South Sound Salmon Fishing Reports

C

Capital Sea

New member
My hope in posting this new topic is to gain a better understanding of where the fish are and how they are being taken. I intend to spend some time out there over the next days, weeks, months and hope to join with others in an exchange of information.
 
Piscatorial is a great site. I think it mostly caters to the pennisula though. GameFishin is more relaxed IMHO and caters to the whole state.

IFish is a good site for Oregon fishing.

Now, as to some specifics, I haven't head anything about the Salmon fishing in the last few weeks in area 11 or 13. I've seen a few Ling reports and that is about it.

If I were going to head out for Salmon I would likely hit Pt Defiance first, then go over to Browns Point and maybe up to Three Tree or Dalco.

For Lings, I would try to find Galloping Gurdy and fish it during slack tide with live 6-8" Sandabs for bait.
 
Pete, thanks. I have followed the Salmon U site. I was just looking to start a thread here since all of our boats are 50%+ designed for fishing
and as a community we should rule the fishing universe.

Gary, thanks for those ideas. I may hit one or more of those spots over the weekend as I head up to the one day spot prawn extension in Elliott Bay this Sat.
 
If I were going to head out for Salmon I would likely hit Pt Defiance first, then go over to Browns Point and maybe up to Three Tree or Dalco.
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I wish I could me more helpful re. South Sound but I've done horribly there. Gljjr's areas are good(area 11). I've caught fish at Defiance and Dalco. Always mooching herring.
 
Saturday I'll be down on the Cowlitz chasing Steelhead.

If you are fishing Elliot Bay for Spots, bring your ling cod gear and hit the Rock Wall in front of the Elliot Bay Marina on the north side of the bay. I've also head that Alki has a decent population of Lings still.

For the lings you can either use Swimbaits, jigs, or bait. Sandabs and Pile Perch work good for bait. For Sandabs you can try the flat just south of the boat ramp or just north of the Elliot Bay marina on the flat. Look for sandabs in 40-60ft of water. You can usually catch the sandabs on Berkely mini worms (Bright red ones used for Crappy). Put the worm on a trout rod with a 1/2 oz weight on a dropper and a size 10 hook.

You want 6"-8" sandabs (although the biggers ones will work too). Once you have 5 or 6 sandabs in your bait bucket you are ready to hit the lings.

To rig the Sandabs up, put a 12-16oz canon ball on a dropper. Then take a leader with 2 hooks on it about 4" apart. Put the front hook in the Sandabs mouth and come out the lower jaw. Then put the trailer hook through the belly.

Now move over to the Rock wall and drop to the bottom and real up a crank or three. The Sandab should be trying to bury itself in the sand but unable to get to it. This is what draws the Lings attention. Drift with the current and try to keep the bait just off the bottom.
 
Thanks Gary. I may jig for a Ling after shrimping. I will be sitting on my pots when they are down though. Theft has become an issue, I am sad to say.
 
The adult coho fly fishing has been great this last few weeks. I have never seen so many 4 to 10 pound coho along the shoreline of the Tacoma Narrows. During the high slack, these fish move into shallow water near the kelp line and are feeding on sandlance. The first day that I saw this activity, I thought for sure they were kings. Some of the fish moving through are kings, but the majority of these fish are coho.
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Robbi
 
Has anyone tried the technique of trolling a bucktail fly in the wake of a "fast" moving boat? Apparently it works well but I have a few questions, such as optimum speed. There is a chapter in Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon that talks about the technique but does not mention the speed. Typically you troll the bucktail in the prop wash, about 30' behind the boat.

The chapter from the book has been reprinted in the Fall 2008 Flyfishing & Tying Journal which is probably still on the shelves at your grocery store.

Warren
 
You are right Warren about there not being much talk of optimum speed as such. I have the book that the article is taken from and it talks of the action the fly takes in the water, more than boat speed. This is really dependent more on current speed and current direction relative to the boat, than to the boats speed, but you know that. I have done some bucktailing, but I have done more top water fly fishing where the fly or "popper" is moved through the water on the retrieve. I know this takes out of the equation the prop wash, but I have found that a solid "V" wake mixed in with some "ruckus" from the fly, brings on the most strikes. I put the rod under my arm, and do a two handed retrieve as fast as I can manage. When you see that big bulge wake coming at your fly, it is a heart stopper! I have a friend who is very successful using a this same retrieve with a fly just below the surface.
As far as optimum speed- mess around with that. The one thing that I have discovered about top feeding salmon in Puget Sound, unpredictable! They will take a falling fly, a fly on the swing, a "dry" fly, a popper, a fast retrieve, and a slow retrieve.
Did the article include information on "skipflying"? That sounds really interesting. You trail a fly super slow, just barely making a "V" wake, just behind the motor. Sounds improbable, but I guess it works in the right conditions. I think the BC fishers do this more than we do. Maybe one or more will give us some first hand experience with bucktailing or skipflying.

