The Outdoor Line Forum

Fished Seiku for the first time over the fourth. It was good if you like to catch fish with fins or half inch too small. We released around 50 fish in four days. Everyone was doing about the same from what we saw. No real big fish. The ones that were big had an extra fin. We had to release a 20+ lb and a bunch around the 8 lb range. I did manage to find one 13 lb king. That i brought home. Also we released one native coho. We got 14 keepers though. After releasing the 20+ lb king we saw the long liner heading right in that direction, so that was a buzz kill knowing he was getting wilds and the fish we just released was probably going to be kept anyways. All in all a great time and I am hooked on Seiku. Wife and are already planning our trip back there.

Thanks for the report and it sure sounds like Sekiu and Port Angeles are not producing at the same clip as last year.
That's a little troubling when you consider the MA 9&10 openers next week...

Sounds like the fishing picked up over the weekend.

WDFW checks for the 5th and 6th was 201 boats with 301 Chinook. Sounds like decent fishing and not much different that 2013 where on the same weekend the check was 190 boats with 287 Chinook, nearly the same catch rates as this year.

Curt

Next time try fishing passed the caves around the first beach you come to. In about 150ft of water and put your down rigger at about seventy feet. We were there also didn't catch one native? Went to the green can on sat all we catch was natives! Went back to the beach on low incoming and limited again. Don't go we're everyone else is explore a little? Good luck.

Can someone tell me the correct numbers of rockfish you can keep at Sekiu?

Thanks

I just got back from a 5 day stay at Olsens. First news is Olsens has been sold but to a good person that want to fix it up for the fishermen.. The first plan is dreg the marina and put in a fuel dock again. Now for my fishing report.......where are the Silvers........... The weather was the best I've seen in years but the fishing in nice words just was not there. Yes my boat limited every day but it was an all day hunt, and I used every from blinking hoochies, tailwaggelers, to bait... It was true test to my fishing skills. I'm guessing once the rains come or this nice weather goes away the silvers will be coming in like a freight train.

This is a good topic for Mr. Nelson to explain. I think the silvers are there, but they are not in the typical areas we normally fish. I thought an interesting topic was the commercial fleet's numbers on the diversion rate this year. Some examples would be the king fishery this year in area 9, Possession just was not fishing as well as the Pilot Pt area, sockeye fishing in the San Juan's was not there, but the Canadian side was doing good. When I was up in Nootka the best fishing was in a totally new area then where it was in previous years. I guess the point is that fish seem to be taking slightly different routes this year. Mr. Nelson I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and please no big "Fish Biologist" words.

I would totally agree, places in the past that produced lots of fish for me just where not there. So I have to try new areas. Try new things. Like that blinking hoochie from King Slayer lures. One day alone it caught all the fish for the day, it was crazy.

Jeff Nance wrote:This is a good topic for Mr. Nelson to explain. I think the silvers are there, but they are not in the typical areas we normally fish. I thought an interesting topic was the commercial fleet's numbers on the diversion rate this year. Some examples would be the king fishery this year in area 9, Possession just was not fishing as well as the Pilot Pt area, sockeye fishing in the San Juan's was not there, but the Canadian side was doing good. When I was up in Nootka the best fishing was in a totally new area then where it was in previous years. I guess the point is that fish seem to be taking slightly different routes this year. Mr. Nelson I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and please no big "Fish Biologist" words.

No big words but rather a four letter one: BLOB

The CPC or Climate Prediction Center's models are calling for an El Nino or warm water event to develop this winter and we've seen a warm water "Blob" off the Canadian coast manifest itself in a salmonid diversion rate in the high 90% percentile this season.

What is meant by a "diverson rate"?

Great question! Salmonids migrate down the coast, feeding along the way until the odor of their natal stream triggers the "home water" response, causing them to take a hard left and head up their crick!

However, this season, there has been a pool of warmer water out in the ocean, resulting in something of a dead zone with regard to primary or plankton productivity. Simply stated, no plankton, no krill, no krill no baitfish, no baitfish.... you got it..no salmon!

So, if you're swimming down the coast and there is nothing to eat and it's a bit warm in the ocean, why not make a detour down Johnstone Strait where it's nice, cool and has tasty herring?

So, the vast majority of the sockeye, chinook and possibly coho "diverted" between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, making them more available to the Canadian fleet and all but unavailable to us Washington anglers which, frankly,.. sucks!

This warm water scenerio is really all I can point to with any certainty to the strange season we're seeing and it would also explain why the coho seem a bit smaller this year

We'll maybe we make the Canadians release all clipped salmon. Since we try to mark our fish