King salmon fishing in the San Juan's

Jake B · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:25 pm Post subject:

roger do you tow back and forth or moore? JC

starcrafttom · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:39 pm Post subject:

CHINOOK - min. size 22". Other SALMON species - no min. size. Daily limit 2
(combined) plus 2 additional sock eye. Only 1 CHINOOK may be retained. See
Southern Rosario Strait/Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca Closure below. See
Bellingham Bay Closure and Fishery, Samish Bay Closure, and Yellow and Low
Islands Preserve on previous page.
Aug. 1-Sept. 30 CHINOOK - min. size 22". Other SALMON

So those are the rules. Two salmon Plus two sockeye ( which is new this year) only on of your two salmon can be a king including wild.

So it should be really good by late July early August on the west side of SJ Island. Eagle point, pile point, and the long beach to the east before you get to the salmon bank line. East of salmon bank is closed in July August and Sept. The west opening of Mosquito pass to kellet bluff is always a good spot to try. Open bay always holds pinks and I believe that it will hold sockeye this year.

Check Johns book and the local boards for up dates right before you go. Many of the kings and sockeye will be headed to the Fraser river system so they will be passing thru the west side of the islands in Boundary and Presidents channel. Pt Doughty, Parker reef, and Alden bank will all hold fish. But don't ignore the east side holes. Point Lawrence, Obstruction pass, tide point, and the slime hole-pointer Island area will hold fish also.

Use Johns book to decide where to fish based on the tide changes. Some spots are good for the incoming and some for the out going. See what the tides are for your day and find spots near where you are staying that are good on those tides. Also plan where you are going to fish thru the tide changes. So it goes like this ( just pulling this out of my hat) In coming is from 6 am till 10 am with a 11 am slack and then out going the rest of the day. I would fish (one of several choices) Tide point on the incoming until and maybe thru slack trolling north to eagle cliff on cypress. Then as the slack ends I will pull gear up and run for Pointer rock slime hole area. The slack will come just a little later at the second spot as its south of the first spot and slack is 20 mins later. This way I get a bit of slack at both spots. Then fish this on the out going the rest of the day . Have a back up out going spot encase no fish are here, say obstruction pass.

I would want to fish eagle point on Sj if the weather is good. Fish it close to shore on the slacks for kings. then either side depending on the current. You want to fish the down current side of any of these points. They do not hug the bottom this time of year so you can be a little higher up and not snagging all the time. Say 10 to 20 feet off bottom in 60 to 120 ft of water but close to shore. if you want silvers just move off shore a mile or so to the rips and fish those areas. This is where the sockeye will be. Fish the silver faster then the sock eye and with bigger gear. I think the sock eye will be much like pinks. Red or green small hoocthies or spoons fished slow.

So 4 fish this year. Up to 4 sockeye if thats is what you want. Or One king one silver and two socks. Or two silver and two socks. Should be a good year.

Off of eagle point there is a small reef. Its at 048 26 38 , 123 01 22. Thats the middle of it. We nailed a few silver and even a king there last year and we marked a lot of bait. No boats but us. Every one else was fishing the shore line near the point. This ridge holds bait. You dont have to fish on the bottom of it just fish around it. its 128 ft deep and we caught all our fish at 30 to 90 ft over the top of it.

If weather is really nice run out to Hien bank for kings.

if weather is really bad I like the east side of the islands and the west side of Lopez. From fishermans bay south to shark reef in 50 to 120 feet. Also Rocky bay and Point caution on the north side of Sj island just as you leave Friday Harbor.

Hope this helps.

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:45 pm Post subject:

awesome, so many options. maybe I'll try to plan the july trip for Neah with my fishing buddy then, and save SJ for August with my wife, we've been meaning to hit Succia as well.

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:52 pm Post subject:

Tom, awesome post. I knew you'd kill me with info overload, that's great stuff. I did see John's notes on obstruction pass as well and thought that could be really good proximity to some camping sites i'd like to hit.

I'm going to send your post to my buddy and make our decision as the date gets closer. I'm not picky about what we catch to be honest, as long as there is salmon in the boat. I had waaaaay to many hours in the south sound last year for a pathetic catch total. I wont do that again. its better to drive the extra hour north I think. I'll be happy to have blood on the boat, no matter King, Silver, or Sockeyes...

starcrafttom · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:22 pm Post subject:

I kept it to the basics... Crying or Very sad

rogerbum · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:05 am Post subject:

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:05 pm Post subject:

I think this Saturday we will stay at Pt Defiance to keep it local (read: to sleep in after the 4th a little longer) but alreayd have a 3-4 day trip planned for july 18th to the SJ's with a buddy for salmon.

Keep me posted if you guys go out this weekend, want to see some blood in the boats Smile

the perk to south sound for me this weekend will be crab. I know the salmon fishing will likely be horrible, lol.

chromer · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:43 pm Post subject:

We fished the SJI opener July 1-2. June 30 anchored at Spring Bay, Orcas. Next morning went around corner and fished Obstruction. Obstruction is an outgoing tide place, so we fished a couple hours out of synch. Finally when it changed over, my dad got a king 100' deep on a 3" kingfisher spoon. Local fish feeding on bottom of candlefish. That evening went over to Eagle Bluff on Cypress. Started fishing drop offs. He got another fish. Next day got skunked so we went home. Both fish about 10lbs - one picture in my album. Now my sights are on Winter Harbor BC in a couple weeks. I will be back to SJI on Labor Day.

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:56 am Post subject:

so we will be out there for three days this weekend. the plan is starting at Eagle Bluff/Obstruction area, then probably stay at FH friday night and possibly work the areas around that island Saturday. not sure about Sunday yet.

starcrafttom · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:09 pm Post subject:

West side of Sj should have kings by now. Eagle point, west side of salmon bank or head off shore to Hein bank. Hein bank is weird, you not not fish up and down the bank but out from it at a 90 degrees. Just back and forth from the buoy to a mile west and back. See johns book on that one.

We will be out fishing saturday and sunday, staying in FH.

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:13 pm Post subject:

I've been studying John's book like crazy. I want to keep it as simple as possible because my buddy is not very experienced, but I think it will be a good time regardless. so far the plan is FH for an IPA on friday night so maybe we will see you there.

of course if the fishing ends up stellar at Eagle Bluff it may be hard to pull us that far west Mr. Green

PaulNBriannaLynn · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:21 pm Post subject:

If your already planning to be at FH, I wouldnt bother with Cyprus Island unless its rough and you're looking for protection. It's a bit of a run to Eagle Bluffs, and although it can produce fish, its just not as much of a sure thing as Eagle Point.

redbaronace · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:27 pm Post subject:

Anybody got suggestions for King Salmon, Shrimp, or Crab spots near Roache Harbor?

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:29 pm Post subject:

thanks Paul, we were going to launch out of anacortes probably friday morning and work our way west, so hitting the closer fishing holes first made sense. Eagle point could be the ticket for Saturday morning for us.

chromer · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:47 pm Post subject:

Hemingway Dog,

Check Johns July newsletter. There could be some sockeye on west side, he shows where and how to rig up.