Puget Sound

[jasmillo]

Hit the local for a couple hours on the incoming today! Pretty cool to see how the fish shift depending on tide. Day started great at the walk, seeing some very large porpoises in the distance surfacing. I wondered if they were Orcas but despite the unusually large size they did not have fins that resembled Orca fins. I wonder if they were Dalls. Hoped to throw Deila Squid style patterns but forgot to pack them! Started out with a Miyawaki popper after seeing one jump and had a nice grab. More casts didn't seem to attract fish, so I decided to try something I never did- Reverse spiders. Almost instant success- Two back to back hookups, but both got off as soon as I tried to strip set. I wish I had thrown the sparser spider I had with a larger hook first. I tried it but no luck. Was quiet after these two.

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I attempted to throw the spiders on an intermediate line as well, but did not have the same success. I switched to a clouser pattern I had tied, but it got no attention. By then I had a family event to attend to and the wind had picked up. I have spent a lot of time lately casting non shooting head style lines, whether it be a full sinking SA Type 7 line from a boat or the RIO Gold floating line for topwater patterns or dry flies on a river, and honestly, I think I am a far better caster for it and wish I took the advice of posters on here to do that before shooting heads. I was able to cast 50-70' with ease today, and while I am sure learning to use stronger winds to my advantage while casting helped a lot, I am also a genuinely better caster. After putting my shooting head intermediate on, I messed up a bunch of casts because I unknowingly had casted most of my desired line out with just one false cast, instead of messing around with 4 or 5 casts like I used to. Even my RIO Gold only needed 2-4 false casts to get very good amounts of line out. Since I was doing so well, I decided to try to teach the GF some casting. We made...some progress. But I think it would be easier if we started out on some grass and I had another rod for us to practice casting together with. She likes a lot of parts of fishing, but doesn't love the high mortality of gear fishing. I might be able to get her to start coming with me, maybe with a Popper that has the hook cut off lol.

All in all great day. Saw some chum carcasses and a bald eagle too. Hope I continue getting out of work on time so I can enjoy last light fishing and maybe end the month hooking one. Kind of a tough choice between finding good hood canal beaches on the weekend or having more time to master my local beach at its peak season. I believe yall when you say there’s a whole lot more fish at some beaches over there but I’ve yet to find the fruitful ones just yet

IMHO, the key to SRC fishing is finding fish. You don’t have to be a great fly caster, a great tier, a great anything but you have to have persistence. You’ll get skunked a lot until you find beaches that produce and uncover some patterns. The first couple years I started fishing SRC fishing (from the beach), I think I put 50k-60k+ miles on a vehicle I only use for fishing and dump runs trying beaches all over the sound on my side of the water. I found some 5 minutes from my doorstep and some 2 hours. I fished some that blanked me the first 4 times I tried them but have been good producers since and found some that kicked out tons of fish on the first try and have not produced anything since. In fact, the closest beach to my house I ever had success on is less than 5 minutes away. The first time I fished it, I caught 9 SRC on 11 casts. That was three years ago and I have not caught a single fish there since. Now I’m putting hours on my outboard trying spots without wade access. Same deal though. Only time on the water trying these spots will lead to consistent success.

Keep at it. This time of year (or very soon) you’ll probably have to put some miles on your vehicle to find consistent success. Also, you do want to land fish, shy away from the popper for a bit. Exciting but not the most effective way to hook and land fish. Fun as hell though, so if landing is not a primary goal, stick with it. Good luck.

Also, shooting heads are your friend in PS IMO, especially for salmon. Learning to cast traditional lines is a good thing though and are not as important for SRC but can be beneficial for them as well. It boils down to the the number of effectively fishable casts you get off over a period of time. The more the better in the sound where fish are constantly on the move and distance generally (not always) outweighs accuracy. Learn to cast both effectively though. They both have their place.

