Urban Outcast Music #34 - Half a Mind by Freddy & Francine. Not meant as a statement of my mental competency, just a cool vibe.
One should not need an excuse to visit Deception Pass but the extended dungeness crab season and the only nice day of January convinced me to ditch work for a Thursday protein expedition. I got Oak to tag along in a car full of stinky crab bait with the bribe of a 5 mile hike along the headlands of Deception Pass State Park (loops for Lighthouse Pt, Lottie Pt, and Rosario Head).
Empty trail head parking lots are becoming much more common now that I convinced my employer to let me start the gradual slide to retirement with a 32 hour work week. What I did not count on was the working hours of the Navy's Growler pilots who do low altitude loops over the park as part of their carrier landing training (100,000 flights/year). Not ideal but we both got to enjoy the rocky sea views that rival the San Juan Islands but do not require a ferry ride.
Hiking accomplished, it was time to dunk the ring pot and start tossing the crab hawk at Cornet Bay (on the Whidbey Island side of the park). The very first cast landed a keeper dungeness and then I sorted a few hundred crabs to end up with three more keeper red rock crabs.
While I was feeding the local crustaceans I got to observe some smelt fishermen catch zero fish and I thought, that sounds like something I would do!
Round 2:
I picked up a couple smelt rigs (7-9 size 5 hooks with tiny plastic bits that do not look like they would be appetizing) and headed back to Cornet Bay for the last day of the crabbing season. I could have left the crab gear at home because the tides were ripping through Deception Pass and the crabs couldn't be bothered to make the walk.
I started my smelt attempt near those fisherman in the back left but they were clearly getting skunked so I headed to join the experts on the right. Turns out chumming (spamming bait, in this case variations on chicken feed) is both allowed and practiced by all of the regulars. So I stood close enough to mooch off of their preparation but hopefully not snag them with a very intimidating rig of 8 hooks. My neighbor was a lady that started off the action with two smelt on the line and managed to lose both fish and hook herself (although not in that order). The first fish was flopping on the dock and bounced off, then she hooked herself (at least 3 of the hooks) and although the second fish was successfully in her bucket, when she went to scoop some water into the bucket, it swam off. I used my pliers to unhook her coat and she went right back to out-fishing the combined efforts of her four dock mates. She was a hoot! Despite her coaching, I could not replicate her technique or success and only ended up with two smelt after a couple hours (compared to her seven). When the smelt are really moving through, it sounds pretty common for folks to be leaving with 60+ fish.
From the boat launches you can walk right into the Hoypus Point portion of the park. No real elevation changes but good views of the pass, commercial crab boats in action, and some surprisingly large Douglas firs. Although if you have to choose, stick with the parts of the park closer to Deception Pass.
Back at home the smelt were prepared under the watchful eye of my apprentice. Pretty easy fish to prepare with the scales falling off as you detach the hook and you can pull the whole bone structure out to make nice little fry fillets. They are much milder than the herring I hope to catch in February.
