Nov. 05–With Thanksgiving just around the corner, thousands of hunters are gearing up for the fall turkey season in Eastern Washington.
The season opens Nov. 20 in a number of eastside game management units, giving hunters a full week in the field to bag a bird for their holiday table.
Not your neck of the woods? Throughout the state, November is also prime time to hunt ducks, geese, elk, deer, pheasant, forest grouse and other game.
November is also prime time to hunt deer and elk on both sides of the Cascades.
For anglers, Thanksgiving traditionally marks the start of winter steelhead fishing in Western Washington, where coho and chum salmon are also moving in from the ocean. On the eastside, anglers are still reeling in hatchery-reared summer steelhead on the upper Columbia and Snake rivers.
Rather serve shellfish? Most areas of Puget Sound are currently open for crab fishing, and two multi-day razor clam digs are being held — now through Friday and Nov. 15-20.
Anglers are still finding coho in the region’s rivers, but most of the action will shift to steelhead, blackmouth and chum in November. On Puget Sound, the late-season crab fishery is under way and more marine areas are scheduled to open for chinook.
Blackmouth salmon fishing got underway Nov. 1 in marine areas 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet). Anglers fishing those marine areas, as well as Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton Area), have a two-salmon daily limit, but must release wild chinook. Anglers are reminded that Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands) closed to salmon retention Nov. 1.
Good bets for blackmouth in the month ahead include Useless Bay, Possession Bar and West Point. Blackmouth are resident Puget Sound chinook salmon, available for harvest in the winter months.
As October came to a close, saltwater anglers were also reeling in increasing numbers of chunky chum salmon. Good bets in coming weeks include Point No Point off the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula and Possession Bar south of Whidbey Island.
While on the Sound, why not drop a crab pot? Sport crabbing is open in most marine areas of Puget Sound seven days a week through Dec. 31. The exceptions are Marine Area 10 (Seattle-Bremerton) and 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island), where annual quotas were reached during the summer fishery.
Meanwhile, several rivers are open in November for steelhead fishing, including the Nooksack, Skagit, Cascade, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Skykomish, Wallace, Snoqualmie and Green.
November is prime time for waterfowl hunting in the region, where more birds are expected to arrive as the month progresses. After a typical late-October lull in activity, hunting usually improves in November.
The seasons for snow, Ross’, blue geese in Goose Management Area 1 (Island, Snohomish, and Skagit counties) and ducks are underway throughout November and run continuously through Jan. 26. The hunting season for other geese such as Canada geese and white-fronted geese proceeds through Jan. 26 in all Puget Sound areas.
Upland bird hunters have through Nov. 30 to hunt pheasants and quail, while the forest grouse season runs through Dec. 31.
Meanwhile, the modern firearm season for elk is open Nov. 2-13.
Archers and muzzleloaders also have late-season hunting opportunities in select game management units. Archery hunts for deer and elk get started Nov. 27, when muzzleloader hunts for elk also get under way. Muzzleloader hunts for deer open Nov. 28 in select Western Washington game management units.
Cougar hunts are open through December, but bear season closes Nov. 15.
Western lakes get trout plant
As part of its new “Fall into Fishing” promotion, state Department of Fish and Wildlife fish hatchery crews began stocking 33 Western Washington lakes with 75,000 large rainbow trout in October.
Fall into Fishing stocking efforts will continue into November leading up to the state’s “Black Friday” fishing event the day after Thanksgiving.
Three lakes in King County — Morton, Green, and Meridian — have been stocked, as well as Silver Lake in Snohomish County.