[wchubb]

I get up to the Seattle area about once a month on business trips, and have become obsessed with fishing the beaches (you guys live in God's Country, by the way). I usually find a way to get a couple of hours on the water most trips, mainly in the Olympia and Bremerton areas, and have found a few SRC's and silvers. However, I've also spent ALOT of time walking and casting to (apparently) empty water, and the learning curve is painful when my time is so limited. The tides look good this coming week, and was wondering if anybody had suggestions for what types of beaches / water / shoreline / etc to look for to improve my odds of at least fishing productive waters? Will beaches that fish well on an incoming tide also fish well on the outgoing? Am I wasting my time if I don't see the occasional feeding / jumping fish? Am I better off on Hood Canal, say, than around Pt. Orchard / Bremerton? Etc, Etc. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

Wayne Chubb

 

[dryflylarry]

Stick with the gravel cobble beaches. Look for some tide action. It doesn't have to be swift at all, just some movement. Avoid the mudflats. Cutthroat don't generally like a fast strip, keep it slow to moderate only. This is still a little slow time of the year, so don't be discouraged. Things should pick up in March and April. Sept, Oct are best months and November and even into December can be good. Try some bright flies. I like to fish an outgoing tide at 3 hours before low, but not always. Don't be discouraged at not seeing surface activity, although it is nice to see a fish break water. Hood Canal is good, but there are some good beaches from Bremerton to Silverdale that you should find fish.

 

[Van BT's]

Give lions park a try. Urban beach fishing at it's best. Just like anywhere else, it's always hit or miss.

 

[Wormonhook]

I'm assuming you've used the search function on this forum. That is where I got leads to many of the places I fish. Just don't get discouraged. The search and exploration was fun to me. If you run into any game wardens, ask them for their suggestions. One guy turned me onto my favorite location.

 

[Blktailhunter]

I gave my home waters a shot yesterday morning for SRC and got skunked on my targeted species. I did manage to land a 13" native king. I had one other tap. I would post a picture but.......

Blakey Harbor was the place. Hope that helps a little. I've got zero help on this site finding spots to fish so it has been all trial and error. You did get some good advice from DFL.

 

[kelvin]

look for rocky beaches with alot of life to them
stay away from mud flats
searuns like structure
go to beaches at low tides to see what they look like
look for bait
cast to nervious water or jumping fish
fish incoming or out going tides
eat lunch during slack tides
use a popper to locate fish and when you do ...
tie on a flat wing
and if there are no fish at the beach you are fishing move to another one
fish alot you'll figure it out

your percious little time is better spent fishing than working, being stuck in traffic, or surfing the internet for clues on how to fish

Larry says wait til March

good luck

 

[Nick Clayton]

I have yet to catch a SRC on a fly rod, but the handful of rezzies I have caught lately have all been caught when I didn't see any sign of fish. So for what it's worth I'd say that your precious time is better spent fishing regardless of what you see when you show up to the water. I'm still struggling to learn beach fishing, and am hoping to take a beach class in the next couple months, but so far I've just been exploring beaches, fishing when I get there regardless of what sort of fish "sign" I happen to see when I get there, and try to learn a little bit each time. I fish the Kitsap area, and have fished Lions part a few times. Nice place to fish, with good water movement, but I've yet to catch anything there. Gonna be fishing more around the Manette bridge as my parents just moved down there and I park there for work, so as it stays lighter later I plan to hit the water after work for an hour or two several nights a week.

 

[rockfish]

I'd stick to the seattle side of the sound.