Northwest Fishing Reports

Finally got a sound (safe) worthy boat! Just wondering are there any pinks still left in the salt around area 9? I'm itching to start learning the salt. My mom is coming to visit and if anyone could share a spot ill give it a go so I can get her into a fish.

Also want to try for silvers, I live in the border of area 8/9 and would love to catch a salt fresh fish.

Guy gave me 2 down riggers and a tackle box full of flashers and squid he never used. Went to war in 2002 a month after he bought the boat, and it had sat tied up to his dock in lake Washington since.

Straight out from the off leash dog park near the marina boat launch.

Still pinks in the saltwater?!?!? Feast your eyes on this report from Monday:

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... lid=12&t=2

Cool thanks Mike, I'm kinda close to Edmonds so I can give it a try. Never used a downrigger so that will be a learning experience for me, haha.

Caught many a river fish but not many a salty ones... Gotta get some!

We got a lot of action off a simple pink hoochie run behind a silver dodger (leader about 2.5 times length of dodger) trolled behind the boat using about between 4 and 8 oz dropper weights. Downriggers work for Pinks too, but that surface dodger seemed to get more Pink action. Recommend rigging for Coho and you'll probably catch Pinks too. Good luck and congrats on your new boat!

For pink it's an F15 (small, bubble-gum colored) squid behind a white flasher or dodger, maybe 18" or so.

Thanks all I will get some pics tomorrow when I'm out there with her. Hopefully will get some blood in her and get mom into a fish!

Never used buzz bobs, so I hooked up my coho dock nite rig with a larger weight and can try that.

good luck, looking forward to your report.

All I can say is that there is nothing worth reporting. After 11 hours of trying various depths, different baits, scents, from shilshore to a spot called picnic point, threw in the towel and came in to the launch to be humiliated by the checker and made me want to just stick with the river.Tried trolling from 25ft, 30ft, 45ft.... Ect all to way to 90ft in depths from 70 to 120ft Went from 1.5 to 3.4 on the speed, tried casting the dicknite, spinners, spoons into spots I saw bait fish, saw no fish jump the whole time nor did I catch anything, not even a flounder or bull head.

After all the time mom and I decide to throw in the towel and make the ride back to the launch. After getting back there was 3 different boats in front of me and guys all talking about how easy it was to limit today. My mom asks what they were using and if they could give any kind of tips since we were skunked and one guy just says "uh yeah we were fishing, what else is there to know lady", they all laugh and we just wait to get the boat loaded. It was a quick and easy load up but the fish checker... Didn't believe we had no fish and just had to check the boats live well and storage pockets... I have never been called a liar like that in my life and in the end all I get was a "ok that's a bummer, you can go on your way". At this point in time I'm just done and came home to wash down the boat and just sleep.

Today left a sour taste in my mouth for the salt water and I honestly probably will just stick with the rivers where the wardens and people seems to be way nicer and respectful.

One good note, the boat ran fine and the downriggers took only a few attempts to get at a 45 degree angle with a nice humming sound. I was able to mark fish and bait fish mostly at 55 to 84 feet on average. And mom got pictures of a seal that came up to the boat and swam around us for about 20min. She like the relaxation, just not the people we encountered.

wow, so sorry to hear your treatment was so rude. Some people's kids...

There's a learning curve for sure, and there's also a thing called luck. Sometimes guys that are very successful confuse luck for skill and they get arrogant.

Don't give up just yet, downrigger fishing can be a ton of fun, especially when you do get it down and experience a hot bite. There's just something about that rod exploding off the clip. Granted, it's very different fishing compared to rivers, and many would knock it as not sporting (due to the flashers, and general boring nature of trolling around). But I find it has it's own challenges.

We'll be out again in a week and a half. I'd be happy to have you shadow us and toss some bait your way. Just shot me a PM and I'll let you know. I'm fishing 9/22, 9/24, and 9/30 in the salt.

