Caught a nice little 4 1/2# blackmouth fishing off of Redondo this morning.

Do you rig that like a herring, or just wrap the fillets around your quickies?

YAHOO! Have you considered coming up north? The fish up here are running just a little bit bigger. 5 to 10lbs common with the occasional mungo fish into the teens . Heard of one pushing 18lbs( unoficiall weight) came out of Port Susan Friday

Birdnest - I don't understand what you mean. That is not a "springer".

Chaser - the only thing keeping me from coming up north to fish is the price of gas.

Area 8-2 closes April 10th I believe.

So does Area 11.

Know what you mean. The thing that keeps me from fishing areas down your way is the traffic . I'd love to do the nisqualy or chambers creek!

I am refering to the size of your fish, implying that you are holding up bait. Just thought I would have a little fun with you, no hard feelings. A joke is never as funny when you have to explain it.

That is what I thought you meant. Just checking.

Chaser, I went out Saturday and fished Columbia beach and only got shakers and a crab pot, which got tangled in the big motor and I had to beach the boat to undo it. Do you only fish Hat Island? The times that I have fished hat, I've marked fish but they didn't bite....

Jeff'e'd,

A crab pot in the prop eh? Looks like the guys in the cabins on the beach are not obeying the crab closure. Hope you kept the pot.

Jeff'ed, this time of year I usually stay close to home and this means the waters around Hat Island. Why make the run further away if you dont have to? There are numerous candlefish beds in the area and if you know where they are( Praise the gps creators!!! ) you can usually find fish. After a while you get a feel for when the blackmouth will be feeding in a particular spot. The places I fish are no big secret. In fact a lot of the locals know about them. They just choose to fish the more exotic places. I usually tell anyone I show these spots to that the hardest part about fishing them is staying there instead of following the fleet around ( Just because there are alot of boats around does'nt mean there will be fish biting there). Mission bar is a good example. Hardly anyone fishes it nowdays but on an outgoing tide the bait is being swept off the bar and it can be steady action fishing 25 to 45 feet down either anchoring in 45ft and buzzbombing at the level the bait is at or trolling along the edge of the bar

RK43, I actually got tangles up with the crab line between Everett and Mukilteo. The crab line was covered with sea life, so it didn't appear to be a poacher.

Chaser, mission bar huh....? I'll have to look that one up on a chart. From a common sense point of view, I would think that if the fish / bait were that shallow it would be an incoming tide pushing the fish up...? Do you only fish that shallow on an outgo?

Jeff'ed, the top of that bar is only 12 to 20ft deep at high tide and less than 6ft to dry at low tide( many an unknowing boater has shined their skegs and props on that bar ). My experience has been that I've done better on an outgoing and thus I will usually fish it then. There are some spots that fish well on either.

Oh yea, early in the A.M. I'll fish that shallow there and drop down as the day gets later or the tide closer to ebb slack. If I'm jigging I'll anchor and stay put until I stop marking bait

Chase, thanks for sharing!!! So do you stay right out in front of the break water or do you go further NW along that bar? I'm also curious if you do this well every year for BM this late in the seaon or is this year an anomoly?

I got two in the teens on Saturday at PNP at the morning tide change. It was nice as I had my dad in Texas and he rarely gets to fish. The water was dead flat which made for a 30 minute run from Shilshole.

Jeff'ed dont overlook the area just outside the breakwater. The green can is'nt called the dinnerbell for nothing! I prefer to fish north of the wooden tower. I have a buddy who has taken 2 fish over forty pounds just off the mouth of the river over the years. But then again the state makes sure it's closed when the big boys come thru. Some years they show early and we get a crack at them. This year the fish have been running toward the small side and they seem to be a little later. 10 to 12 pounds would be the average size I tend to take home on a good year.

I take it you don't buy into the theory that the blackmouth move out of Puget Sound as the season moves into the spring.... I'm sold. I'll be looking for that tower the next time out. My kids are on spring break the 2nd week in April so I'll give it a go hopefully a couple of times before the season closes. Then swith over to lake washington trout.