Non-Fly 2023 - Dirtbag PS Salty Salmon Fishing

Something I recently learned about in BC is trolling for Lings, which kind of sounds like a great way to learn new spots to jig or livebait fish. What are the odds if I trolled with a swimbait or a blue label herring WDFW gives me a ticket for illegal salmon fishing?
 
Trolling for lings definitely works, but not sure I'd be super into doing it in the sound. Somewhere like Westport where we are fishing hard bottoms and ledges and such its pretty easy, but most of the places I've fished for them in the sound is pretty gnarly structure that changes drastically often and it would be an awful lot of work keeping gear near the bottom but not too close to lose balls/gear.
 
Blackmouth like putting the skunk on, well, the good news is the shaker problem seems to be fixed! Saw a nice 5lber jump after something big and black dove down. Not sure if it was a sea lion that left the area before I saw it breathe or a cormorant that spooked it.

Might try mooching/jigging next time and save fuel, but I’m not sure how to pick places to do either in northern area 10. If anyone has suggestions for spots and is willing to dm me, it would be super appreciated! Should I treat it like coho and start off of points and tide tips?
 
speedbird said:
Blackmouth like putting the skunk on, well, the good news is the shaker problem seems to be fixed! Saw a nice 5lber jump after something big and black dove down. Not sure if it was a sea lion that left the area before I saw it breathe or a cormorant that spooked it.

Might try mooching/jigging next time and save fuel, but I’m not sure how to pick places to do either in northern area 10. If anyone has suggestions for spots and is willing to dm me, it would be super appreciated! Should I treat it like coho and start off of points and tide tips?
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Fish the ripps!
 
Yep rips are always worth a look. And don't be afraid to try different depths. Many folks get laser focused on fishing the bottom exclusively, but those fish don't spend every minute of the day stuck in the mud. Try different depths, especially if you see bait further up in the water column.
 
Nick Clayton said:
Yep rips are always worth a look. And don't be afraid to try different depths. Many folks get laser focused on fishing the bottom exclusively, but those fish don't spend every minute of the day stuck in the mud. Try different depths, especially if you see bait further up in the water column.
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I started bottom pounding but explored all the way out to 300 fow, most of the bait balls I was seeing were in the 200-500 feet ranges out in 500-600 feet of water. I only found one good school, and one good baitball right at the start that I quickly lost. That said, I did start fishing towards the afternoon, and I assume the bait simply migrated along with the sun to deep waters
 
Trolled Jeff head this morning. Really hard to keep the boat moving in a straight line, best luck was cookies and cream 3 incher. Dropped a passenger off in Edmonds and ran back to Kingston, it was crazy rough and I figured it’d be easier to fish the bar but it didn’t work out, saw an older gentleman catch one mooching. Got sick of false releases and the fact that I couldn’t even work my own rods while I fought the wind and tried to jig, despite running 6oz jigs I couldn’t get them to hit the bottom. Do you guys have any suggestions for picking spots to jig? Is it just a matter of fishing better weather and slower tides?

Went back to Jeff head to try trolling again, and finally found success. My friend pulled in a 22 incher, but really cutting it close. Tried to catch my own but the weather really picked up and I decided to head in. Kinda sketchy heading back, hand on the throttle at all times kinda day. Plenty of water over the roof!
 
speedbird said:
Trolled Jeff head this morning. Really hard to keep the boat moving in a straight line, best luck was cookies and cream 3 incher. Dropped a passenger off in Edmonds and ran back to Kingston, it was crazy rough and I figured it’d be easier to fish the bar but it didn’t work out, saw an older gentleman catch one mooching. Got sick of false releases and the fact that I couldn’t even work my own rods while I fought the wind and tried to jig, despite running 6oz jigs I couldn’t get them to hit the bottom. Do you guys have any suggestions for picking spots to jig? Is it just a matter of fishing better weather and slower tides?

Went back to Jeff head to try trolling again, and finally found success. My friend pulled in a 22 incher, but really cutting it close. Tried to catch my own but the weather really picked up and I decided to head in. Kinda sketchy heading back, hand on the throttle at all times kinda day. Plenty of water over the roof!
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What kind of boat was the moocher in? You don't see many jiggers in the spots you were fishing. I'm not a jigger but I would find a screen that looks good and try to stay on in with the kicker.
 
If I was going to focus on jigging the north sound I would stay mobile until I found concentrations of bait and work that hard for as long as you can stay on top of it. Haven't done much of it up here though, so that's just my inexperienced first thought.

Practice using a motor to slow/control your drift and you can fish during any part of the tide.
 
Scudley Do Right said:
What kind of boat was the moocher in? You don't see many jiggers in the spots you were fishing. I'm not a jigger but I would find a screen that looks good and try to stay on in with the kicker.
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Unfortunately for me the boat I was in had an unserviceable fish finder. I tried to play the guessing game with where the bait would most logically be
 
Ira and I got out for a little blackmouth fix this morning. Weather was incredible, and fishing was nothing to complain about either. Lost a few, released a few, and missed a bunch before we put these two aboard back to back and called it a day by 11 am. Not gonna impress anyone with their size but fun and will be tasty.

The fish I took home cut more pale than I am used to with blackmoutb but fresh salmon for dinner tonight sounds pretty damn good.


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Nick Clayton said:
Ira and I got out for a little blackmouth fix this morning. Weather was incredible, and fishing was nothing to complain about either. Lost a few, released a few, and missed a bunch before we put these two aboard back to back and called it a day by 11 am. Not gonna impress anyone with their size but fun and will be tasty.

The fish I took home cut more pale than I am used to with blackmoutb but fresh salmon for dinner tonight sounds pretty damn good.


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Mooching? Or did you go full dirtbag
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
Mooching? Or did you go full dirtbag
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Oh it was full dirt bag. I have zero interest in mooching for blackmouth with as short as the season is.

My buddy was running a mooching charter out there today and while he's been doing well lately it was struggle bus for them today. We never saw much that I'd be excited about trying to mooch on today.
 
The sad lil 22 incher I scrounged up also cut super pale, what's really cool is in one of the Facebook groups someone posted a white cutting Blackmouth!

Really good eating fish though, I've kept Blackmouth when I was starting out summer King fishing and not too confident with what I was doing, but this fish blew those out of the water. Melt in your mouth tender
 
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