Hi I'm new to this board and new to fishing for salmon. I figured I'd say hello to all the members. I'm on a mission, a quest to catch Coho Salmon, so far they've eluded me! I thought I'd start a thread and maybe some of the more experienced anglers here can help me out with my troubles by posting their reports for the next couple of months. I'm really curious to figure out what I've been doing wrong. A friend of mine bought a 27' 270 series coastal Wellcraft and so far we've been out 3 times with it with little success.

Here's what we've been doing and using: We've fished both Edmonds and Jefferson Point on the incoming and outgoing tides all within a couple hours either before or after high tide. We're fishing in the 20-60 ft range along the rips in the surface with hotspot flashers in the green/white glo followed by either a green squid with a cut plug herring or a green/white glo grand slam bucktail. So far we've only been able to catch Kings, 3 Kings to be exact and lost another in 3 outings. Our leader lengths reach from 26 inches with the bucktails to around 30 inches on the rig with the cutplug on it. We've varied our trolling speed between 2 mph to 4 mph, mainly keeping it around 2.5 mph on average.

What are we doing wrong??? Anyway there must be some magic setup that works great for coho. Do dodgers work better with bucktails and coho flys, I also hear people talking about 3.5 Coyote spoons and Coho Killers, how are they fished?

I'd really appreciate the help!

Thanks!

Oh yeah we released the kings because the regs said we couldn't keep them in the area we fished.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I just think the coho are starting to trickle in. I've also been getting kings to bite in that area the last couple of times out and only shaker resident coho. If there's one thing to try and do right above all else, I think its trolling with the tide.

I've noticed when we trolled with the tide, the downrigger cables seem to just dangle there, even though the gps shows the same speed we were going when we turned into the current, Should I be trolling faster with the downrigger cables at an angle with the tidal current?

The angle of the cables don't always tell the story. I usually look at land. If I'm standing still (while trolling), then I figure I'm going against the tide. If I'm clipping along and seeing trees houses go by, then I'm going with the tide. Yes, the GPS will tell you that too. I usually shutt the engines off and will check which way I'm being pulled before I even put my gear in the water.

Also, in Central Sound the outgo is generally going North and the incoming is generally south

Well I'm going to head out in the morning and fish Jefferson point and the Kingston area, hopefully We'll catch something tommorow, would you recommend fishing somewhere else?

I've never done worth a darn at Jeff Head, but its been a while since I've fished there. Having said that, the guy that came in just ahead of me at Shilshol got a coho there yesterday. I've done better at Apple Tree cove. Lately, I've been fishing Richmond Beach area.

We were in this same area Sat and Sun, and there still seems to be many more kings than coho yet. Seems your doing the right thing, give it another week or two and you should be slaying them. Also, do not hesitate to fish outside in the deep water...the guides from shilshole were out there yesterday and getting some coho.

I'd say pick up the speed if want to catch Coho. The gps is telling you your speed over land not the water you are in. I would watch the dr cables and try to get them to almost 45 with the tide. A lot of guys I know who slam the fish don't ever look at speed...just the cables.
I may have read it wrong but I thought you wrote you were using a flasher with a squid AND a cutplug? I may have misread that. I'd use the flasher/squid combo or flasher/coho killer or a straight spoon or a straight cut plug.
Just my two cents. Keep trying you will catch fish!
ps Port Madison,Apple Tree,W. Point,Meadow Pt. and Edmonds can all be great when the Silvers really start to come in. On some days they all produce well and others one or two of them are producing well while the others aren't.

As was said, a couple more weeks and you will be into them right out front of Edmonds.

