A recent article in a Seattle newspaper termed the 2008 salmon season a wash and conditions are no better for Oak Harbor anglers.

Kevin Petersen, Ace Hardware’s resident fishing expert, said a lot of people have put in a lot of time and effort without much results.

“I have received reports of fish jumping in Admiralty Inlet, but they are not striking lures,” he said. “People aren’t sure whether these fish are silvers or a late run of Sockeye.” Petersen said the best results have been in the Sammamish River, but even that area has slowed down.

“The Sammamish is always a good place to catch fish for the first couple weeks of the season,” he said. “But fish in the river are getting dark and there are very few silvers.”

Steve Thisfield, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, echoed Petersen’s words. “Overall it’s been tough out there for salmon anglers. The Coho that are around just aren’t biting,” he said.

That was evident at the recent Everett Coho Derby. A total of 2,087 adult and youth tickets were issued for the event, but only 246 silvers were weighed. That’s well below last year’s total of 1,166 Coho.

Right now there is no minimum size on fish that can be retained by anglers fishing the waters around Oak Harbor and the daily limit is two Coho salmon only.