I spent all three month of every summer bumping boats with those guys from Painters, April Point and Dolphin Resort. Up there when the tide is cooking the bait is pushed up tight to the rocks in the backeddies created by points and under water obstructions. Because the productive fishing areas are so small and so many boats would try and croud into the hole, it required some hot rodding and everyday you faced sparring, riuvalry and occasional the fisticuffs. The air was heavy with two stroke exhaust and electric with tension between competitive fishermen.

We always did well and were outcasts because we didnt have a paying customer to satisfy, especially one that was put off we had fish three to one.

You dont need thirty foot leaders and using one that long will not telegraph strikes as well. Eight to ten foot leader, at least two swivels (one on a dropper) and a sliding egg sinker with a bumper to protect your knot is all it takes. We did use a cribbage peg and peice of surgical tubing to adjust the legnth of leader so when a fish is brought to net you just wind it down against the rod tip for better control of the fish.

"Liveys" are not the answer though either. You get way more flash and action from a cut plug over live bait. Start out with a bait cutter if you are new to fishing with cut plugs but I find the vertical angle too severe for my taste. I could write a book on plug cutting but I will spare more detail unless actually asked. Just keep less than 45 degrees of line angle forward or reverse since it doesnt matter and adjust your weight to the speed of the current. Less is better but up there it is usually eight to ten ounces minimum with tide conditions similar to Deception Pass. You want to be fishing under the depth of any bait, try two thirds way to the bottom or freespool to the bottom and crank up ten percent or so and watch you rod... if it so much as twitches or goes slack wind as fast as possible and prepare for a sweeping hookset if it comes tight. If it doesnt come tight strip or freespool quickly to get back where the strike occured and as long as the bait isnt mangled there is a good chance he will come back around again.

I was just lucky to have the benefit of standing on the shoulders of giants in this case. I had a grandfather that footed all the expenses and mastered techniques when he was a kid. One month I put $2800 worth of fuel through a 25hp tiller on a 13' Whaler. I would trade anything to give my kids a similar experience.

These days the indians harvest all the herring roe, in the spring I think, and there is little or no bait left and the fishery/ technique has all but died up there. I still go through the motions when I visit to show the family how it was once and we very occasionally catch a fish. They act like lightening struck when it comes together but I just laugh to myself and remember the fun of sitting in the sun and starring a a rod tip with no schedules or deadlines.

Have fun and good luck!