Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
1 unclipped and 1 clipped today. The latter wasn’t exactly a bruiser, but I kept it for lunch anyway. Two fat shiner perch were found in the belly.
Not a lot of fish hitting the beach this morning. I feel lucky to have made contact twice.
Divad
Whitefish
Nice work @NRC! I lost a good one at my feet Friday. Bringing the cooler to the beach might be bad joojoo, going to have to break that curse in August.
Gear Review
The new addition of a Dexter 7” fillet knife is perfect. Narrow enough to easily cut out the bones while the right amount of stiff to make the cuts along the spine a breeze. Highly recommend. You will have to sharpen it out of the box.
Also this 27.5qt Buffalo Cooler Tote Bag is just what I was looking for. Thickest insulation I’ve found from a tote cooler, and the smallest free standing I could find that has a width to fit a decent coho/pink or summer head. I do wish it was a little shorter in height but overall happy with it. It’s sold as a 19” width but in reality it’s more like 23/24”
Gear Review
The new addition of a Dexter 7” fillet knife is perfect. Narrow enough to easily cut out the bones while the right amount of stiff to make the cuts along the spine a breeze. Highly recommend. You will have to sharpen it out of the box.
Also this 27.5qt Buffalo Cooler Tote Bag is just what I was looking for. Thickest insulation I’ve found from a tote cooler, and the smallest free standing I could find that has a width to fit a decent coho/pink or summer head. I do wish it was a little shorter in height but overall happy with it. It’s sold as a 19” width but in reality it’s more like 23/24”
Started slow but ended up being a decent morning. 0-1 at beach one. 4-7 at beach two. All fish landed in the 2-3 lb range. All had fins. Average rezzie size seems smaller this year.
Slowish start to the MA 9 season. 3 days…9 hours fished, 5-12 overall. Also can’t keep a fish pinned to save my life. Had a bit better luck after switching to a stinger fly with a mono snelled no escape hook today.
Slowish start to the MA 9 season. 3 days…9 hours fished, 5-12 overall. Also can’t keep a fish pinned to save my life. Had a bit better luck after switching to a stinger fly with a mono snelled no escape hook today.
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I’m stealing all the no escape juju. Four solid hookups and four fish caught. Which is WAY out of the norm for me. I’ll regress to the mean soon.
Sounds like beach #2 was pretty hopping. I’m stuck in a rut of fishing the same 100 yards of the same very popular beach every time, gotta hype myself up to switch it up. Will definitely hit the popular north hood canal spot when that side of Area 9 opens…
You may have been fishing the same beach as me early today. We met once in person and I thought that was you but was not 100% sure. If it was, you moved further down the line before I could say hi. The second beach I fished today has been slow to start the year too. At least relative to the last few years. Fish are getting hooked but not nearly as consistently as I’ve seen under similar conditions in years past. They’re out there. Hopefully closer and a little fatter when 9 opens up again.
I only carry a white trash bag with me to the beach. If catch a keeper I will give him a stone shampoo I gill him and in the bag and I’m back fishing. If I don’t land another fish in a few minutes I’ll stop fishing and gut my fish. Back in my bag and a dig a hole big enough to cover the bag and put a stick in the ground next to my fish. As I don’t have excess to salt water ice I will not put my fish in fresh water ice. If I’m fishing a beach that I can’t dig a hole I will cover my bag with sea grass of some kind and wet the sea grass. But then I’m not one to fish for 5 or 6 hours, my body just will not alow that anymore.Nice work @NRC! I lost a good one at my feet Friday. Bringing the cooler to the beach might be bad joojoo, going to have to break that curse in August.
Gear Review
The new addition of a Dexter 7” fillet knife is perfect. Narrow enough to easily cut out the bones while the right amount of stiff to make the cuts along the spine a breeze. Highly recommend. You will have to sharpen it out of the box.
View attachment 121837
Also this 27.5qt Buffalo Cooler Tote Bag is just what I was looking for. Thickest insulation I’ve found from a tote cooler, and the smallest free standing I could find that has a width to fit a decent coho/pink or summer head. I do wish it was a little shorter in height but overall happy with it. It’s sold as a 19” width but in reality it’s more like 23/24”
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Yep, that was me. Thought I recognized you too but wasn’t sure - everybody looks the same in fishing gear, haha
Curious about the freshwater ice statement. I would think that would be better than no ice.
