Grays Harbor / Johns River Fall Chinook |
A Salmon can eat thousands of herring, but
only one cut plug.
For
WDFW purposes, the area we are discussing here is Marine Area 2.2, which is east
of buoy #13 between Westport and Ocean Shores, upriver to the Highway 101 bridge
at Aberdeen.
This fishery is located in the Grays Harbor
(Chehalis River)
estuary. The salmon season usually opens about mid September.
There could be non retention of any Chinook in this area as returning wild fish
have declined in recent years. So depending on the WDFW's forecast for
returning wild Chinook for that particular year, look at the fishing regs. before you grab your
rod and head out.
When You Fish :
Under
most estuary fishing you normally will be fishing from the middle part of the
outgoing tide up into the high incoming tide, which should
flush the new fish into the lower estuary. Then, if these fish are committed
to going upriver, they will then travel against the current on the following
first part of the outgoing tide. It has been observed by
some veteran fishermen in the lower reaches near Johns River that the best bite sometimes comes after the
high slack and up to about 2 hours after that.
However as with many fisheries, the location
and the fish sometimes
write their our timetables and they can be caught on any time of the
tide. This seems to be the case farther upriver near Aberdeen, as
I have seen fish caught on the low outgoing tide and near the tide change also.
It also makes a difference if the weather is dry for some
time, or if it has been raining. If it has been dry, then the fish tend to
stack up in the bay. If it starts to rain, they will move through and head
upriver rather rapidly.
Some large Chinook (40# +) are occasionally pulled from these areas when the
season permits an opener. The Chinook here would probably be either the Chehalis, Satsop, Skookumchuck or Hoquiam
River fish.
There are Different Fishing Areas
to Choose From :
To get to either, from Westport, you go out of the boat basin, head left (north) to "A"
buoy which is the farthest red dot to the left. The next red dot is
buoy 14. Buoy 21 is in a straight line at the corner. The blue dot is the "SC" buoy, which identifies the
South Channel. In this same area there are high piling with range markers for the ships to line up
on heading upriver or downriver for the main shipping channel. The
purple dot up the south channel is piling marker #8, where the Johns River empties
into the south channel.
The yellow areas are the normal fishing areas |
Here is a later Google Earth that shows a better view of the bottom contours of the bay |
Buoy 13 :
Heading out of the Westport area from A buoy the
areas split, straight on out and slightly west is buoy #13. This is the
farthest LH green dot on the above chart.
This time
of the year the season's western boundary is at this buoy. There is
considerable fishing that takes place immediately east (upriver) from this location, as
usually noticed by the concentration of boats, including some charter boats. This area can be either
mooching or trolling. Water depth here will be in the 40' range .
Chehalis River or Shipping
Channel :
The
main fishing in this channel will probably be from buoy #21 upriver to Aberdeen.
You will also probably have more success by trolling the 20' line along the
edges of the shipping channel. The channel is dredged to maintain 40' at
low tide. The main channel bends at the range marker piling near the South
Channel and runs upriver. Fishing in the main river usually will be from
buoy #17 to #27, then on to #44 and closer the the 28th Street boat launch.
From the airport up to the 101 bridge is sometimes called the "north channel".
Here is a nice hooknose Coho taken 9-20-09 | More fin clipped Coho |
Johns River or South Channel :
This area is near
the mouth of the "south channel" of Grays Harbor bay which Johns River empties into.
You will not be fishing the actual Johns River however, but a portion of the Chehalis River area just off the mouth
of Johns River. For this area you head out as before from
the Westport launch, but instead of heading left toward the
ocean at "A" buoy, you hang a right
and start up the river. At low tide there will be Whitcomb Flats (sand) on your
right, so you will have to follow the main shipping channel buoys up the
river. From buoy "14" all the others upriver are in a straight line to the
bend at buoy "21". There are large range marker piling on both sides of
South Channel / Johns River entrance.
