Puget Sound

[Merle]

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0/1 at my backyard beach last night, felt like a small fish but could I haven’t hooked enough small fish to be able to distinguish a snag going downstream. I could barely have asked for a better evening. Walking down I saw a pod of Porpoises surfacing in the evening sun. When I got to the beach I could not count how many fish I saw jumping. Not just the Humpy’s out of casting reach, but tons of very pretty Cutthroat, salmon smolt, and baitfish also came out to play. As the sun went down several Cutthroat came close to casting reach and of course that’s when my cast fell apart and hooked me in the back of the head.

This beach is where I fell in love with fishing again by casting spoons and spinners for Cutthroat. It was the first fishery I learned without information online holding my hand through it. I had a ton of fun testing different lures and figuring out what the fish wanted that day. It was cool to see how one lure could be hot one hour and another the next. Interesting enough, I caught the most fish casting salmon sized blue foxes and Lil Cleos with downsized hooks in the Fall, and one Cutthroat on a Jakes Spin a Lure in the Summer. I took a large Stinger Pink Clouser expecting this pattern to be mirrored on the fly pole, but while I assume the few pinks that were in casting distance just weren’t interested, I wonder if I should try downsizing for the Cutty. I regret not coming out here through August, I am fairly certain that if I fished after work several times a week, I probably would have landed a pink, especially if I took a casting spoon or a rotator. Still plenty of fish around, I’ll have to keep coming out

Nice reflection on fishing home waters… My local beach is kind of the same for me, I know I should branch out and find more productive spots but I have some history at the spot I go. It’s where I learned the beach game ~23 years ago and when the conditions are right it’s just a pleasure to fish, even if I don’t hook anything.

 

[Stonedfish]

Slow morning for me on the local.
One good grab and one follow. Tide puked out about 45 minutes into fish. Got bright and hot once the sun popped over the hill.
Nice quiet morning hearing the birds, watching the porpoises and listening to a guy talk non stop. Don’t be the loud beach guy.
This thing is stating to resemble Peking duck…..or a humpy with a sunburn.
SF

 

[skyriver]

Hit the beautiful scenic estuary this morning in the Commander. The pinks were willing, there weren't any sketchy dudes in the parking lot, no broken windows and I took a limit home for possibly the first time in 20 years. And now I remember why I usually don't. Haha! Damn that was a lot of work cleaning 6 fish. Gave 2 to my nice neighbors that are always giving us vegies from their garden and 2 to our friends. The 2 I kept are on the Traeger right now. One sweet rub and one more traditional. All 6 were nice red flesh. I only caught 2 that were looking "aged".

It was a nice morning without any combat stuff. The Commander is an absolute weapon for estuary fishing. The pinks were pinks...I had a few just dog me and I had a few absolutely go bonkers to the point I thought they were silvers.

Speaking of silvers...had a nice 6 lb coho porpoise 2' off my right side. Chrome and fat. Perfect specimen. Guess I shouldn't have been using a pink hoochie "fly". Next time!





The hot fly. Tied from only the best natural materials. Haha!



Don't usually see this caliber of yacht in the beautiful estuary.


Cheers,
Stacy

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Ever wonder how Stonefish hauls ass around Puget Sound, catching fish left and right? Well here's Brian's sled......Similar to the patina on his truck, don't let this industrial camo fool you, the man has fish to catch, not shit to clean....


Looks like a little shark crashed the scene....


That's Langdon Cook foraging for food....

@Gary Knowels - the photo below surely has some trig or area under the curve stuff your students could work on....

I'm thinking this might be Skyriver catching one of the fish in the photos above, If it is Skyriver y'all should know he's a fishing machine, saw him land multiple fish with a minimum of fuss

Oh and Osprey, he's one of the two birds in the pic, looks like a game of tetris, but that's Duwamish bird watching for you, there were multiple osprey working the area, GBherons too, good to see....

 

[skyriver]

I'm thinking this might be Skyriver catching one of the fish in the photos above, If it is Skyriver y'all should know he's a fishing machine, saw him land multiple fish with a minimum of fuss
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Haha! Yep, that's me. Were you the father-son duo in the kayak? That was cool when I saw a pod headed your way, then you hooked one with the fly rod and then let your kid fight it. Good stuff man!

That pink shark pic is awesome btw!

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Haha! Yep, that's me. Were you the father-son duo in the kayak? That was cool when I saw a pod headed your way, then you hooked one with the fly rod and then let your kid fight it. Good stuff man!

That pink shark pic is awesome btw!

Yep that was us, That's the general rule on the tandem, if Jack doesn't want to fight the fish, I get a shot.

 

[IHFISH]

 

[Stonedfish]

 

[Kfish]

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Nice pics Brian, I saw that sunset on the way home from Westport tonight.

 

[speedbird]

Left a dirtbag report that left me feeling kinda bad. Dirt bagged area 9 today trolling and really badly hooked two nice ocean coho. Neither bled and both swam off quickly, but one has a hook left somewhere in its body cavity (Had to cut the line as I figured even if I did find the hook that deep, pulling and twisting it would make it worse) and another is missing an eye. I’m going to experiment and do my best to find gear that leads to more mouth hooked fish, but my experience is that most anglers are fishing with gear that leads to high mortality rates, handling with subpar technique, and in many cases putting fish in boats or in knotted nets before attempting release. Given all this is true, in a year where Areas 10 and 8 both allow Wild fish retention with reduced limits, would it not be more appropriate to have Area 9 be a 1 fish non selective too?

