WOOHOO!

Yippie yahoo!!!!!!Who says there is no fish god

If only I had a boat... can you shore fish for sockeye?

On this fishery, how critical is it to be out there in the morning? What about downriggers?

You can fish Sockeye all day long on Lake Washington IMO. In the three times I have fished LW Sockeye the fish were caught at various times of day. In 2000 we hit the water @ 5:30ish and didnt start catching fish until 10:00. By 2:00 we had three people with limits and plenty of shakers to talk about.

Downrigging gear is a must-have. There isn't really any better way to effectively troll at 50-75ft. Set the kicker at 3-4mph and crack open a cold one!

Hey Busy,

To learn how to catch these sockeye, check out the new Salmon University article by Tom Nelson here:
http://www.salmonuniversity.com/psn_lake_washington.html

Good luck.

-N.

Time does not matter, we go after work and still limit in 30 minutes. Bare Red hooks, bare red hooks, or bare red hooks is what you should use for tackle. This is like a sockeye rodeo!!!, Just watch out for the high liners on jet skis!

for those who don't have a downrigger I have used a 6 or 7 oz sinker and a dodger with a a red hook to fish for these babies and it does work, not as effective as a downrigger but its OK. I have also trolled very slow (not 3 or 4 mph) for these fish. any other imput on speed?

This isn't a 'barbless' hook affair........is it? Been looking forward to this event and it will be my first time on the Lake. Should be fun.

i know for a fact dead slow doesn;t matter, have a 80 hp that i had to use after the electric went dead, trolled faster than the electric and started nailing fish, the speed was about doubble what everyone else was doing but didn't seem to have any problem putting fish in the boat, doug

I was reading today's Times' article and it said barbed hooks are allowed.

Just wondering if anyone can give me some input in to Rod,Reel and Line to use for the sockeye. I have the dodger, banana, red hooks and leader, but I am not sure if I need a new rig for this particular fishery. I have a 7' medium action with a 10lb. reel. Will this cut it or do I need to outfit myself better? Thanks.

Another quick question. Has anyone ever tried using a short piece of red yarn with the red hooks or is it just the bare red hooks that get them?

T.B.
When I fished a few years ago we used a few hairs of red yarn on the hook. Our thinking was to help hold the smelly jelly scent a little longer, and we limited out with no problems. But as long as you were trolling slow enough, everybody else limited also, so I really don't think it is nescassary, but it obviously didn't hurt either.

Sockeye season oh yea me and my red hooks
and downriggers all three days on the lake!!!!

I might have a spot on the boat Sat or Sun If anyone needs a place? Email me at k9jj@yahoo
we can work something out...

I am going to fish Elliott Bay in the wee hours of the morning then hop over to Lake WA later in the morning for some sockeye.

I hope you guys realize ho0w lucky you are.
Jeez I hope to be out there on Sunday. How slow do you Troll? Can you catch them from shore???

Another technique for Sockeye is to put a little egg size ball of fire engine red power bait at the eye of the hook, I think it helps them see the hook a little better.

I hate Powerbait because, well just because it is powerbait. Sticks to your finger and smells like shiot. But the Sockeye seem to locate the hook and target it a little better with something on your line other than just a hook.