Most of the fishing is normally done either near the main shipping
channel of the Chehalis near the South Channel (SC) buoy, or in the south
channel itself and upstream then past the actual mouth of Johns River and up
channel. Johns River empties into the
south channel at it's piling marker "8" about 1/2 mile east (upstream) from where the south channel empties into the main
Chehalis channel. There are numerous sand bars separating the main channel and the south
channel at low tide. The south channel is smaller and shallower than the
main channel as it condenses and gets shallower at low tide as it gets farther
upriver toward Aberdeen.
Some people will fish up this south channel clear up to the water
tower on the south bank hill. It gets narrower and shallow but some fish are
even pulled in 8' of water. However most will troll, (depending on the
tide) from the "Goal Posts" near the SC buoy up to past the cell tower and
O'Leary Creek on the south side then turn around at the congregation of the rotted
off piling.
There are a few depressions in this shallow
channel that hold fish. The upper section of this is usually is not fished as heavily as the rest of the
river system. The good thing here is that the bottom is sand with no
logs, stumps or underwater debris. The water depth is usually from
8' to 15' deep but it gets shallower and narrower as it extends upstream.
Since fishing is easier and possibly more productive in
the early season if water is warm and low, the Chinook may possibly stack up
here before the upriver migration. IF according to WDFW, the wild
Chinook escapement level appears to not be high enough for any particular year,
the whole bay, including the south channel may be closed for a few weeks early in the season in the name
of conservation.
Kelly & Peggy with a 45# buck Chinook | 3 Johns River Chinook |
Upstream near Aberdeen/Hoquiam,
or North Channel :
Upstream more, the fishing boundary at the start of the season is the Hiway 101
bridge across the Chehalis River in Aberdeen. The not so good Wall-Mart launch is just
upstream from this bridge. The 28th Street launch is
downriver about 1 mile and right in the middle of this section of the upper
fishery. Most of the fishing takes place from just above the 28th St. launch to downstream
near the
airport. There is a newer abandoned concrete dock on the NE shore that has a
deeper hole near the downstream end. Many fishermen will backtroll this
hole when fishing the tide incoming. The shipping channel here where most of the fishing is done is
about 45' deep. Here you DO NOT want to fish the bottom like other areas
as this area has lots of debris and WILL grab your gear.
The Method of Fishing for Chinook :
The
preferred method seems to be trolling, one thought is to keeping your bait NEAR the
bottom if fishing the south channel or on the edges of the main shipping
channel. Some experienced fishermen here will troll the 20' depth line
along the edges of the shipping channel with good success.
For a link to my estuary article that may describe some aspects of these type of
fisheries CLICK HERE
or to my Willapa bay article which will have some similarities
CLICK HERE.
There are occasionally
underwater snags or discarded wire cable debris in or near the shipping channel furthering the idea of not
dragging bottom here, lessening the chance of hanging up.
The fishermen who fish the shipping channel seem to prefer about mid-depth to
slightly deeper, but off the bottom. So
take your pick.
This type of
fishing is shallow enough that downriggers can prove to be to much of
a hassle and normally are not used.
The preferred gear usually is a standard mooching slider rig, or
a sturgeon sinker slider on the mainline
to which a lighter leader of about 12-18" is attached to a round sinker, with a large purple or black label cut plug herring pulled behind a
medium or large
Fish Flash. It appears that the best 2 colors are green/prism and red
prism for either of the above. Water color his is dark and very turbid so a
large attractor like the large size Fish Flash is recommended. And shorten
your leader even down to 18". The Port
sometimes uses divers in the upper river near the docks with the word is that they
can not see their hand in front of their face.
The most important aspect is to use a
Sampo ball bearing swivel off the rear of each to keep leader from kinking. Some fishermen use a Les Davis crippled herring bonnet and use smaller bait that
can equal the length of a large cut plug.
