Outdoors - Hunting and Fishing

POSTED: Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009

Shrimping set to start May 2

The annual spring recreational rush for shrimp including Puget Sound's coveted spots, aka prawns, begins at 7 a. m. (most waters) on May 2.

Sport spot shrimpers in Marine Area 11, Vashon Island north tip to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, again get the shortest stint with just a single day opening, May 2, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In these and several other mid- and south Puget Sound waters some intense efforts for spot prawns will occur and in the immediate aftermath of the Rafeedie Decision and the implementation of the federal court sanctioned treaty and non-treaty allocation system, recreational harvestors here reached their catch cap on the available stock very quickly.

Hood Canal shrimpers will get the second briefest season with a planned four-day opening that kicks off May 2 with legal fishing hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Other fishing days are set for May 6, 9 and 13. But even one or more of those dates could be lopped if the Marine Area 12 recreational quota is reached beforehand.

All other inland waters marine areas will open (under weekly limitations) Saturday, May 2 with longer opportunities all governed by the allocation Sword-of-Damocles in which fishing pressure and resultant harvest will play a pivotal role in cutting the season off, perhaps sooner than fishers would like and managers anticipate.

By mid-Puget Sound standards, besides the customary gear configuration rules, shrimp fishers in local waters (marine area 7) will be allowed a relatively generous four day per week (quota-governed) fishery with a Sunday through Tuesday closure each week.

However, to the south, in the hopes of extending the season in these waters, Marine Areas 8, 9 and 10 shrimpers will be able to set their pots only on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

There is hope these opportunities will last more than just several weeks under the restrictions.

Except for the Discovery Bay Shrimp District that will remain closed, Strait of Juan de Fuca (marine areas 4, east of Bonilla, 5 and 6) shrimpers will get the most liberal options fishing daily from May 2 until Sept. 15, unless the quota is reached earlier.

CHELAN CHINOOK OPEN

Lake Chelan's landlocked summer chinook became fair game Wednesday, April 15, a little earlier than usual.

The season will remain open until further notice with the proviso that anglers may not fish within 400 feet of any of Chelan's inlet streams.

This opportunity focuses on a non-listed salmon stock that is confined to the 55-mile long, 1,400-foot deep fjord. Both planted triploid (sterile) specimens and naturally produced fertile chinook are caught in this fishery.

Since their introduction, managers have tried to find a balance between salmon plentitude and curtailing their impacts on the lake's kokanee and cutthroat trout populations.

DRANO BANKERS GET

The Washington fish and wildlife department is refereeing an ongoing squabble between bank fishers and their boat-borne counterparts at Drano Lake on the Columbia River west of White Salmon by issuing a temporary decree.

By regulation, now waters at the actual outlet of Drano Lake, will be the sole province of bank anglers and are off-limits to boat anglers through the spring chinook season. The rule covers waters west of a line drawn from the eastern most Highway 14 bridge pillar to a marker on the lake's north shore.

This new solid-ground-only fishing zone joins the Columbia River bank on the outboard side of the highway that was made a 'banker' refuge in 2008.

This delineation is similar to one in place at the mouth of the White Salmon River, also a Bonneville Pool tributary to the Columbia where bank fishing is limited and boaters also have the run of the place. In recent years, tension has brewed between circumscribed bank fishers and mobile boat anglers seeking to crowd into the narrow fish nexuses.

Unable to sort this out among themselves, boat anglers persisted in corking the bridge portals and bank anglers appealed to the department to defend their turf.

NEW RULE RELAXED A BIT

In another regulations move governing the Drano Lake and Wind River spring salmon fisheries, the department's new anti-snagging rule will be immediately and temporarily suspended when it is due to go into effect Friday, May 1.

Single, double and treble hooks will be legal with baits or on lures in two specific locales in the Wind River downstream of the railroad bridge and in Drano Lake, proper.

Public input encouraged managers to relax the new snagging deterency rule that is set to replace terms of the old non-buoyant lure restriction.

Officials say use of floating lures (typically not involved in foul hook-ups) predominate in these two fishing areas.

The new anti-snag rule would require anglers to strip factory-equipped, non-conforming hooks from their lures, needlessly claim anglers.

In all other waters with the non-buoyant lure prohibition including those open elsewhere on the Wind River, the anti-snagging terminal gear regulation will become the law of the state May 1 when 2009 fishing regulations take effect.