Non-Fly 2023 - Dirtbag PS Salty Salmon Fishing

[Nick Clayton]

Yeah my fish was delicious. The color just through me off as the bulk of the blackmouth I've cut were super red more like rezzies.

Speaking to my buddy last night who has been chartering for them he mentioned that the bulk of the 22-25" fish have cut that color and the bigger ones were red. Just found it interesting.

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

My 12 lber was super pale. Tasted way more fishy than my normal salmon, but that's what a diet of herring do. Buttery and pale

 

[speedbird]

We really need to sort out the hatchery clipping situation, the number of wild chinook in puget sound vs the number of wild fish being caught really does not add up.

Lost a seriously nice fish as no one on the boat grabbed the rod out of the downrigger in time, judging by how savage the take was it was a genuine mature blackmouth, 8lbs at least but could be bigger. Maybe even a springer, but guess I’ll never know now!

Doing a solo trip tomorrow and I anticipate I’ll mostly mooch. Resetting false releases while keeping the wind from blowing the boat off course at the same time is not my idea of fun!

 

[speedbird]

I’ve heard 3 other anglers tell me they had an obscenely aggressive takedown the last two days. One guy told me the fish fought harder than most summer caught fish. I wonder if there’s a school of white river springers at Jeff at right now.

Saw a reported 16lber 31.5in, definitely springers in. I get that I probably blew my shot for the season but are there any tactics people used to use to target those mature fish over Blackmouth? Ditching 3 inch spoons next trip, and considering running a 5 inch plug next to the 4 inch spoon. Got some cured red label too

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Trolling plugs or motor mooching cut plug herring got my biggest Blackmouth, but I haven’t fished for them for quite a few years. I fished mostly Columbia Beach and Baby Island in area 8-1 and 8-2 back in the days when they were open in the winter.

 

[dep]

ah, Columbia beach, just south of the ferry landing. back in the day, that was a great place to fish.
landed a 22 lb king from there 30+ years ago. man, I've been fishing a long time (I would have been in my 20's then)

 

[VMP]

Just in case you haven't heard, the MA 10 blackmouth opening has closed for the season. Was able to go out only twice, most promising day given weather/tide conditions was on a friend's boat that developed main engine issues near the farthest planned point of the trip, so we limped/trolled our way back on the kicker which then developed steering issues, still managed to see encouraging signs for upcoming coho seasons (marked lots of rezzies around, some decent sizes also for the time of the year) mainly on the east side. Second day, less than ideal conditions, too sunny, calm, decent tide, shorter outing but functional boat, released two clearly keeper size nice blackmouth, plus one barely legal, did not bother to measure any of them, quick slack line release by the boat as I was not keeping any that day. All blackmouth on jigs and on the west side, did not see a lot of bait except deep. All 3 took the jig on the drop, which is always exciting reeling fast till connecting to the fish! Looked very lively even with the sunny/calm day with quite a few followers and refusals close in. Lost a large fish that had a brutal take near the bottom, not on the drop, hook pulled. Also lost my favorite jig of all time, still mourning it, the thing had very little of the original color left, banged all around, but seemingly improved it's ability to catch fish as years went by, isn't it weird how some lures/flies just work while others apparently identical or in better shape won't?
Wish I could have been out more but other things kept me occupied, it was a crazy winter in several fronts, the couple times I went out, even if with issues, kept me going...

Marine Area 10 Blackmouth Fishery Closes -

WDFW announces that blackmouth fishing off Seattle, Bremerton, Shoreline and elsewhere will close as Marine Area 10 encounter limits have been reached. Year-round piers remain open, as does Area 11 to the south.

nwsportsmanmag.com

 

[speedbird]

What are you guys favorite saltwater rigs? My trolling program is simple, green hornet pro troll flasher always for Kings, one hornet and one UV for coho. I swap out to whichever produces more fish throughout the day. Kings I stick with 4 or 3 inch kingfisher spoons in cookies and cream or herring aide, but I usually am just running 4 inchers by the end of the day to keep shakers off, and also simply because I have more confidence in that size, I can't remember any keeper Kings on a 3 inch. Hoochies I match to the flasher, splatter back green or UV. I fish spoons for kings and hoochies for coho but not sure it really matters, honestly hoochies arguably are a better baitfish imitation in water.