Use the standard estuary set-up with a slider and 12" to 16" dropper to a 6 to
10 oz sinker. Put about a dacron line of about 2" longer than the dropper between the mainline end
and the fish Flash. Use enough weight to get the bait to the bottom at a line angle of 45 degrees. Most fishermen use too light a sinker. If fishing more than one aboard, but an 8 ounce for the forward fisher
with a 6 oz for the rear rod.
The standard 6' leader will work, but when the water is turbid, then shorten this leader down to 48" or even
24". Also a 40-50# leader is used many times, as you are fishing
shallow, (10-20') the big fish have no place to go but run, and those big
Chinook
can cut a 20# leader with their teeth quite easily if they are hooked deep in
the throat and not in the jaw. With the turbid
water here the fish are not leader shy. You may want to inject those herring with scent,
to aid in attracting the fish, since
the water is so murky. If targeting Coho, then shorten the leader
to the shorter dimensions OR less.
Use the Hi Vis mainline especially if
there is more than one person on the boat, as this allows you to see where the lines are at all times.
The bait should be frozen herring in either blue or purple label
size. In the morning before you leave, in a small insulated cooler, place the herring in 2 qt water, 3 cups rock salt, 1 cup powdered milk
and 5 drops Pro Cure Bait
Bright or Mrs. Stuarts Bluing as used in washing clothes. As a substitute for bait bright, simply use a blue food coloring. The salt
toughens them, the powdered milk, having lactic acid sets the scales, and the
blue coloring adds the iridescent blue color of a live herring.
I keep my bait in a Tupperware 2 quart refrigerator drink container (that
has a large lid) that is placed inside a small cooler. This allows
me to brine down the bait and then pour a sack of ice around the Tupperware
container, inside the cooler. This keeps the bait cold all day long as
the ice lasts for over 24 hours and does not dilute my brine. When the day is over, do not throw this
bait away, especially if you are going to fish again soon, just put the
Tupperware container in the refrigerator. If you are going to be
longer than a week, then but place them in a good sealable "zip-lock baggie",
place the brined herring along with enough of the brine to cover the bait and place it in a
protected place in a deep freeze. This solution is so saturated with salt
that it will not freeze. When you need them again, they will be good and tough,
except do not expect them to last indefinitely, as they may freezer burn or turn
mushy after about 3 months.
If using a cut plug, use cutting block, where hook placement determines the roll. For
blue label you need 3 1/2" between back of front hook to front eye of rear hook.
Bury the larger heavy hook in the tail. Use Sickle style hooks for better hooking
and KEEPING HOOKED ability.
Run a size 5/0 hook in front with a 6/0 in the rear. If you use a herring bonnet, then you can get by with the smaller green
label herring along with getting 2 more herring to a package.
What works best in the Grays Harbor area is a cut-plug that has a "Big Flop" spin.
The Buoy 10 fishery however seems best when using the medium "Bullet" spin.
Practice cutting herring and watching it spin. Placement of the hooks
will also govern the spin.
The tide difference between Aberdeen and Markham is -14 minutes. Be there 1 1/2 hrs before the high tide
and be prepared to fish the 1 hour before high slack, thru the slack plus 1 hour after. Otherwise you will be spending much of your time removing grass off the line.
If you have a high run-off, the bite will usually be only at the tide change. However if the tide has a low swing, then the bite will usually last clear thru the tide
and into low slack.
Tide difference farther upriver at Aberdeen is near 1 hour later than the
tide book says for Westport.
Troll slow and WITH the tide. The biggest problem with experienced fishermen who now try this
fishery that is new to them, is that they usually try to set the hook to soon.
You want to put the rods in the rod-holders so that the rod tip is within 2-3' of the water.
The fish will tap, the bait 2 to 3 times, when he does, speed the trolling motor up immediately to FAST for a
short period of time. What this does is the fish thinks the bait is getting away and he will chase
then attack it.
When this happens, the fish hits it hard enough to basically set the hook himself,
and the rod tip will be buried in the water when the fish take offs.
