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Old 07-22-2006, 07:22 PM   #16
canuck
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Re: Eastern Washington

Water clarity is going down fast. Lots of plankton below 5 feet. There is one, mabye two weeks left. That is all right because wheat harvest started so free time will be in short supply and bird hunting start in a month. By the first of april water should be warm enought to start over again. Thats leaves only three month with nothing to kill. There is snow boarding for two of those month. That only leaves august with nothing fun to do.
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Old 07-25-2006, 11:57 AM   #17
Mako993
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Re: Eastern Washington

I may be moving to Washington State next spring. How is the spearfishing all across the state? I know the hunting and rod fishing are the finest kind.
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Old 07-26-2006, 12:35 AM   #18
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Re: Eastern Washington

Where in Washington State are you moving?

"Eastern Washington" is about 4/5ths of the state's land mass. Its Woody Guthrie, high plains scrub desert, roll on columbia roll on as you can imagine a 30's era Republican orchard farmer to be....

"Western Washington" is Pugetopia political correctitopia passive aggressiveatopia....what ever....

The best spear fishing is in the Pacific Ocean off of Neah Bay, about a 6 hour drive from Seattle. Rock fish and ling cod. Halibut maybe, but they are hard to find....

Very little spear fishing opportunities, really!
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Old 07-26-2006, 12:11 PM   #19
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Re: Eastern Washington

My company, L3, has positions occasionally available at Fort Lewis, probably a long ways from Eastern WA or anywhere there's spearfishing. So it'd have to be Neah Bay for me, and the once a month trip out East. Just something I'm considering.
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Old 07-27-2006, 01:26 AM   #20
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Washington St. Diving

There's tons of diving out here, don't get me wrong. From the general Ft. Lewis area, which is in south Tacoma, you are about 45 minutes to an hour without traffic to Seattle. 1 1/2 -2 hours to Hood Canal, and 3-4 hours to just about anywhere east of the mountains. A little more to the Okanogins, or Spokane area.

I've never dove out in eastern WA, but there are some places to go out there.

I'll stay in salt water myself.

All you have to do is fall out of your car....
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Old 07-27-2006, 07:20 AM   #21
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Re: Eastern Washington

Kevin,

Thanks for the info, to be sure. How often do you dive Neah Bay or the other salt areas near Seattle?
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Old 07-28-2006, 02:02 AM   #22
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Regular Diver...

I try to dive every weekend!

We have had an unusual heat spell this past couple of weeks, (high 80's - low 90's) so I have not dove that much recently. I tend to get sorta heat stressed before a dive when its too hot out, so I have only dove a few times in the past 2 weeks...

I know that is not that hot for other places, but it is for here. Besides, you still need a dry suit or at the very least a 7 mil wet suit, so pre dive its uncomfortable if you spend any time waiting to get in. Water temps are 50'F - 52'F ish in the summer, 46'F-48'F ish in the winter. When the sun is high for any length of time, the plankton blooms and viz plummets to maybe a few, green feet. When it clouds over for any lenght of time after a long, sunny spell, and you catch the tide high after a flood current in the afternoon, viz can be EXCEPTIONAL!!! 40'-50' vis on those rare occasions in the Sound, easily 100' out in the Pacific.

I try to get out to Neah Bay 2 or 3 times a year. There are few facilities out there, so its car camping, or sleazy Indian reservation motel. Both are doable, but limit the stay to a long weekend at best. I car camp generally. I like to cook, so I bring a lot of crap and I hunt ling, blacks and the scallops are awsome. I've never got a halibut, but the hunt is on!

There are not any more charters out that way, unfortunately. There used to be one good dive charter there several years ago, but he's gone. So, you have to basically bring your own boat, or suck up to friends with a boat. There is only one charter that I know of that will bring his boat all the way out there. They are great too, so it works, but you have to plan that well in advance.

What is cool about Seattle from a central location standpoint is that you can shore dive to your heart's content, or get into the San Juan's and onto Vancouver Island for weekend trips very easily. There are dive destinations and charters all over the place up there! I've been really lucky too in that I've made some good friends in SE Alaska! Getting up there is fairly easy, and the diving there is cold, fantastic viz and freak'n awsome! I get there about 2 times a year.

The more you learn about current planning, the more places you can dive from shore in Puget Sound. You have to accept diving at the times of the day when you can dive the site you are interested in diving, and not at the time of day that is convenient for your schedule!

High tide slack after a flood in the afternoons are best for easy, relaxing dives, and anything else is whatever you want whenever you want it!
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Old 07-28-2006, 10:56 AM   #23
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Re: Eastern Washington

When are the seasons for rock fish, lings and halibut open in Neah Bay?
Every time im in town it seems nothing is open for the take.
You can always dive for crab (when the season is open). Mukilteo Oil Docks always seems to produce limits for me when Im in town.
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Old 07-28-2006, 12:04 PM   #24
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Re: Eastern Washington

Kevin,

That doesn't sound too bad to me, overall. Here in VA and MD we conditions similar to your green algae on some days, too, unfortunately, and viz is limited to a few feet at most. Those are bad days, though, and we can usually expect at least 6' feet and maybe up to 20' on a great day. I haven't personally seen 30' to 100' ft viz around here, at least not yet, and probably won't anytime soon. You have to go farther south to get into that, like SC, GA or FL. The last time we wen't out, viz was nil, and it wasn't really worth the time. With the current we were getting bounced around anyway, adding to our chagrin.

