King salmon fishing in the San Juan's

J

joechiro35

New member
We are heading out to Friday harbor this weekend and I wanted to do some salmon fishing around the area. I just bought Scotty electric down riggers and was wondering where to go for kings and silvers. Some advice would be awesome.

I wanted to use flashers with hootchies, spoons, and maybe some cut plug herring.

I wondered what depth and timing and location around that area would give us our best chance to hook and land a king.

Joe
95 c dory cruiser 22
2003 Honda 90
 
Right now the west side of san juan is putting out kings , silvers and pinks. Know you areas, parts of 7 are closed (salmon bank east to bird rock) . Eagle point to the line at salmon bank is good, These are traveling fish , kings, so they are more suspended then black mouth.

Also try up the sides of blakely and Cypress. Just fish the back eddys off the points with the tide. obstruction pass on the out going is good. just fish the north bank of the pass from 40 ft of water east towards the point and then turn south at the tide line. Then turn west about half way across the mouth of the pass and complete the loop.

This is were Johns sporting goods web site and maps come in handy. If you dont know the area he has all of them mapped with tip on how, when and where to fish most areas. Its not the complete fishing guide to the sound and the SJ's but its a really good start. Also covers crab and shrimp.
 
starcrafttom":13enmolm said:
This is were Johns sporting goods web site and maps come in handy. If you dont know the area he has all of them mapped with tip on how, when and where to fish most areas.
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This piqued my interest so I went and looked up the site. It probably won't happen this year, but if I come back to the area next summer, I would really like to learn to do enough fishing (or trapping) to be able to eat some of the sea's bounty while afloat.

At any rate, here is a link to the site mentioned:

http://www.johnssportinggoods.com/
 
Man, fishing up here is a daily study in rules, maps, which fish you catch, where & when, sizes, depths....ugh....so much easier to buy the damn things at F. Meyer. :wink:
 
thats johns book and all the maps are available online for free. I down loaded a bunch to my phone. He also has a face book page and does a videos on you tube on how to rig and fish.
 
my signed copy of John's book just arrived in the mail today :)

if you are in the san juans fishing this weekend for sure shoot me a PM and we'll have to stay in touch. Christina and I will be hopping around out there as well. :beer
 
DDT
You should have no trouble getting into fish at that time frame. Give a thought to maybe farther west Sekiu, or Neah Bay both good spots. You might be a smidge early for good silver fishing though
 
Spike":3ry2a34o said:
DDT
You should have no trouble getting into fish at that time frame. Give a thought to maybe farther west Sekiu, or Neah Bay both good spots. You might be a smidge early for good silver fishing though
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so I will try to make it again at least once in August, but right now we have Jul 18-20 as a for sure date.(maybe add a day to either end). my biggest reason for leaning on SJ's is because I've been there and i'm comfortable but if you think Neah is the place to be then we can make a change. I liked the idea of fishing the days in the SJ then sleeping at one of the state camps or possibly hitting Friday Harbor once for a night of beers and refueling.

I have my Saltwater Journal (John Martinis) too so I'm looking over the "july" areas.
 
Neah has more fish, bigger coho, and bigger limits. both can be good in that time frame.I think they both are great scenery wise. Just depends on what your looking for as a "whole trip". Neah is a dry town so pack accordingly
 
haha, thanks for the advice. that alone might keep my buddy in Friday Harbor for beers.

is there a good state park in the Neah area for boating? I liked the idea of retiring to Jones or Succia after fishing the SJ's, but more fish sounds good too.
 
no state parks at neah a far as I know its all reservation land. there are a couple decent short hikes and a few camp grounds though or just sleep on the boat in the marina.
 
There's a reason I'm out at Neah Bay nearly every weekend in the summer - fish are pretty much guaranteed there. There's no state park but Hobuck resort has plenty of campsites. It's often foggy/misty near the coast so prepare for the damp. There's are plenty of good hikes in the area - Cape Flattery and Shi-Shi beach are both good. Buy your beer/other alcoholic beverages prior to getting there - ditto for fancier cuts of meat or more "gourmet" items. Other than that, the local grocery has plenty of stuff. There's a good bakery there that makes an awesome wood fired pizza and some darn good pies. There's one modest restaurant. The docks are good and have water and power available. Restroom facilities are adequate but could be a bit cleaner.