I'll never understand how adults can act that way. Just floors me. Sorry that you had to deal with it.
I can speak from experience that learning to fish in the salt is a whole different beast. Something I've yet to figure out myself, but have fallen on the lucky side a few times.
If you can't make it out when Mike goes, there are sometimes other members who occasionally offer open seats, so maybe you could hitch a ride to learn some tips. Or maybe you could offer a seat on your boat to someone with some experience who might be able to show you a few things using your gear. Just a suggestion. Of course there is always YouTube, but having someone show you the ropes or tricks of the trade first hand is invaluable.
Hang in there. Like Mike indicated, it's a blast when a rod pops off the DR clip. Frustrating when a trip is a bust though.

Last year was my first year of trolling coho in Puget Sound...tremendous learning curve! I ran a successful charter in Kodiak, but took some hard knocks with the Shipwreck coho. I asked a ton of questions on this board and another one. I also picked the brains of anyone on the dock (Everett) who would share info. I had to have a thick skin on the docks--not so much on the fishing forums. Eventually you learn who to ask for help. Husband and wife teams are usually great and glad to drop a tip or two. Don't be scared off by a professional looking boat/equipment: one of the friendliest guys I met was local radio personality and fishing guru Tom Nelson. His boat was launched and he was parking the trailer, but took a minute to drop some good tips my way. If you have three or more guys playing "grab ass" or acting rowdy don't bother.

I've even asked guys on the water "How deep?" If I'm having a hard time and see them catching fish. Most will let me know, a few wise guys will hollar back "500 Feet!" which is the water depth, not fishing depth! I always provide any info I can to help other people catch fish...

Good luck!

Hi Creation,
I'm in my second year fishing the sound. I still get skunked about half the time (and always with one of my boys, who doesn't want to go back out)! I'm not much of an intuitive fisherman, so I read all on the forum and go to seminars (There's a coho seminar this friday in Everett). The more you learn the more frustrated you get when you DON'T catch anything if you are doing everything right, but I'm convinced that if I can occasionally catch fish, anyone can!

Don't let the bozos at the dock speak for all of us. I routinely ask other fisherman and the fish checkers and usually get good info, particularly on depth. You can also follow both reports here and facebook posts--folks who get free advice, nearly always return that advice to others!

Good Luck!

Creation: This isn't the end-all source of info, but the WDFW site's creel report pages are great for getting up to date catch info on current catches: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/creel/puget/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Thanks guys its appreciated. Not sure when I'll be able to get out again. Watch the baby in the morning and work 11am-8:30pm every day with just Saturdays off. And I work the next 3 Saturdays. I'd be happy to let anyone on my boat, its a small Lund ProSport 1600, but does the job well for 2. I'll never forget the man "Jerry" from bloody decks that got me off the side of the river with no fish and let me ride for a few hours with him on the other side. Gotta return the favor sometime!

Good note is I dropped at the duwamish for 30min before work and hooked 3 and landed 2. If my phone worked to post reports I would probably have one for every 10-30min encounter I have a day. Haha!

I'd be happy to fish with you on your boat sometime or invite you out on mine. I'm not an ultimate expert, but I do seem to catch as many or more fish trolling I the salt than most boats I see. I'd be happy to share some tips that have worked well for me. The best advice I can give you is study leader lengths of the different species of salmon with corresponding flasher sizes. This is important as it determines the action. Next, try different setback distances from your downrigger ball. There are recommended distances posted nine that will give you a good starting point for each species. Lastly, keep an eye on your sonar and try to target schools of fish or bait balls. If you are not getting strikes keep changing lures, colors, leader length, etc until you get one. The immediately check the contents of its stomach and try to match what they are eating. Good luck and let me know if yd like to go fishing with me.

- Jason

i've had hundreds of fishless hours in the south sound. I fish further south than you and it gets rough down there. where creel reports show 1 fish per 10 boats. But if I'm cruising along in my boat on the salt water, feeling the tide slap against the hull, watching eagle and seals and everything else that comes with the freedom of the sea... what more could I need ?

Mike Carey wrote:
There's a learning curve for sure, and there's also a thing called luck. Sometimes guys that are very successful confuse luck for skill and they get arrogant.
.

chances are if the guys couldn't tell you what made their presentation so special, they really dont know what they did right and did get lucky. the more times you do it wrong the more you'll learn about the valuable parts of doing it right.

true, or take up golf.