Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
Sounds like you hit master level.
skyrise
Steelhead
I seem to remember some on here reporting good catches of rezzie/searun out around the Kingston to PA and straights last summer ? Along with the incoming ocean fish. Didn’t see much of them around the north 9/8 areas until July into August ? But by then reports of all age class salmon were coming in. I would think if they were following food you would find them on the west side of area 9 not the east side.
Hit the water from 7:30 till 1:00.
Lots of rising fish and that slowly faded until the sun came out at 11:00. They started back up once the tide changed.
Started with an olive marine worm which yielded a good number of fish. Switched over to a peach worm which seemed to attach some better fish. Lost a really nice fish after a great fight right before I was going to net it. Just a jumbo that ate the peach worm on the first strip and came flying out of the water. Can’t win them all.
A few pics from today.
SF
Lots of rising fish and that slowly faded until the sun came out at 11:00. They started back up once the tide changed.
Started with an olive marine worm which yielded a good number of fish. Switched over to a peach worm which seemed to attach some better fish. Lost a really nice fish after a great fight right before I was going to net it. Just a jumbo that ate the peach worm on the first strip and came flying out of the water. Can’t win them all.
A few pics from today.SF
Yeah catching resident fish in the summer months is pretty standard in 9/10. I've always been under the impression that a lot of those fish move north in the late spring after I've spent the winter chasing them around down south. Some years I could literally almost track their movements north as I'd have to run further and further north to keep up with them. What's odd this winter, and the last couple for that matter, is there hasn't been the numbers of those fish down south for some reason.
There was some great coho fishing in area 10 starting basically as soon as it opened in June and continued basically all summer. I have a strong feeling there were a lot of those same fish further north in 9 at the same time, but it wasn't open for salmon until a fair bit later so I didn't venture up there. When 9 did eventually open it was very good up there as well, both on the west side where I spend the bulk of my time but also further east towards Posession/Humpy Hollow. Never made it into 8 so can't speak much to that, though I did fish right up to northeast border of 9 a handful of times.
Don't sell the east side short for potential food sources though. Last season the amount of bait on the east side was astonishing. I spent the bulk of June and July running to the east side to catch those fish that were gorging on more herring than I can ever recall seeing. IME there is just as much available food on the east side as the west. There was literally acres and acres of krill/herring to be found most mornings.
I don't think it's an east vs west thing in terms of one having more food, I think it mostly just comes down to what the tide is doing at any given time in regards to how it is concentrated. The amount of krill and bait all over the north sound last year was astonishing, but I'm hard pressed to remember a period of time where I saw more herring than about a 7 week period in June-July between Carkeek and the Oil Docks. Was some of the most fun fishing I've had in the sound. I really didn't start focusing hard on the west side until quite a bit later in the season when both ocean coho and pinks started arriving, but this was mostly due to those waters being closer to home and much easier to incorporate targeting large numbers of pinks into my day.
Pretty solid morning out on my boat this morning, @jasmillo and I landed a lot of fish and many more lost. Morning started very calm, despite the heavy rain at times it was just about perfect for fishing. Later on the wind and current really picked up, this is when spot lock really pays off as it would have been very difficult to anchor in loose oyster beds in the spot we wanted. Also the ability to move around in small increments and hold is just too good!
A variety of sizes, some real chunkers in the mix, no rezzies though. Caught fish on many patterns but worms stripped slow was the best producer.
A variety of sizes, some real chunkers in the mix, no rezzies though. Caught fish on many patterns but worms stripped slow was the best producer.
Cannot ask for a better February day of SRC fishing. Lots of doubles. A good number of solid fish and pretty consistent action. I caught most of my fish early on a peach shrimp. Worm produced much better later in the morning.
What’s interesting is if we went the opposite direction from the ramp than the one we chose, we might be talking about taking a skunking. We took an hour or two to explore that way and did not touch a single fish over some great looking water. Instead, one of my best days in awhile. Winter SRC fishing….
(Not the fly I caught it on. Old coho fly fell out of my pocket and into the net grabbing my phone
.)
What’s interesting is if we went the opposite direction from the ramp than the one we chose, we might be talking about taking a skunking. We took an hour or two to explore that way and did not touch a single fish over some great looking water. Instead, one of my best days in awhile. Winter SRC fishing….
(Not the fly I caught it on. Old coho fly fell out of my pocket and into the net grabbing my phone
.)
Cannot ask for a better February day of SRC fishing. Lots of doubles.
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(Not the fly I caught it on. Old coho fly fell out of my pocket and into the net grabbing my phone
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Bonefish Jack
Steelhead
Newb question: What is up with the blue gloves?
They are nitrile gloves. They come in a number of colors, but blue is very popular.
Folks wear them in the winter to keep their hands dry and warm. I wear a pair of thin polypropylene liners under mine, which is a good combo for winter time fishing but still lets you tie knots. The nitrile gloves are better for the fish as well versus wool etc.
SF
We will be getting PS forecast either later this month or in early March. Last year I think they came out on March 3rd, if I remember correctly.
There might even be some preliminary numbers out, but I haven't seen anything. Perhaps others that know more about the NOF season setting process have heard something.
Last year the forecast was 760K for coho. The previous year was something like 670K.
Anyone else looking forward to what this years forecast will look like?
SF
There might even be some preliminary numbers out, but I haven't seen anything. Perhaps others that know more about the NOF season setting process have heard something.
Last year the forecast was 760K for coho. The previous year was something like 670K.
Anyone else looking forward to what this years forecast will look like?
SF
We ought to start a betting pool.
Sadly, I’ll take the under. I hope I’m wrong, but if it’s anything like the Columbia forecast…Over / under on 650K?
SF
Maybe buy a cheap new or used 6 wt back-up rod so you can get out on the water. Always nice to have another rod anyway in case you break one while out on the water. It can save a day or trip. My last Sage repair was 10 weeks.
SF
Screw it, I'll take the over. Literally no scientific backing behind it other than blind optimism after 3 years in a row of increased estimated returns over the year prior. 2023: 760k, 2022: 666k, 2021: 615k, 2020: 524k.Over / under on 650K?
SF
If you want to borrow a 6wt, I’ve got a few and I can only use one at a time.
