Puget Sound

[SKYKO]

Appreciate the responses, I was way up in the NW quadrant of the sound checking out new to me beaches, water, etc for fun. With my untrained eye I fished over some really tasty stuff, spits, bars, grass, channels, clams, oysters etc. Agree on the pic in question and when I fished it, it was really ripping but had a nice softer seam up against the submerged grassy bank. There was alot of other good beaches as well, just never saw a fish rise, jump, boil or anything and talked with a woman who got her limit of steamers in about 15 minutes who said it's been slow recently based on the anglers she's talked to.
Fun couple day trip and worth checking out later in season when the salmon start to show. I'd put up some pics of the various beaches and habitat I fished over but don't want to out somebody's local.
I'm a mediocre beach guy but on my local which isn't known to be great if I see fish around I'm generally hooking some. Was a good trip and thanks for the feedback.

 

[Matt B]

@J-ham @VMP
Resident pinks maybe? I wonder when they hatched.

 

[Stonedfish]

Hit a local MA 10 beach for a few hours this morning. Three fish to hand all about this size. A few fry around, but not many.
Anyone lose their Mud Motors hat?
Time to mow the lawn…..
SF

 

[VMP]

@J-ham @VMP
Resident pinks maybe? I wonder when they hatched.

Apparently so, back in May 2023 @Smalma posted the following:

I agree that Divad's fish is indeed a pink. Yes historically resident pinks were fairly common in Puget Sound with the fishery centering in MA 11. That fishery seemed to collapse in the mid-1950s. Interestedly some of those MA 11 fish were Stillaguamish fish. For at least the last 3 cycles there have been a few of those resident pinks caught in the early summer MA 10 resident coho fishery.

A quick look at the literature shows some further insight, see below excerpts from the following (page 16):
"Development of Washington State Salmon Sport Fishery through 1964. Frank Haw, Henry O. Wendler, and Gene Deschamps. 1967. Washington Department of Fisheries. Olympia, Washington."




Also see page 30 of the following:
Hard, J. J., R. G. Kope, W. S. Grant, F. W. Waknitz, L. T. Parker, and R. S. Waples. 1996. Status review 'of pink salmon from Washington, Oregon, and California. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NWFSC-25, 131 p.



Edited to add a link to a more recent paper (2021) on the diverse and historical use changes of eight salmonid species in the Salish Sea, very interesting analysis of timing and associated factors related to residents vs migrants. In a nutshell, after peaking in the 1970s-1980s, residency of salmonids in the Salish Sea has been declining overall.
Quinn, Thomas & Losee, James. (2021). Diverse and changing use of the Salish Sea by Pacific salmon, trout, and char. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 79. 10.1139/cjfas-2021-0162.

 

[2MANY]

I love seeing the wild horses near Hamma Hamma.

 

[Stonedfish]

Fished from 8:00 until 1:30 today. Didn’t see anyone else fishing. Lots of fish to hand, but not much size wise. I did see a few nice size fish rise. Tons of fry and targets to cast to all day. More clouds, cool temps and a bit less sunshine would have made it a better day.
SF

 

[Stonedfish]

One other thing I noticed yesterday. There seemed to be a noticeable difference in the size of the chum fry I was seeing.
Some seemed to be 1.5 to maybe 2” long, while others looked to be about a 1”.
I wonder if the larger ones were summer chum fry that out migrated earlier then the smaller ones, which might be fall fry????
Either way, the size difference the two classes was very noticeable.
SF

 

[J-ham]

Ventured out to the canal for a fairly wet family camping trip Saturday through Monday.
Saturday evening set up camp and gather some oysters for the fire.
Then test the waters. Pink over white Clousers getting some attention. Net was still packed, sometimes if you hold them upside down they calm down. Sunday morning was pretty good. Small bead chain clouser that didn’t ride hook point up was the ticket (hook point down because I misjudged the proportions). But was interrupted by seals close to shore then a male Orca heading south. Didn’t get any decent photos of the whale. Sunday afternoon and evening were also good fishing but no photos. My phone was on DJ duty back at camp.
Monday morning was crazy. Near white caping conditions with the wind heading on shore at 45deg at my off hand shoulder. But the best session of cutthroat fishing I’ve ever had. Went 6 fish for 6 casts in front of my daughter who jokes that I don’t catch fish because I don’t bring them home.
The last one was really small. Lots of tangles and hooking trees behind me between fish. I like to call that resting the water.
This fly was getting it done and has been one of my most productive flies over the last couple years. Looking forward to more trips to the canal.

