Don’t get me wrong there are lings out there, but the numbers are not quite what they were last year.

Reports have come in of a good number of sub-legal fish being caught and that is great news for those already looking forward to next year.

This year has gotten off to a slow start.

Checking the fish counts from opening weekend at Cornet Bay, the catch rate is down quite a bit from last year.

Opening weekend catch reports show about a 37 percent catch rate for the number of boats reported. Last year opening weekend had a boat success rate of 47 percent.

I admit the reports do not show the number of lings that where caught and released, so the numbers could be higher if you took that into consideration.

Deception Pass has been one of the most popular areas to try because of its close proximity to a boat launch, rising gas prices, and the not-so-great weather we’ve had in recent weeks have all added to it’s popularity.

As expected, the area has been hit hard and most of the legal fish that were there are probably now in some lucky angler’s freezer.

If I where you, I would give the San Juan Islands a try. There is a ton of areas out there that have lings just lurking for someone to present them with something enticing. Lopez, Blakely, Orcas and San Juan islands all have some great rocky structure that provides hiding spots for lings to ambush their prey.

Shrimping season has gotten off to a good start.

The tides have made it difficult these first two weeks, but they are getting better as the month progresses.

Biz Point and the southern part of Lopez Island are the most popular areas around here. Any good nautical map will show areas to look for — target areas that have sharp ledges that drop off to 250 to 350 feet.

The shrimp tend to gather in these areas to feed and that’s where you want to set your pots.

Here is some shrimping lessons I have learned:

Always use a secondary float that is big. I like the Polyform LD-2 buoys as they provide almost 70 pounds of buoyancy and costing around $40, the extra insurance on an expensive shrimp pot it is worth it.

Add extra weight to your pots, 35 to 45 pounds should be good. This year we chased our pots from Biz Point to Burrows Island during the opening day’s extreme tides. I added extra weight in those pots.

Bait selection is also critical and canned cat food is very popular. One mistake is to choose cat food that has shrimp in it. Friskies ocean white fish is by far my favorite.

Shrimp can be a costly initial setup fishing opportunity but if you follow those rules, you will only have to outfit yourself once and then just upkeep your gear. Nothing can spoil your mood quicker than to invest $600 into shrimp gear only to lose it on your first outing.

Halibut fishing has slowed down a bit but those able to head out to Hein Bank have been doing fairly well. Bait-wise, big herring have been the top producers followed by the B2 squid.

Don’t get me wrong there are lings out there, but the numbers are not quite what they were last year.

Reports have come in of a good number of sub-legal fish being caught and that is great news for those already looking forward to next year.

This year has gotten off to a slow start.

Checking the fish counts from opening weekend at Cornet Bay, the catch rate is down quite a bit from last year.

Opening weekend catch reports show about a 37 percent catch rate for the number of boats reported. Last year opening weekend had a boat success rate of 47 percent.

I admit the reports do not show the number of lings that where caught and released, so the numbers could be higher if you took that into consideration.

Deception Pass has been one of the most popular areas to try because of its close proximity to a boat launch, rising gas prices, and the not-so-great weather we’ve had in recent weeks have all added to it’s popularity.

As expected, the area has been hit hard and most of the legal fish that were there are probably now in some lucky angler’s freezer.

If I where you, I would give the San Juan Islands a try. There is a ton of areas out there that have lings just lurking for someone to present them with something enticing. Lopez, Blakely, Orcas and San Juan islands all have some great rocky structure that provides hiding spots for lings to ambush their prey.

Shrimping season has gotten off to a good start.

The tides have made it difficult these first two weeks, but they are getting better as the month progresses.

Biz Point and the southern part of Lopez Island are the most popular areas around here. Any good nautical map will show areas to look for — target areas that have sharp ledges that drop off to 250 to 350 feet.

The shrimp tend to gather in these areas to feed and that’s where you want to set your pots.

Here is some shrimping lessons I have learned:

Always use a secondary float that is big. I like the Polyform LD-2 buoys as they provide almost 70 pounds of buoyancy and costing around $40, the extra insurance on an expensive shrimp pot it is worth it.

Add extra weight to your pots, 35 to 45 pounds should be good. This year we chased our pots from Biz Point to Burrows Island during the opening day’s extreme tides. I added extra weight in those pots.

Bait selection is also critical and canned cat food is very popular. One mistake is to choose cat food that has shrimp in it. Friskies ocean white fish is by far my favorite.

Shrimp can be a costly initial setup fishing opportunity but if you follow those rules, you will only have to outfit yourself once and then just upkeep your gear. Nothing can spoil your mood quicker than to invest $600 into shrimp gear only to lose it on your first outing.

Halibut fishing has slowed down a bit but those able to head out to Hein Bank have been doing fairly well. Bait-wise, big herring have been the top producers followed by the B2 squid.