PA/Fort Warden questions

[sea]

I'll be at Fort Warden for a conference next week. Looking for an excuse to bring the flyrod. How are the beaches for cutts up there? Any other opportunitiesn I should be aware of?
Thanks for any help-
sea

[Jason Rolfe]

I was up there last month and brought the rod along. Didn't catch anything, but had fun anyhow. You'll find that the North side of the park has some great, rocky beach--the kind of water that looks perfect for Searun Cutthroat. I also heard that around the Marine science center--where there are pilings--is a good spot.
There's a fly shop in town where they are really nice. I went in one day and asked for suggestions and the guy (I can't remember his name) was extremely gracious and helpful. I would hit them up and ask for some suggestions.
Are you going to be up there at Centrum? Just curious.
Have fun, that park is beautiful.
Jason

[ibn]

I grew up in Port Townsend, and spent a ton of time fishing and crabbing off that pier. There are pile perch around, and some really big sculpin. Not much in the way of searuns though. If you have a car you might consider checking around marrowstone island. Look for public parks on the beach, I've caught cutties off a few of them over there.

Besides fishing, make sure you hike up to the upper bunkers at Ft Warden, it's pretty darn cool up there. Lots of old dark tunnels to explore and not many people will be up that far. Some great views of the straits of juan de fuca to.

Also, don't fish in the pond at North Beach, it's a sewage treatment pond. There are several trails around Ft Warden that lead near it.

[Jason Rolfe]

Ibn,
I wondered several times if there were fish in that pond. I'm glad I never got around to trying to fish it. That would have been some serious nasty.
Jason

[Bob Triggs]

Coupla thoughts. Fishing along the beach from Point Wilson, and the Lighthouse, past the Marine Science Center and the docks, and to Point Hudson, can be fun; a few rockfish, maybe a cutthroat or two. Incoming and last few hours of incoming tide would be best.

Ibn was right that Marrowstone Island could be more productive. When you drive out there, and over the big bridge, you will see a few pull over spots along the road that go straight to the water, tons of fishing along that shoreline and bay. Better for cutthroats in general too.

Watch out for private tidelands boundaries to the south end of the island- the last thousand yards or so is posted by several different landowners. Actually, both sides of the bay fish well, but foot acess is very good on Marrowstone.

Heading out to Fort Flagler State Park on the north end of Marowstone can be fun, with some fishing at the lower campgrounds beach and at Marrowstone Point from both sides. A beautiful day on the beach and it's only 20 minutes from downtown Port Townsend. Free parking now too.

The lagoon at North Beach is very shallow and planktonic, no serious fish live there. It is not a sewage lagoon or holding pond. All of the effluent from the Port Townsend Sewage Treatment Plant near there is completely contained during the entire process- yielding nearly biologically perfect freshwater- finally directly discharged into the saltwater from a very long pipe, I believe over 100 feet from the shore at North Beach. There is no connection from the sewage treatment to the lagoon there. I just completed over 100 hours of primary training with Jefferson County Extension and WSU for the Beach Watchers/ Water Watchers programs. We had a segment on sewage, septics etc, and we visited that treatment plant. All of us thought that the lagoon was part of the treatment process before that field trip.

[Banzai]

Good info Bob, thanks

[Jason Rolfe]

Yeah Bob, great stuff. I'm going to put that in the memory bank for the next time I'm up in the area.

[ibn]

The lagoon at North Beach is very shallow and planktonic, no serious fish live there. It is not a sewage lagoon or holding pond. All of the effluent from the Port Townsend Sewage Treatment Plant near there is completely contained during the entire process- yielding nearly biologically perfect freshwater- finally directly discharged into the saltwater from a very long pipe, I believe over 100 feet from the shore at North Beach. There is no connection from the sewage treatment to the lagoon there. I just completed over 100 hours of primary training with Jefferson County Extension and WSU for the Beach Watchers/ Water Watchers programs. We had a segment on sewage, septics etc, and we visited that treatment plant. All of us thought that the lagoon was part of the treatment process before that field trip.

Learn something new every day, my whole life I thought that was a sewage waste lagoon of some sort. I remember going on fieldtrips out there in grade school and being told that by teachers. Good to know, thanks Bob.

[sea]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll actually be at Fort Warden for a NMFS retreat. Don't know how much I'll get to fish, but I'll bring the rod and try to get to some of the locations y'all mentioned.
Will report back next week. Thanks!