Red stripes on green hoochies or flashers used to be really popular but I don't mess around with them because red frankly does not exist at the depths we troll. But it got me thinking: What if that is the precise reason it's effective? Red appears to just be a dark color in deep water, which means it could look like the dark dorsal coloration of a salmon or baitfish as it rolls

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

Tomic Plug on one or both rods for me. Switch out green hornet flasher with splatter back green hootchie or Irish cream spoon or ace hi fly if I'm not running two plugs.

Though I also have tied my own flies for trolling which have worked really well.

 

[Chucker]

Tomic Plug on one or both rods for me. Switch out green hornet flasher with splatter back green hootchie or Irish cream spoon or ace hi fly if I'm not running two plugs.

Though I also have tied my own flies for trolling which have worked really well.

What speed do you drag the tomics? They have only worked for me going really fast, and I don’t find that flashers work as well at that speed.

 

[Scudley Do Right]

Green label Herring

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

What speed do you drag the tomics? They have only worked for me going really fast, and I don’t find that flashers work as well at that speed.

I don't really focus on the speed. Just making sure that I have a 45° angle on my downrigger cable. So I'm using 15 lb balls and at minimum 150 ft on the cable.

 

[Nick Clayton]

What speed do you drag the tomics? They have only worked for me going really fast, and I don’t find that flashers work as well at that speed.

Personally I never fish plugs with a flasher

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

Personally I never fish plugs with a flasher

If this is what you meant @Chucker me neither. I like the plugs a lot because I fish with my little kids and they still have a hard time reeling in the rods with a flasher. Plugs have enough action themselves that they can be fished without the flasher

 

[Chucker]

If this is what you meant @Chucker me neither. I like the plugs a lot because I fish with my little kids and they still have a hard time reeling in the rods with a flasher. Plugs have enough action themselves that they can be fished without the flasher

No, I would never fish a plug with a flasher! That just wouldn’t work.

The question is more whether you can effectively fish a plug on one side and a flasher on the other. I have never found that to be effective.

Have you tried breakaway flashers? They are much easier to reel in, it’s more fun, and I think I lose way less fish with them.

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

No, I would never fish a plug with a flasher! That just wouldn’t work.

The question is more whether you can effectively fish a plug on one side and a flasher on the other. I have never found that to be effective.

Have you tried breakaway flashers? They are much easier to reel in, it’s more fun, and I think I lose way less fish with them.

I have and I'm just not completely sold yet. I went through a streak of losing a lot of fish last year with the breakaway. It's also still too much drag for a. 5-year-old. Maybe now that he's six

 

[speedbird]

If this is what you meant @Chucker me neither. I like the plugs a lot because I fish with my little kids and they still have a hard time reeling in the rods with a flasher. Plugs have enough action themselves that they can be fished without the flasher

Do you do silvers on plugs too? I troll when I go out with family or friends who don't want to mess around with mooching and I have to say the flasher really kills the fun on those fish

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

Do you do silvers on plugs too? I troll when I go out with family or friends who don't want to mess around with mooching and I have to say the flasher really kills the fun on those fish

You know I think I've only caught one ho ho as bycatch. I've never actually used a plug to Target coho. Depending on where you're fishing, I think that coho can be dumb enough to hit just about anything, but I usually stick to the coho flies once they are down south

 

[Nick Clayton]

I've caught coho on larger plugs on the ocean when trying to avoid them to get to the chinook. They will definitely hit them but the hookup ratio has never been good for me, at least with larger plugs.


If you don't like fighting coho with a flasher, then just don't fish a flasher? Really not needed to catch coho. A naked herring, spoon, or Brad's will catch plenty of coho. If you are set on fishing a flasher could always just run the flasher off your downrigger ball as well.

 

[SeaRun1]

You could also use an in line flasher as well. They work great for coho and do not have the drag of a rotating flasher. I have always been a hootchie or spoon guy. Last few years using Tomics for kings and Ace Hi flies for coho just to do something different. Anyone have much success with Yakima Spinfish or Brads plugs?

SR1