 

[Stonedfish]

As others have mentioned, it’s really about what you want to achieve. Just don’t make it harder than it needs to be.
If you like hooking fish and bringing them to hand, fish subsurface. If you don’t care about hooking, landing and enjoy watching lots of misses, continue on the topwater quest.
SF

 

[Stonedfish]

Headed south and hit the canal today. Tide sucked, just no movement.
Some fish around, but not great. I ended up with eight to hand over six hours so not hot by any means.
The small, winter game is starting. Sippers showing with some line feeders rising multiple times.
Some wind would have been nice but a nice day on the water overall.
SF

 

[Shad]

IMHO, the key to SRC fishing is finding fish. You don’t have to be a great fly caster, a great tier, a great anything but you have to have persistence. You’ll get skunked a lot until you find beaches that produce and uncover some patterns. The first couple years I started fishing SRC fishing (from the beach), I think I put 50k-60k+ miles on a vehicle I only use for fishing and dump runs trying beaches all over the sound on my side of the water. I found some 5 minutes from my doorstep and some 2 hours. I fished some that blanked me the first 4 times I tried them but have been good producers since and found some that kicked out tons of fish on the first try and have not produced anything since. In fact, the closest beach to my house I ever had success on is less than 5 minutes away. The first time I fished it, I caught 9 SRC on 11 casts. That was three years ago and I have not caught a single fish there since. Now I’m putting hours on my outboard trying spots without wade access. Same deal though. Only time on the water trying these spots will lead to consistent success.

Keep at it. This time of year (or very soon) you’ll probably have to put some miles on your vehicle to find consistent success. Also, you do want to land fish, shy away from the popper for a bit. Exciting but not the most effective way to hook and land fish. Fun as hell though, so if landing is not a primary goal, stick with it. Good luck.

Also, shooting heads are your friend in PS IMO, especially for salmon. Learning to cast traditional lines is a good thing though and are not as important for SRC but can be beneficial for them as well. It boils down to the the number of effectively fishable casts you get off over a period of time. The more the better in the sound where fish are constantly on the move and distance generally (not always) outweighs accuracy. Learn to cast both effectively though. They both have their place.

I think this is generally dead on, but my recent experience has been that no matter how experienced you are or how many fish are present, pressured fish bite like shit (by what I used to consider SRC standards). I used to think SRCs were the dumbest (and therefore among the most awesome!) fish on the planet.

Case in point is one of the local South Sound beaches where I cut my teeth and used to have A LOT of success. In the early 2000s, this beach almost always produced at least a half dozen fish this time of year, with most in the 14-18" class. I caught the biggest salty searun I have seen to this day (about 23 inches... damned thing looked like a steelhead) on that beach on Halloween of 2001, and it was reliable for about the next 5 or 6 years. Since then, it's been "discovered," and while I can still usually manage a fish or three, I haven't had a banner day there in terms of size or numbers in recent memory. The fish are definitely still there (you can watch them swirl and jump as much as ever), but they've seen everything I know to throw at 'em and more. Sometimes, I'll try some new patterns and have a brief flurry of success, but they seem to wise up after 2 or 3 hookups, every time.

At least if you're bank bound, pressure seems to have the same effect on salty cutts as it does on all fish, which is to say it makes them lockjawed assholes most days.

IMO (maybe obviously), finding fish is essential, but finding fish that aren't getting hammered is increasingly important... and challenging.

 

[Mossback]

Fish are generally stupid, really stupid actually, but they do have a good solid survival instinct.

 

[jasmillo]

I think this is generally dead on, but my recent experience has been that no matter how experienced you are or how many fish are present, pressured fish bite like shit (by what I used to consider SRC standards). I used to think SRCs were the dumbest (and therefore among the most awesome!) fish on the planet.

