Northwest Fishing Reports

my father in law picked up a nice old 14 aluminum boat with a small motor on it. This is the first year i can actually fish the sound from the water and the possibilities are daunting, i dont even know where to start. Are there pinks around yet? i usually use a pink buzz bomb and have had goodish results from the docks. any advice for a boat newb for salmon fishing?

A 14 foot aluminum is borderline out on the sound, it can be done, but safety is key. If I were you I would fish the lower Snohomish river with that setup, it is much better suited for the estuary than the bay. Launch at either Langus Riverfront Park or Rotary park and fish anywhere from the mouth on up to the city of Snohomish/Mouth of the Pilchuck River.

Buzz bombs will work fine in this section as well. Also try pink jigs in 1/8th - 1/4th oz size. Cast, twitch, retrieve, repeat.

I see 12 ft aluminum boats with 1,2 or 3 persons fishing Shilshole for salmon every time I'm out there (during the summer months). Also see 8 to 10ft Livingston too! However, you must air on the side of caution, wear a life jacket and be aware of small craft advisory/wind predictions for the chosen day of fishing. Also look around for the occasional big wake thrown off of big pleasure boats and especially container ships and tugs. Many times those rollers come from the shipping lanes and sneak up on you. Troll around from surface down to 40 ft in 200ft of water. If not fish/depth finder get in line with the floatilla of other boats. Use 8" to 11" flasher or dodger with anything pink or green small or large hoochie. But anything pink will sell out first at the tackle shops. The pinks are not that picky. Keep an eye on the tip of your pole, when using a downrigger a pink will rarely pull your line from the release clip. Larger males will, but nothing like the take of a silver or king. How big a motor is small? 10 horse will push that boat 10-15mph. With 2 people and gear.....less that 15mph. My 9.9 kicker pushes my 18ft aluminum at less than 1.0mph at idle trolling speed to 7.6mph when flat out. Good luck!

I remember seeing tiny 2-3 person boats out in the sound during the last pink run. It's doable, but not worth the risk in my opinion. The wake fron those giant freight ships aint no joke.

Like said above really watch for big wakes and keep a life jacket on, also watch out for all the idiots out there with the pinks, stuff can go really bad really fast. With a small boat like that i would just cruse up and down the beaches with a buzz bomb or spoon or whatever and find school of jumping fish and cast to them, if the boat happens to have down riggers do a nice slow troll with some flashers and hoochies and your set

a 14ft boat should really be fine in the sound. We fished a 10ft 12ft and a 14ft out in the sound many times over while growing up. Ive had a 12ft boat in the straits just sticking to the bays and along the shore but still did fine there. Just be cautious to the usuals and youll do fine. Pink is a good color for them. Ive also had luck with red and black, but that is in the river systems. They are fun to catch for sure. Have fun.

it has a 7.5 merc on it currently. that thing scoots around nicely on lake washington with it, even in breezy conditions. After i take the motor on salt, what do i do to flush it out? just dip it in fresh water and run it for a bit? this motor has never been in salt

Dennis316 wrote:it has a 7.5 merc on it currently. that thing scoots around nicely on lake washington with it, even in breezy conditions. After i take the motor on salt, what do i do to flush it out? just dip it in fresh water and run it for a bit? this motor has never been in salt

You need to get a set of ear muffs which slips over the water pump inlet holes usually located on each side of the lower unit, just below the cavitation plate, which is normally in a horizontal plane with the prop. 7.5 merc sounds to be a 70's motor. Have some oars handy for back up in case the motor gets finicky for whatever reason (takes a big wave, bad gas, fouled plug (keep a spare on board). Head to the nearest beach if rowing against a strong tide when attempting to return to where you launched. Wait out the tide change and begin rowing with the tide or catch a tow from a fellow boater. It is against boater etiquette to leave another boater stranded (within reason...Your boat is smaller than the one needing assistance). Be prepared to help yourself is the point here. I grew up fishing Shilshole in a 12ft aluminum. Another tip would be to have a buddy along. When netting a fish to avoid both of you leaning to the same side (makes a boat much easier to tip over). The guy with the fish on should slide his bum to one side of the boat (left or right)and the netter net from a location opposite there seated location to balance the boat.....if you understand what I am sayin?

its an 82 model motor and had a full tune up this last winter. but i dont trust old two strokes as far as i can throw them, i also keep a 38lb thrust electric with me and a small motorcycle battery just in case the murc craps out

Dennis316 wrote:its an 82 model motor and had a full tune up this last winter. but i dont trust old two strokes as far as i can throw them, i also keep a 38lb thrust electric with me and a small motorcycle battery just in case the murc craps out

Well, get out there and give the pinks some sharp hooks. Then get after the hook nose Silvers which follow the pinks as far as salmon run timing goes. Might as well test your boat and motor set up on the kings that arrive very soon. But check the regs for the keeping in what areas legalities.

Ok...Ill be the voice of reason here.... Taking a 12' aluminum with only a 7.5hp motor on it out in the sound is not just unsafe, but insane! Especially during pink season when there will be 300 other boats out there tearing up the water. Fishing in the salt is nothing to play with. You capsize that boat and your dead inside of 20 minutes in the 45 degree water. Remember how many accidents and deaths happened on the opening day of shrimp season this year? Follow Matts advice. Stay in the rivers. Stay out of the sound.

