I didn't get to fish the Hood Canal Shrimp Opener as it conflicted with my 6 year old son's first T-Ball game. I did talk with three friends with whom I have fished the opener over the past five years. They all got their limits but no one fished the entire five hours. The north wind came in around 10:00 A.M. and made it real tough to find and pull the pots. I hear the guys were getting soaked while in neutral just pulling their pots. Four guys on two of the boats I know of lost their cookies on the way in. I understand the ramp at Misery Point was good entertainment for the sadists who enjoy watching people try to pull expensive boats out of the water at low tides in heavy winds on a marginal boat ramp. According to my sources, the shrimp were plentiful but lived up to the term "shrimp" and were smaller than in past years. Puss n Boots cat food, ground up fish and alaska fish fertilizer all mixed up together worked well for bait fished in 250-350 feet of water. Every one I talked to fished south of Oak Head. Notwithstanding the rough conditions, the guys I talked to, who are not already retired, are already working on the Wednesday morning flu so they can be out there for the Wednesday opening.
HOOD CANAL SHRIMP FISHING, FIRST 3 OPENINGS
The Hoods Canal Spot Shrimp sport season opened May 16th with clear blue skies and majestic Olympic Mountain views. This lured the sportsmen and ladies out like only Hood Canal can. With baited and set pots the fishermen awaited the first easy limit. By 10:00 am the first shrimp were in the cooler but the sportsman was caught by mother nature. The north wind blew in and calm Hood Canal turned into 3 foot seas before the second pull. The guaranteed limits turned into a fight for survival. The small boats retreated and the larger boats toughed it out. Limits were tough because placement of the pots and positioning of the boat was a challenge to any skipper. Still, limits (80 shrimp/person) were possible but probably not the safest thing to do.
Multiple boat swamping @ boat launches, boats left high and dry by the out going tide, broken ribs from being tossed by the waves, and lost gear are what the first opening was all about. This is truly one fishing activity that the boater and crew need to be prepared for and not have any impaired senses.
The second opening, Wednesday May 20th was easier to fish with easy limits. The setting and positioning of the pots @ the correct depth was possible.
The third opening, Saturday may 23rd the weather was good but the tide was low in the morning making boat launching an important scheduling item. The easy limits were not to be had. It became more important to move the gear around to locate the shrimp. Bait selection and type became more important too.
Average pulls were 30 to 40 shrimp per pot. One or two were for 10-15 and each opening had several pots with over 90. The shrimp seem to be getting smaller (DA) after each opening.
DEPTH: Didn’t matter the first opening, 200-230 ft worked well and was supported by local knowledge. I fished 250-300 ft but you need the right length of lines to fish 300 ft. Double buoys or additional floatation is important in the Hood Canal because of the tides. Weighted pots for quick descents and to hold position is important also. It is not uncommon for the current to push the pot off the edge.
BAIT: If it isn’t "Puss n’Boots" cat food your not fishing. I usually use cat food, with addition ingredients with fish scraps as hanging bait. You need the odor to draw the shrimp in and the hanging bait to keep them in.
TRAPS: It turns out that trap design is important, but "quick fisher" style tunnels are a must. The short fishing time and soaks mandates fast, easy entry by the shrimp but requires the pot to be pulled every hour or less. This also allows you to be sure you are in the right location/depth and to rebait.
LINES: I like the hard lay nylon leaded line and will not use the "yellow poly" which 95% of what everybody else uses. I also use one length of line for each pot with no knots or weighs because it is safer to power pull. The yellow poly requires lead weights to be snapped on during setting and removed during hauling.
LOCATION AND COORDINATES: Ya sure! Set where everybody else is. Don’t bother going if you don’t have a good depth sounder and don’t let go of the buoy until you feel the pot resting on the bottom. This can be a high gear lost sport.
This is a very heavily regulated sport in Hood Canal. On Saturday I saw two Fish and Game boats, one Sheriff boat, and one Coast Guard inflatable, don’t they have anything else to do? The Fish and Game also check every boat at some public boat launches. I wonder if they made their quotas or limits?
The sport is fun and the Shrimp taste good. Watch the Weather, know what the tide is doing, and be prepared to get wet when retrieving your boat.
EDITORIAL: The commercial shrimp fisherman (Indians) have been fishing the Canal since May 1st day and night with an unlimited amount of gear. It is surprising that any Shrimp are left for the Sportsmen who get four, four hour openings several days apart. Maybe the Sportsman can start fishing first next year or every other year.
Went shrimping at Hood Canal May 22nd on the "Crazy Avis" with Bruce and Crazy Avis Pearson. For awhile it looked like we would never get the trip started, but after retrieving keys required to stay at the folks place on the Canal and waiting in traffic for an hour to cross the Narrows Bridge, and getting the boat jumpstarted and untangling 1600 feet of rope (whew!), we were finally SHRIMPING!
The first two pulls we made got us pretty excited, putting over a hundred shrimp in the boat. The next two pots yielded a mere 5 shrimp combined. We should have waited longer to pull the last two pots I guess, since they had only been soaking for 30 minutes or less. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that we spent too much time getting our gear in the water, and that would prove to be the factor which prevented us from filling our limits. By the one o’clock deadline we were short our combined limit by about 120 shrimp. Feeling somewhat disappointed; we headed into Dewatto Bay, and threw in the crab ring for awhile. We ended up with five nice Dungees, then went back to the cabin to pick some Oysters.