 

[Zak]

Ventured out to the canal for a fairly wet family camping trip Saturday through Monday.
Saturday evening set up camp and gather some oysters for the fire.
View attachment 148612Then test the waters. Pink over white Clousers getting some attention. Net was still packed, sometimes if you hold them upside down they calm down.View attachment 148613 View attachment 148614Sunday morning was pretty good. Small bead chain clouser that didn’t ride hook point up was the ticket (hook point down because I misjudged the proportions). But was interrupted by seals close to shore then a male Orca heading south. Didn’t get any decent photos of the whale. View attachment 148615View attachment 148616View attachment 148617View attachment 148618View attachment 148619Sunday afternoon and evening were also good fishing but no photos. My phone was on DJ duty back at camp.
Monday morning was crazy. Near white caping conditions with the wind heading on shore at 45deg at my off hand shoulder. But the best session of cutthroat fishing I’ve ever had. Went 6 fish for 6 casts in front of my daughter who jokes that I don’t catch fish because I don’t bring them home.
View attachment 148623View attachment 148624View attachment 148626View attachment 148627View attachment 148628The last one was really small. Lots of tangles and hooking trees behind me between fish. I like to call that resting the water.
This fly was getting it done and has been one of my most productive flies over the last couple years. View attachment 148631View attachment 148632Looking forward to more trips to the canal.

Great report, thanks for sharing!

 

[albula]

Where can you legally harvest oysters to roast? It was my understanding that they had to be shucked and the shells returned to the water due to the presence of later generations of oysters on the shells.

 

[J-ham]

Where can you legally harvest oysters to roast? It was my understanding that they had to be shucked and the shells returned to the water due to the presence of later generations of oysters on the shells.

These are private tide lands, so the laws are a bit different, but you are correct when it comes to recreational harvesting. The shells were returned to the beach though.

 

[Stonedfish]

Ventured out to the canal for a fairly wet family camping trip Saturday through Monday.
Saturday evening set up camp and gather some oysters for the fire.
View attachment 148612Then test the waters. Pink over white Clousers getting some attention. Net was still packed, sometimes if you hold them upside down they calm down.View attachment 148613 View attachment 148614Sunday morning was pretty good. Small bead chain clouser that didn’t ride hook point up was the ticket (hook point down because I misjudged the proportions). But was interrupted by seals close to shore then a male Orca heading south. Didn’t get any decent photos of the whale. View attachment 148615View attachment 148616View attachment 148617View attachment 148618View attachment 148619Sunday afternoon and evening were also good fishing but no photos. My phone was on DJ duty back at camp.
Monday morning was crazy. Near white caping conditions with the wind heading on shore at 45deg at my off hand shoulder. But the best session of cutthroat fishing I’ve ever had. Went 6 fish for 6 casts in front of my daughter who jokes that I don’t catch fish because I don’t bring them home.
View attachment 148623View attachment 148624View attachment 148626View attachment 148627View attachment 148628The last one was really small. Lots of tangles and hooking trees behind me between fish. I like to call that resting the water.
This fly was getting it done and has been one of my most productive flies over the last couple years. View attachment 148631View attachment 148632Looking forward to more trips to the canal.

Nice fish!
Hard to tell, but maybe that one buck with some color is post spawn?
All the others look fat and healthy. I haven’t run into any post spawn fish yet this spring on the canal or south sound. How about you, seeing any?
SF

 

[J-ham]

Nice fish!
Hard to tell, but maybe that one buck with some color is post spawn?
All the others look fat and healthy. I haven’t run into any post spawn fish yet this spring on the canal or south sound. How about you, seeing any?
SF

Thanks.
I haven’t been able to find too many cutthroat lately. Mostly just rezzies. I have seen a couple female Cutts with what looks like wear and tear on the underside but nothing colored like that one.

 

[Buzzy]

These are private tide lands, so the laws are a bit different, but you are correct when it comes to recreational harvesting. The shells were returned to the beach though.

I too wondered about the oysters (love oysters cooked in the shell......), thanks for the explanation. I liked the fish pics but those oysters in a bucket: jealous!

 

[Porter2]

This boy knows how to relax…..

 

[jasmillo]

Took the day off and hit the sound today in search of SRC. Found a lot of fish, both SRC and rezzies, but only a handful of decent fish to hand. Lots of smalls today. SRC ate everything, shrimp, chum fry, white flashy baitfish. Salmon really wanted the fry and white flashy pattern.

Some of the SRC













Some of the rezzies (I think there’s a bm in there too)

 

[Stonedfish]

Weather must be getting nicer. No, those aren’t big pearls lying amongst the oysters.


I’m sorry, but you can’t park here.

SF

 

[skyriver]

I’m sorry, but you can’t park here.
View attachment 148997
SF

Is that dude up there waiting for the tide?

 

[Gary Knowels]

Weather must be getting nicer. No, those aren’t big pearls lying amongst the oysters.
View attachment 148996

I’m sorry, but you can’t park here.
View attachment 148997
SF

I saw that boat on my way to work this morning, but the tide was higher and it wasn't completely beached. I thought it was very odd

 

[Stonedfish]

Is that dude up there waiting for the tide?

Not sure what the deal was with the boat. The prop portion of the inboard was dug into the sand pretty good. It will take some work to get it out of there. The homeless guy that lives in a tent under the bridge was sleeping in the boat.
There is also a hi-laker on the beach and a raft type thing with an outboard on it that looks like it is made of pallets strung up to a rope floating in the current.
Kind of looks like the SS Minnow. Maybe someone is starting a maritime museum?
SF