Easily accessed saltwater fishing near Kitsap County

[Juniah87]

Anyone know of a decent public fishing area on the saltwater near Kitsap County that is easily accessible? Thinking like the Mukilteo ferry dock. I am willing to travel an hour or so, just looking for sole/flounder/bullhead, ya know, stuff that's easy to catch with worms or frozen herring. Thanks!

[The Quadfather]

Well, there certainly is the Mukilteo pier, at the Ferry landing, but the few times I've been there it was a bust, and kind of not the nicest place to hang out.
You might try Salisbury Point Park, located right just 1/8 mile from the East side of the Hood Canal bridge. This is a boat launch area, but shoukd be dead this time of year. Not sure if they have posted signs saying no fishing, but I'm pretty certain you could pull it off. Also, there is a small pier oj the Kingston side of the Ferry landing.
I would look at fishing the beaches, Point no Point, lighthouse beach. Whidbey Island has some well known fishing beaches. So well known, I am spacing on the names. Just Google Whidbey beach fishing. And I'm sure you know of Edmonds pier already.
I say Salisbury first for proximity, then beaches.

[Larry3215]

This web page is run by the state and shows every public boat launch in Wa - salt and fresh water. Almost all of them have at least some shore fishing space. I would recommend you check them out using Google Earth once you pick one you want to try to check parking and if it looks promising or not.

http://watercruiser.smartmine.com/#LandingPage

Also, like Quadfather said, pretty much any park on the water will also have at least some shore access. You might try Googling for state parks on Puget Sound for example.

There are also many public fishing piers which are run by cities and counties. Again, Google will be your easiest way to track them all down.

Other than that, there is very little publicly accessible land on any shore lines. I have seen people fishing in Gorst where Hwy 3 turns into Hwy 16, but it looks to me like parking is an issue. Also check around rivers or creeks enters Puget sound. There are sometimes accessable spots near bridges etc.

HOWEVER - be very very careful to check the regs for that location as there are numerous spots where you must stay a certain distance from the mouths during certain times or its just closed completely.

In fact, be sure to check the regs - AND the emergency rules - no matter where you go fishing. Wa rules change on almost a daily basis with new closures and openings and season changes and other rules changes.

Getting caught doing the wrong thing at the wrong time or with the wrong gear or in the wrong place can be very expensive.

[Juniah87]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to check those places out. I went to look at a pier in Silverdale today on Dyes Inlet. It looked pretty decent, but when I was there it was low tide, and the section that looks best for fishing is also a marina, which doesn't have any kind of railings on it. Didn't want to risk it with my meds and being so closely finished with radiosurgery. And I'm aware of those pesky rule changes, I have the website with the pdf of the current regulations saved on my browser. I used to work for DFW, so I'm used to being extremely careful when it came to regulations, getting caught as an employee of DFW breaking the rules can mean termination from your job! I've only tried beach fishing once, and it was at ocean shores, I may give that a shot just to try a new technique. The longest rod I have is only a 7'3" MH spinning rod though, will be interesting to see if it will be able to cast me out far enough to be effective. But at least that way I won't need to worry about finding a pier that will work for me, just need to find public land!

[Ward]

Right now you might try fishing for chums at Chico Creek. They're also catchable at Clear Creek (Old Mill Park in Silverdale) or from the beach at the park near Barker Creek just south of Silverdale on the east side of Dyes Inlet. Fishing piers include the Waterman and Annapolis piers near Port Orchard, Illahee State park, and the Brownsville Marina. There are options!

[TrackerPro16]

I was watching a vid of a guy using his ‘regular’ (short) pole on the Oregon Coast. He was fishing ‘parallel’ to the beach instead of fishing straight out. He was in 2’to3’ of water AND he was catching fish. That is what I am planning to try next time down that way.