Fishing Puget Sound

en_pissant":46tlsok0 said:
Roger,

Good to hear you had some good action. At least someone is catching some fish.

Sounds like it might be a good idea to head out there to Seiku. I'm going to see if I can make it the weekend after this. I've been to Sequim, and Port Angeles, when I was a kid, but I have never spent any time in that area as an adult.

Your profile says Kenmore. Do you stay a week at a time there, or do you live there?
Click to expand...

I live in Kenmore but would rather spend a few days fishing Sekiu or Neah Bay than a months worth of weekends fishing the Puget sound. A friend introduced me to the wonders that are Sekiu about 3 years ago when I got m CD 22. We fished labor day weekend in 8' swells with some wind and heavy fog but we caught so many fish I didn't mind the conditions (including my sea sickness). At that time of year, the fish were big (12# coho)but the hatchery to wild ratio was about 1:15 or 1:20 - we caught a ton of fish but very few keepers. It was still great fun.

Last year I made it out to Neah Bay only once (in early August) but with 4 of us fishing, we brought back about 90# of salmon fillets for 2 days of effort. The mark rate is much better earler in the year and we saw about one hatchery:6 wilds.

So this year I decided I'd spend a week or so at Neah Bay in Aug and I just returned from that trip. I also went out for a weekend in mid July. In July, the fish were small (2-4#) but plentiful and we easily caught limits. Unfortunately, the fish disapeared after that and didn't reappear until late in this trip. Still it was a pretty good trip and I no have enough salmon o last awhile. I still need to pick up some more to make my smoked salmon X-mas gifts and to make sure I have a good supply throguh early next year but it's still early in the season.

Roger on the SeaDNA
 
Roger,

Don't sweat it! I had a great time and that is why they call it fishing. Any time you want to do some fishing out there and have an empty seat let me know. I'm glad you liked the longer release clips. They work really well for me.

BTW: we might try Humpy Hollow for some pinks/silvers in the next few weeks. I'm hitting Pt Defiance on Saturday with a friend from Gamefishin.com for their derby.
 
I sure wish someone could explain fishing to me!

Last Monday (Aug 8th), we went fishing (South Whidbey Area) and tried Humpy Hollow - got nothing, so we moved up to Indian Point and pulled in 4 pinks pretty quickly. Great I figured, they have arrived.

Next day, I trolled for 4 hours - same place, same time. Nothing

Finally got to fish again on Friday - quickly pulled in 5 - (kept 4) - a great day.

Skipped Saturday, tried Sunday - caught one silver (snagged actually, but landed a great fish) - that was it. No pinks!

And tried again today (tonight) - to match currents / tides. Nothing!

Can you only catch fish every other time you go?

Mac
 
In the Puget Sound, sometimes fish every other time is doing well. However, this time of year, you should generally be able to pick up fish every time. The pinks will be much thicker in a week or so as they really starting showing great at Neah Bay about 9 days ago.

In general, I find the best fishing (regardless of tides) to be the hour or so before sunrise to the hour or so after. On slack tides, sometimes I do well sometimes not. Certainly for me, slack tide is not particularly magic and I catch 70-80% of my fish in the first 10% of the day. Also, the other general key is "find bait, find fish" - look for bait balls with your sonar or find them on the surface and fish just beneath them. Troll back and forth through the bait until you can't find them anymore.

Other than that, the only other tip I have is fish where there's more fish. As I said above, a few days at Sekiu or Neah Bay when the fishing is good are worth a boat load of weekends in the Puget Sound.
 
Mac,

I would say that is pretty typical fishing! Especially with the poor returns we have been seeing lately. Just be glad you got fish!
 
I think it's going to be tough to get many silvers until the humpeys are gone. That's probably as good as any of us are going to for a few weeks.

We are going to be out near Shipwreck this weekend, and then spending the night at Langley. I guess the C-Brats rendezvous is cancelled, but we'll be there regardless.

I'll be monitoring channel 16. Give me a call for a fishing report, or if you want to meet up for a cold beer. I'll have plenty.
 
I'll be out tomorrow AM (5 - 8) in a friend's boat fishing near Edmonds. I'll probably be out in my boat on either Sat or Sun - more likely Sun. I'll look for you then - I'll be monitoring 16 and 68 on both days.

Roger
 
Don't forget area 11 fellers. Did great last saturday fishing for kings once we figured out the right depth. Five fish 8-22 lbs. between 9:00 and 11:30. Flasher-herring caught four out of five with the largest caught on a white squid. As others were catching fish also, several over 20 lbs, we had to rule out supernatural causes but I''m pretty sure we qualified for the 10% club that day. Saw a newer C-Dory fishing the same area but couldn't quite make out the boat name. Started with a T and had a cool rack on top.

As for spotty pink fishing, don't be bashfull about moving around. If your not hooking up fishing something pink in the 40' to 80' range after 20 minutes or so, move. When ever I'm trying to find fish, I run straight to the tightest group of boats I can find. Some times they get bunched up coincidentally, but more often than not, it's because their on the fish. Always a good place to start. Tim
 
I would say that area 11 is still pretty slow. Last Saturday there were probably 600 boats on the water fishing in derbies and very few fish were caught. In the derby I was fishing there were 84 entries and only 14 fish. That is pretty darn slow. I know the PSA derby had a similar catch record. And many of these people were the top 10%ers normally. Fish are reportedly starting to show up in better numbers so maybe the fish are just late??

Well, no fishing for me this weekend. Gotta work on the boats so I can maybe get them in the water sometime soon!
 
Wow nice fishing Tim.

Hey Roger. I'm in a 22' Angler. I call it Hooligan, even though I still need to paint the name on there. Not sure if you'll get this message, as it sounds like you are out fishing right now. It would be great to meet up with some C-People.

