Possession Salmon - 2015

T

tcr_pnw

New member
Yet again, time for another great season. Chinook went off with a bang and ended abruptly. I had a great start then a fillet knife mishap, an ER visit, and 7 stitches later I was out for about a week and the best fishing of the short season. Was still able to put some meat in the freezer. Kevin on Catch 22 had a banner year.

Now time to shift to pinks and silvers. Pinks are already in and being caught in good numbers off Possession and Jeff Head. Fish checker in Everett had 131 pinks by mid afternoon yesterday. As soon as 8-1 opens I'm sure Humpy Hollow and Shipwreck will be on fire. They are 3-4 weeks early.

Last couple years have been great sharing info here. I know it's put more fish in the boat for me. If you get out, let us know what, where, and when are helping to fill the freezer!

Tom and I will be heading out tomorrow afterwork. Sea Star will be in a slip in Everett through at least September and I'll be fishing most evenings once the pinks and silvers get thick. Feel free to drop me a PM if you'd like to get out for a few hours in the afternoons/evenings.

See you all on the water!

Troy
 
chromer":q9mlftam said:
tcr_pnw":q9mlftam said:
Chinook went off with a bang and ended abruptly.
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Migrate north to Area 7, bring Tom with you
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Or migrate west to the ocean. It's been a spectacular chinook season out there. I'm more than 1/2 through my salmon card with nothing but chinook on it. Two weeks ago, we took our limit of 4 fish all over 20lbs. We didn't have to throw anything back to get those either.
 
rogerbum":39ho7q22 said:
chromer":39ho7q22 said:
tcr_pnw":39ho7q22 said:
Chinook went off with a bang and ended abruptly.
Click to expand...

Migrate north to Area 7, bring Tom with you
Click to expand...
Or migrate west to the ocean. It's been a spectacular chinook season out there. I'm more than 1/2 through my salmon card with nothing but chinook on it. Two weeks ago, we took our limit of 4 fish all over 20lbs. We didn't have to throw anything back to get those either.
Click to expand...

Gad, I wish! Time is hard one. Really gotta run for 3 days to make it worth it. Dang hear $200 just in ferry costs. Would love to moor for 2-3 weeks, but then need to make the 4 hour run out.

Where has been good for you? You making the run out to Swiftsure or Blue Dot? Or finding fish in close?
 
tcr_pnw":21ue3dio said:
rogerbum":21ue3dio said:
chromer":21ue3dio said:
tcr_pnw":21ue3dio said:
Chinook went off with a bang and ended abruptly.
Click to expand...

Migrate north to Area 7, bring Tom with you
Click to expand...
Or migrate west to the ocean. It's been a spectacular chinook season out there. I'm more than 1/2 through my salmon card with nothing but chinook on it. Two weeks ago, we took our limit of 4 fish all over 20lbs. We didn't have to throw anything back to get those either.
Click to expand...

Gad, I wish! Time is hard one. Really gotta run for 3 days to make it worth it. Dang hear $200 just in ferry costs. Would love to moor for 2-3 weeks, but then need to make the 4 hour run out.

Where has been good for you? You making the run out to Swiftsure or Blue Dot? Or finding fish in close?
Click to expand...
I moor out there most of the summer - it costs me about the same in moorage for a month as it does to get the boat out there so I hear you on the cost issue. For my money though, the fishing there is SO much better than in the sound, it's worth making the trip on the weekends. If you catch the 5:30 Edmonds ferry and drive straight there you can be there by around 9:30.

Swiftsure has been 100% reliable for kings but most are in the 8-14# size range. Blue dot has been good - I've been there once or twice this year and we took some good size fish off of it. A few in the high teens/low 20's. South around Shark Fin or Compass Rose has been even better. Two weeks ago we took our limit of 4 fish and all were over 20. We had 5 bites, 4 made it to the boat - 20, 22, 23 and 25 lbs.

The thing I really like about Neah Bay is that I can get it all there - great bottom fishing along the coast S. of Tatoosh, great king and coho fishing, halibut all year long with a Canadian license and tuna also. No place else in the state can match the range of opportunity and no place else has salmon fishing that is better - Ilwaco or Westport can be just as good, but not better. My worst day of salmon fishing in Neah Bay is about equal to a typical good day in the sound. So I haven't fished the sound much at all in the past 8 years or so. I do a little winter fishing in the sound but I'd really rather fish in the ocean when I can.
 
rogerbum":3a4mp1sw said:
I moor out there most of the summer - it costs me about the same in moorage for a month as it does to get the boat out there so I hear you on the cost issue. For my money though, the fishing there is SO much better than in the sound, it's worth making the trip on the weekends. If you catch the 5:30 Edmonds ferry and drive straight there you can be there by around 9:30.

Swiftsure has been 100% reliable for kings but most are in the 8-14# size range. Blue dot has been good - I've been there once or twice this year and we took some good size fish off of it. A few in the high teens/low 20's. South around Shark Fin or Compass Rose has been even better. Two weeks ago we took our limit of 4 fish and all were over 20. We had 5 bites, 4 made it to the boat - 20, 22, 23 and 25 lbs.

