caught my first blackmouth over 3lbs yesterday. in manchester area on a jig. lost a bunch and landed a bunch of shakers. nice smooth calm day to be on the water with a nice fish. 60ft down with 8lb test spinning outfit, fun fight. 9lb fish. Ben

I fished Shilshole Bay on the 23rd for a couple of hours. Nice to feel the sun for a change. There seemed to be a lot of shakers. I came home with one keeper. I hope to give it another try tomorrow.

yeah I'm out the door right now to give it a try before the wind and rain comes. but there is alot of fish in manchester to southworth. Ben

well got one that weighs 7.46 bled. let go many shakers.2 were 3lbs. jigging a dart in 90-120ft of water. snagged about 30 herring on the bottom. outfished the trollers. a bass sized penn level wind with a 6.6 stout pole (flippen stick) with 8lb test really works good for jigging. could feel them hit it on the way down. much greater sensitve than other gear. Ben

Rockfish,
You're right, Jigging darts work. Was out there yesterday as well. After mooching some herring for a while with only a shaker and some dog's t show for it. Moved over by the launch and started jiggin a green/blue/silver Dart. What a blast. Caught a bunch of Blackmouth. Unfortunately most were shakers but with one being about 5lbs. Also c&r'd Herring, Cabezon and even a squid. Hope to get out there again before the close, and I'll leave the herring at home!

I fished west point and caught several smaller blackmouth trolling coyote spoons with a flasher, but couldn't break 22"'s. It was fun with plenty of action. I haven't had much luck when I try using darts. Is the "rod lifting" the trick?

jeff,

I don't believe that the rod lift is as important as following the jig down with the rod tip and having a jig that flutters well enough to descend slowly. Here are some tips that have worked for me.

Use a rod designed for jigging, shorter and stiffer than a mooching rod. I use the Lamiglas Puget Jigger and have for many years. They are lightweight enough to hold onto all day and have enough backbone to deal with the occasional 20+ pounder.

When you have reached the end of the upstroke, with a properly fluttering jig you can easily follow the jig back down with the rod tip. If the line goes slack and you're not on bottom, reel up and set the hook. These fish almost always hit on the jig on the way down, and will spit the jig in a flash.

Let your jig rest on the downstroke for a couple of seconds before lifting again. The salmon may have seen the jig and is swimming to it and if you raise to soon, they'll miss it. Also, I have found that the bigger blackmouth, 10 pounds and over will take a jig that has been rested. I was showing my nephew one day how to follow the jig down and when I passed the rod over to him, with the jig resting, he/I hooked into an 18 pounder.
I've spent a lot of time at Pt. No Point in the winter and observed many successful jig fisherman let the jig rest on the downstroke.

Be sure to get rid of the treble hook that comes with the jig and put on a big siwash. This results in better hookups and easier releases for the shakers.

Color can be a factor, but the tried and true chartruese green and white is a killer. I also like to use some chrome and maybe a chrome with blue for contrast. Try some different kinds of jigs too. Pt Wilson's are great and so are Krippled Herring.

Stay on top of the jig, keep your line vertical. This may mean using smaller diameter line and/or motor mooching with the current.

The last tip, use the smallest possible jig to reach the bottom with and stay between 5 and 10 feet of the bottom. Less than 5 feet from the bottom will result in more hookups with bottomfish than salmon.

Good luck!

[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: seacat ]

Thanks for the detailed tips Seacat! I will try and put them to use when the season opens back up 2/16, especially when the current is running too hard to troll.