We'll probably drop some crab pots over off possession, and then fish all day around shipwreck. I haven't crabbed around there, so I might drop them off Camano, where I know it's good. Anyone ever pulled any crab out of Possession?

Looking forward to seeing some C-Dorys out there.
 
Your Derby results don't suprise me Gary as they are consistent with most reports the past month or so. I was very suprised at the action I witnessed on Saturday. We probably saw 20 kings landed over the course of the morning.

I hope we're talking a late run of fish as I'm not looking forward to next years regulation changes if the fish don't show up. We're going to give it another try tomorrow but the tide exchange is dramatic on the ebb and flood so, we'll likely spend most of the day just cruising around. Should be a great day for that.
 
Went out of Edmonds today in a 16' Lund. Fished from the fuel docks south for about 1 mile in anything from 140' - 400' of water. My friend has one down rigger on his boat so I just ran a cut plug behind a 6 oz bananna weight. I had several fish on and landed a 6# and a 3# silver (along with 2-3 dog fish). Total for the boat (three poles) was 4 fish - 3 silvers and 1 pink in about 3 hours of fishing. Not too bad for the sound at this time of year. I might try a coyote spoon for a little while tomorrow just for a change of pace.

I'll be out again in the early AM tomorrow and will try to hail Hooligan. I tried to hail this evening after work - but couldn't stir you up or was out of range.

Roger on the SeaDNA
 
My wife and I will be out most every day now for 3 weeks as I take my vacation. We should be fishing the Bar or Shipreck, can't wait to get some more fish scales on our new boat. We will give a wave or if we got our ears on a hail if we see any of ya Brats.

Wayne and Alisa
C-Fisher
 
Sorry Roger. I had to work today, wish I was out there with you. Sounds like you had a good day of fishing.

I'll give both you and Wayne a shout on the VHF tomorrow morning.

Looks like we can't complain about the weather.

Catch you guys tomorrow.

Ross
 
I have been having a great time fishing for Pinks in area 11 of Puget Sound. Lots of fish, and a blast on a fly rod. Even caught some coho and one blackmouth while targeting the pinks. A sight to see if you are in the Dash Point area is the fishing pier. It was shoulder to shoulder fishers, and they were catching a huge amount of the pinks. We were there for 30 minutes and probably saw 60 to 80 fish hauled up the 30 feet to dock level. One kid had a fish wrap his line around a piling. He ran down the dock, jumped into the water and swam the 150 feet to his fish. He untangled the line and swam back in, ran the length of the dock and then landed the fish! All of that for a humpy. Kids. Aren't they great? :lol: Robbi
 
Fished shipwreck last weekend. Didn't start real early Saturday or Sunday. We were trying to target silvers, but ended up catching 10 pinks, and no silvers.

Roger. I tried hailing both you and Wayne, on Saturday and Sunday, but couldn't reach anyone. Ended up chatting with Starcraft Tom for awhile. Boy that boat of his is sure shiny.

The wife fell into the water at Langley marina, while we were jamming the boat into a really small spot. She took the VHF antenna with her, so I had to use my handheld on Sunday. A couple people ran over to see if everything was okay. I said it wasn't. The antenna was complete loss.

Looks like we'll probably head out again next weekend. I'm debating on whether or not we'll hit Humpy Hollow, or fish West Point. If some friends that are rookies go out with us, I'll hit the hollow and target pinks. Otherwise, I think I'll hit West Point and try to drag up a silver or two. I think the pinks get in the way up at the hollow.
 
Ross,

I was around Edmonds from about 5:30AM to 10:30AM in a my friends 16' Lund - I also tried to hail you on 16 a few times with no luck. For us, the fishing was not so good on Sat. - one pink in the boat and one silver I lost at the boat + a LOT of dogfish on both the flasher and a trolled cut plug.

It got too windy around 10:30 for the little boat so we went in. Sorry to hear about the antenna but you didn't indicate if the wife was OK.... :lol: I assume she's fine but just a little embarrassed. I also assume that somehow it was all your fault when she tells the story.

Roger
 
Been fishing everyday but today(Tuesday), had to take a day off to clean the boat,blood everywhere. We have spent the first half of each day fishing the Bar for silvers with no luck at all. Then moveing over to the Hollow for the afternoon for humpy's. The humpy fishing has been great. Monday we starting to see greater percentage of larger ones.

Sorry Hooligan for not hearing your hail but noise from that radio drives us nuts,lol. We only turn it on for 10 or 15 min. at a time. I think I saw you a few times as I did see one 22 Angler out there, but as you saw the boats were packed tight and limited the direction you could go most of the time. We will be out still next weekend and will watch for ya and call or come over to ya.

Wayne
 
I fished saturday and sunday in the humpy hollow area. I must have seen at least 6 dorys. hollagoon and his wife , two 22 anglers with out names , c-geezer,a 16 ft cory and a older tomcat. As far as fishing went ,saturday my brother and me got one each, sunday I was by my self and got three inthe boat , lost three trying to net by my self and missed a few good take downs. I will be back out this sunday and maybe friday night. Iam on 16 and 68.
 
Sounds like nobody did well on the silvers, and the creel counts on WDFW's site showed hardly any silvers. I hope they are just late, and that this isn't an indicator of what's to come.

Wife is fine, just a bit embarassed. Tough to blame the captain since the motor was off at the time. :-) But hell, I've fallen off my buddy's 37 Tolly twice, so who am I to criticize.

I'm putting a new antenna on, and will monitor 16 when we are out this weekend.

I'm smoking some of those pinks as we speak, so we'll see if I feel like catching more of em.

Hey does anyone know who does a good job of painting a name on a boat?
 
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