Narrows Park Fishing

D

DrCrush

Smolt
Anyone fish the Narrows anymore?

I took a nice walk down to Point Evans and back the other day. Nice outgoing tide. Lots of nice tide rips/current seams. Back in the good old days (8-10 years ago) I would have seen some fish jumping and/or dimpling the surface this time of year. I used to fish it regularly and it was a great resource for lots of anglers.

I haven't tried fishing there for a few years now. Mostly because I never saw any fish. Just curious if anyone is finding fish there during the winter months.
 

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It’s been relatively dead the past few times I fished there over the past few years. It’s been like that for a number of years now. Used to have lots of fun days there but something seems to have changed with where the rezzies like to hangout. I haven’t seen any jumpers when I’ve been there this year.
The rezzies also don’t seem to be at the other places besides the Narrows where we used to encounter good numbers of them. Just an occasional fish now and then.
SF
 
Yeah it's been a number of years since I've fished it, the rezzies up and disappeared. Used to be schools roaming up and down the beach in those rips. Like SF, I haven't seen jumpers there on beach walks in a few years. Looks like the last time I fished it was back in 2021:

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That’s a bummer….I also used to fish there quite often in the past. Beautiful beach access, nice water. But like anything else, gotta put in your time….the fish might be there five minutes before you get there or five minutes after you leave.
 
Has there been a change in the hatchery program(s) for the rezzies? I'm going on an old man's memory here but didn't Minter Creek incubate and rear the coho for the resident program? I seem to remember they delayed smolt releases so the fish would "residualize" (I think this was in the mid-80's, told ya, old information.)
 
Buzzy said:
Has there been a change in the hatchery program(s) for the rezzies? I'm going on an old man's memory here but didn't Minter Creek incubate and rear the coho for the resident program? I seem to remember they delayed smolt releases so the fish would "residualize" (I think this was in the mid-80's, told ya, old information.)
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Pat,
The majority of the south sound resident coho come from the Squaxin Island net pens but I believe they do raise some at Minter as well.
If I recall correctly, at one time there were different fins clipped to designate which program the fish came from.
To my knowledge, they still release them in late May to early June. I’m not sure what caused the change in the Narrows but I wonder if it isn’t food source related.
There was concern about survival and they were barging some of the fish north for release to see if survival increased. I believe that was in 2016 or so and I’m not sure they are still doing that.
SF
 
Its gotta be food source or maybe even water conditions related? The fish themselves are still out there somewhere.

I can't remember if I posted this email before. I sent an email to WDFW in 2024 and got put in touch with the Hatchery Operations Manager in South Sound.

Thank you for the email and I am happy to hear about your enjoyment in South Puget Sound Fly Fishing. You are correct, the South South/Squaxin Island Net Pen Program does involve both State and Tribal entities. These net pens are populated with South Sound Coho by the State of Washington in January every year and they are reared on site by the Squaxin Island Tribe with help from WDFW. The current program calls for 2.6 million Coho transferred and released from the net pens in May and early June. This is actually a small increase from years past, but the goal has always been above 2 million and most recently was 2.4 million until last year’s increase. Like you say, this has been a very entertaining fishery through the Fall and Winter. I cannot speak to where these fish seem to have taken up residence but I understand that the tribal fishery around Harstine Island and South Puget South has been successful the last few years. In addition to this Coho program the other Coho programs in this area have stayed consistent as well. I do not see an obvious reason why you are not seeing these fish in the fishery more recently, but the production has remained the same and has even experienced a slight increase.

As the Hatchery Operations Manager for this area, I would appreciate any updates in the future to see if this turns around. We really appreciate your participation in this fishery and wish you better fishing this year. Thanks for the email and I look forward to better results for recreational fishermen.
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Fished there many time, mostly with Leland and many others. Always worth it, I will check it out after steelhead shut down on the local S rivers!

I haven't been down there recently, but it's one of the closest options for me, other than Lincoln Park. Move around and at the narrows there is a lot of beach to fish and great logs to sit and smoke a cigar! Ask me how I know!

Great for a half day trip! Or continue out to many other locations, depending on the tides.

Good luck!

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It’s definitely a fun place to fish with great water movement. I personally liked fishing there much more before they opened the park.
Climbing down the hill under the old bridge at sunrise gave you the whole beach to yourself many times without any of the noise or crowds from the park. Hauling a nice coho or two up the hill in the fall was always fun after a day of fishing. There also used to be other species to catch down there as well. Unfortunately the programs for them have been cut but you can still catch one if you get lucky.
SF
 
Even with a boat, it’s tough finding rezzies in numbers these days. I’ve covered a lot of the south sound in the boat the last few winters and have one spot where we find them in numbers consistently. Big pods of fish chasing bait. Chum fry really get them going. With fish boiling on the surface in large numbers. So different from when I first started fishing SRC/rezzies where they seemed to be on nearly every beach you fished down there in winter. Makes me wonder if they are still around but just deeper and not as close to shore looking for food? One year when I was first getting started, they were all over beaches in 10 as well. I caught a ton off Bainbridge beaches that winter targeting SRC. They’ve completely disappeared as of late. I wonder if that was the year they tried barging them north.
 
Stonedfish said:
It’s definitely a fun place to fish with great water movement. I personally liked fishing there much more before they opened the park.
Climbing down the hill under the old bridge at sunrise gave you the whole beach to yourself many times without any of the noise or crowds from the park. Hauling a nice coho or two up the hill in the fall was always fun after a day of fishing. There also used to be other species to catch down there as well. Unfortunately the programs for them have been cut but you can still catch one if you get lucky.
SF
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They're all following Leland around.. that's my guess! :cool:
 
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