Puget Sound

[WolverineSRC]

I really appreciate all of the input on flies from you guys! I picked up some darker colored buggers and polychaete worms to try on my next outing. I am not sure it is worth braving the weather this weekend, but next week looks favorable (as in, 40's and rain "favorable").

 

[Buzzy]

I really appreciate all of the input on flies from you guys! I picked up some darker colored buggers and polychaete worms to try on my next outing. I am not sure it is worth braving the weather this weekend, but next week looks favorable (as in, 40's and rain "favorable").

It's my understanding that wolverines are impervious to a little cold and snow? ;-)

 

[jasmillo]

Some cell phone commute pics from yesterday.

Getting in…



Coming home…

 

[speedbird]

Can someone more knowledgeable than me tell me why a trawler is allowed to have its nets out in puget sound? I called it in to the non emergency hotline and Wdfw told me they were “testing gear”. There is no way they were illegally targeting anything considering how blatant and obvious their ship is but I find it peculiar that they pulled their nets and left as soon as the officer told me they got in contact.

 

[IHFISH]

I'm not making a claim to being more knowledgeable, but I took a quick look at marinetraffic.com (thanks skunkbayweather.com) and noticed that it shows a vessel with a lot of similarities to the one you posted in what I think is the general vicinity of the location you photographed. Based on the details about the vessel that were readily available on marinetraffic.com, the explanation WDFW reported to you seems to make some sense. I can't vouch for or undermine the accuracy of any of this info, just reporting what I found. Whether that testing is or should be allowed I likewise can't say.

 

[BriGuy]

Can someone more knowledgeable than me tell me why a trawler is allowed to have its nets out in puget sound? I called it in to the non emergency hotline and Wdfw told me they were “testing gear”. There is no way they were illegally targeting anything considering how blatant and obvious their ship is but I find it peculiar that they pulled their nets and left as soon as the officer told me they got in contact.
View attachment 99090

I wonder if they get to taste test any of those test salmon they catch testing their nets?

 

[Divad]

Anybody thinking of braving the cold on the sound? I have time coming back tomorrow midday and really want to feel a grab.

 

[Stonedfish]

Anybody thinking of braving the cold on the sound? I have time coming back tomorrow midday and really want to feel a grab.

Maybe Sunday. Depends on the wind though where I want to fish.
The water temps will be at least 25° or more warmer than the air temps.
SF

 

[rotato]

You guys have a fly for this?

 

[Tallguy]

View attachment 99176You guys have a fly for this?

Yes. My NH grandfathers taught me how to tie this one up several decades ago, using several sections of 2" thick walled threaded iron pipe, a heavy iron blade about 3" wide, a file, and a sharpening hone till razor sharp. Hackle it using a welder. Fish it in the winter, generally with the "8" hole plus baitfish plus ice scoop" presentation. Watch your damn toes, this fly craves toes like you wouldn't believe. I personally used it many times for 3-18" catches, of both black ice and white ice and slushy ice, with a memorable 30" thick catches here and there when I was a young man. The 40" trophies of old, spoken of with hushed quiet sweaty voices and even lying on the ground demonstrations to show how you had to clean the hole, are never, never seen anymore unless you spend a lot of money to fly way way north. As is typical, the DFWs everywhere have really fucked up management of this fishery. December and March are now basically closed everywhere, and even early January seasons are hit and miss, and often closed unexpectedly. PM for details if you want to tie one of these, I know how.

 

[Shad]

January can be tough, but I have found some success this year and in past Januaries on the HC a couple of hours after the highest high of the day throwing patterns that could be taken for polychaetes. It didn’t/doesn’t seem to be any specific pattern, but rather that profile/movement that led to good action. They seemed uninterested in the tiny scuds and the krill patterns I threw (half-hearted grabs), and straight up ignored my favorite sculpin (fish on before and after using it).

It's my inexpert understanding, and if the bios on here know better or can clarify or correct me that'd be great, that polychaetes are fairly prominent in winter and I have heard they hold big breeding orgies during the full moon like we have at the end of the month.

Edit: Looking at the tide chart, it looks like the full moon coincides with some nicely-timed morning highs.

The pile worms do, indeed, gather in numbers on full moons. I witnessed that event once. It was in the late fall. We were fishing a beach I visit regularly, and not much was happening. We had planned to fish into the dark, figuring the full moon might make that productive. Anyway, the sun went down, the moon came up, and the water started boiling all around us. We got quite excited at our prospects and started madly chucking baitfish patterns into the war zone. Couldn't buy a bite. Tried some other patterns. Nothing.

Frustrated, we decided to shine some light in the water and figure out what the fish were chasing so aggressively. There were 6-8" pile worms wriggling all over the place and we saw a nice fish swimming through and striking at them. Looked like a multiple attack affair for a fish to subdue a worm to the point where they could eat it. We picked up a worm to get a good look at it, and those things are creepy! Thet have nasty teeth, which may explain why the fish try to stun or immobilize them before sucking them down.