 

[Stonedfish]

Left a dirtbag report that left me feeling kinda bad. Dirt bagged area 9 today trolling and really badly hooked two nice ocean coho. Neither bled and both swam off quickly, but one has a hook left somewhere in its body cavity (Had to cut the line as I figured even if I did find the hook that deep, pulling and twisting it would make it worse) and another is missing an eye. I’m going to experiment and do my best to find gear that leads to more mouth hooked fish, but my experience is that most anglers are fishing with gear that leads to high mortality rates, handling with subpar technique, and in many cases putting fish in boats or in knotted nets before attempting release. Given all this is true, in a year where Areas 10 and 8 both allow Wild fish retention with reduced limits, would it not be more appropriate to have Area 9 be a 1 fish non selective too?

You’ll be able to retain wild coho in MA 9 starting 9/18.
I think the main reason for MA 9 wild coho release is Snohomish system fish. It is odd though how the regulations vary between the 8’s, 9 and 10.
While it is a bummer about the fish you hooked, with some of the things going on with hatchery programs how does one truly know it is a wild fish?
Just because it has an adipose, doesn’t mean its wild and fish know no boundaries. I used to not harvest unclipped coho. My feelings on that have changed and I won’t have any regrets doing so based on what is going on with some hatchery programs.
SF

 

[Matt B]

I’m going to experiment and do my best to find gear that leads to more mouth hooked fish,

I find that flies work great for this.
Casting and retrieving small lures does, too.
There are a bazillion fish around. Maybe you can wean yourself off the downriggers for a while?

 

[speedbird]

I find that flies work great for this.
Casting and retrieving small lures does, too.
There are a bazillion fish around. Maybe you can wean yourself off the downriggers for a while?

I definitely want to move away from downriggers but my part of the sound is tricky for casting small lures or flies. Doable I am sure, but I’d miss a ton of fish. I’m giving the jig game a try as well as mooching, but I have experience with fish swallowing jigs as well

 

[Matt B]

I definitely want to move away from downriggers but my part of the sound is tricky for casting small lures or flies. Doable I am sure, but I’d miss a ton of fish. I’m giving the jig game a try as well as mooching, but I have experience with fish swallowing jigs as well

I strive to be more okay with missing a ton of fish, especially when there are still a ton of other fish around that I have a good chance at. At a certain point, it's nice not to have to stress about catching every fish in the water. And, it's really hard to catch fish on flies or small cast lures when you spend all your time burning gas dragging lead balls around. I don't live up there but know folks who do, and I get the sense that there are good saltwater light tackle opportunities in North Sound--right now, too! @HauntedByWaters, @Wanative, other North Sounders--care to chime in with any encouragement or advice for Kashf here? Or am I completely off base?

 

[Divad]

I definitely want to move away from downriggers but my part of the sound is tricky for casting small lures or flies. Doable I am sure, but I’d miss a ton of fish. I’m giving the jig game a try as well as mooching, but I have experience with fish swallowing jigs as well

If you’re coming out of Edmonds the south end of Whidbey has a nice shallow shelf that’s excellent for fly fishing from a boat. SW side has more shallow tapers too. Casting around Hat Island is also deadly, and Camano Head.

There is plenty of good fly spots you’ll just have to start looking at water a little differently.

 

[Wanative]

I strive to be more okay with missing a ton of fish, especially when there are still a ton of other fish around that I have a good chance at. At a certain point, it's nice not to have to stress about catching every fish in the water. And, it's really hard to catch fish on flies or small cast lures when you spend all your time burning gas dragging lead balls around. I don't live up there but know folks who do, and I get the sense that there are good saltwater light tackle opportunities in North Sound--right now, too! @HauntedByWaters, @Wanative, other North Sounders--care to chime in with any encouragement or advice for Kashf here? Or am I completely off base?

I do very little salmon fishing from a boat that is not trolling.
I've caught coho and SRC from the beach though using lures on 8 to 9' spinning rods.
I've used buzz bombs/ rotators mostly in Chartruse with a 1.5 or 2" cerise hoochy skirt for coho, also Blue Fox Vibrax spinners in size 4 and 3 in chartreuse and rainbow trout colors.
Humpies will take these lures in pink as well as spoons and jigs.
Most of my beach fishing takes place from the west side of mid Whidbey Island to Whatcom county.

 

[Chucker]

my part of the sound is tricky for casting small lures or flies.

You’ve got to stop going to marine Area 51 and fish somewhere that the fish will eat flies. Like maybe area 10, or 9, or 11, or …..

 

[Jacob Watrous]

Left a dirtbag report that left me feeling kinda bad. Dirt bagged area 9 today trolling and really badly hooked two nice ocean coho. Neither bled and both swam off quickly, but one has a hook left somewhere in its body cavity (Had to cut the line as I figured even if I did find the hook that deep, pulling and twisting it would make it worse) and another is missing an eye. I’m going to experiment and do my best to find gear that leads to more mouth hooked fish, but my experience is that most anglers are fishing with gear that leads to high mortality rates, handling with subpar technique, and in many cases putting fish in boats or in knotted nets before attempting release. Given all this is true, in a year where Areas 10 and 8 both allow Wild fish retention with reduced limits, would it not be more appropriate to have Area 9 be a 1 fish non selective too?

I don’t drive for fish much anymore, but circle hooks are what I’ve gone with for trolling for the last several years. Seems to have ended my deep-hooking fish.

 

[Jacob Watrous]

I definitely want to move away from downriggers but my part of the sound is tricky for casting small lures or flies. Doable I am sure, but I’d miss a ton of fish. I’m giving the jig game a try as well as mooching, but I have experience with fish swallowing jigs as well

A person can, in my experience, also use a fly rod and flies with a downrigger.

Hatchery fish seem to ride fairly shallow compared to their wild brethren, though.

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

Last time I fished up in MA 9 I used my tuna rod trolling a clouser like 80 ft behind and I couldn't keep the coho off of it. A lot of fish this time of year are caught in the top 20 ft of water which doesn't require a downrigger.