There will be an additional three days of halibut fishing out of Westport, June 17, 20 and 24, charter boat Predator captain Derek Gochanour announced on his Facebook page Tuesday.
The general sport halibut season was scheduled to end May 27, but bad weather kept boats in the marina that day, said Gochanour.
The sport halibut quota for the south coast was just over 63,600 pounds. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 710 anglers caught 637 halibut May 6 and May 9, a total of just under 10,500 pounds; 1,423 anglers caught 1,266 halibut May 13 and 16, just over 20,400 pounds; and 1,219 anglers caught 1,067 halibut May 20 and 23, just shy of 17,800 pounds.
“We still had some quota left over and we got some quota from the North Coast,” said Gochanour. “The North Coast gave us 25,000 pounds and we had 14,900 left over.”
Charter boats will fill up quickly; in fact, it will be difficult to find a slot. The best bet is to go to the Westport Charter Boat Association website and contact the 22 member boats, or Google Westport halibut charters and work through the list.
The extra days mean another chance to reel in a derby winner. The Westport Charter Boat Association’s annual derby pays $1,000 to derby, ticket-holding anglers fishing aboard one of its participating charter boats. The current leader is a 65.65-pound halibut caught by Ty Haskew of Otis Orchards aboard the charter boat High Life May 16.
Limits of rockfish and lingcod have been coming in all season when boats can get out. There’s a $1,500 prize in the derby for the biggest lingcod of the season as well, and the current leader, caught Tuesday by Chad Chartrey of Olympia, weighed in at 35.75 pounds. That’s a one-half pound bigger than the season winner last year.
The general sport salmon fishing season starts June 27 and is open Sunday through Thursday with a limit of one Chinook and one coho or two coho. Spots are filling fast, book your trip now.
