Northwest Fishing Reports

G'Day all,

Anyone care to provide any thoughts or strategies on MA-11 Chinook? I understand that it opens June 1st. Most people I know say mooching is best and Point Defiance. I've also hear the Dolphin Point in early June can produce fish.

My question are:

Can trolling be productive at Pt Defiance?

Is Dolphin Point worth trying out?

Also, if you have any suggestions on what tides are best. And, what tides to not fish (example: negative tides)

I don't always have a lot of time to fish because my work takes up almost all my spare time. So, I want to be as productive as possible.

Thank you- For Reel

Fishing MA-11 can be a VERY frustrating venture. With the closure of Area 10 this year, there have been some mumblings that 11 should be better. But I just don't buy it... time will tell.

Location, location, location! Of course, depending on your method the location you fish will vary.

Trolling: Some prefer this method as you are covering a lot of water. But remember, salmon do cover water, but the key to catching them is find them in concentrations and feeding. Find the bait and find the fish. If you have a fish finder, start out in front of Owens beach and drive down to Crab point. Look for bait balls and target those. Slag pile from the point up to and in front of the Grain silos can also produce. (Remember, the fish are gonna go up the river) These are migratory fish, so they won't necessarily be hugging the bottom. They are often suspended as little as 40 ft down. (HINT, HINT) For Kings, cut plugs dyed green are candie. Also, you can't go wrong with a green-glo hoochie tipped with a little herring fillet. Varies spoons like cop car and Irish cream are standbys as well. Green glow flasher and about a 26"leader. This is a good place to start, and IF any fish make to MA-11, it should put something on our line.

Maybe someone else can chime in and talk about jigging and mooching...

Hope this helps.

MA11 has sucked big time for salmon the last several years and it's getting worse each year. We used to mooch all the time years ago and it was very effective in all the places Bay wolf mentioned as well as Point Dalco, Evans point and off the mouth of Gig Harbor and other places.

As the catch rates dropped and our fishing budgets increased (and we got older), we switched to mostly using downriggers. This was largely to allow us to cover more ground but also because mooching is tiring when your not catching anything.

I would suggest you check with the Point Defiance Boathouse guys at 253-591-5325. They are always up the minute on whats working and where to try for salmon in MA11.

Just dont get your hopes up too much. On a good day there might be 30 boats out with 100 anglers and they might check in with 10 fish total - on a good day.

...

I was considering trolling.


I've read that article before. You did a fantastic job on it!

gfakkema wrote:Where are you launching from? Defiance I'm assuming? What techniques are you going for? Mooching? Jigging? Trolling?
I wrote this last year, it might help some...

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=595

I couldn't really tell you much about mooching or jigging, but if you're trolling with downriggers, I may be able to help a bit. There are tons of places to target Chinook in MA 11, but it kind of depends on where you are launching from and the size of your craft.

I've done alright in the past using hoochies and coho killers. Do you think they'd work alright at Pt Defiance?

Bay wolf wrote:Fishing MA-11 can be a VERY frustrating venture. With the closure of Area 10 this year, there have been some mumblings that 11 should be better. But I just don't buy it... time will tell.

Location, location, location! Of course, depending on your method the location you fish will vary.

Trolling: Some prefer this method as you are covering a lot of water. But remember, salmon do cover water, but the key to catching them is find them in concentrations and feeding. Find the bait and find the fish. If you have a fish finder, start out in front of Owens beach and drive down to Crab point. Look for bait balls and target those. Slag pile from the point up to and in front of the Grain silos can also produce. (Remember, the fish are gonna go up the river) These are migratory fish, so they won't necessarily be hugging the bottom. They are often suspended as little as 40 ft down. (HINT, HINT) For Kings, cut plugs dyed green are candie. Also, you can't go wrong with a green-glo hoochie tipped with a little herring fillet. Varies spoons like cop car and Irish cream are standbys as well. Green glow flasher and about a 26"leader. This is a good place to start, and IF any fish make to MA-11, it should put something on our line.

Maybe someone else can chime in and talk about jigging and mooching...

Hope this helps.

I don't have any launching plans. I live in Kitsap so I might just boat down to Pt. Defiance.

My boat is a 20'.

gfakkema wrote:Where are you launching from? Defiance I'm assuming? What techniques are you going for? Mooching? Jigging? Trolling?
I wrote this last year, it might help some...

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReadArticle.aspx?id=595

I couldn't really tell you much about mooching or jigging, but if you're trolling with downriggers, I may be able to help a bit. There are tons of places to target Chinook in MA 11, but it kind of depends on where you are launching from and the size of your craft.

...

That would be great.

I'll PM you

gfakkema wrote:Are you planning on hitting Colvos Passage mostly from Defiance to Dolphin? If so, I won't be much help. I tend to stay away from Colvos, Defiance, Dalco and the whole south end mess. I tend to hit everything but that area. I mostly pound the Eastern side of Vashon and Browns/Redondo/3 Tree. If you plan to hit any of those area's, I may be able to help with some locations, maps, tides, tackle, etc via PM.

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@ Reel, PM Sent...

Nice gfakkema!

That rig looks sick!

gfakkema wrote:

For Reel wrote:I've done alright in the past using hoochies and coho killers.

Did someone say hoochies AND coho killers?

Irish Flag Kingspin.jpg

I've done alright in the past as well!

Kingspin Resized.jpg

Well, did anyone get out today or yesterday? Going to hit it Saturday and Sunday likely and looking for intel.

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Hope you're busy cleaning fish already.

my home water. a couple so far this week in my boat. saw a 16 and 17lb caught. tends to slow not long after the opener until the spawners come through.

...

2 19lb fish came in yesterday, one is on the top of the board in the pt. defiance boathouse monthly derby. a 20lb range with an extra fin was released today. some nice fish out there now. most people I talked to are strickly crabbing down south. I'll be posting my report for today in a few minutes, 2 fish boated.

oh yeah, with ma10 closed and the narrows ramp just south of the bridge closed and a humpy year plus the big dig starting next month which will close a large part of the trailer parking at pt. defiance I'm predicting it will be a super crazy summer at the pt defiance boatramp.

i really enjoy this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Saltwater-Fishing ... 1934707201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;