Reds off Edmonds Pier

[spokey9]

So i'm hitting edmonds on tomarrow for the crab opener to give it a go. I've heard about the sockeye that go by the pier and since i haven't got one of those critters yet, i was gonna give it a go. Has anybody had any luck targeting these fish? Everybody i've talk to say they absolutely won't hit anything. I've done a little research and found a little bit of info on an alaskan fishing forum (mainly fishing the smallest buzz bombs in chartreuse or orange). Seems either nobody has put the work in to figure out what they'll hit or won't talk, so any info anybody has would be greatly appreciated.

[G-Man]

They are filter feeders and just don't seem to take gear while in saltwater, unlike pinks who seem to take most any small lure offered to them. This year, you will more than likely hook into a few pinks pitching small buzzbombs, jigs or spoons.

[sirrino]

I got curious so searched around a bit. Not surprisingly the WDFW site has a very interesting article about this exact question -

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/howto ... ckeye.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Let us know if that works on the pier.

[Bodofish]

Commercial trolling we used to catch them with black or red hooks and a small electric charge other than that, I'd try anything Kokes bite on, maybe a scoash bigger hook.

[spokey9]

Went out yesterday, and the crabbing sucked off edmonds (probly 30+ people and saw about 20 crab total). Did however get a sockeye to chase a perch 2" buzz bomb to the dock, he turned off as soon as i started vertically jigging. Saw one small school of maybe 5 fish and got short struck on an orange buzz bomb. Should've brought some hoochies to throw on with the buzz bombs.

G-Man sockeye aren't true filter feeders, while zooplankton and the likes make up a large portion of their diet at sea, they do actively feed on juvenile or small baitfish and squid. There's a sport fishery for them in canada in the salt where they use some pretty bizarre gear consisting of multiple flashers on the downriggers.

Hadn't thought about running similar stuff that kokanee hit thanks bodo.

I know these fish will bite, from the people i've talked to and seem to know what's what, there's decent amount of incidental catch while fishing for other salmon. I'll be back out there probly this weekend with a few more rigs to try.

By the way i did see about an 9 or 10 lb king caught on a 1 1/2 oz gibbs minnow.