I always put my fish on freshwater ice after the bonk and bleed if in a boat.
Beach fishing I do the same as you.
I got my information from a trip I made to Baja. I was told to not let my fish soak in fresh water, which is what you get when your ice melts. I’m guessing if your fish is sealed in a plastic bag or container to keep the freshwater away you would be fine. Maybe @Nick Clayton will give us his take on this.
For ice I use gallon juice bottles that have been filled with seawater and then frozen. I hot weather or those rare occasion I except to keep some pinks after cleaning I stuff the body cavity with crush ice with the fish sitting on top of those frozen bottles so the freshwater from the melting ice has a place to run. This obviously in a boat with a large ice chest.
If I'm fishing in another boat without good ice or on the beach without quick access to ice the day becomes a CnR day.
curt
If I'm fishing in another boat without good ice or on the beach without quick access to ice the day becomes a CnR day.
curt
Fished Sunday morning with @mtskibum16 and @jasmillo on his Whaler. Wind picked up quickly after sunrise, I must have jinxed it by saying how flat the water was as we launched.
Very slow fishing overall, I went 2/2. The flounders on jig rods gave some good entertainment in between the bites.
Kept the chunkier fish, smaller one released.
Very slow fishing overall, I went 2/2. The flounders on jig rods gave some good entertainment in between the bites.
Kept the chunkier fish, smaller one released.
Fun day out there. Always good to find some fish when the fishing is not easy. So much to explore out there with a boat. Also learned some new stuff about flounder. Seems like a lot of those middle of the water column marks you see are flounder. Very interesting!
For me, 0-2 on adult fish hooked yesterday. That makes me 6-18
on adult coho over two boat trips in MA 10 and three beach sessions in MA 9 the last few weeks. These are not nips with a split second hookups. Actual fought fish lost. A severe case of lostfishitis. It’s ok though, the cure is to simply pass it off to a susceptible host. Maybe I’ll do it with a handshake the next time I meet a fellow board member on the beach 
.
For me, 0-2 on adult fish hooked yesterday. That makes me 6-18
on adult coho over two boat trips in MA 10 and three beach sessions in MA 9 the last few weeks. These are not nips with a split second hookups. Actual fought fish lost. A severe case of lostfishitis. It’s ok though, the cure is to simply pass it off to a susceptible host. Maybe I’ll do it with a handshake the next time I meet a fellow board member on the beach .
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speedbird
Life of the Party
Lots of pretty fish out there! Size seems small compared to last summer. Most resis I caught around then ranged from 18-24 inches. Although I do wonder if the bigger fish were just ocean coho waiting to fatten up.
How good of a bet is an ocean coho in mid August? I sadly won't be around this September to play with them, going to be studying at Friday Harbor the whole month. Earliest I have caught ocean fish would probably be the third week of August
How good of a bet is an ocean coho in mid August? I sadly won't be around this September to play with them, going to be studying at Friday Harbor the whole month. Earliest I have caught ocean fish would probably be the third week of August
Semper_Fly
Steelhead
Productive day out in area 9 yesterday. Great overcast day. Hit the beaches (4 total) from around 6am-2ish with 7 cutties to net and ending the day with a nice wild coho that hit in the first 10 minutes. It's been a few weeks since I've last gone out due to 1. the heat getting kicked on and 2. my saltwater gear bag stolen from my car. It was just my Patagonia chest pack but I'm mostly bummed about the flies (half my own). Just makes me mad that my stuff is probably just sitting in a ditch somewhere. Definitely could've been worse.
Felt good to make some connections in the salt again. Stuck mostly with an olive over white clouser attached to my new S/A Sonar Titan full intermediate line.
Felt good to make some connections in the salt again. Stuck mostly with an olive over white clouser attached to my new S/A Sonar Titan full intermediate line.
Nice fish! Just beware of targeting salmon in Area 9 on Mon-Wed in July. Only open for salmon Thu-Sun. Looks like you were fishing for cutties though which should be fine.
Unless there was an emergency rules change in which case ignore me.
Edit to add: it’s more stringent than I remembered - A9 salmon only open July 18-20, so also closed Sunday the 21st. And closed the rest of July. I don’t see any emergency July opening announced yet.
Not trying to be a bummer - just want people to stay outta trouble out there!
Semper_Fly
Steelhead
Bringer of great news!! Been waiting to see that message somewhere yesterday and today! I am always so excited for more salmon fishing days, see you out there..