Puget Sound

[ffb]

prior to having your super sweet electric motor would you let your outboard idle? and if so, did it tend to scare off fish?

I guess that’s my question…when fishing in the salt for cutts, does an idling motor tend to push fish away?

Motor running always, bumping in and out of gear to keep the drift where I want it. Maybe an overlooked perk of the trolling motor is lowering the hours on the outboard. Fished 10+ hours yesterday and put about 2.5 hours on the main. That would have been 10 hours on the main prior to the trolling motor.

 

[M_D]

Thanks guys. I'm no great fisher to begin with and need to increase my chances whenever I can.

I have a little 14' Lund with a 15 horse that I pretty much brought out of mothballs last year. Had fun scooting around Bellingham Bay looking for silvers last fall but didn't have much luck and wondered if the idling had something to do with it.

Since the weather's getting nicer, I was thinking of trying to find some cutts. I know we live in a different cutthroat world than the south sound but I thought of a couple areas to try and didn't know how or if the motor might affect things.

 

[ffb]

Thanks guys. I'm no great fisher to begin with and need to increase my chances whenever I can.

I have a little 14' Lund with a 15 horse that I pretty much brought out of mothballs last year. Had fun scooting around Bellingham Bay looking for silvers last fall but didn't have much luck and wondered if the idling had something to do with it.

Since the weather's getting nicer, I was thinking of trying to find some cutts. I know we live in a different cutthroat world than the south sound but I thought of a couple areas to try and didn't know how or if the motor might affect things.

I caught a ton of cutts out of my first boat which had a 40hp 2 stroke. If anything was going to scare the cutts, that motor would have, or at least smoked them out. Nothing like trying to fall asleep at the end of the day and hearing an idling 2 stroke in your head.

 

[jasmillo]

Though I did not fish a ton for cuts from my boat prior to my bow mount, I did not notice the main scaring fish. I usually left my motor on to re-adjust drift and still caught them. For me, the biggest benefit of a bow mount is slowly working a shoreline at the ideal distance/speed with control, spot locking instantly when fish show themselves and controlled drifts if drifting makes more sense…which it does on occasion. Less hours on the main is a definite plus.

 

[Stonedfish]

Fun day on the water. Started at 7:00 and called it a day at noon. Nice cloud cover and just a bit of wind to ripple the water. Some fry around, but not as many as last trip. Saw a few good attacks but overall was pretty sporadic with more single risers. Most the fish today were small but I found a few decent ones. Also got one rezzie.
Never had to switch flies all day. Stuck with a tan arctic goat high tie clouser with centipede legs. My stick on eyes which I covered with UV cure stayed on really well.
A few pics from today.
SF

 

[jasmillo]

There was a good amount of fog for sure, I ran full throttle through it looking at my boat chart plotter and satellite map on my phone. But then my boat isn’t that fast, a whopping 26mph top speed.

Just need to swerve to dodge sticks here and there

Ha, you run full throttle all the time, usually looking at texts on your phone. If I did not fish with you so much playing navigator on the bow, there’d be be a shit ton of mooring balls damaged and sunk to the bottom of Puget Sound with paint from your boat embedded in them. There’s a dent in your center console from where I slap it to get you to change course while your zipping along at 25 knots headed straight for a dock .

 

[Matt B]

Ha, you run full throttle all the time, usually looking at texts on your phone. If I did not fish with you so much playing navigator on the bow, there’d be be a shit ton of mooring balls damaged and sunk to the bottom of Puget Sound with paint from your boat embedded in them. There’s a dent in your center console from where I slap it to get you to change course while your zipping along at 25 knots headed straight for a dock .

OMG this is the cutest little vignette of y’all’s bromance! Who knew?!

 

[J-ham]

Rezzies are out in number now! Fished the beach from 11:00-12:45 and went 5 out of 7 all silvers. Lots of pods crashing fry. Tidal flow was very strong on the out going tide. Tried an unweighted fry pattern but it just was not getting any attention. Switched to a mini cone head fry pattern and lights out.
Had a second session on the beach with the kids this evening and got out fished by a long shot. I got skunked and my little buzz bomb and rooster tail euro-nymphers killed it. Lots of hooting a hollering.

 

[Phil K]

'Took a boat ride Friday and caught my first fish (for all of three outings) of the year.

 

[jasmillo]

OMG this is the cutest little vignette of y’all’s bromance! Who knew?!

Listen, there are a lot of reasons I enjoy fishing with Lou. He shows up on time, usually early. He doesn’t talk about politics or religion. He fishes year around rain or shine. However, if you ever go out his boat with him, just be warned, it can be like driving around with a teenager distracted by their phone. All good though, my eyes work too .

