
Yakima: The dry-fly action remains good, with grasshopper patterns in sizes 8 and 10 producing good catches.
LAKES
Chelan: Trolling near Mill Bay early in the morning and late in the evening, or in the early evening uplake of Wapato Point, has been producing good catches of lake trout.
Mayfield: The lake’s salmon season opens Saturday. The daily limit will be six, no more than two adults may be retained. New this year, anglers must release wild chinook in addition to wild coho.
Rufus Woods: The action for triploid rainbow trout should heat up soon. Among the popular methods of fishing for them: trolling with Action Disks by Wiggle Fin in front of a Woolly Bugger-style fly, using 1/16- and 1/32-ounce jigs or using a dough bait such as Pautzke’s Firebait.
SALT WATER
North Sound: Reports of good coho fishing are coming in from the beaches on the west side of Whidbey Island, the Possession Bar, and the Edmonds shoreline from the Spanish House area north of the Edmond’s Ferry slip to West Point below the Ship Canal. Checks of 313 anglers at the Shishole boat launch this weekend showed a catch of 205 coho. The Puget Sound Anglers Sno-King Chapter’s Edmond’s Coho Derby (fisharc.com/derbies/49-2012_Edmonds_Coho_Derby_Limited) will take place Saturday.
Sekiu: Coho fishing is good to very good. Anglers averaged nearly a coho per person, based on a creel check this weekend.
South Sound: Salmon fishing remains fair, with consistent catches of chinook and coho. A state creel check at Point Defiance on Sunday showed 300 anglers brought in 42 chinook and 33 coho. A handful of chinook are being caught south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
Westport: Salmon action has shifted over the weekend, with charter boats running south until they were about 14 miles off the mouth of Grays Harbor. The action has been mostly for coho, although some large chinook were caught off Ocean Shores.
Contributing to this report were: Anton Jones of Darrell and Dad’s Family Guide Service, Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sports Center, state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Red’s Fly Shop, Westport Charter Association, washingtonlakes.com and gamefishin.com. jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com 253-597-8640 blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure
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