Can any of you guys tell me anything about Blackmouth fishing on Hood Canal. I see it opens this Saturday, since we are going to be crabbing I thought I might bring the gear to troll too.

Where on the canal?

We will be in the South end, plan to launch out of Potlatch and put the pots down there some place. As for fishing, my inboard sled is fairly fast, so getting around is no problem. Just not sure where to start the search is all.

I havent fished it yet but I was told that the Point of land due east from the potlatch launch is a good place to try for blackmouth. The point were the canal makes the bend. And crabbing was pretty good last weekend I got 4 friday and 6 saturday putting pots in 70 feet of water.

F4F,
A few places to try wpould be from Hoodsport up to Ayock Point on the W shore. Just follow the 90-120 contour or so and try to locate bait. It seems to be a little better in the North End, but that is a long run. Mostly a trolling show untill you locate bait. Matbe you will have a better chance at landing a few with the whales chowing down seal meat, I lost a few last year to seals, one looked to be ten+ pounds or so. Good Luck, Have fun, let me know if you found any.

NEN

Thanks for the info, it should be fun as we have never fished the canal before. If any of you guys see a white Weldcraft inboard with Fish 4 Fun across the back that will be us in search of Blackmouth. <img border="0" alt="[Goldfish]" title="" src="graemlins/goldfish.gif" />

Another place you can launch is at the WDFW Point Whitney Shellfish Lab, which is close to Brinnon. Pretty much at the middle of the canal. There's also a small store at the turnoff to the lab that has some decent fishing info for the area. Good luck.

Just bought a place in Brinnon for a vacation home.Been in the wifes family for many years.Put our fiberglass boat in the shop for an engine rebuild.Have the shrimp pots and pullers ready for May.If they let us have at 'em.
I was telling her the other day that as much time as we spend up there we are going to have to learn how to catch some of those blackmouth.It,d be crazy not to give it a whirl and take advantage of the opportunity.
Kinda curious if down riggers are necessary?Sounds like it considering the depths I'm reading about to fish.Never messed with them.Guess I might have some learnin to do.Would surely appreciate anymore info that would help me out.Even about some of the local rivers.
I been doing some exploring,even hit the infamous Quilcene before the crowds got too crazy.Picked up a few nice smaller silvers.
Beautiful place up there.Got to see a couple pods of whales on the way home last weekend.Pretty cool.
Been in the stores and stuff asking about fishing.guess I'll have to start asking more questions.
Thanks for any info guys.Good luck with the fishin.On the sound or elsewhere.

Bald Point is the one right at the bend, directly across from Potlatch, and is a good bet at 120' this time of year. The Orcas were over there last week so I would suspect the seals are all gone - fishing could be awesome in the Canal for years to come if they do a nice complete job on the seals

Got the sled loaded tonight with crab pots and the downriggers are mounted and ready too. With all of the good advice from you guys I cannot wait to get on the water. Its always fun to try a new area.

I got the report from a friend last Sunday that the Orca's came right through the crab pots over by Union. As mentioned already they are munching on the seals down in the south part of the canal. From all of the Blackmouth that my boat has lost to seals the last couple of Winters I hope the Orcas get their fill before they move on. <img border="0" alt="[eat]" title="" src="graemlins/eat.gif" />