Outdoors

POSTED: Saturday, Jul. 04, 2009

SALMON DERBY: Derby details

DERBY DETAILS AT A GLANCE

Event: 2009 Bellingham Salmon Derby

Dates: July 10-12.

Sponsor: Bellingham Chapter of the Puget Sound Anglers

At stake: Adult first place prize is $5,000; kids' first place prize is a Nintendo Wii.

Tickets: Adult $50 each, kids age 14 and under are free with a paying adult. Limited to 500 adult tickets.

Competing for: separate adult and kids' prize lists. Kids may enter fish in adult ladder if they buy an adult ticket. In the adult section on Friday and Saturday, the entered fish coming the closest to 10 pounds wins its angler a Fetha Styx rod. In the adult prize list there are two $500 hidden weight prizes.

More possibilities: all anglers officially entered in this derby by their ticket purchase authomatically qualify for the Northwest Marine Trade Association's 2009 end of season (September) grand prize lottery for a fully equipped sport fishing boat. For more details, log on to: http://www.nmta.net/growboating/derby.asp

Derby waters: Marine Area 7 (greater San Juan Islands) only, all its currently open zones.

Weigh-in stations: Friday and Saturday afternoons (2 -8 p.m.) at Squalicum Harbor launch ramp (2 -8 p.m.) and Deer Harbor Marina (12 -8 p.m.). Sunday: only Squalicum Harbor launch ramp 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Awards ceremony starts at 2 p.m.

Tickets available: Bayside Marine (Everett), Clear Water Marine (Bellingham), Communications 2000 (Lynden), Dave's Sports Shop (Fairway Shopping Center, Lynden), Holiday Sports (Highway 20, Burlington), LFS Marine and Outdoor (Squalicum Harbor, Bellingham) and Yeager's Sporting Goods (Northwest Avenue, Bellingham). Also for ticket sales, call Roy Lkentz ar 360 734-2172.

PSA Bellingham contact: Brett Engholm, derby chairman at 425 508-6559 or visit bellinghampsa,com.

RULES TO FISH BY

Anyone found by derby masters to have violated state fishing regulations or derby rules will be disqualified from contention for any derby titles or prizes.

Here's a quick reference to applicable sport fishing regulations by which all anglers must abide to qualify their salmon catches for entry in the PSA derby.

Licenses: each angler age 15 and older must have a valid (2009) short or longer term Washington saltwater or combination fishing license. Sport salmon catches are monitored, so each angler who keeps a salmon must have a catch record card on which the retention (killing and keeping) of the fish must be written in ink, immediately after it is boated.

Closed areas: to protect some wild salmon stocks and moderate catches, several Marine Area 7 areas are closed for salmon fishing during portions of the summer months. These closures include the greater Bellingham Bay (Samish and Padilla bays, Hale Pass and Guemes Channel) zone to Saturday, Aug. 15 and the South Rosario Strait/East Strait of Juan de Fuca (south and east of Lopez Island) zone to Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Daily limit: for July, two salmon of which only one may be a chinook, plus two additional pink salmon as a bonus. Chinook must be at least 22 inches in length.

Handling and release: any salmon not legal to retain may not be brought onboard a vessel (inside the gunwales) but must be kept in the water and released unharmed.

Terminal gear: sport anglers may use only one rod/reel and line combo with no more than two single-point, barbless hooks attached to the end.

For all sport fishing regulations check online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/. For complete derby rules governing this Bellingham PSA event, log onto http://www.bellinghampsa.com/derby/rules.htm.