This is now the time to grab the rod, then just pop the tip lightly to be sure the hook is set.
For those of you who have to watch and hold the rod, many times you will not detect the
non dramatic hit when these
Chinook pick up the herring, as they simply pick it up, then follow you if that is
the way they are moving, so be ever watchful of your rod tip. You may set
the hook on seaweed, but then it may be a nice fish. This hand held method will miss
many more fish than the above mentioned rod holder method.
Have extra rods rigged and ready, so that you do not miss any prime fishing time when the "bite" occurs
when you need to be
re-baited or
to remove weeds.
Line angle is important to get proper lure action. You may have to change trolling speed many times as the tide
and currently changes.
Check the bait action when ever you are putting new bait in the water.
There is a Chinook salmon hatchery on the Satsop River, but
also there are some wild fish from the other rivers that have no Chinook hatchery in the
rest of the Chehalis system.
The Method of Fishing for Coho :
Coho can be found anywhere in the system. However if you plan on
targeting them, it
makes more sense to look for them on the flats between buoy #25 and Ocean
Shores at high tide, before they funnel into the river channels.
The preferred method again seems to be trolling but
trolling a bit higher in the water column, using a medium Fish
Flash colors from red to green, (however a combo of red/chartreuse works
great) 2 ounces of lead and out 30 pulls (60')
behind the boat.
The one thing here, is that if the salmon have lockjaw, a well prepared fisherman could try for
sturgeon if the season is open. You have your choice of fishing the sand flats, or the deeper holes. The
usual bait for these is either smelt or sand shrimp, however your salmon
bait (herring or anchovies) can be also used.
Regulations May Change :
Check the WDFW regs. carefully each year as to what you are allowed
to keep. It changes year to year, from no season at all, to release all
Chinook, to keep 1 Chinook
plus 1 clipped Coho, or even 1 wild Coho for the year 2000, so depending on the
estimated returns the catch also changes. Also look at the online
WDFW website as in the 2007 regs, there was many mistakes for this river in the
printed manual, but changed in the website version. Same for the 2010 regs. The problem is that
the change was not where you would normally expect it to be & you had to dig for
it, so the average person would miss these changes.
For 2010 the regs. for the marine area 2-2 restricted Chinook take to ZERO
but allowed 2 Coho no matter whether they were hatchery or naturals. The
thinking was that in 2009 the return rate of naturals was considerably higher
than hatchery returns so instead of catching and releasing MANY naturals, to keep
2 hatchery, just keep the first 2 Coho you caught, decreasing the mortality on
the Coho AND cutting down on the possibility of hooking Chinook which have to be
also released.
Weather :
The weather governs the fish timing in this location. If it is a warm
fall with no rain, the fish tend to stack up here waiting for the first rain to
move upstream. If that is the case fishing can be fantastic. However
if there is some rain, it will usually last for over a couple of weeks, these fish
scoot right by and head home giving the fisherman in the bay little chance to
score. Because of this and the low numbers of Chinook returning to this
system, WDFW has imposed a no Chinook retention some years. The bad part
of this is that some fishermen will go there to "officially" target Coho, but in
reality they want to rack up large numbers of released Chinook. This is a
bad thing as the hook and release mortality for these Chinook in this warm water
is high. They do not understand that they are hurting their resource just
for their own pleasure.
This time of the year you can get "bluebird" weather if we get a nice fall
season. Or if mother nature skips a season and the summer turns
directly into winter, you can very easily get wind, rain AND fog all at the same time.
Normally
you will be inside the estuary enough that even a normal
fall afternoon, the wind will not really effect you in the fishing area. You might
however encounter more wind chop heading back from the "goal posts at the south channel" to the Westport dock
if that is where you departed from. Or if from the north channel, then
from #30 on up to past #44 near 28th street launch. The one good thing about this fishery
is that there are many boat launches, which gives you options depending on the
weather. The farther up the river you go the wind normally
dissipates as you hide behind more land on the south.
