Northwest Reel Life January - February 2024 Volume 3 Issue 4 - Flipbook - Page 6
your lake of choice.
Because of the cold weather,
it's a good idea to be
prepared before hitting the
water. If it's been a while
since you've run your boat,
do an inspection, test your
motors, and ensure your
first aid kits and life jackets
are aboard. Bundle up and
bundle up your kids too.
Hand warmers are essential!
I picked up some electric
hand warmers online and
they work great. The trickiest
part is making sure they're
charged before heading out!
Like electronic hand
warmers, heated jackets
can also be a game changer.
Winter perch fishing is a
sedentary activity, so you'll
want every advantage you
can get to stay warm. I also
highly recommend putting
on base layers, especially
underneath your pants.
Costco and Sportco both
offer affordable base layer
packs for men and women.
Winter fishing doesn't have
to be cold and miserable.
Making sure you're
adequately prepared will go
a long way toward having a
fun day on the lake.
Have fun on your winter
perch quest! Most lakes
around here have no bag
limit or size limit, but make
sure to be responsible and
only harvest what you're
going to eat. Perch are one
of the best fried fish out
there, and they're easy to
prepare for the frying pan.
You can either fillet them
quickly or cook them whole.
Electric filet knives can
make short work of a bucket
of perch. My friend and
fellow writer Randy Castello
likes to batter his perch filets
and freeze them so that his
family can enjoy fried perch
anytime. Put life jackets on
the little ones, gas up the
boat, and hit the lake!
10 | NWFISHING.net
locations
With the exception of a few
laggard B-run coho in the
rivers, our PNW salmon
focus should be shifting
to the 2023-2024 Puget
Sound winter blackmouth
fishery. Typically, winter
blackmouth is one of
my favorite local fishing
opportunities. Going back
to my mid-teens winter
blackmouth fishing has
always been one of my
very favorite ways to grow
snotsicles.
Because recent
conservation measures
have severely reduced
our opportunity to drag
downrigger balls in the
gravel, many of us will be
considering putting the
salmon gear away and
winterizing the boat. You
may want to hold off a
bit, break out a wool hat,
hoodie, and your cold
weather friend Mr Heater.
it’s almost blackmouth
season. But, what’s a
blackmouth?
Blackmouth are chinook
salmon that have decided
not to migrate to the usual
feeding grounds in the Gulf
of Alaska. Instead, they
tend to remain in Puget
Sound and the Straights
to feed on local schools of
herring, candlefish, other
forage fish, and squid.
Back in the 1960s, WDFW
decided to duplicate the
natural tendency of a small
percentage of chinook to
remain in Puget Sound
and create a year-round
sports fishery. The WDFW
established a team led
by Frank Shaw and got to
work. It was determined
that if you held the usual
hatchery release at 3
months for an additional
year, or 15-18 months total,
the chinook would forage
locally.
The original releases were
made in Capital Lake in
Olympia. The program
moved to net pens by
Squaxin Island but the
WDFW determined that
the salt-reared fish tended
to migrate. The program
was shifted to several local
hatcheries. They are for
the most part clipped, but
there are certain releases
where the co-manager
agreements do not allow
the fish to be clipped.
Over the years we have
seen a reduction in
opportunity; a few years
back we lost the winter
blackmouth fishery in
Marine Area 7, 8-1, 8-2, and
MA 9. They were closed
to preserve or extend
some of the summer
chinook fisheries while still
supporting federal and
co-manager escapement
goals.
JAN - FEB 2024 | 11
