FISHING: Anglers vie for money kings

In its fourth year, the PSA derby offers a wide array of prizes from some tidy cash winnings for the biggest kings to a host of merchandise offerings that spread the wealth well down in contestant ranks.

There also is a special kid’s division contest that is free to anyone age 14 and under who participates with a paying adult ticket-holder. They will compete for their own prize list.

Adult derby tickets are $35 each and will be on sale through the evening of July 11 at Squalicum Harbor boat ramp.

Youngsters wanting to pit their luck against the grown-ups also may buy an adult ticket to put their fish in the running for the adult division money prizes.

As was the case in the past two PSA Bellingham events, entry in this one will qualify contestants for the Northwest Marine Trades Association’s end-of-season fishing boat giveaways in which fully equipped adult and kids’ sport fishing boats will be raffled. For more NMTA Northwest Salmon Derby Series details, check on line at h t t p : / / w w w. n o r t h w e s t salmonderbyseries.com/.

Besides the usual mystery and intrigue attendant with the plumbing of the depths of greater Puget Sound for salmon, this derby can hold a lot of excitement and anticipation for lucky fishers able to post a chinook on the leader-board.

In 2006, less than one pound separated the top two chinook in the derby with Michael Wahlstrom’s 31-pound, nineounce king nudging out a 30- pound 12-ounce fish for first place cash.

Picking up new recruits each year, the derby jumped from 166 total contestants in 2006 to 228 last year.

If you are planning to cruise the islands next weekend, this derby offers you a chance to parlay a $35 entry ticket investment into enough boat gas money to pay for the rest of the summer’s voyages.

And as veteran anglers acknowledge, luck and a lure in the water are two-thirds of the ingredients needed for fishing success.

Besides promoting sport salmon fishing as a family affair, the Bellingham Chapter is supporting efforts to preserve and enhance Northwest salmon populations by contributing proceeds from this derby to local non-profit organizations dedicated to those ends.

Last year, Bellingham PSA gave $2,500 each to programs at the Bellingham Technical College’s Whatcom Creek Hatchery at the Maritime Heritage Center in Bellingham and to Lynden Christian High School’s Fishtrap Creek Hatchery.

For up to the minute derby standings, this year the chapter is utilizing the online services of fishtactics.com to put up minute-by minute postings of entered salmon and the official standings at the end of each day.

Check out the Bellingham PSA Webpage devoted to local fishing reports and links for tidbits on the hook and line grapevine or look up any PSA chapter member on the dock derby day mornings or evenings for even more friendly tips on what to use and where fish.

RULES TO FISH BY

With catch sharing plans now in place and increasing protection being given to wild Puget Sound chinook together with the marine fish species, saltwater salmon anglers, for the sake for their wallets if not the resource, must be on their best behavior.

During the derby these are some of the regulations governing recreational fishing for salmon in Marine Area 7 as well as most other inland and ocean coast anglers must keep in mind.

Licenses: each angler age 15 or older must have a valid (2008) short-term or annual saltwater or combination Washington fishing license. Salmon catches are monitored, so each angler wanting to keep a legal salmon must have a catch record card on which the retention (killing and keeping) of a salmon is written in ink immediately after it is boated.

Closed areas: Marine Area 7 waters of greater Bellingham Bay including Samish and Padilla Bays, Hale Pass and Guemes Channel are closed to fishing for salmon. Also closed to salmon fishing is a large expanse of Area 7 water called the southern Rosario Strait/eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca closure.

Those zones are marked with diagonal lines on the map. Know where the boundary lines are on the water and don’t stray into them.

Daily limit: two salmon per angler but only one may be a chinook. It must be at least 22 inches. There’s no maximum size and no adipose fin-clip restriction.

Release rule: any salmon that is illegal to keep must be left in the water while being release.

Hooks: only single point barbless hooks may be used for salmon in Washington’s inland waters. Don’t forget to pinch barbs back, or better yet buy the deliberately non-barbed variety.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the Puget Sound Angler derby fishing terms and rules when you buy a ticket and also get a copy of the 2008-09 Fishing in Washington sportfishing regulations from any hunting and fishing license dealer.

Doug Huddle, the Herald’s outdoors correspondent, has worked for more than 23 years for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and has written a weekly hunting and fishing column for the Herald since 1983 that appears Saturdays. E-mail him at doug.huddle@bellinghamherald.com.

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