Just a short note on the coho, I have been cleanning up on them trolling a strieght cut plug 2.5 oz of lead and 6-8 ft leader. Run the kelp edges with the tides and you will find pockets of silvers to 10# roaming allong the edge. When you find a pocket of fish pull up and continue running through them with the tides , Good Luck

If you'd really like to catch some silvers run that boat up to Neah Bay or Seiku or take it down to Illwaco. You'll catch silvers till your arms are sore - no kidding - 20 - 50 fish days. That might be too obvious but the number 1 rule of catching salmon is to fish where the fish are. As more silvers start moving into the sound they'll show up first at Hein or Coyote Banks, Bush point, Point no Point/Skunk Bay, Skatchet Head, Possesion Bar and then on down into the areas you're already fishing. With as much boat as you have you've got a lot of options open to you where you can slam 'em instead of working so hard for a few local coho.

Seriously a trip to Neah or Seiku is really good for the fishing ego and will be a great way to break that boat in. Good Luck!

I've been fishing with a 1oz or 2oz weight with a cut plug hearing on about a 5 ft leader, been catching them everytime out. I usually fish up by Point no Point , in front of eglon or apple tree point. Try trolling a little faster. You don't need to go deep for coho, thier usually up towards the surface.

I went to Ted's in Lynnwood and the gentlemen there named Mike told me my leader length was wrong. 26 inches is way too short for a Grand Slam Bucktail behind a hotspot. He said it should be around 32". He also recommended trolling with the direction of the tide. He said everything else I was doing was fine.

He also mentioned yesterday, one of the guys that worked there took the boat out and got a full boat limit of silvers at Possesion Bar.

Thanks for all your input so far, I'll be putting it to work tomorrow.

I trolled JH, West Point, Meadow, and the middle of area 10 today since sunrise, and the area seemed nearly devoid of life compared to recent weeks. I think this rain coerced the fish into the estuaries and river systems. We had 1 coho to the boat but he spit and flipped us off. A guy at Shilshole said he saw schools of Kings and Coho in the Duwamish yesterday but they werent biting.

We hoped that the rain had called a few fresh fish in around the corner but not quite yet.

Blue Jay, seems like you are fishing the right way, just havent happened across any biters yet.

Soon.

I have had good success Fri/Sat/ and Sun. Trolling old standby gear (with a few adjustments) in the greater Edmonds area.


6 Kings 5-20 lbs,
9 Silvers 4-10lbs,
Combined fishing time 6.5 hours.

Stanby gear? whats that entail may I ask?

blue_jay

Welcome to the board. What they said, plus don't be afraid to go faster, and deeper. The nicest fish I caught Sat. was at 80'. I always try to add a herring strip to my hootchie.

Good luck. We'll look for you out there over the next couple of weeks.

The boats name I cruise on is called "The Tail Catcher" so don't be afraid to say "hi".

The "Mike" at Ted's in Lynwood referred to earlier in this thread is, of course, the renowned Mike Chamberlain. I still have twenty-year-old articles Mike wrote for the old Fishing Holes magazine. His article on how to fish Possession bar was my "gospel" in the old days. Now I am boatless but still take my share out in the salt.

I'd say getting salmon fishing advice from Mr. Chamberlain is as good a source as you could find.

8/24/04 report:

Got out of Edmonds at 5:30am this morning and hit the east side of possesion, first fish and all fish came on a grand slam bucktail green/white glo 32 inches behind a white/glo hotspot fished at 35 ft. First fish was at 7:30am, tide was on the way in. First fish weighed 4.5 lbs, I keeped it and had it for dinner. The other 9 Coho I caught were all resident coho between 2-3 lbs. Also hit a upper 20's King in the same area by the green buoy. Darn wish Kings were open to keeping, seems like they outnumber the Coho this time of year in some instances. Just before high tide we ran over to Point no Point/ Pilot point looking for some of those ocean going Coho and didn't have any luck finding them. Back over to Possesion we went where my partner hit about 10 more of those resident Coho. In the afternoon the wind waves set in and we went for cover south of Jeff Head where fishing was slow to non-existant. On the way back in we fished out infront of the docks at Edmonds and didn't hit anything there. Done at 5pm.

Not a bad day, thanks for all the advice I've been getting here. Looks like when the Ocean going Coho are finally in the sound I should have some good luck considering the residents like my setup.

