Good Fishing the PNW

Maxed Out · October 16, 2021, 05:29:30 PM

(PNW Pacific NorthWest) Been busy playing for a couple months. Our salmon season in Puget sound started on July 16. Hatchery king salmon only. Even had a couple forum members join me for king salmon fishing. Fishing was good some days, and slow on a few days too. Season closed late August, just as the coho salmon started to arrive. No rest for the weary. I think I only missed 3 days in Sept, and that was due to heavy wind. No ocean swells inside Puget sound, but the wind chop can get really nasty if tide is going against the wind.

I don't normally take a bunch of pics, but grabbed my camera for my final day of coho last Wednesday (Oct 13). Keep in mind, I'm a die hard and by early October most the coho are in the rivers to spawn, but a few moving thru still and small weather window between October storms.

Only a small handful of boats fishing this late i8n the run. Couple weeks ago, this same area had hundreds of boats fishing. Did I mention I'm fishing about 10 miles north of Seattle ? LOL, yep, it can be a zoo during peak of the run, so it's nice to fish late season when only die hard guys like me still fishing. As luck would have it, I did manage to hook up to one final coho to end my season. I was solo, so it was a fun fight and challenge to get in the net. It's a marathon for me from mid july to early October, I fished darn near every day. Probably 6-7 days I didn't fish, but still wish it wasn't over. It'll be June before we get to fish again in Puget sound. That part sucks !!

Here's the last soldier for this year. A nice hooknose hatchery male coho salmon.

Hardy Boy · October 16, 2021, 05:35:37 PM

good looking fish Ted. Ours are long up the rivers so that's nice that you get a crack at them for so long into the fall.

Cheers:

Todd

Maxed Out · October 16, 2021, 05:42:12 PM

3rd week of Sept is usually peak of the coho run for us, but that will vary depending on how much rain we get in Sept

Here is a shot looking towards Seattle. Just left of center I think the top of couple tall buildings in Seattle are visible. (click on pic for high definition)

Lot of ship traffic, ferries, and navy vessels to watch out for. Railroad runs right along shore from Everett to Seattle. 2nd pic is a train with pre fabbed airliner fuselages going towards the Boeing Renton plant

Maxed Out · October 16, 2021, 05:58:03 PM

For any inquiring minds, Here is a shot of how we fish for salmon around these parts. Electric downriggers with 200# spectra and 6' top shot of 300# tuna cord, 15# lead ball, and a release clip to hold the line while trolling. These are "Scotty" downriggers(made in Canada) and are basically a huge oversized lever drag reel. It shuts off automatically when ball gets just out of the water.

pic 2 trolling along at 3mph with gear down 70-90'....I set a 2nd rod in the pic to show the kind of flasher I'm pulling with lure about 30" behind

Gfish · October 16, 2021, 06:28:53 PM

Great report Ted! Love the trolling detail. Now I know more about downrigger tech., looks expensive.
That bright as can be Coho meat has me drooling.

handi2 · October 16, 2021, 06:39:34 PM

Great job Ted..!

Ron Jones · October 16, 2021, 11:14:19 PM

He needs to show the rest of the boat, there isn't a better rig for doing what he does up here.

Glad you got into a bunch of silvers.

The Man

Maxed Out · October 16, 2021, 11:19:31 PM

Funny thing about Scotty downriggers. They're made in Canada, but up until about 20 years ago it was illegal to use electric downriggers in Canada. A waiver was available for physical ailments. Everyone else had to use manual wind up downriggers. Most the independent guides in BC had the waiver even though they had no disability. Eventually they gave up and allowed everyone to have electric downriggers

Ron, next time you hop on we can do some pics of the fishing machine. Maybe a short video of how to maneuver in a tight spot. Lol

thorhammer · October 17, 2021, 12:59:32 AM

seriously, regulated down riggers?

thats too many people with too much time on their hands.

Dude, why you fishing Zane Gray's fly reel when I know all that fancy stuff you got the treasure chest???

akfish · October 17, 2021, 01:00:39 AM

Quick comment: I set my down riggers so the auto stop occurs when the weight is abut 6 inches deep. That reduces the tendency for the weight to bang around when I'm trying to land the fish. BTW: We have tons of cohos around my home of Juneau, but king salmon fishing is all but closed. Beginning mid-June, we can fish for the homeless kings -- hatchery fish that have no where to spawn -- but every effort is made to protect the wild fish. That's good, in my opinion, but I fear the protections are too late.

Maxed Out · October 17, 2021, 01:42:31 AM

Quote from: thorhammer on October 17, 2021, 12:59:32 AM

Dude, why you fishing Zane Gray's fly reel when I know all that fancy stuff you got the treasure chest???

That reel is a Zane Gray(LOL) Shimano 4000GT. Paired with a limber 10-11' whip, it is the funnest salmon fishing on the planet. Cmon over and try it sometime !!

Maxed Out · October 17, 2021, 01:54:14 AM

Quote from: akfish on October 17, 2021, 01:00:39 AM
Quick comment: I set my down riggers so the auto stop occurs when the weight is abut 6 inches deep. That reduces the tendency for the weight to bang around when I'm trying to land the fish. BTW: We have tons of cohos around my home of Juneau, but king salmon fishing is all but closed. Beginning mid-June, we can fish for the homeless kings -- hatchery fish that have no where to spawn -- but every effort is made to protect the wild fish. That's good, in my opinion, but I fear the protections are too late.

The auto stop on these is the swivel where tuna cord meets spectra. Ball cant swing and hit the boat at that point. We have dozens of rivers that drain into Puget sound. Severe restrictions started in mid 70's, complete king closure 1977. 2007 was 1st year of very limited hatchery king fishery. Some wild stocks have rebounded, but most are still very low numbers. The only real deterrent to the fish stocks improving here is the constant tribal gillnetting in the sound and rivers. It's a real mess and sad to see. We can only hope some make it past the nets

Donnyboat · October 17, 2021, 03:05:06 AM

Thanks Ted all very interesting, cheers Don.

Gfish · October 17, 2021, 04:28:26 PM

Gear restrictions are interesting. Some can help with the by-catch(larger mesh size in commercial netting operations) or hooking mortalities(hook number, size, or design). But somethin like the winch deal sounds stupid. Some restrictions are gonna make a limit take longer and increase fuel, etc. costs and still something like seasonal closures will make for crowded fishing conditions with everyone out there at once. Whatever they come-up with, almost nobody is satisfied.

Vintage Offshore Tackle · October 17, 2021, 04:52:56 PM

What a great way to end the season Ted! Congratulations on the beautiful fish.