Fishing San Juans / Gulf Islands

T

tom&shan

New member
A question for the fishing experts:
Background - Taking next week off work and planning on being in the San Juans and the Gulf Islands for the entire week. Taking my son with me - his first visit to the Islands - he lives in Hawaii so I don't see him a lot.
Question - What should we be fishing for - Trolling for Salmon (Tom E. showed me how to setup my downrigger at Bellingham Gathering), bottomfishing , etc?
What is this time of year ideal for as far as fishing? I get so confused with all the rules/regulations, want to avoid doing anything illegal, ...
If I get a Canadian license - hows the fishing up in the Gulf Islands, better/worse than the San Juans ?

No nonsense replies now, this is serious, we are talking about fishing.

Thanks
Tom
 
Oh when you need an answer its all serious now. .....

Well I dont know if the islands are open for kings still but there should be a lot of pinks and coho showing up soon. Can you brake away this week for a on the water lesson on pinks? ( yes mike I am whoring a ride under the thin vail of fishing lessons, shhh!) for pinks use white flasher boards and small pink hoothies. I tyed up 6 rigges last night for pinks and will try to get pic here later. Start looking for pinks at 40 ft deep and go deeper as the sun rises. There are pinks on the poss. bar now and should be getting good in the next week. Indian point on the west side of possison head is a good place this week to troll. remember to troll slow. .5 to .9 mph with the current. Thats .9 on the depth finder speed not the gps. When you get one in bonk it right away and cut all the gill plates on both sides so it bleeds out fast. Then get it on ice right away. TIP- dont put the fish on ice, put them next to ice. have some thing between the ice and the fish. I use the blue fish bags. insulated bag with a divider in the middle. Put the fish on one side and the ice or cold packs onthe other. your fish will be a better table fare if ou follow this advise. Tom call me if you ned more info.
 
Tom,

I've done just as well with my standard hootchie gear on Pinks. A Green Glow flasher with a double glow hootchie works just fine with them. I concur with the blue fish bags! Those are great.
 
You can use any color as long as its red or pink. In reality pinks are attracted to black. Red is the first color in the spectrum to turn black in water. At about 20 ft red stops reflecting in the water coloum. So I have thought of using black lures but no one makes a black hoothic squid. i have friends that like to use black or red f-4 flat fish, like the ones for trout fishing. the little F-4's also work really well for sockeye.
 
Thanks Tom E. for the pointers. Sorry, have to work until Friday - then leaving with my son on Saturday, so no time for a free fishing lesson.
Another question though:
Is trolling with a downrigger the only way folks catch salmon? Does anyone jig for salmon, can you just drift along, or would that be a complete waste of time.

Thanks!
Tom
 
You can jig or mooch, both will take salmon , but are mainly better when the fish are more plentiful. When the fish are sparser trolling will tend to produce more fish since you can cover some ground. I beleive the bottomfishing for rockfish is still open in the SJ's. It's a one a day limit if I remember but they are usually pretty easy to catch. Just find a rocky area or the edge of some kelp beds and drop a led head jig or even a dart( though more expensive when you lose them) A good start is the fishin maps that they sell at local tackle shops, west marine etc... They will lay out some good areas to start at and let you see the countours and bottom make up( about 8-9 bucks). For trolling I will say again coho killers seem to be my favorite, and the ace hi fly has been coming in pretty well lately too. I got into some pretty hot chinook action this week with a green splatterback version of both. I haven't fished the San Juans for Salmon but check here for basic info.
http://www.salmonuniversity.com/san_juans.html

Good luck!!

Sark
 
Coho Killers are thin small spoons, so overdoing it would be easy, but if you just used a small cut just for scent I think it would be fine. I just use Herring smelly jelly, and smear a bit of that on the spoon and leader. Most of the chinook that we hooked were deep lately(120 feet of water right on the bottom), so spend some time fishing deep, if you're not getting them in the top 35-70 feet of water.

Good Luck
Sark
 
gljjr":1ly9fjss said:
Tom,

Silver Horde makes black Hootchies. Now you just need to find a place you can order them from :)
Click to expand...