 

[Nick Clayton]

Not to be the resident buzz kill, as you guys are cracking me up, but do want to make a gentle reminder that as good as modern GPS systems are these days, they do not show other vessels, dead heads, etc. I totally understand the temptation to get there in a hurry, but an extra 10 minutes to insure safety isn't a big deal. 25 doesn't seem super fast, until you encounter another small vessel making the same speed right at ya, or across the bow. Just like driving in snow and ice, you also have account for others. Even with high quality radar, small fishing vessels are near impossible to pick up until you're right on top of them at times. Add in that you can never account for how alert, awake, distracted, quick reacting etc that the operator of another vessel may be in such a scenario and a situation can turn ugly quite quickly in spite of your own abilities.

Its easy to get over confident, or complacent. I've certainly been there. Just don't ever want to read about an accident here!

More and more people are getting out and exploring these fisheries via boat, which is rad, but also makes me think that some safety focus here and there can't hurt anyone. PS is an amazing playground, but it's not a joke either. The thing with problems on the water is that IME they happen far quicker than anyone might expect. A vast majority of vessel accidents could be avoided simply by slowing down. One rule I live by when operating any vessel is that I'll almost never get myself in trouble by going too slow.

Ok ok...Climbing off of my soap box now lol. Just wanted to mention it. I want to read all of these reports for many years to come after all

 

[jasmillo]

Not to be the resident buzz kill, as you guys are cracking me up, but do want to make a gentle reminder that as good as modern GPS systems are these days, they do not show other vessels, dead heads, etc. I totally understand the temptation to get there in a hurry, but an extra 10 minutes to insure safety isn't a big deal. 25 doesn't seem super fast, until you encounter another small vessel making the same speed right at ya, or across the bow. Just like driving in snow and ice, you also have account for others. Even with high quality radar, small fishing vessels are near impossible to pick up until you're right on top of them at times. Add in that you can never account for how alert, awake, distracted, quick reacting etc that the operator of another vessel may be in such a scenario and a situation can turn ugly quite quickly in spite of your own abilities.

Its easy to get over confident, or complacent. I've certainly been there. Just don't ever want to read about an accident here!

More and more people are getting out and exploring these fisheries via boat, which is rad, but also makes me think that some safety focus here and there can't hurt anyone. PS is an amazing playground, but it's not a joke either. The thing with problems on the water is that IME they happen far quicker than anyone might expect. A vast majority of vessel accidents could be avoided simply by slowing down. One rule I live by when operating any vessel is that I'll almost never get myself in trouble by going too slow.

Ok ok...Climbing off of my soap box now lol. Just wanted to mention it. I want to read all of these reports for many years to come after all

I think it’s a good reminder for all of us weekend warriors. I myself am a total wimp when it comes to fog. I hug the shore going 5 knots if I run into it….ha. Happened the last time I was out solo. I also do everything I can to avoid it.

I did run a little to shallow recently though and gave my skeg some nice character via a sand blasting. Glad it was sand and not some other hard substrate that could have done serious damage to the motor even going as slow as I was.

Watch your charts and tides closely. On some of these big tides, 7 feet of water under your boat can quickly become 1.5 just a few a few hours later.

 

[Phil K]

The ferry last Friday was going about half speed through that fog, and had a crew member posted as lookout on the bow. I tried asking him a question and got a sharp “I CAN’T TALK TO YOU” as a response. I thought their radar would spot any other marine traffic, but maybe smaller boats don’t show up well? I also figured that a ferry wouldn’t worry much about floating debris- but what do I know?

 

[Nick Clayton]

I myself am a total wimp when it comes to fog. I hug the shore going 5 knots if I run into it….ha. Happened the last time I was out solo. I also do everything I can to avoid it.

Not a damn thing wrong with that, and it's not wimpy. As the saying goes, there's bold captains and old captains, but there are no old, bold captains lol.

There are few hard and fast rules when it comes to operating a boat, but as I mentioned earlier, you just can't get yourself into much trouble going too slowly, or being too safe.

Everyone's experience level and risk comfort threshold is different of course. I have zero issue operating a vessel in the fog, but I do try to be smart about it. If I'm on the sound on a heavy fog day I'll admit I'm not running 5 knots a few feet off the shore, but I try to keep it typically around 12 knots or so and pick a course that will provide the highest likelihood of avoiding any other vessels, which typically means fairly close to the shore. One thing I have always been paranoid about though is exactly what you described, hitting ground when running close to the beach, so I tend to keep a bit further off. That's just me. There are also many areas in the sound that are littered with other near shore hazards such as various equipment from shellfish operations, all sorts of docks and floating contraptions that often come with all sorts of lines run back to shore and such etc. I'm always mildly paranoid about all that junk so it's another reason I tend to stick just a bit further out.

