Puget Sound

nelsony said:
For the King opener, I was hoping to at least replicate last year's success, where I hooked, but didn't land a King, with a single-hander on a Whidbey Island beach. This year, I caught myself.

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Earlier in the day though, I had a great catch.
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Any advice on catching Kings from the beach appreciated. For one, I think the flies I'm pitching (#2 b&w dolly llamas) are too heavy for my Sage Maverick 8wt, especially in any wind.

Dave
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All the kings I’ve ever caught have all been while targeting coho. It doesn’t happen very often and I just consider it an added bonus when it does. As far as flies go, again just the standard flies like clousers that I’d fish for coho. Baitfish colors as well are chartreuse over pink and chartreuse or pink over white have hooked kings.
SF
 
My experience has been exactly the the same as @Stonedfish. I have lucked in 1-2 adult kings a year the last 4 seasons while targeting coho and probably 8-9 total in 9 years of beach salmon fishing. I’ve never found a pattern to when I am catching them. I’ve caught them off multiple beaches, different tides, early morning, mid day, cloudy, sunny, etc.. That said, you can find some online info with recommendations on tides, flies and even beaches to target them specifically so some folks may have figured out a thing or two 🤷‍♂️.
 
Fun day on the water even though the fish fishing was slow.
Lured in eleven crabs 🦀 but unfortunately none were legal, including old barnacle back.
SF

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Zak said:
Yeeouch!
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I didn't feel anything other than a tugging sensation. No nerves or blood vessels there. I tore a hole in the sleeve of my hoodie and tried to back it out but that didn't work, even though I'd pinched the barb. If I thought I'd be in-and-out in 1 hour at the ER, I'd have kept fishing with the fly hanging off my arm, but I packed it in and drove home. The doctors at the ER turned a potentially negative experience into a positive one. I'll probably catch a King before I find another agate that size. Thanks for all the King catching suggestions. Might be a good idea to carry your insurance cards with you, or pics of them on your phone.
 
I trolled the last two days for kings in my little corner of Puget Sound, nada Chinook.

I trolled up a rock fish. The last couple years fishing with gear I've pulled up some nice rock fish, biggest I've seen in years around here. Kind of encouraging seeing them rebound.

Now I'm going back to my regularly scheduled programming of tossing a fly for what ever will bite.
 
I fished a MA10 beach 6:30-11:00 this morning. Lots of bait around and sporadic jumpers up and down the beach, including some very good sized fish, but nothing doing for me.

I also tried my hand at Hillbilly Land Crabbing® ala @Stonedfish, but much like all beach based adventures, I was not nearly as successful as Brian. The beach I was at was mostly eel grass beds at low tide, with only a couple open sandy patches. The water above the eel grass was murky to the point of about 1 foot visibility and it was impossible to see crabs unless they were on top of the bait cage. I spent most of my time on the sandy patches, where a good number of rock crabs came to check out the bait, all too small to keep, and only 1 too small dungeness.

One of these days I'll actually be able to harvest food from the sound, but so far nada.
 
Gary Knowels said:
I fished a MA10 beach 6:30-11:00 this morning. Lots of bait around and sporadic jumpers up and down the beach, including some very good sized fish, but nothing doing for me.

I also tried my hand at Hillbilly Land Crabbing® ala @Stonedfish, but much like all beach based adventures, I was not nearly as successful as Brian. The beach I was at was mostly eel grass beds at low tide, with only a couple open sandy patches. The water above the eel grass was murky to the point of about 1 foot visibility and it was impossible to see crabs unless they were on top of the bait cage. I spent most of my time on the sandy patches, where a good number of rock crabs came to check out the bait, all too small to keep, and only 1 too small dungeness.

One of these days I'll actually be able to harvest food from the sound, but so far nada.
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Gary,
Thanks for the report. At least you had some crab action, which is part of the fun of land crabbing. You’ll get some dinner soon on one of your trips.
SF
 
FYI for those that don’t get notifications.
Area 9 is included in the Area 7 announcement.
SF

wdfw.wa.gov

Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands) and Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) open for an additional day of Chinook salmon fishing

Action: Opens for one day of recreational salmon fishing.Effective dates: July 25, 2025, only.Species affected: Salmon.Locations and rules:Marine Area
wdfw.wa.gov wdfw.wa.gov

wdfw.wa.gov

Marine Area 10 (Seattle and Bremerton Area) opens for three additional days of salmon fishing

Action: Opens Chinook salmon retention.Effective date: July 24 through July 26, 2025.Species affected: Chinook salmon.
wdfw.wa.gov wdfw.wa.gov

wdfw.wa.gov

Marine Area 11 (Tacoma and Vashon Area) salmon fishery updates

Marine Area 11 (Tacoma and Vashon Island Area) salmon fishery updatesAction: Opens salmon fishing in most areas of Marine Area 11 (Tacoma and Vashon
wdfw.wa.gov wdfw.wa.gov
 
Why is it that the majority of Chinook I have caught in Puget Sound and see posted are so much smaller than the fish we see caught in the ocean marine areas? I just got back from Tofino, where anything under 28" is considered small (Not illegal, their minimum size is crazy small 18"), and meanwhile here in the Sound most of the fish caught seem to be in that 24-28" range. I had a particularly good day almost exactly a year ago, and after getting my buddy and his little brother their fish tried to filter through the little guys for a big boy- I caught like 10 Kings and all of them were in the 22"-26" range. Called it with a 28"er that upon opening up, had small immature eggs in her.

Is the Puget Sound summer fishery just oversaturated with uncaught Blackmouth?
 
Over the years, chinook size has decreased.
We are also at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to harvest. Alaska, BC and even some of our own fisheries in the straits pick off many of the best fish before they get a chance to return to the inner sound.
SF
 
Puget Sound has been declared a tyee free zone since 2000
 
Scott Salzer said:
Aah,tyee’s. My grandfather was born in Steilacom and used to fish tyee’s in the Tacoma Narrows. They used window sash weights (I know, what are sash weights) to get the bait/lures down to the fish.
A great fish from the past.
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Coworker who couldn't have been older than 40 who I worked with on Steelhead traps a while back was telling me how as a kid he would fish outside Gorst Creek and throw back anything smaller than 20lbs
 
Scott Salzer said:
Aah,tyee’s. My grandfather was born in Steilacom and used to fish tyee’s in the Tacoma Narrows. They used window sash weights (I know, what are sash weights) to get the bait/lures down to the fish.
A great fish from the past.
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We caught a lot of salmon back in the day on meat line outfits using sash weights. I bet that is what your grandfather was using them for. Basically a precursor to the downrigger.
I found a bunch of the old sash weights when I sold my parents home.
SF
 
Scott Salzer said:
Aah,tyee’s. My grandfather was born in Steilacom and used to fish tyee’s in the Tacoma Narrows. They used window sash weights (I know, what are sash weights) to get the bait/lures down to the fish.
A great fish from the past.
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Sash weights were used to give the person lifting the window, or closing the window, an advance in lifting whe weight as well and over coming the friction of the wood on wood. The weights are hooked to the window with a rope that ran through a pulley, the weights were hanging between the outer wall and the inter wall. Now what is a tyeie.
 
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