Puget Sound

[Stonedfish]

Got an invite from @Kfish and @jasmillo to join them out on their boats with Jon aka @porterHause from the old forum.
Fun day and fish were caught, but way too bright and sunny for great fishing.
Did see one burst of activity where 5-6 fish were busting in a small area, likely on a school of chum fry.
Thanks for the invite gentlemen. That was an enjoyable day and Spot Lock is the real deal.
SF

 

[Kfish]

Glad to have you onboard my boat Brian. That was fun and we did alright considering the bright sun, great company and everyone caught fish.

 

[jasmillo]

That was fun. Nice having two boats searching out fish as well. Bright sun was not great but cool seeing some aggressively feeding fish. Looking forward to the coming weeks as the fry bite picks up!

 

[NRC]

Geez, we needed a designated survivor from the saltwater subforum in case the area y’all were in got nuked. Too many important people in one spot.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Geez, we needed a designated survivor from the saltwater subforum in case the area y’all were in got nuked. Too many important people in one spot.

No kidding! That was just irresponsible as hell fellas

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Been looking forward to an Edmonds whale watch for about a month now, when the weather finally looked golden, booked it, hoping to see some Gray Whales up close. Soon enough though the Captain (Puget Sound Express) slowed the boat down in deep water, and for good reason.



Foredeck on MV Issaquah was packed


We hung around this transient pod for most of the watch, and towards the end we saw one Gray Whale. I mean Gray Whales are basically awesome, but Killer Whales hunting a sea lion? So much fun! This is the Gray, almost within casting distance of shore, just need a ghost shrimp pattern....

MV Kaleetan Missed the entire show, but still, got a good backdrop for this

 

[Stonedfish]

6:18, still felt too late given the conditions.
Nothing in two hours so yard work it was.
SF

 

[copperJon]

Got an invite from @Kfish and @jasmillo to join them out on their boats with Jon aka @porterHause from the old forum.

porterHause on the old forum, @copperJon here. I will try and do better about checking in on this blessing of a forum.

Good to see you gents out on the water! Thanks for the trip!

My thiccc boi

 

[Nick Clayton]

My good friend Justin and I took advantage of this amazing weather and hit the sound together today for the first time in a few years.

Pretty weak tides and super bright, warm weather didn't make for ideal fishing conditions but we managed to land a decent amount of fish including some real quality specimens. It was a strange day in that the fish were very schooled up in specific areas, and in some of those areas they were super spooky, finicky, and boat shy while other areas they were as aggressive as I've ever seen them be. No idea what accounted for the difference in behavior. The first area we found a big school there was pretty decent current but they were super not the least bit aggressive. The next spot we found a much larger school that were absolutely fighting over themselves to eat any fly we threw but it was total stagnant frog water. Was pretty strange but made for some furious action at times and some more frustrating fishing at times.

Can't complain about the quality of the fish though. My biggest was a solid 18"+ and my buddies biggest was just slightly smaller. All fat and healthy, and most encountered were in that 14-16" range. In the first school we found there was some nice fish but one was an absolute monster that stood out like a sore thumb. It was a serious stud but we never were able to tangle with that one. My buddy lost another giant that was definitely bigger than anything we put in the net.

We did encounter one sizeable school of small rezzies that didn't hang around long.

Fly didn't seem to matter much. We each caught some fish on four or five patterns. I actually did my best with a stupid olive/orange rubber legged bunny strip clouser type pattern that was pretty large and obnoxious that I threw on out of frustration while fishing over one of the finicky schools. Seemed it all just boiled down to what sort of mood a particular school of fish were in. If they were aggressive they gladly ate everything we showed them. If they weren't, then fly didn't seem to change their attitude one bit.


We did see one small school of chum fry right near the end of the day but that was it on the fry front.


Overall a fun, if warmer than I'd have liked day on the water with some good fishing and some frustrating fishing. Wind was fairly annoying though. It was not supposed to be around until later in the day but showed up about 11 or so and made things kinda annoying at times.

 

[Divad]

The picture is deceiving, this was a fairly good size cutt for the Deep South Sound today.



Took a little line and fought well, looks to be prespawn(?), very clean and bright. I believe peak spawn for this inlet is now through April.

 

[Kfish]

The picture is deceiving, this was a fairly good size cutt for the Deep South Sound today.

View attachment 107600

Took a little line and fought well, looks to be prespawn(?), very clean and bright. I believe peak spawn for this inlet is now through April.

That’s a good one!

 

[Nick Clayton]

The rezzies are most definitely in 10. We caught one this morning and we are floating here being checked by enforcement and I'm watching large schools of them swirling around us in pretty much every direction lol

 

[SeaRunner]

I caught a decent sized rezzie for this time of year in 10 last week, around 16-17". Saw lots of mid water marks on the sounder that looked to be residents too.

 

[Smalma]

Coho are showing up in the MA 10 creel checks.

Was forward a picture yesterday by a friend with a nice Chinook and 3 coho!

 

[Nick Clayton]

Yeah they were all over the place. Jumping, swirling on the surface, finning ...lots of them. I did toss a buzz bomb for a few casts and caught a fat 16" and missed a few others.

Good to see them, wish they were down south.


My charter boat buddy told me his company's other boat mooched up a 17 lb BM today. We landed 2 keepers, released some with fins including a really nice 8-9 lb fish.

Lots of action.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

I did toss a buzz bomb for a few casts and caught a fat 16".....

Careful Nick, if word gets out action's heating up with Buzz Bombs, Lincoln Park will be mobbed with folks hoping to catch Pinks and the other type of salmon, humpies. PLus that Naked guy might show up. Altogether waaay too much energy for West Seattle....

 

[Nick Clayton]

Careful Nick, if word gets out action's heating up with Buzz Bombs, Lincoln Park will be mobbed with folks hoping to catch Pinks and the other type of salmon, humpies. PLus that Naked guy might show up. Altogether waaay too much energy for West Seattle....

Seems like a slick way of keeping em on the east side of the sound....I dig it!

 

[Stonedfish]

 

[Greg Armstrong]

There’s nothing like fresh oysters from Toppenish!

Thanks for once again cleaning up the beach!

 

[Stonedfish]

There’s nothing like fresh oysters from Toppenish!

Thanks for once again cleaning up the beach!

I was out fishing with my ex FIL in eastern WA. It was super hot. Some guy had a stand set-up on a corner, but rather then selling cherries he was selling oysters. FIL wanted to stop….I just kept driving.
SF