The ensuing seafood feast was one of the finest I have had in a long time. It was, however, second to the feast which we had after arriving home Sunday, adding a big chunk of halibut to the menu! All in all it was a great day to be on the water enjoying the sunshine, scenery, and company of good friends. The only thing missing was my best friend, Erin, who couldn’t make the trip. I’m sure she won’t miss the next one!
Got to go to Hood Canal on the extra day we got (June 2nd). Awesome weather and 170 shrimp between 3 of us. Not bad for 3 GI's from Ft Lewis! We had great luck crabbing too. Limits of big Dungies. Great site keep up the great work. Steve Ruckle
Went to Twanoh State Park at 3pm to check out the crabbing action. There was a guy there who had been there since 8am and only had two small keepers. Promptly turned around and went back home.
11-07-2003 Hoodsport Point, overlooking the Combat lines of Snagger City. The Chums were massing just offshore. What was more exciting? Fighting Chums pushing 20 lbs.or watching them Flying sideways with their Aerial Displays!(one Dancing Gal shot up 13 times before tiring)Well to be honest, catching one of these Toothy "Willy Wanabes" does have its own arm wrentching thrill. We tried every form of Bait and lure known to Man and the Lassies with an attitude kept giving us the cold shoulder. Then it happened! There hiding deep in the Cooler, still frozen lay our soon to be discovered "Secret Weapon".....ANCHOVIES....purchased on a whim at the last minute these little popcicle sprats ended up saving the day.Strung up on a Needle in the Vent and out the mouth, floating behind a Bobber and a few split shot made for Nonstop Action! But alas my friend would finally say those sad words "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE OUT OF ANCHOVIES!" As quickly as it had startedthe action stopped and we headed Home worn out but happy our Cooler in toe,the Salty Dogs headed for the smoker "TRAPPER"
Ran by the beach north of Hoodsport this morning. Met up with Easy Limits and a few friends of his. Fishing was fairly slow. I hooked into three, but lost them all. Easy managed to hooked into a few as well. His friends' daughter was slaying them, though. She seemed pretty worn out after the 3rd or 4th one and was passing the rod off to others. I tried Dick Nites, corkie (2 fish bit on that, green/white corky), a couple jigs, and a Rainbow Plastics Pot O Gold spoon (one fish on that). Good day, though! Perfect weather (rainy and mild) and good company.
Ran up to Hood Canal for the afternoon tide and some Chinooks. Fished the little beach just north of Hoodsport. Arrived around 3:00 pm and started throwing corkies, but no luck. There was a negative tide, and high tide wasn't until 5:30 pm, so the water was a little low. Switched to buzzbombs and darts - Brian caught a searun cutthroat on a buzzbomb, and Aaron caught a remarkably ugly 5-inch fish on a corkie(?). Only saw one fish on from a boat at the end of the day. Even the hatchery was pretty barren - no fish on stringers when we checked on our way out.
Weather was temperate and very accomodating, and my new waders didn't leak!
Shrimping was great Saturday 5-2-09. Had 4 limits of nice size shrimp in one pull. Even had to let some go. Went across from the boat launch in 250' of water.
Had the best day I ever had shrimping on the canal on June 8th. On one pull of 4 pots I had 8 limits +-. 13 miles up from the powerhouse in 190 to 250 ft of water.. A great day!
fished hoodsport hatchery to day for the pinks and had a blast the pinks where runing up the creek right when the tide was starting to go out just use pink jigs or corkys.
Went up the entire shore line from boat launch to boat bridge, about 3 miles past the hatchery, no fish jumping at all. saw 3 jump around the hacthery and heard 3 go into the hatchery and that was it. At the boat launch was th fish buyer for the indian netters watched them roll in and drop there netted fish off and they had on 15 to 17 fish each very very slow start to the dog season
Thousands and thousands of chum ..they are everywhere.. Green corkie and yarn was the ticket... must have hooked about 40 between two of us.. Lots of fun.. Only there for about two hours. Tight lines guys.. Fish on..
Well the dogs are in I was there on sunday and had a blast.
I landed no less than 30 fish in the 5 hours I was there and had my 4 limit of shiny bright chrome dome fish
"WHAT AN AWESOME DAY OF FISHIMG" They will run all the way to thanksgiving and they are just starting Have fun
Fish are in at Hood Canal if you like those chum, lot's of action! I overheard that a few were bright, dont expect all of them that way, most have stripes.
At the hatchery just before sunrise and got on the water. Cold...lots of fining, big schools, very few biting. Lots of foul hooking and fun fighting fish however by the time high tide hit we didn't have our limits. Fun day just a little light on bright fish.
Went to the hatchery at hoodsport to see if all the hype about chums was true. I gathered up all my gear and riged my pole with uv red yarn and a red corkey. I timed my drive perfectly and got there just as the tide was turning. I walked out to the beach and there were tons of chum, too many to count.Only trouble was, the were all in the Indians nets, three sets of seine nets covered the whole area!!!! Also a huge prossing boat anchored just offshore.No chum for my smoker, but i guess we cant expect people overseas to eat their sushie without fresh chum roe.
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