Puget Sound

Matt B said:
Those are Lake Washington, not Puget Sound beaches.
Darn ducks and geese.
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If I recall correctly some Puget Sound beaches get some water quality monitoring between Memorial day and sometime in the Fall. Not so much ducks and geese but how about California sea lions for "fertilizer": this years 100+ sea lions hanging out since at least early April (see here https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/got-any-mammal-pictures.2950/post-289785) coincides with the most algal growth and slipery conditions I have ever seen on the Shilshole ramp, I wonder about water quality on one of the most popular saltwater swim and play beaches just on the other side of the pier...
On the flip side, sea lions seem to have "miraculosly" dissapeared this week, "incidentally" more than a dozen tribal crabbers have moved into the same dock. Nothing against the tribes and crab co-management, still with this year's drastically reduced or non-existing king salmon and spot prawn opportunities we got for Central Puget Sound it makes me a bit worried about summer crabbing seeing all the fishing effort in the same spots where recreational harvest tends to happen later in the year. We shall see what the future holds!

This was early April 2026
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Same dock this week (May 2026), no sea lions, lots of crabbers
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Algal forest/slippery fest on the ramp plus escapee/discard from crabbing
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Took my son and nephew fishing to fish the Sound this morning, tried out an entirely new area to me. No fly fishing here, I set them up with mooching herrings ;)
Kids released a bunch of rockfish, nephew got one 29” ling. All firsts for them.

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VMP said:
If I recall correctly some Puget Sound beaches get some water quality monitoring between Memorial day and sometime in the Fall. Not so much ducks and geese but how about California sea lions for "fertilizer": this years 100+ sea lions hanging out since at least early April (see here https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/got-any-mammal-pictures.2950/post-289785) coincides with the most algal growth and slipery conditions I have ever seen on the Shilshole ramp, I wonder about water quality on one of the most popular saltwater swim and play beaches just on the other side of the pier...
On the flip side, sea lions seem to have "miraculosly" dissapeared this week, "incidentally" more than a dozen tribal crabbers have moved into the same dock. Nothing against the tribes and crab co-management, still with this year's drastically reduced or non-existing king salmon and spot prawn opportunities we got for Central Puget Sound it makes me a bit worried about summer crabbing seeing all the fishing effort in the same spots where recreational harvest tends to happen later in the year. We shall see what the future holds!

This was early April 2026
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Sea lions were back in force on the dock today. Had not improved their odor!

 
With some really big outgoing tides lately, I’ve discovered the beach I thought was primarily a high tide beach fishes even better at super low tides. It’s revealed an endless amount of eel grass bed hideaways that have been extremely fun to fish.
Unfortunately, the last three large specimens have escaped my rubber corral over the week.
Plenty of smaller guys which are still fun.
Lots of action on the chum baby but the peacock isn’t very durable,
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Lots of folks out enjoying the nice holiday weather at GG today.
Cool boat. You don’t see many pangas type boats up here.
SF

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It's been a few months since I've been in the salt. Life, family and work have been keeping me pretty occupied.

Today I was able to take advantage of my works "Summer Friday" policy which means done at noon. I was hoping to get away a little further but the wind forecast wasn't looking too good where I wanted to go so I ended up just going to my local beach. First time this year for me plus it was better on the gas tank. Ended up getting a bunch of hits and put two in the net.

Felt good to make the connection after a few months hiatus.


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Messing around on the big minus yesterday, went way out on the flat. if the tide was a little higher the fine sand turns into mud, so walking was good. This one had both mirage and reflection, plus the water and the land were almost indistinct with the distance haze/mirage/evaporation off the flat. Fish were around once things started moving.
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So this happened yesterday. Was fishing the salt and casting and spied a ways down the beach a lady in a flowing robe and an older man. The older man had a camera, and was setting up for a photo shoot. The lady took off all her clothes and posed nude for the guy. This went on for a while. My casting was not as good during this time, I did not catch fish when the naked lady was down the beach leaping around.

I thought that perhaps any minute I would see Brian, knowing his timing for beach beauties is impeccable. Maybe it was Stones taking the photos? This may be worked into another miserable Hemingwayesque bad time vs good time Stones beachy romance chapter. Maybe Stones has to save the damsel as she is stuck in the mud, naked, the rising tide turning the firm sand to its gooey viscous trap....
 
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Wadin' Boot said:
Messing around on the big minus yesterday, went way out on the flat. if the tide was a little higher the fine sand turns into mud, so walking was good. This one had both mirage and reflection, plus the water and the land were almost indistinct with the distance haze/mirage/evaporation off the flat. Fish were around once things started moving.
View attachment 185297
So this happened yesterday. Was fishing the salt and casting and spied a ways down the beach a lady in a flowing robe and an older man. The older man had a camera, and was setting up for a photo shoot. The lady took off all her clothes and posed nude for the guy. This went on for a while. My casting was not as good during this time, I did not catch fish when the naked lady was down the beach leaping around.

I thought that perhaps any minute I would see Brian, knowing his timing for beach beauties is impeccable. Maybe it was Stones taking the photos? This may be worked into another miserable Hemingwayesque bad time vs good time Stones beachy romance chapter. Maybe Stones has to save the damsel as she is stuck in the mud, naked, the rising tide turning the firm sand to its gooey viscous trap....
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@Wadin' Boot
Based on your description of said participants and activity, I surmise you were not at Schlong beach….or maybe you were. 😂

I hit the local today for a couple mini cutts. Nice minus always reveals things.
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This one attacked my boot. @Mossback will appreciate this one. IMG_7145.jpeg

Playing hide and go seek while making love ❤️ under a rock.
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SF
 
Looks like a few folks have been out targeting coho in MA 10 since the opener on Monday, though not many fish have been checked.
SF

wdfw.wa.gov

Puget Sound creel reports

Recreational fishery samplers with the Puget Sound Sampling Unit collect catch and effort information throughout the fishing season at selected
wdfw.wa.gov wdfw.wa.gov
 
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