With a one Chinook limit and no coho retention regulation in force this recreational salmon fishing season, fishing charter office operators say that bookings are definitely down. An estimated 25% of fishing trips are being booked for salmon only and the remainder for either bottomfish or a combination of both salmon and bottomfish trips.
Bite’s on
Larry Giese, owner/operator of Deep Sea Charters, says the fish are biting. “The problem isn’t that anglers aren’t getting bites and the opportunity to reel a salmon into the boat. There’s lots of action on nearly every trip and the catching has been good. The problem is that the large majority of those salmon are coho that have to be released and the kings have been elusive,” he said.
According to Westport Charterboat Association President Steve Westrick, “Salmon fishing this season has gotten a bit of a bad rap because we can’t keep the coho and any time we have a slow Chinook day, that amplifies the problem. The Chinook just haven’t been biting as aggressively this season.”
Half of quota caught
State Department of Fish & Wildlife data shows that in the period from opening day on July 1 through July 24, the last date for which statistics were available as we went to press, a total of 8,560 anglers participated in the Westport area salmon fishery, landing 3,794 Chinook. Those landings represent just under 46% of the total 16,600 Chinook quota allotted off Westport this season.
Half a fish
That’s an average of just under a half a salmon per fisher.
“It’s really a matter of perception,” said Westrick. “That catch average is actually not untypical for kings in several other years. The rub is that with anglers unable to keep any silvers caught, that one salmon doesn’t seem like much.
Three weeks remain
The season off Westport opened on July 1 and is scheduled to close in three weeks, on Aug. 21, unless the catch quota for the Westport area is reached prior to that date.
Because fishing has been slow, Fish & Wildlife increased the Chinook bag limit to two Chinook effective July 23.
More combo trips
In addition to offering trips out to catch albacore tuna when they are running 60 miles or closer to the coast, usually from late July through September, during salmon season, most charter offices and independent operators offer three kinds of deep sea fishing trips. In years past, salmon only and bottomfish only trips were very popular.
However, according to Westrick, “Combination trips that include opportunities to catch both salmon and bottomfish on the same day have increased in popularity, especially with those who are new to deep sea fishing. I’m sure that this year’s limited salmon fishing has increased the number of those trips, but the momentum for combos has been growing for several years.”
Westrick says that combo trips are great for those who only have one day to fish on the ocean. “With an abundance of rockfish, those combo trips pretty much ensure that the customer is going to go home with some fine fish, even if they don’t land a salmon, he said.” Anglers have a daily 10 rockfish and two lingcod limit. Lingcod season opened March 12 and is expected to run through mid-October.
“The regulations are unfortunate this year, but we’ll live through it,” said Westrick. “Hopefully next year we’ll be on more of a typical regimen where we retain both Chinook and coho to some degree.”