For a while after that experience, we tried to create fly patterns to "match the hatch." My buddy caught a couple fish on something that was essentially a rabbit strip, twisted and bound by a length of mono with a couple hooks tied on in spots he figured fish might attack, but we never really came up with a worm pattern that was practical to tie, reasonable to cast, and got bit regularly.

Incidentally, I have a conehead bugger pattern that I came up with that has caught me a lot of nice cutts over the years. Nothing special, but the color scheme (olive and wine/Burgundy) was super effective. I have often wondered why that stupid color combo was so effective, and I have decided (right or wrong) that the fish must think it looks like a small pile worm. The colors are certainly right, and if you think about how a conehead bugger fishes (kind of like a jig), the movement is probably about right, too. I could be completely wrong, and they might just think the bugger is a baitfish or any of the other multitude of things a bugger can imitate, but the fact that particular color combo (which doesn't work nearly as well in freshwater) has been so good in the Sound is compelling.

Presentation-wise, I haven't given much thought to the pace or cadence if my retrieve; just usually fish it like I would fish a bugger in most situations (varied strips). The fish don't seem to be too keyed on a specific retrieve; the fly just works.

I think the ultimate pile worm pattern would be a conehead bugger body with a 5-6" rabbit strip instead of a marabou tail. Obviously, it would be hard to cast, and it would probably foul almost constantly, so it would probably be a royal pain to fish. An articulated fly (maybe several woolly bugger bodies strung together?) might work.

Finally, I think it's time someone addressed the elephant in the room here. Those of us who've been at this salty cutt thing a while know this is typically a slow time of year. That said, I have to think a big part of the reason we're all getting skunked so much more is that there are A LOT more of us out there than there were even 5 years ago. As our iconic salmon and steelhead fisheries have begun progressively sliding by the wayside, more and more people looking for a tug have turned to all the things we discuss more often on the forum these days (stuff like bass, muskie, and SRC/resident coho). In the days when I caught a lot of nice cutts in the deep South Sound, it was rare I ever found another angler fishing, and these days, I run into other anglers more often than not. We're all fishing the same (very few) beaches, sharing our favorite fly patterns/presentations, and doing it all more frequently than we used to. That's all good and well, but it's little wonder it's getting more challenging. Seems like the only time I have good fishing anymore is in the fall. I think that has a lot to do with the fact there are fish on their spawning runs swimming with the full-time residents. Those spawners are hungry, aggressive fish that haven't seen a lot of flies and aren't particularly keyed into what prey lives near various beaches. That adds up to fish that are more likely to strike at a variety of typical fare and usually equals success.

Anyway, it appears that if this old dog wants to catch cutts more regularly, he's gonna have to learn a few new tricks. Buying a boat would probably be a solid start....

 

[Stonedfish]

I’ve posted these pictures before, so apologies for the redundancy. As @Shad mentioned, this was on only time I’ve ever witnessed a polychaete worm spawning swarm. It was pretty crazy to see and how confined it was to one small section of the beach.
These pics might be helpful to someone unfamiliar with them and the colors that the naturals have ranging from tan, green, reddish to almost blue. That might give you some ideas on colors if you tie some worm patterns.
SF

 

[Kfish]

View attachment 99176You guys have a fly for this?

Yeah , lots of tungsten

 

[ffb]

Anyway, it appears that if this old dog wants to catch cutts more regularly, he's gonna have to learn a few new tricks. Buying a boat would probably be a solid start....

The boat is definitely a good place to start. I've been able to find success throughout the winter most days. Being able to run around and hit a bunch of spots makes a big difference when they're spread a little thinner. I have started running into other boats with fly anglers on weekdays in the last year during the middle of winter in the south sound.

 

[Kfish]

Short solo outing this morning to check out a beach I haven’t fished in a while. Hooked 4, landed one, all cutts as far as I can tell. I was hoping there would be rezzies around but doesn’t seem to be the case, can’t complain through!





Funny…the swing weight of this rod is heavier than I remembered






Stuck 2 hot packs @jasmillo gave me from last outing above my hands between the gloves kept them pretty ok and functional for a couple of hours.

 

[Stonedfish]

Nice rip out there.
Not sure if the beaver is starting to building a new dam just above the culvert or if this is just stuff that has fallen in and floated down the creek.
The park bench looks inviting on a frozen pond.
SF

 

[jasmillo]

1-2 across a couple of beaches this morning. Did not fish a ton. Just hit a couple spots on the way to get some tying materials. Simple green bugger got both takes. Good thing about saltwater fishing. Ice in guides stays soft enough it doesn’t really clog them fully.

 

[Divad]

Glad you guys got into some, I’ll have to postpone my tug for another day or two.

 

[Stonedfish]

Lots of ice and debris in the water.
May not happen today.
SF

 

[Buzzy]

Lots of ice and debris in the water.
May not happen today.
SF

View attachment 99374

Man, my hat is off to you tough people (@Stonedfish, @Kfish and @jasmillo among the many tough folks) for braving some very tough elelments yesterday. I love this thread and seeing what everyone is sharing.