You can purchase high-quality black hoochies, Yamashita brand, through Ted's Sport Center in Lynnwood, WA - (425) 743-9505 (don't ask my wife how it is I have the number memorized by now...)

They ship gear and lures to guides fairly frequently so I imagine you wouldn't have a problem getting them to ship you some... The black hoochies I've seen there are slightly "cop car" pattern - mostly black with a small section of glow-in-the-dark whitish... very nicely made. I actually have been using them to cut the forward tip off and then run them up onto 12 to 24-oz jigs to get set up for halibut... makes a nice glow accent for the large white leadhead tails. Anyway, the Yamashita hoochies to me at least seem to have a more soft, life-like feel to them over some of the other brands, but they are more expensive too.

I think Ted's may have them in 2 or possibly 3 (counting mini-) also.
 
Bear, thanks for the info. I dont have to wait for shipping, they are not far from my office. I never go in there even thu I hear that are good to guides. when I first moved here I went in there several times to check them out. I always go find the tackle shops when ever I move. Three time I went in there and all three times no one asked to help me or if I needed anything. Once I asked the two guys at the counter for areas to fish because I was new and they just stared at me mumbled something about possision, which was closed at the time, then went back to talking amount them selves. That was 4 years ago And I have not been back. I hear that the are the go to place for guides up and down the west coast but if you are not dropping 10k a year in the place dont bother. Iam glad they work for you but I go else were. to bad its a nice little shop.
 
I've seen them that way too, but I've also seen them nice as pie... you may have just hit them on a bum streak. I do understand what you mean though... In all fairness to them (since they aren't here) I do have to say though that they get a lot of newbies (not speaking of you per se) that I think they feel like want to come in, spend 10 bucks and get the skinny on all the super secret hot spots that they and the guides have put in many, many hours to figure out. Not that the sort of behavior you describe is in any way acceptable, it's not. I guess I've just learned to tolerate it somewhat when it does happen, in return for the excellent selection, GREAT pearls of wisdom they give when they are in a good mood, and meeting a lot of very knowledgeable customers and guides in the store, some of which are VERY willing to give tips. I had a guide there last month who must have spent 30 minutes or so going around the store with me giving me tips on all the stuff he does. That sure isn't likely to happen as say, GI Joes. Just something to think about. Any way, good luck on those salmon fine sir!
 
We are back from a week of fishing the San Juans - and I appreciate all the advice and even offers of free lessons - but after this week I'm still convinced that experience is the best teacher. Our total results for the end of the week were not to assuring, but enough to keep me coming back for more.
We put 35 hours on the engine - and new plugs. Mid week we were crossing Rosario Strait with a sputtering engine (wishing I had a kicker then for insurance), but we made it.
Fished all up and down the Islands - West end of San Juan - East End of Orcas - Obstruction Pass - East End of Lopez - East End of Blakely - West end of Henry Island. Fished with the current - against the current - during the slack - from sunrise to sunset some days.
Tried trolling - Drift Mooching - Jigging - Cussing and Praying. Various results with all methods.
Anchored in the bay at Jones Island - Tied to a mooring buoy at Stuart Island - Stayed at the dock at Doe Island (had the place to ourselves), Stayed at the Marina at Blakely (needed a shower). Put plenty of new dents in the boat docking in the wind, it was my first time doing most of the docking (usually Shan drives, she's the expert - but this trip was just the guys).
My son learned the you dont get your hands between the boat and the dock (Ouch - use a fender), I learned that the clinic on Friday Harbor does a great job of removing a fish hook from your thumb (guess I didnt get enough of the barb off).
End result - 1 sliver - a small Coho caught off Eagle Point, Lots of strikes off Orcas Island, 1 strike off Lopez - 15 dogfish in a single day (damn things, even caught one trolling on a coho killer).
I'm exhasted, my son and I had a great time, and I actually cant wait to get back to work so that I can get some rest.

Cheers,
Tom
 
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