Robbi
 
Robbi":2dt7bc26 said:
I have done some bucktailing, but I have done more top water fly fishing where the fly or "popper" is moved through the water on the retrieve. I know this takes out of the equation the prop wash, but I have found that a solid "V" wake mixed in with some "ruckus" from the fly, brings on the most strikes. I put the rod under my arm, and do a two handed retrieve as fast as I can manage. When you see that big bulge wake coming at your fly, it is a heart stopper! I have a friend who is very successful using a this same retrieve with a fly just below the surface.
As far as optimum speed- mess around with that. The one thing that I have discovered about top feeding salmon in Puget Sound, unpredictable! They will take a falling fly, a fly on the swing, a "dry" fly, a popper, a fast retrieve, and a slow retrieve.
Did the article include information on "skipflying"? That sounds really interesting. You trail a fly super slow, just barely making a "V" wake, just behind the motor. Sounds improbable, but I guess it works in the right conditions. I think the BC fishers do this more than we do. Maybe one or more will give us some first hand experience with bucktailing or skipflying.
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Do you do the top-water fishing from your boat or from shore?

Yes, I read about the skipflying and would like to try that as well, but I thought I would start with the bucktailing.

What flies do you like for bucktailing and top-water fishing, and do you tie them yourself? If not where do you buy them?

Next Saturday my fly fishing club (Fidalgo) is having a beach fishing seminar on Ala Spit on the north end of Whidbey. PM me if if you would like to know more.

Warren
 
I fish top-water from the beach and from my boat. Here is a picture of some of the flies that I use either for retrieve type fly fishing and some that I use for bucktailing. I tied about half of them, the others I bought or friends tied. The flies with foam are the best for making a "ruckus", and you can swing them into a current and get great action. Sometimes you need to use a small swivel to keep your leader from twisting (esp. bucktailing). The green cone "dink" is great to carry with you as you can turn most flies into a popper or gurgler type fly by simply pushing the dink over the eye of the hook. The most popular top water fly in the picture is the "Miyawaki Popper" that is second from the top on the left side of the picture. If you don't tie flies, most Puget Sound area fly shops sell it. Leland Miyawaki (the originator) works at the Bellevue Orvis shop and always has them there. He fishes almost exclusively top-water and is an excellent resource. If you are even in the area, I would stop by. I think Les Johnson works there one day a week, possibly Thursdays. He is the author of "Fly Fishing For Pacific Salmon".

Yes, I would love to know more about the event on Ala Spit. Thanks.

Robbi

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I've tried bucktailing a couple times. The only time I have had any success, I also had a Silver take a hoochie as it was bouncing on the surface with the rod in the rod holder while my son was trying to enter a fish on his punch card.

I just let the line out about 30-40 feet behind the boat in the jet wash (I was running the main motor on the sled rather than the kicker). Since I was also trolling a hoochie that is the speed I used. I had a 10' sinktip on the line at the time.

I got about 10 fish on the bucktail in a little over an hour. Lots of fun on the 8 weight!
 
Spent the afternoon fishing the Narrows. Great fishing just like Robbi said. Brought home two Coho and lost a NICE King just out of reach of the net. All caught on Tomic plugs instead of flies but still a thrill for me and especially the girls. I appreciate you sharing the local knowledge, Robbi.

Karl on C-daisy
 
karl, depth and speed? what size plugs? I keep trolling plugs but never get any hits. I have tried bucktailing lately but have not had any hits on them either.
 
Hi Tom,

As for depth and speed we hooked one, rather the first Coho hooked itself while I was letting some line out before hooking to the release clip. The second Coho and the Chinook were both hooked at 38 feet. Speed was from 1.5 to 2 kph through the water. Broad daylight at low slack. The plugs were green with a white underside.

I'm pretty sure the important factor in the equation was having my two daughters in the boat with me to keep me fully distracted at all times. Zero focus equals fish, apparently.

Hope that helps.

Karl
 
As for depth and speed we hooked one, rather the first Coho hooked itself while I was letting some line out before hooking to the release clip.
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Don't ya love it when they are on the top and aggressive!

I'm pretty sure the important factor in the equation was having my two daughters in the boat with me to keep me fully distracted at all times.
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Yup the girls were the reason! :) My daughter or my wife ALWAYS raise the number of fish caught on a trip.

Zero focus equals fish, apparently.
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That always helps too!
:lol:
 
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