Northwest Fishing Reports

Quick question for anyone that can answer. In this article Timothy Kusherets provides a great overview of predicting Salmon location by tidal differences greater than 8 feet.

http://www.topfishingsecrets.com/a/Salm ... gTides.pdf

In his example he states:

"At 2:15am there is a high tide of 10 feet and a low tide at 9:54am of -1.4 feet. The distance between the tides is 11.4 feet, which in terms of volume is a lot. It is a perfect mode of transportation for salmon migrating back to natal systems ...."

In this example it goes from High to Low tide meaning the current flow is out of the rivers back into the ocean. If the flow is going out how are the Salmon using it to move back into the rivers?

Question: Is it better to fish (troll) for Salmon, specifically Pinks on an incoming or outgoing tide?

Thanks!

From what I've seen of the Pink runs in 09, 11 and 13, it doesn't make any differences out in the salt. Best for us has been a white flasher and Pink mini squid, 40-50 feet, fairly slow troll. Although mostly it doesn't make much dif as there are so many fish. In tidewater, like the lower Sno, I've done best right after high slack and into the first 3-4 hours of an out tide. But you need to see fish showing, jumping and rolling to know they are there.

I prefer low tide right after it starts coming in.

i was at hoodsport sunday caught the low to flood . did great at low tide in the slack , saw fish fining and rolling . once the tide switched and started to come in nothing it was a dead zone . so if im off shore i like low to flood off the dock at like dash i like the high

In my experience it seems to vary a lot by area but I always try to fish the last couple hours to the first few hours of the tides.. not to say fish can't be caught all the time..

Right now at Sekiu you can,t keep the pinks off at any time if you fish 40 to 60 ft down in about 200 ft of water

Thanks for all the great advice. I'm currently planning to launch in Everett on Saturday 8/1 when 8-2 opens for Pinks. Here's the current Tide table for Aug 1st in Everett. High tide is at 5:30 am with low at noon. I thinking about launching around 9-10 am head out to humpy hollow and follow the fish in during the transition in from noon to 4ish. My biggest problem might be all the other anglers doing the same.

Date Day Time Pred High/Low
2015/08/01 Sat 12:06 AM 5.39 L
2015/08/01 Sat 05:23 AM 10.92 H
2015/08/01 Sat 12:10 PM -2.14 L
2015/08/01 Sat 07:06 PM 12.08 H

Can't keep the damn things off the line in the salt. lol I don't think the tide makes a bit of difference.

I like to fish early regardless of what the tides are. Launching at 9 or 10 out of Everett seems pretty late. Then you got the 10min no wake zone, and 20min or so run to mulilteo (atleast for me). Fishing has always been better for me out there early morning.

That makes good sense to me.

tnj8222 wrote:I prefer low tide right after it starts coming in.

Me to we take our pontoon boats in the tide water they seem to stack up till it's up enough to push them up river

Fishing from beaches are you guys still targeting the low tide? In the Sno I target high tides because it pushes them in, but I've never fished the salt for them.

i like fishing the low slack to high tide personally, at least from most beaches and piers (especially when there's a 8ft or better swing coming in). i usually spend too much time clearing junk off my gear at high tide to feel like i'm fishing effectively. although when the pinks are showing in numbers i believe almost any tide will do.

I've had better luck trolling on the incoming but try convincing others of that who don't believe it (or won't try) *lol*