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Sea-Runs on Owen Beach, Point Defiance?

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Dipnet 
#1 ·
My company is having a function at Owen beach on the 18th and I was wondering if it will be worth it to throw some flies while I'm there. Anyone fish here before?
 
#2 ·
I have fished that beach a couple times, but never had any luck. It looks really good when some of the rips form during tidal exchange. I always thought it looked like a great resident coho beach, but I didn't put my time in. That said, its always worth a cast!

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#4 ·
Used to walk down to the point on low tide back in the 70's and 80's to toss herring at kings and silvers. Caught some nice salmon down there doing that before I started flyfishing. Back in the days of great south sound resident coho fishing, we used to catch a ton of them from our boat off Owens beach and the clay banks in May and June.
I've never considered it a great SRC location, but as mentioned it is always worth some casts.
 
#5 ·
This is a copy/paste from a response I posted in a thread from last December:

"I started fishing cutts in the Pt. Defiance area back in the '60s.

Before we had boats, my young buds and I would walk down the "seawall" (as we called it back then. Now it's known as the "promenade") and toss herring and spoons at the bulkhead break about half-way between the Boathouse and Owen Beach. Lots of big SRC hangin' out there as there was a small creek that drained into the Sound at that spot. We called it "the break" as it was the transition between the lower concrete bulkhead to the higher. I think there's still some drainage there on big rain events. On a clear water day you could see the fish just sittin' there! We'd just cast out past 'em and retrieve through the school. Did very well!

In fact, in the early '70s I was boat-trolling in that exact spot and caught my biggest cutt ever. It weighed in at 3 3/4 pounds! Of course, those were the catch-and-keep days.

We never found too many cutts past Owen Beach as it's mostly a sand/clay bottom (edit: with a big deep drop-off not far out). When we got old enough to own boats/motors we caught lots of cutts on the west side of the Narrows, Quartermaster Harbor and Colvos Passage. Man those were good times!!! :)"

I'd certainly give it a try, Thomas. What's there to lose? Good luck!
 
#6 ·
Dipnet,
Good stories. I guess we missed that spot LOL. We always used to buy the little firecrack herring from the boathouse and run south or west for searuns.
Trolling with a 1/4 weight you could see the fish chasing the cutplug herring behind the boat.
The boathouse was never the same after the arsonists did a number on it. Neither was the boat I used to always fish out of!
SF
 
#7 ·
Well then, we may know one another!

I started working at the Boathouse as a 15-year old part-timer in 1967 and starting working full-time in 1973. Retired as manager in 2009.

Back then we'd usually fore-go a sinker. We'd simply troll a "fire-cracker" herring hooked into a hand-tied mooching leader with #1 or #2 Mustad hooks. That was connected to the main line by a simple chain swivel. Since SRC often strike the prey first in order to stun/disable it, after a "hit" we'd kick the motor into neutral and start to strip out line. When the line became taut and we felt the fish, we'd then "set the hook."

Some days the cutties didn't want bait but would readily hit metal. We had good luck with Canadian Wonders, Triple Teazers and a couple of spoons made by Schoffs. The best Schoff spoons were: 1. the Freak and 2. the F.S.T.

Tight lines,

Tim
 
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