If bad weather is the case, the recommendation is to have a good
GPS/plotter showing the water depth, shipping channel and marker buoys.
There may be times when a southerly or SW wind is blowing where your trolling
may be more like side-drifting in a river if you are to maintain your course.
When this happens it is hard to fish and even harder to maintain the boat, so even the
most dedicated fishermen may even call it a day. Somewhere in one of
the boating classes I took it said that you will not get wind and fog at the same
time. Believe me, here it can happen and if you are out here without good
electronics, you may not end up where you think you are. Could even end up
on a sandbar or worse.
Seen here, you can see the heavy weight on the rod tips & the stern (shippers) rod |
Grass :
This
can be a problem in the lower areas at times, especially if you are there at a high flood tide, as the weeds seem to be pushed
upriver with the tide. These weeds can accumulate enough on the line to foul the swivels, therefore creating twisted
gear. In times like this, it is advisable to pull your gear every 15 min. or so to check
it. If troubled with seaweed or grass on your line, adding a golf tee on the mainline as your uppermost gear, will help
divert many weeds off and keep the swivels free. The tapered small portion of this golf tee seems to
allow the weeds to be passed off, where a knot at a swivel seems to stop and
hold the weeds.
Normally in the upper section normally called the "North Channel", there will not be many floating weeds. And it is a whole lot better than the weeds encountered on Willapa Bay.
It
is accessible
from at least 3 or 4 decent launches, listed are, starting at the downriver one first.
(1) Westport
launch --Port of Grays Harbor
(2) Johns
River launch WDFW
(3)
28th Street Boat Launch -- Port of Grays Harbor
(4) Wal-Mart
Launch -- (not recommended)
(5) Ocean
Shores
Not mentioned here would be the Cosmopolis launch which upstream a couple of
miles of the Highway
101 bridge. This would be an option when fishing the
upper section, and 28th street parking lot was full.
Westport Launch :
It would
probably be best for the larger boats to launch at Westport, as at Johns River,
the ramp is OK even at a low tide but getting out that channel in a deeper draft
boat may be a problem. The launch at Westport is next to the Coast Guard
Station, go north from the stoplight on N Montesano Street, (the main street leading to the dock
area) then at the Hungry Whale gas station/bait shop at the intersection of Wilson Ave., take
a right heading east to its end. The parking lot will be on the right, with the launch
straight ahead.
This is a good 2 lane blacktop ramp
with docks, and another ramp on the north of the north dock that is not paved as
far down, but still very usable. The launch fee is $7.50 and only accepts
credit cards. There is a new large paved
parking
available adjacent and to the south along the incoming road.
The shipyard uses this launch to launch their 100 plus foot yachts. The problem is that they have built up a flat gravel landing that goes a ways past the end of the dock. So when you have a low tide you really have to back down a long ways to get your boat off the trailer. Some boaters have had to back past the dock and really jack knife their trailer to the side to find water deep enough to get it off the trailer. It can be done IF you have a 4X4, but it's a pain in the butt during a minus tide. All in all you should be all right, just plan around the minus tides.
Johns River Launch :
This launch is on south side of the Johns River, just upriver just east of the concrete bridge at Markham.
Johns River empties into the Chehalis River in Grays Harbor. Coming from
Aberdeen, at Markham, and the Ocean Spray Cranberry plant, you cross the high bridge, then take the next road to the left (Johns
River road), which is a short tie-in road to the old highway which parallels the newer
road that you just left. There will be a "Public Fishing" sign at
this intersection and then again where this road intersects with the old highway.
Take a left at this intersection, which will take you north and then down a hill to the river
and the Johns River Recreation Area and the
WDFW launch.