As for other boating in the area, the shoreline down the strait is quite pretty and there's a few bays one can pull into and sit on anchor for lunch. One has a couple of waterfalls that empty into the strait. If the weather/seas are nice (usually the case that time of year), a trip around Tatoosh island and along the rocks just south of Tatoosh is also nice. There's really no place close to tie off to another dock and get off the boat other than Neah Bay, Sekiu or La Push (all a good distance apart).
 
CHINOOK - min. size 22". Other SALMON species - no min. size. Daily limit 2
(combined) plus 2 additional sock eye. Only 1 CHINOOK may be retained. See
Southern Rosario Strait/Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca Closure below. See
Bellingham Bay Closure and Fishery, Samish Bay Closure, and Yellow and Low
Islands Preserve on previous page.
Aug. 1-Sept. 30 CHINOOK - min. size 22". Other SALMON

So those are the rules. Two salmon Plus two sockeye ( which is new this year) only on of your two salmon can be a king including wild.

So it should be really good by late July early August on the west side of SJ Island. Eagle point, pile point, and the long beach to the east before you get to the salmon bank line. East of salmon bank is closed in July August and Sept. The west opening of Mosquito pass to kellet bluff is always a good spot to try. Open bay always holds pinks and I believe that it will hold sockeye this year.

Check Johns book and the local boards for up dates right before you go. Many of the kings and sockeye will be headed to the Fraser river system so they will be passing thru the west side of the islands in Boundary and Presidents channel. Pt Doughty, Parker reef, and Alden bank will all hold fish. But don't ignore the east side holes. Point Lawrence, Obstruction pass, tide point, and the slime hole-pointer Island area will hold fish also.

Use Johns book to decide where to fish based on the tide changes. Some spots are good for the incoming and some for the out going. See what the tides are for your day and find spots near where you are staying that are good on those tides. Also plan where you are going to fish thru the tide changes. So it goes like this ( just pulling this out of my hat) In coming is from 6 am till 10 am with a 11 am slack and then out going the rest of the day. I would fish (one of several choices) Tide point on the incoming until and maybe thru slack trolling north to eagle cliff on cypress. Then as the slack ends I will pull gear up and run for Pointer rock slime hole area. The slack will come just a little later at the second spot as its south of the first spot and slack is 20 mins later. This way I get a bit of slack at both spots. Then fish this on the out going the rest of the day . Have a back up out going spot encase no fish are here, say obstruction pass.

I would want to fish eagle point on Sj if the weather is good. Fish it close to shore on the slacks for kings. then either side depending on the current. You want to fish the down current side of any of these points. They do not hug the bottom this time of year so you can be a little higher up and not snagging all the time. Say 10 to 20 feet off bottom in 60 to 120 ft of water but close to shore. if you want silvers just move off shore a mile or so to the rips and fish those areas. This is where the sockeye will be. Fish the silver faster then the sock eye and with bigger gear. I think the sock eye will be much like pinks. Red or green small hoocthies or spoons fished slow.

So 4 fish this year. Up to 4 sockeye if thats is what you want. Or One king one silver and two socks. Or two silver and two socks. Should be a good year.

Off of eagle point there is a small reef. Its at 048 26 38 , 123 01 22. Thats the middle of it. We nailed a few silver and even a king there last year and we marked a lot of bait. No boats but us. Every one else was fishing the shore line near the point. This ridge holds bait. You dont have to fish on the bottom of it just fish around it. its 128 ft deep and we caught all our fish at 30 to 90 ft over the top of it.

If weather is really nice run out to Hien bank for kings.

if weather is really bad I like the east side of the islands and the west side of Lopez. From fishermans bay south to shark reef in 50 to 120 feet. Also Rocky bay and Point caution on the north side of Sj island just as you leave Friday Harbor.

Hope this helps.
 
awesome, so many options. maybe I'll try to plan the july trip for Neah with my fishing buddy then, and save SJ for August with my wife, we've been meaning to hit Succia as well.
 
Tom, awesome post. I knew you'd kill me with info overload, that's great stuff. I did see John's notes on obstruction pass as well and thought that could be really good proximity to some camping sites i'd like to hit.

I'm going to send your post to my buddy and make our decision as the date gets closer. I'm not picky about what we catch to be honest, as long as there is salmon in the boat. I had waaaaay to many hours in the south sound last year for a pathetic catch total. I wont do that again. its better to drive the extra hour north I think. I'll be happy to have blood on the boat, no matter King, Silver, or Sockeyes...
 
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