sound is off the hook right now with rezzies... get out there... landed a sixteen incher today on the second cast while hitting the beaches with a friend..... it was cool... now get out there and fish
Duuude...you better be able to fish with me tomorrow or I'll kick your ass. Nice first fish on that new rod, BTW. See you at the shop at noon. Jon
Where were you fishing? I don't need to know the specific beach (but wouldn't mind knowing if you felt like telling). Just would like to know the general area. Thanks for the report. I'll have to get out soon. Peter
Dominic 7471: Agree with you that there are a lot of resident coho in Puget Sound. Last Fri. I hooked a 4-5 lb salmon but it came unbuttoned after a 4-5 minute tussle. Probably a nice sized blackmouth that liked the S.T. Clouser Minnow(olive/white). The fishing was excellent for resident coho and I kept two fish(17" and 18") for the dinner table. Both were "footballs" and each weighted 1 lb 12 oz. These fish were also caught on the S.T. Clouser Minnow. The size of the resident coho at this time of year bodes well for some really big resident coho come late winter/early spring if they stick around. At this time there appears to be plenty of bait to hold them here and put on some real weight in a hurry. Roger
Dominic, I'm going to jump in and reply to Peter's question if that's ok. Peter: general area was the South Sound. It really doesn't need to get more specific than that, as they're literally EVERYWHERE.
Fished a kitsap beach this morning for two hours and got nothing. Looks like I might have to wait a little while for those fish to move north.
Yep... hooked a bunch of South Sound residents up to 18" and a couple of large cutts on Wednesday afternoon. Fished the ebb from about 1:30 - 4:30 after the wicked high tide receded enough from the trees to allow for a back-cast. Beautiful calm, sunny day w/ lotsa fish on a 5 wt... in December! A big neener, neener to all you winter steelhead junkies out there
The resident silvers in the southsound are definitely larger than in past years. I took a novice out this morning and she caught a nice 16-incher on her fourth cast on a popper. We had good action for an hour before the high tide took away our beach. Leland.
WDFW, due to the efforts of biologist Andy Appleby, Bruce Ferguson, Frank Haw and others, has been late releasing about 240,000 yearling coho each year for the past several years. We hope most of them "residualize" in the Sound so we can cast to them through the spring. When you catch one without an adipose fin (the little black flexible flap behind the dorsal fin), it is a hatchery fish. Those are fine to keep, of course. But it could have an acoustic tag in the abdominal cavity and/or a coded wire tag in the snout which can be located only with the use of a "wand" of the sort fish checkers at boat ramps use. WDFW is interested in the return of acoustic tags and wire tags, if discovered. They provide valuable data on fish behavior. However, if the salmon you catch has a dorsal fin, assume that it is a wild fish. Avoid removing it from the water, handle it gently and release it carefully. We will all appreciate it. Also Andy Appleby would like to know where you are finding resident fish and about how many you are seeing. We would like to keep this program going. If WDFW is aware that this fishery has a strong constituency, we will have a better chance of keeping it when they inevitably start thinking about cutting the budget. Contact Andy at appleaea@dfw.wa.gov. Lefty
Lots of resident Chinook on the Seattle Beaches as well. Haven't seen a resident Coho for a few months now. I agree with TomB on another post... keep them all in the water and don't let them flop around on the rocks - so bring a net. If they are a keeper (22 inch and above) you'll know it when you have it on, bring it in carefully - and then bonk it on the beach if it's legal.
Peter, there are so many good beaches. If you are interested in this fishing, pick up Les Johnson's book on cutthroat; the information in there is substantially transferrable to beach fishing for coho. The locations are pretty similar (the popular beaches), and many of the patterns will cross over, too. Les Johnson wrote a book with Bruce Ferguson and, I believe, Mark Mandell a book on fly fishing for Pacific salmon. Les is (purportedly) coming out with an update of that book this spring. However, the older version is still very informative, and a great book for you to buy. Locations, patterns, how-to, etc., most of the information related to the Puget Sound. Steve Raymond's book "Estuary Fly Fishing" is also very good. :thumb: Search the archives here and you'll find a number of beaches frequently mentioned in reports. Probably for good reasons . . .
I also ratted out a ton of highly secret spots in my article "Puget Sound Beaches" in the summer edition of Northwest Fly Fishing magazine. Leland.
Yeah Leland, giving up the third rock from the fourth tree at Doc's was unspeakable. What some sell-outs won't do for money. Best regards, Steve:rofl:
Thanks for the advice everybody. I happen to have all of the books/articles you have mentioned. I was just wondering about current places that are good, since the fish never seem to be where I go. I fished lincoln park New Years Day for about three hours and went 0 for 3 on a popper.
That's the way it is sometimes at Lincoln Park, and that's the way it is sometimes fishing with a popper. The fish move around a lot; sometimes they're at a particular beach, sometimes not.
Salmon Fisher, You went 0 for 3, yet you said in your previous post "the fish never seem to be where I go" . Did I miss something ?????? Brian
Actually, use a streamer and fish with and behind someone else who is using a popper. The popper is great at finding fish and exciting fish, but the streamer is much more effective at hooking fish. The reason for using the popper is not necessarily a 'quantity' choice, but typically a 'quality' choice. It isn't too dissimilar to choosing between dry flies or wet/nymphs when trout fishing. Most folks like the visual for seeing their dry fly eaten, but subsurface fishing is typically more productive. Same with poppers. It's all about the 'eat' of the fish. I can't remember the quote, but Leland rattles off something like he'd rather catch 1 fish on the popper to 20 fish on a streamer. He likes the visceral part of the action, take, and strikes with the popper. Maybe try streamers for a while, then once you acquire some fishing catches and experience, toss in the popper.
to restate my claim, i said they suck for coho, doesnt mean coho won't hit it... i just like using streamers for them, poppers more for cutthroat.