When I went out with Jon on Friday it was super foggy in the morning. I've fished with Jon for a long time now, and completely trust him to operate his boats safely, but still I couldn't help but be impressed with how he handled it. Like you described, he just hugged the shore and we putted along just BSing and taking it slow. I'll fully admit I would have gone a bit faster, but I will never fault anyone for erring on the side of caution so I didn't say a damn thing and just enjoyed my coffee. The shitty fishing was still waiting for us when we got there after all

 

[Nick Clayton]

The ferry last Friday was going about half speed through that fog, and had a crew member posted as lookout on the bow. I tried asking him a question and got a sharp “I CAN’T TALK TO YOU” as a response. I thought their radar would spot any other marine traffic, but maybe smaller boats don’t show up well? I also figured that a ferry wouldn’t worry much about floating debris- but what do I know?

I can't speak to the electronics on a ferry, as I'd have to imagine they are far more advanced than anything I have experience with, but I can say that the boats I run on the ocean have very high end radar systems, at least as far as anything likely to be installed on a fishing vessel, but radar comes with a lot of issues. On smaller boats in particular, certain directions are harder for the radar system to pick up due to limited mounting options on smaller boats. Directly behind, for example, is often a bit of a blind spot on radar. Of course with a boat as large as a ferry, maneuverability is probably as big of a factor as visibility. Even if they can see every little detail on their radar, they would need far more room and time to maneuver around any obstacle so slowing down and having as many eyes as possible makes sense. I don't typically rely on my deckhands too often in terms of when I'm driving the boat, but crossing the bar on a foggy day I make sure they are on high alert and acting as a second set of eyes.

Anyway, smaller boats (And by smaller boats I mean most of what you'd see people fishing out of on Puget Sound for example) don't get picked up on radar terribly well under many conditions. I'm always amazed at how I can have a 20' Hewescraft cross my bow in a heavy fog while crossing the bar, and I never pick him up on radar until he's literally right there.

Good time to mention that some sort of radar reflector added to any small boat is likely not a bad idea.

 

[Kfish]

Good tips Nick! I know I do often get complacent for sure! I don’t need to run into another fool like me gunning full throttle out there from the opposite direction.
@jasmillo you wouldn’t mind wearing a tinfoil hat next time as a radar reflector would you?

 

[Nick Clayton]

@jasmillo you wouldn’t mind wearing a tinfoil hat next time as a radar reflector would you?

Please post pics

 

[J-ham]

I think it’s a good reminder for all of us weekend warriors. I myself am a total wimp when it comes to fog. I hug the shore going 5 knots if I run into it….ha. Happened the last time I was out solo. I also do everything I can to avoid it.

I did run a little to shallow recently though and gave my skeg some nice character via a sand blasting. Glad it was sand and not some other hard substrate that could have done serious damage to the motor even going as slow as I was.

Watch your charts and tides closely. On some of these big tides, 7 feet of water under your boat can quickly become 1.5 just a few a few hours later.

I also ran aground a couple years ago while running solo. In my area there are spots that go dry dead in the middle of the inlet. I was going pretty fast with no electronics right down the middle of the inlet. Came to an abrupt stop and just about ate the rail at the front of the console. The tide was ripping and I had to trim the motor up hop out and push the boat off a shoal standing in a couple inches of water. These shoals have steep drop offs at the edge and the current rips along the side. Had my life jacket on but still super spooky. Definitely have to be alert and know the areas your boating.

 

[Paige]

About 10yrs ago a guy was running from Edmonds to Possession Pt at full speed in the fog and hit another boat that partially sank. He atleast turnd around and picked up the people from the other boat and took them back to Edmonds.
At full speed in the fog, some never learn!

 

[Wanative]

Not to be the resident buzz kill, as you guys are cracking me up, but do want to make a gentle reminder that as good as modern GPS systems are these days, they do not show other vessels, dead heads, etc. I totally understand the temptation to get there in a hurry, but an extra 10 minutes to insure safety isn't a big deal. 25 doesn't seem super fast, until you encounter another small vessel making the same speed right at ya, or across the bow. Just like driving in snow and ice, you also have account for others. Even with high quality radar, small fishing vessels are near impossible to pick up until you're right on top of them at times. Add in that you can never account for how alert, awake, distracted, quick reacting etc that the operator of another vessel may be in such a scenario and a situation can turn ugly quite quickly in spite of your own abilities.

Its easy to get over confident, or complacent. I've certainly been there. Just don't ever want to read about an accident here!

More and more people are getting out and exploring these fisheries via boat, which is rad, but also makes me think that some safety focus here and there can't hurt anyone. PS is an amazing playground, but it's not a joke either. The thing with problems on the water is that IME they happen far quicker than anyone might expect. A vast majority of vessel accidents could be avoided simply by slowing down. One rule I live by when operating any vessel is that I'll almost never get myself in trouble by going too slow.

Ok ok...Climbing off of my soap box now lol. Just wanted to mention it. I want to read all of these reports for many years to come after all

Good reminder Nick, thank you.