There are restrooms and a small parking lot at the
launch with a large overflow parking field to the south and adjacent to the launch
area. If you are there during a busy fall day, this launch can be hectic
getting your trailer in line as there is only one way out of the overflow
parking and if that road is blocked or if you happened to park your vehicle and
trailer in the smaller lot at the head of the ramp, getting in line may be a
problem.
This ramp is a single wide concrete slab ramp with muddy shore on both
sides except at low and high tides, then there is enough rocks to beech a boat
and stay out of the mud when walking up. There are some scattered piling
left in the north side of that you could tie up to when waiting to recover the
boat if the launch is busy.
It is best for a first timer using this launch to go out
on a low tide as you can see the channel well then. It
is easy to see the channel at low tide, but once the mud flats are flooded that
becomes a different matter.
After launching you need to stay in the center of the
river going downstream under the bridge, staying in the river channel when
entering the bay you will have to still stay in the center until you pass second
Ocean Spray complex and dock. There are marker piling # 3 and #1 on
your right going out. Stay on the left of BUT near them. You will see hemlock poles pushed into the
bottom to mark the channel out to the west side of the channel with the above
mentioned piling on the east side before it enters the Chehalis. The
tricky part about the JR channel is right at the confluence with the Chehalis
South Channel.
Every GPS I've ever seen has the JR channel veering off
at about 10:30 - 11:00 o'clock for the last 75-100 yards in a NNW tack. It
absolutely-positively does NOT go that direction! Keep headed north
aiming for the blinky and/or the giant red rock on the other side of the bay
until you reach deeper water as there are shallows at low tide on each side of
this channel. Better yet, follow someone who knows the way,
and mark it on your GPS as you go.
A car-topper boat could be
fished here if you launched from
this launch, as you are coming into the upriver fishing area from the East and with a
shorter run and have less exposure if the wind picks up.
28th Street Boat Launch :
This launch is in East Hoquiam, and will
be on the upper-most section of this fishing area. It is operated by
the Port of Grays Harbor. Go West on Simpson or Wishkah Ave, take a left at 28th Street, follow
it less than 1/2 mile to the parking area and boat ramp. It is a good 2 lane concrete
launch with dock. It has a protective upstream log breakwater. This
launch also has it's down falls during low tides.
The parking lot is limited, but you can park along the north side of the road leading into launch and the port has an overflow lot near the south of the road somewhat close by as you drove in. The Hoquiam River empties into the Chehalis River just downstream from this launch. No restrooms are available however.
Early in the year 2015 the Port of Grays Harbor has
obtained permits to improve this launch. It is hoped that parking will
also be improved.
Wall Mart Boat Launch
??:
This abandoned launch is situated immediately downstream (west) from the
Wall-Mart parking lot, but is not accessible from that lot. You
have to go past the gas pumps and take a immediate left. It
appears to not be used to any degree. This launch is a 4 wheel drive
show only and then for a small boat, in that the gravel appears to be not packed and loose,
creating possible tire spinning as shown in the photo below on the left.
Better for a car-topper boat or better for a kayak it seems. At the same time it is probably only a higher tide launch than most
fisherpersons prefer. Also the upper portion of it usually covered
with debris from ranging from smaller sticks to larger logs that may have to be
moved in order to use it. This picture was taken 12-08-05 and
shows a Quinault Indian gill net in the left photo.
Wall-Mart launch in Aberdeen shown between the concrete slabs | Wall-Mart launch at a +3' tide showing lower end of launch & drop-off |
Ocean Shores Boat Launch :
For those that may be staying on the north side of the bay, this
launch is the place to depart from. The word out was that the boat basin was sanded in
and care was needed if it
was accessed at a low tide. For current info I would suggest you try to
contact the harbormaster or someone currently familiar with that area. I
for the life of me can not see them letting it go without dredging, however the
word was that it is now owned the the Quinault tribe.
I drove by in the spring of 2012 and never did find the launch. It
seems that it is east of the marina office parking lot. You can not see it
until you get right on it (no signs either) and is accessible by a unimproved road off the east end of
the parking lot. This launch itself is situated between two concrete bulkheads.