Case in point is one of the local South Sound beaches where I cut my teeth and used to have A LOT of success. In the early 2000s, this beach almost always produced at least a half dozen fish this time of year, with most in the 14-18" class. I caught the biggest salty searun I have seen to this day (about 23 inches... damned thing looked like a steelhead) on that beach on Halloween of 2001, and it was reliable for about the next 5 or 6 years. Since then, it's been "discovered," and while I can still usually manage a fish or three, I haven't had a banner day there in terms of size or numbers in recent memory. The fish are definitely still there (you can watch them swirl and jump as much as ever), but they've seen everything I know to throw at 'em and more. Sometimes, I'll try some new patterns and have a brief flurry of success, but they seem to wise up after 2 or 3 hookups, every time.

At least if you're bank bound, pressure seems to have the same effect on salty cutts as it does on all fish, which is to say it makes them lockjawed assholes most days.

IMO (maybe obviously), finding fish is essential, but finding fish that aren't getting hammered is increasingly important... and challenging.

I hear you. Until a few years ago I was pretty much 100% shore bound. Popular spots are tougher and your right, harder to find these days like most types of fishing.

The cool thing about SRC though is they are not picky. I used to tie some real funky shit that would get eaten at those well known spots probably because others weren’t fishing them. Another tactic is to keep it simple. I remember fishing a spot that’s kind of Turdy back in my shore bound days with 6-8 other guys. Fish swirling and dimpling all over and very few folks hooking up. I tied on an olive wooly bugger and landed a bunch in 15 minutes while others struggled. Not sure if it was a case of worms being on the menu that day or people getting too cute and forgetting the basics but it worked. To this day, if I find fish the are pressured and not responding an olive bugger is my go to fly. Fished slow basically bouncing off the bottom. Find the fish should be priority #1. Try anything you can get access too not just well known spots or spots that tick the boxes as likely SRC beaches. From there, play around. With flies, retrieves, etc.

No doubt boats help though. I’ve had some epic fishing off beaches not accessible for wade fisherman. If there was public access in those spots, it just would not have happened.

 

[VMP]

First 2025 kayak squidding for me this morning. Leftover Haloween hat did the trick (and treat!). Conditions were great: small tidal exchange, almost no wind, at least till mid/late morning when breeze started to pick up and was time to go. Started slow with patchy and moving squid schools but finished with larger schools and consistent catching around the low tide to complete the daily limit. Quick ikayaki (broiled squid) to cap off some much needed fishing therapy.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Seems like the same spot keeps popping up in vids and online for squid, curious to hear more, not about that spot so much as what features are good for holding squid schools, maybe not the forum to ask but for a guy with a kayak and squid jigs who wants to try a different place....

 

[Matt B]

Seems like the same spot keeps popping up in vids and online for squid, curious to hear more, not about that spot so much as what features are good for holding squid schools, maybe not the forum to ask but for a guy with a kayak and squid jigs who wants to try a different place....

Yeah, me too, 'cept I'm more of a squid-curious canoeist than kayaker.

How important is the basket to keep the squid out of their own ink and water?

 

[Mossback]

Yeah, me too, 'cept I'm more of a squid-curious canoeist than kayaker.

How important is the basket to keep the squid out of their own ink and water?

Pretty important....

 

[VMP]

Seems like the same spot keeps popping up in vids and online for squid, curious to hear more, not about that spot so much as what features are good for holding squid schools, maybe not the forum to ask but for a guy with a kayak and squid jigs who wants to try a different place....

Plenty of spots to fish for squid in Puget Sound, either from shore (piers, typically during the night) or on the water (typically during the day) . Some locations fish better than others from year to year or depending on the time of the year as the squid migrate. Timing for good fishing in central Puget Sound tends be late Fall early Winter, although we have caught squid in May as well jigging for lingcod.

Lots of info online about potential locations, I fish for them from a kayak so I look for areas not too exposed to wind, sandy substrate in the 40 to 150 ft range. Squidding alone is not as productive as fishing in a group, as you are chasing moving schools so it works better with a group moving, locating and staying with the schools. Some people squid from motor boats, some anchor instead of chasing the schools, so you have to be careful and not snag anchor lines from powerboats if the area gets busy, or you just move to a different area/school.