There has been some very good advice given here. I hope this will also help you and others in similar situations.

1. Get used to using your boat in a lake. Do this at non-peak-use times. Practice launching & loading to get efficient and driving to maneuver with confidence.

2. Do the same on the Snohomish River. Langus Park is a great launch, but a ways to travel upriver. Lowell is closer to the action but not so easy in the summer on low tide.

3. If you're going to ignore the good advice about staying off the sound, then repeat the above for the sound. My suggestion is that there is a lot of good fishing on the Snohomish that is a lot safer than the sound. But if you get out there and find that this boat handles well and you feel comfortable then have all the safety gear (life jackets, flares, whistles/horns, etc.) and enjoy

Actually with a small boat, the funnest way to catch Pinks is to fish in the tidewater section of any number of rivers. The Snohomish is a good bet. Just anchor up, use a light spinning rod, cast a pink jig to the side, drift it down the river a bit and then just keep jigging it about up to as far as you can barely see it in the water, drop it down again and just keep jigging.

It helps if you can see fish rolling and moving. They kind of run up the river in schools.

Just launch at Everett 10th Street ramp or at Rivefront Park. Run upriver until you are above the I5 bridge maybe where the river takes a hard turn to the east at Lowell. Riverfront Park is closer to where you fish but on a Pink weekend it is really crowded.

The last time we had a good Pink run I fished it like this and it was constant fish. I dont care for Pinks on the table so I mostly did C&R. Map of launch areas and river.

http://maptest.iac.wa.gov/presentation/ ... uExpanded=

Another good launching bet is the Ebey Waterfront park in Marysville. You can launch there at almost any tide, it has 4 lanes, more than adequate parking, and it is free.... can't really beat that. Its a decent run up to the Snoho from there, but you can find pinks throughout the tidewater in Ebey and Steamboat sloughs both, they can be caught trolling, or casting.

matt, do you anything about fishing the mouth of the Stilly for pinks... buddies girlfriend lives waterside at mouth says shes seeing 5 or so jumpers an hour already wondering if u think they could really be in yet.

Jaksonbrown wrote:Ok...Ill be the voice of reason here.... Taking a 12' aluminum with only a 7.5hp motor on it out in the sound is not just unsafe, but insane! Especially during pink season when there will be 300 other boats out there tearing up the water. Fishing in the salt is nothing to play with. You capsize that boat and your dead inside of 20 minutes in the 45 degree water. Remember how many accidents and deaths happened on the opening day of shrimp season this year? Follow Matts advice. Stay in the rivers. Stay out of the sound.

Puget Sound runs in the mid 50's temperature wise in the summer...

I've spent many days out in the Puget Sound on smaller 10-14 foot aluminum boats....Be careful, check wind and weather forecasts and be cautious....

Anyways, early-mid august is when they'll start showing in catchable numbers, late august being the peak time...

Good luck...

fishenfreak wrote:matt, do you anything about fishing the mouth of the Stilly for pinks... buddies girlfriend lives waterside at mouth says shes seeing 5 or so jumpers an hour already wondering if u think they could really be in yet.

I think 5 fish jumping an hour seems high. There are probably a few pinks in the sound, but not likely in high numbers. A friend of a friend caught his first one out of A11 fishing for kings last week, so they are definitely showing. Last time I was down there fishing sturgeon there were a bunch of whitefish and LOTS of smolts in the system. They were jumping all around while we were on anchor, perhaps that is what she is seeing?

The lower Stilly is an excellent area for fishing for both pinks and coho. Drive down to the bridge in Silvana, park in the parking lot and walk through the corn field. There is a long Sandbar and huge tailout down there, it gets packed.

There are also several other areas upstream that get a ton of pressure and put out a TON of fish.

Yea my buddy says theres A TON of fish when season comes. He says on low tide tons of pinks get stuck in tide pools in the flats and he puts em back into the river. He Got a 40 pound king in a pool once. And a 6 foot sturgeon. Yea im not sure about the jumpers, but hes going down in person to check it out tomorrow, ill let you know if theres really that many yet.

I fished the sound in a 14' boat and a 8hp motor all growing up. its completely doable in these waters, but it can get a little dicey some days. For pinks, I would stick to mouths of the rivers however. Get those big schools in skinny water and you can really increase your catch rate. There are a couple launches on the Duwamish, and last I heard they were projecting 2.1 million pinks to the Duwi this year. There is also a launch in W. Seattle that puts you right in inner Eliot bay, with a short trip to the Duwamish. Redondoe and Dash Point will both be hot for pinks, and both have boat launches.
If you haven't already started buying your buzz bombs and such, start stocking up now. Some stores are already selling out. Small 2.5" hochies work great and are a lot cheaper than buzz bombs.

Remember to get out and pick up pink lures and Buzz Bombs before there are none left like 2 years ago. I went to Wally world on Sunday and bought 4 Buzz Bombs and 6 pink spoons. In a week or so most pink gear will be gone.