Ocean Shores Side :
During this fishery many of the salmon are heading for the Humptulips
River. Not many fishermen fish this side. These fish will tend to take a left
and head toward the Humptulips, which takes them past the Ocean Shores marina area. There is a somewhat wide deep area
(from 40-60') from here up to the Ocean Shores entrance that is
fishable. The buoys here will be #1 and #3 right off the marina
entrance. The channel to the Humptulips heads for Goose Island and is
about 15' deep with a slot about 30' at Goose Island. Here, it may be best to fish on the incoming tide, which flushes
the new fish into the river system.
However I suggest you make a exploratory run in this area at a low tide to get
some GPS readings as the bay at the mouth of the Humptulips has more than one
shallow channels. Do it on a low incoming tide so if you run aground you
won't be setting there for a time.
GPS Locations :
This time of the year you can run into fog in the morning, for
those of you with GPS the locations are listed below. The following numbers
were taken off being near the actual buoys, as they were taken physically after Selective
Availability
was removed from the system. Readings for the last 4 buoys was taken
off a GPS plotter chart. "A" buoy has been replaced with a river
marker buoy #4. It may not be in the exact same position however.
Buoy “A” | 46-55-02 | 124-06-93 |
Buoy “14” | 46-55-27 | 124-06-43 |
Buoy "17" | 46-55-29 | 124-04-27 |
Buoy “21” | 46-55-29 | 124-03-46 |
Buoy “SC” | 46-55-33 | 124-02-85 |
John’s River #8 | 46-55-50 | 124-00-50 |
Buoy “24” | 46-55-59 | 124-01-97 |
Buoy “25” | 46-55-70 | 124-01-17 |
Buoy "27" | 46-56-48 | 124-00-43 |
Buoy “30” | 46-57-47 | 123-58-92 |
Buoy “34” | 46-57-69 | 123-57-98 |
Buoy “40” | 46-58-10 | 123-55-40 |
Buoy “44” | 46-58-04 | 123-54-17 |
There Can
Also a Commercial Gill Net
Fishery Here :
So, go to
Commercial netting schedule, Grays Harbor
or to check with WDFW at
the Montesano office as to when the netters are on the river, which is usually
shortly after the middle of September. If you call the WDFW,
be prepared
for them to give you some dates and commercial areas that mean
nothing to the sport fisherperson. Here is the
Commercial
salmon/sturgeon landings. For a map of the
non-tribal commercial areas
CLICK
HERE. For a link to the Quinault Tribal netting schedule
CLICK HERE.
Crabbing : Here crabbing is possible in the lower bay where there is still enough salt influence to support them. This meaning that marker #20 to #21 is about that limit.
If you drop off a crab pot in the bay, remember that you usually will be going out at low tide and need to allow for plenty of line to compensate for the incoming tide plus any current that accompanies it. Otherwise you may have to go back later and try to locate then pick it up on another low tide.
There are commercial crab pots in the area north of buoys
"15" to "21". This water is about 20' deep for a quite
large flat area here. Another area to crab would be hang a right coming out of
the boat basin and run up Elk River a short ways. There usually is not
crabbing much above this point however, as the water salinity is lesser enough
to discourage any crab concentration.
Ships :
There is not much commercial freighter traffic in this river
and with a narrow shallow channel, these large ships that do use it tend to lay
and wait for the high tide before
heading up or downriver. However you are more likely to encounter a barge being towed at
any time. If there happens to be any commercial traffic coming thru,
give them enough room, as the channel is not overly wide. In the photo
below, on a foggy day, this freighter blew one long single blast about every 5 minutes as it
moved up the river. The small fishing boats, still trolling, just moved to
the outsides of the channel and let it go by.
Here is a inbound log freighter in the channel on a rainy, windy & foggy day |
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Originated 9-29-2004 Last updated
11-20-2020 *
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