Whale-watching season has begun on the Pacific coast, and passengers aboard the first charter boat out of Westport were not disappointed.

"Oh yes, they definitely saw whales," said Coral Cleek, at the Westport Chamber of Commerce (360-268-9422). "I think it was a pod of three gray whales."

Westport, with nearly a dozen charter boats, is a center for whale watching. Excursions are offered on weekends. Gray whales – and an occasional minke or orca – are visible throughout the Washington coast from March through May. Migrating north from California to feeding areas in the Arctic, the whales swim fairly close to shore, allowing easy observation through binoculars.

Besides Westport, some of the best viewing spots include the Destruction Island Overlook off Highway 101 near Kalaloch; the Ozette Lake-Cape Alava area in Olympic National Park and Cape Flattery at the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.

Northern Puget Sound:

• Fishing: Blackmouth fishing continues through April 10 from Sekiu to Olympia. Recreational crab fishing is open in the San Juans (except in Lopez Sound which is closed due to soft shell conditions). March Point near Anacortes is giving sport crab fishers good results, according to Norm Lemberg in WDFW's La Conner office.

• Wildlife Viewing: For hummingbird enthusiasts, viewing opportunities await right in the backyard. "This is a good time to get hummingbird feeders up, because hummingbirds tend to come back to the place where feeders were installed previously," according to Regional Wildlife Manager Lora Leschner. For viewers who want to get away for the day, waterfront areas such as Birch Bay State Park are a good place to watch migratory marine birds as they feed, group up and prepare to head north. Watch for black brant feeding on eel grass and sea lettuce, and keep an eye out for scaup, oldsquaw and other sea ducks. Harlequin ducks can be seen near rocky intertidal areas in northern Puget Sound. Bald eagle viewing, too, is especially good now because adults are preparing to nest and sit in locations where other eagles can see them, Leschner said.

Olympic Peninsula/South Sound:

• Fishing: Recent rainfall has brought north coast rivers back up to par, which should make for improved steelhead fishing in the next few weeks. Anglers have had good results in all of the north coast rivers in the past week, with the exception of the Hoh. The best numbers were posted by boat anglers on the Sol Duc, where 71 steelheaders hooked 58 fish during the last week of February. Wild steelhead also are running in the Bogachiel and Calawah rivers and anglers still are catching bright hatchery fish in the upper Wynoochee, most running 6 to 11 pounds. Meanwhile, blackmouth fishing has been picking up in Hood Canal, where those in the know suggest trying Jackson Cove, Brown Point, Hazel Point and Misery Point. Sport crabbers are pulling up several crabs to a pot in Hood Canal and Grays Harbor, where the daily limit is six Dungeness males measuring at least six inches across. Dungeness crab fishers should remember they must begin recording their harvest on Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife catch record cards beginning April 1. The cards are available wherever fishing and hunting licenses are sold.

Southwest Washington:

• Fishing: WDFW surveys found sturgeon fishing continues to be good for anglers on the Columbia River, particularly between Vancouver and Kalama. A recent survey found a fish for every seven boat anglers. Spring chinook angling is open below the Interstate-5 bridge but it may close on Saturday if the National Marine Fisheries Service fails to issue an Endangered Species Act permit that would allow WDFW to keep the season open.

  Anglers also are beginning to catch a few kokanee in the 4,090-acre Merwin Reservoir near Ariel. Riffe Lake, the 11,830-acre reservoir on the Cowlitz River, is continuing to yield landlocked coho, according to WDFW biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver. Anglers also have a chance to catch brown, rainbow and cutthroat trout, bass, bluegill and crappie in addition to salmon. Klineline Pond, north of Hazel Dell, offers good trout fishing this time of year. Some 3,500 half-pound trout were planted in the lake last week by WDFW. The department also planted more than 10,000 half-pound brown trout in Lacamas Lake near Camas last week.

• Wildlife Viewing: Lesser sandhill cranes have arrived for their annual stopover in the Shillapoo Wildlife Area in the Vancouver Lowlands. The birds can be seen easily from Lower River Road between the Vancouver Lake Flushing Channel and Post Office Lake. The cranes can be disturbed easily so birdwatchers are advised to view them from their cars. Large flocks of geese and common egrets also are in the area.

Eastern Washington:

• Fishing: Coffeepot Lake in Lincoln County opened March 1 and the catch included a rainbow measuring 25.5 inches and weighing 7.5 pounds. Information on local fishing and other wildlife recreation will be available at WDFW's booth at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council's annual Bighorn Outdoor Adventure Show March 16-19 at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds.

• Wildlife Viewing: Check the hundreds of tundra swans in the Sacheen Lake area in Pend Oreille County, killdeer throughout Spokane County and mountain bluebirds in southeast counties. Canada geese are setting up nesting territories, even using vacant osprey nests.

North Central Washington:

• Fishing: Lake fishing and temperatures are improving since the March 1 opener. Improving fishing can be found at the following lakes: Upper and Lower Caliche, Martha, Upper and Lower Hampton, Quincy, Burke, Crystal, Cup, Spring and the Seep Lakes Area, including Corral, Blythe, Heart, Canal and Windmill lakes. Potholes Reservoir also has provided some good rainbow fishing this spring.

• Wildlife Viewing: Many birds, including burrowing owls, long-billed curlews, California gulls, Say's Phoebe and other migrants are returning Columbia Basin. Waterfowl also are there and are pairing up in preparation for nesting.

South Central Washington:

• Fishing: More catchable-size trout were stocked in several Yakima and Kittitas county lakes including Fio Rito, Mattoon, and Rotary and Interstate-82 ponds last week that are providing good catches now. Perch fishing is picking up at Kootenay Reservoir in Franklin County.

• Wildlife Viewing: Elk are almost always "watchable" to some extent from Highway 240 along the Hanford Site, just northwest of the Tri-Cities in Benton County.