The thing I really like about Neah Bay is that I can get it all there - great bottom fishing along the coast S. of Tatoosh, great king and coho fishing, halibut all year long with a Canadian license and tuna also. No place else in the state can match the range of opportunity and no place else has salmon fishing that is better - Ilwaco or Westport can be just as good, but not better. My worst day of salmon fishing in Neah Bay is about equal to a typical good day in the sound. So I haven't fished the sound much at all in the past 8 years or so. I do a little winter fishing in the sound but I'd really rather fish in the ocean when I can.
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Agreed it is a helluva place to fish. I'll have to head out and catch up one day with ya if you get an open seat. I'll cover fuel and dinner. The times I have fished out there have been great. Unfortunately the 23 is not the best boat for the job. Takes a lot of work to get out where you need to go. Even in calm conditions, with a good swell we could only manage 10-12 kts comfortably out to Blue Dot. Granted we had our limit of Kings in an hour, but a long day. And if the wind kicks up, good luck trolling in any direction other than where it takes you. Never felt unsafe out there at all, just harder work than it needed to be in a 23. And no self draining deck makes for a mess on board. Next boat will be a cat and I'm sure I'll be doing the same as you.
 
It was definately a short but sweet king season for us in area 9. I ended up with 134 pounds retained on my rod and over 200 for the boat. We released about 6 good fish too. I can't wait for coho to start coming in. It has been great networking with other c-brats and sharing information. I look forward to seeing you folks on the water. Good luck all!
 
rogerbum":w1ppil8u said:
Or migrate west to the ocean. It's been a spectacular chinook season out there.
Click to expand...
True dat. I've only been out a few times this year, but the kings do come easily. Good to hear you're catching a lot of big fish out of Neah, Roger, that means they're headed past Westport soon.

I'm headed up to Nootka this Saturday for a week. Hopefully we'll come home with enough meat for the winter. :)
 
Briefly fished Shipwreck with my little brother this evening for a couple hours. Picked up a pair of feisty pinks in about an hour and a half.

One on a UV white flasher and one on an 8in dodger. 80ft and 85ft down.

Short on time so didn't run to Scatchet Head but was nice to find some in close.

Anybody going to brave the masses this weekend?
 
Started off the Shipwreck this morning, but not hardly any fish. Fished the west side of Possession this morning for about an hour and caught 3 out of 6 pinks on white dodger mini pink squid 70-80 feet down. Really started biting about 11:30 am, but had to run to put crab pots in for slack tide. Fish are on the west side of Possession to Indian Point now, should be crossing over to humpy hollow pretty soon, then look out :o

3 more limits of crab today, 20 on my card for the season and I started on July 13. What a season so far!
 
Just out of interest, what size were the pinks? We caught 6 out at Neah Bay this weekend and all were pretty small - e.g. a couple of pounds. Nice size trout but small even for pinks. I can't remember catching/hooking this many pinks that were so small.
 
They were the typical 3-4 pound range.
I'm sure we'll see some small ones coming in, too. Can't help to think that the large biomass is feeding on a finite food source so we'll see some smaller pinks. Hope the coho are good size this year.
Hope to get out to Westport next week for some hot action.
 
Everett lot was nearly full yesterday and the ramps were busy. Fish counter said no significant # of coho yet. Give it a week or two.

On a positive, the crabbing has been spectacular! 8) We went out and got a total of 25 for the weekend from two pots, in two pulls.
 
Crabbed and fished yesterday. 15 crab total ( three limits) . Lots of nice size crab this year. We threw back 50 females or just under sized crab.

trolled for pinks in the wind and 4 ft plus seas. Noaa was predicting 5 mph and one foot or less. Don't know why I even bother to look at Noaa reports anymore. Those dirt bags are always wrong and I am getting tired of it.

Question for the masses. I have not seen a sea star in two years in a crab trap and the crabbing has been great the last two years?? Any connection??
 
That's an interesting observation, I also haven't had a sea star in my pots since the summer before last. Maybe a connection, or maybe just less tribal pressure lately?

Its been really good, actually the best we've ever experienced this year. Basically taken the sport away from it, but family and friends are enjoying all the crab. I spent a lot more time in years past actually trying to find crab. My folks were visiting, so I took them out in Port Susan and we had 5 limits of BIG ones plus a bunch to throw back after a two hour soak with 4 pots. Unreal
 
Fished solo Friday AM. Dropped in at the first set of houses on the beach past Mukelteo. Trolled for about 15 min then boated 4 fish in the next 20. All at 50 feet on a white dodger-pink squid.

Took my father in-law out for a quick trip Sat AM which is always a "challenge". We hooked into 15 fish in about an hour and a half window. 7 made it into the cooler before we had to get in. Bite was deeper yesterday with fish coming at 65 and 80 feet. One of these days he'll catch on.

Been a fun year for pinks and they have made for some of the best smoked salmon I've had. Tom's got a great recipe. Stoked for coho but these feisty pinks are making for a great way to pass the time.

Anybody else get out over the weekend?
 
Got to the boat at 6am only to find the hydraulic steering was stuck. Drained and refilled the lines and it seems to be fixed but did not get out until afternoon. It was very slow but we did get a few pinks. We were on the west side of possession and we got a good show from 3 adult orca whales and a baby one. They were darting all over and seemed to be chasing fish. I have never seen whales from the boat before and they got pretty close so it was fair trade for a slow day of fishing.
 
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