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Slow start good news for anglers

Deck hand John Banasky begins cleaning the day's catch of king and coho salmon taken by eight anglers while fishing in the Pacific Ocean on a Westport charterboat captained by Paul Mirante. (File / The Spokesman-Review)
Jeffrey P. Mayor Tacoma News Tribune
Deck hand John Banasky begins cleaning the day's catch of king and coho salmon taken by eight anglers while fishing in the Pacific Ocean on a Westport charterboat captained by Paul Mirante. (File / The Spokesman-Review)

WESTPORT— If it’s July and it’s chinook salmon you’re after, this port at the southern entrance to Grays Harbor is the place to be. The combination of good fishing, easy access and good facilities makes this small port a beehive of private and charter fishing boats each morning.

Salmon forecasts call for chinook runs to be similar to recent years, but coho runs are expected to be lower. As a result, the start of the season was slightly delayed and quotas have been set lower. Recreational anglers will be able to catch 27,603 hatchery coho or 18,100 chinook in Marine Area 2, the waters off Westport. That’s compared with quotas of 45,066 coho and 28,750 chinook last year.

But the fishing success started slow this season before picking up later in July.

“The benefits of a slow start translate into some good news,” said Tony Floor of the Northwest Marine Trade Association. “The season may go longer than the experts anticipated. The thinking was all four ports wouldn’t see Labor Day. This slow start may mean a longer season.”

Gas prices are an issue for the fishing industry this year, said Mark Cedargreen, executive director of the Westport Charter Boat Association.

“The price of fuel is high. That means it takes more passengers to pay for the fuel on a given day. Whether you take one person or 20, the cost of fuel is the same. I’d say it takes two or three people to pay the fuel bill on a daily basis. That’s just a fact of life, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Cedargreen said.

“Then there’s the price of fuel people are paying to come down here,” he added.

Still, the lure of landing a chinook weighing possibly 40 pounds is hard to resist.

That’s why each morning of the season, a parade of boats large and small leave this port, crosses the Grays Harbor bar and begins the hunt for salmon.