Yeah, me too, 'cept I'm more of a squid-curious canoeist than kayaker.
How important is the basket to keep the squid out of their own ink and water?

The basket is just a wire mesh trash can that works as an insert in a 2 gallon plastic bucket, it helps to manage a daily limit (5 quarts or 10 lbs) as a full basket is about that. I keep salt water in the bucket to keep the squid submerged and alive, the basket helps to refresh the water ever so often without loosing squid in the process. You can also reserve the squid ink to make "pasta al nero di seppia" (pasta with squid ink), rice dishes, etc, if you are into that sort of think, I am!

 

[Stonedfish]

Fun day on the canal today.
SF

 

[JudyM]

MMmmm, squid! Poor mans (or womens) Calamari...

 

[Zak]

MMmmm, squid! Poor mans (or womens) Calamari...

Rich (wo)man's calamari, too!

 

[VMP]

Somebody said Calamari? That's dinner tonight! Perhaps we need a squid specific thread! Sorry for the drift! Oh never mind...

 

[Mossback]

Onward and Squidward !!!

 

[JudyM]

Somebody said Calamari? That's dinner tonight! Perhaps we need a squid specific thread! Sorry for the drift! Oh never mind...
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Everything but the rice. Rice will make my glucometer go off the charts.

 

[Burt Dagger]

Somebody said Calamari? That's dinner tonight! Perhaps we need a squid specific thread! Sorry for the drift! Oh never mind...
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You’ve got my full attention, honestly! I’ve started going down the internet rabbit hole and will be bopping on down to Bass Pro to get some squid jigs tomorrow.

I should probably hit a pier first to watch and learn, but on a calm morning I could see myself taking the packraft a couple hundred feet offshore and giving it a try.

Appreciate all the tips posted in this thread!

 

[Kfish]

I’m new to squid fishing myself and have learned this is what squid looks like on sonar. A big school shows up as horizontal stripes near the bottom, this is a bad picture but you get the idea.



I use 3 jigs with he heaviest on the bottom, about a foot of 40lb mono in between them and half ounce sinker below the bottom jig.
You drop it to the bottom, give it a couple cranks up and start jigging. When squid hit there is a slight tug or heaviness to it, reel it up and let it squirt out all its water and ink before you drop it in the bucket.

Where do you guys get the mesh basket from? I’m using just a small ace hardware bucket.
Unlike with fishing, with squid you do want to group up with the crowd and when it slows you can spread out to find that next school.

 

[Kfish]

Plenty of spots to fish for squid in Puget Sound, either from shore (piers, typically during the night) or on the water (typically during the day) . Some locations fish better than others from year to year or depending on the time of the year as the squid migrate. Timing for good fishing in central Puget Sound tends be late Fall early Winter, although we have caught squid in May as well jigging for lingcod.

Lots of info online about potential locations, I fish for them from a kayak so I look for areas not too exposed to wind, sandy substrate in the 40 to 150 ft range. Squidding alone is not as productive as fishing in a group, as you are chasing moving schools so it works better with a group moving, locating and staying with the schools. Some people squid from motor boats, some anchor instead of chasing the schools, so you have to be careful and not snag anchor lines from powerboats if the area gets busy, or you just move to a different area/school.



The basket is just a wire mesh trash can that works as an insert in a 2 gallon plastic bucket, it helps to manage a daily limit (5 quarts or 10 lbs) as a full basket is about that. I keep salt water in the bucket to keep the squid submerged and alive, the basket helps to refresh the water ever so often without loosing squid in the process. You can also reserve the squid ink to make "pasta al nero di seppia" (pasta with squid ink), rice dishes, etc, if you are into that sort of think, I am!

I’ve had squid ink pasta before in Venice, it was delicious!