It looks like we will only get 8 days of halibut fishing in Puget Sound this 2016 halibut season. Friend and sports fishing advocate, Dave Croonquist reports the following.

“There was a meeting yesterday in Olympia, chaired by Region 6 Director Michele Culver, to discuss ocean groundfish fisheries (in the morning) and the 2016 halibut season structure.

Suffice to say that the sport fleet is getting very good, according to WDFW statistics, at catching halibut and it is reflected in the reduction of days available for fishing.

The ocean dates for the North Coast (MA 3 and 4) are May 7, 12, and 14. If there is anything left, clean-up day(s) could be May 26 and/or May 28.

The Puget Sound dates for MA 5 – 10 are going to be May 7, 12, 13, 14, 26, 27, 28, and 29. A total of 8 days.”

Catch calculations (poundage/fish) for Puget Sound for the past 4 years were made available yesterday and show the following:

Year     Pounds        Fish harvested
2012     85,249         5,420
2013     93,950         6,305
2014    106,552        6,242
2015      95,591        5,291