What's bad about living here in DC is that there is no shore diving, and the closest ocean is about 3 hours away in VA Beach. The Chesapeake Bay's viz isn't good, a few feet at most, unless you go shallow, and you might get 6' feet. That's about 40 minutes from here over in Annapolis, MD.

How far into the season do you guys dive? I want to get out there and check out the area, and it'd be good if we could do some spearing while I'm out there, man.
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Old 07-28-2006, 11:59 PM   #25
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Washington - Puget Sound

Sonny & Mako,

You can dive all year long!

The best time to dive is in the fall when the viz is 40' easy, and the temps are cool. With the gentle, pleasant rain, diving in the winter is good too.

The rain water runoff can drop the viz near shore during heavy rain times though....

But, for spearing and/or harvesting, the rules are sorta tricky.

Puget Sound and the Straight of Juan DeFuca are broken up into zones. The species and the zones define the harvesting season for that particular area and species.

The longest "season" for anything is the Neah Bay area. I don't have the regs in front of me, but in mid April its open. I was out there then, and did great! I'd have to qoute the regs to answer your specific questions...

I can do that, but I just don't have them with me here at my work computer at the moment...

I'll update this thread with the info when I can get it, in a few days. This is my Friday....

Crabbing is a blast! Dungeness Crab and Rock Crab, with Dungenness being the larger of the two!

Its GAME ON with those buggers!

I tried shrimping for the first time this year, and that was a total RIOT!!!

You have to go late at night, and go deep. The season is very short too, like maybe 3 or 4 days! I had a whole bag full, but I got greedy and screwed up and lost most of 'em! ha ha...

Puget Sound is really a very big, deep estuary! The species in it are truely unique, but they are not replenished by migration from the Pacific. What is in here is what will be in here, so the seasons are much shorter.

You can not spear fish for salmon either. They are off limits for spearos....

I'll update with reg info early next week.

If you ever wanted to plan a trip, I'd be more then willing to hook up with you! I've got a ton of friends who dive and hunt!

That would be bitch'n!
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Old 07-29-2006, 07:24 AM   #26
Mako993
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Re: Eastern Washington

Kevin,

Thanks for all the info. I'd like to take a trip out there to spear. My lifelong buddy and his family live in No Cal, so I could visit with him for a couple of days and take a few days for WA State sometime in October, if the diving/spearing is still good then. I could also do some bird or deer hunting if you or anyone else you know is up for it. As far as salmon, I've never taken one on a fly rod, and I'd like to try :] But of course the main focus would be spearfishing Neah or Puget Sound.
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Old 08-01-2006, 04:27 AM   #27
Kevin Casey
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Washington Fishing Regs

Mako,

Here are the addresses that I found for Washington State Fishing Regs;

http://wdfw.wa.gov/

fishregs@dfw.wa.gov for fishing regulation questions

fishpgm@dfw.wa.gov all other questions

Neah Bay is Zone 4

According to the hard copy of the regs that I have in front of me for Zone 4, Ling cod is open from April 15th to October 14th.

Rockfish are open all year.

Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab are open from June 18th to February 28th.

Ling cod or rockfish would be the only real species available to spear fish. Everything else would not be worth while. All of the zones in the vicinity of Seattle or Tacoma would be closed in October.

There are several salmon days open during that time though, but salmon are just for anglers!

So, if you wanted to spearfish for Ling and Black Rock fish, it would have to happen in Neah Bay in the first 2 weeks in October.

That is the best time of year to dive Neah Bay anyway!

I have no idea about boat availability though. That could be tough...
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Old 08-01-2006, 12:51 PM   #28
Tino Bernazzani
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Re: Eastern Washington

Kevin,
Thanks for the info. I always wondered about Neah Bay, but the long treck and lack of shore diving has kept me from trying. I really enjoyed all the dives I have done in the Puget Sound. Lots of little flounders, and huge pink tumpet looking things all over the place. The water was actually a lot warmer than I thought being in the low 60's and after you get through that top ten feet of murk it really opens up. Would love to hook up with someone who knows the diving areas a little better than I do. I lived up there for 8 years but did not start diving until I moved back to CA. I am trying to get up there in Late September but we will see. Thanks again
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Old 08-02-2006, 12:18 AM   #29
Kevin Casey
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Washington

Sonny,

Well, if you do make it up this way, give a shout!

I'd be more then happy to dive with ya!
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Old 08-02-2006, 04:41 AM   #30
Mako993
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Re: Washington Fishing Regs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Casey
Mako,

Here are the addresses that I found for Washington State Fishing Regs;

http://wdfw.wa.gov/

fishregs@dfw.wa.gov for fishing regulation questions

fishpgm@dfw.wa.gov all other questions

Neah Bay is Zone 4

According to the hard copy of the regs that I have in front of me for Zone 4, Ling cod is open from April 15th to October 14th.

Rockfish are open all year.

Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab are open from June 18th to February 28th.

Ling cod or rockfish would be the only real species available to spear fish. Everything else would not be worth while. All of the zones in the vicinity of Seattle or Tacoma would be closed in October.

There are several salmon days open during that time though, but salmon are just for anglers!

So, if you wanted to spearfish for Ling and Black Rock fish, it would have to happen in Neah Bay in the first 2 weeks in October.

That is the best time of year to dive Neah Bay anyway!

I have no idea about boat availability though. That could be tough...

Thanks for the info, Kevin. That sounds like kind of a small window for limited choice of species, save for rockfish. We have them in abundance here, but in VA and MD you can't spear them. I am taking a trip out there, but it probably won't be until sometime this winter. I'd have to bring my heavy winter suit, and we could go for rockfish and crab :}
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