Anyone fish 8/25 in area 9 or 10 for silvers?

bj-How deep were you fishing? Im thinking of taking Dad out in the Friday a.m. Did you use herring strips?

Thanks
Coho

We fished no deeper then 35 ft and used grand slam bucktails behind white/glo hotspot flashers.

I'll be out there friday am also. See if there is any action.

Can't wait, I have a good feeling about this weekend...

There are no silvers out there especially not this morning at 7 am hitting my green glow splatter back squid at 35 feet. Nope no fish. Stay home or try mid day while my net is home drying.

With the weather clearing up I think I may go this afternoon?

If not see ya in the am. Trophy with the flags and new motors on the back..say hey

blue_jay

That all sounds good to me. The only thing I would add is what Buckmaster said. A flat line will ocassionally save or make the day. Last Sat. in Elliot Bay we got one fish in about six hours of trolling. Nice 9.5 lb. migratory Coho on a plug cut. Work the downriggers all day and the flat line gets hammered! If you can get a third rod onboard that's what you'll want to do IMHO.

It's all timing anyway. You'll soon be catching Coho while attempting to attach your line to the release clip!

I'll be on the West beaches of Whidbey this weekend. Should be decent.

Good Luck All!!!

My and my partner ( not one of those partners =) ) will be out tuesday morning making a straight line up to Bush Pt, maybe as far as Ft Casey, prolly a good 1.5 hours boat drive according to our estimates from Edmonds. Seems as though some of the reports say a good majority of the ocean fish are still around the Neah, Seiku area and moving closer in now, with some being caught on the west side of whidbey island, so we'll try there.

I've been reading some of the other suggestions on fishing for Coho, and I seem to have this idea planted in my head fishing below 35 ft is forbidden for Coho. Am I missing something here? is there an exception to the rule? When would you fish deeper then 35ft for them?

Blue Jay-

I dont subscribe to the 'fishing shallow water for Coho' theory at all. Here's why:

I have consistantly cought nice coho at depths of 55-80, even 90 feet at various times of the day. Last year I caught my biggest Coho of the season in 200 feet of water at 80 feet at 9:00AM. Several other nice 4 mile rock fish came at 60-80 feet.

Personally, I think that most of the smaller scrappy fish swim in the upper part of the water cloumn. For big boys I go deeper.

I have a theory about deeper water coho though. My buddy Geoff and I think that the fish have evolved and generally swim deeper to avoid nets.

55-80 ft, what seems to be the best bet in that range on a cloudy day and on a sunny day?

Thinking back about what I said, I guess what really matters is what depth you start catching fish at. Fish there.

Alot of factors weigh in here:
Where are you marking bait or schools on that particular day?
Where are you fishing?
What are the tides doing?
What depths have I been catching fish at recently?
What offering am I fishing with?

All those considerations are 'doctored' on the spot to help me make that decision. That's really what fishing is.

Well I'm fishing for answers in all respect to me being a N00B, I was wondering when it came to the fish finder. Say you see a school of baitfish, at what depth do you place your gear in accordance to the baitfish, and how often would you say you adjust up and down? Also do you take into consideration the angle on the downrigger cable, because if so, when you have your downrigger set at 30 ft and you've got a 45 degree angle on the cable your really near 25 ft. right???

Sorry if I seem like I'm pestering you for answers, but you seem to know alot.

So the bigger fish run deeper, thats what I thought. Me and my partner are going to have to be a little more proactive on watching our fishfinder and adjusting for the right depth.

You're right about that, I guess I'll have to broaden my horizons as far as depth is concerned.

This will blow your mind....I took third in the Coho derby two years ago fishing a cut plug 15 feet down in 50 feet of water.

Two weeks ago at Neah my son got a nice 12 lb silver at 65'. This was the biggest silver of the weekend. We also got a ton of fish right off the surface. The fish were litterally coming up and hitting the hootchies as they were dragging in the water beside the boat while we were working with the fish we had just caught. I got 2 silvers with my flyrod on a floating line with a 10' sinktip and a clouser. If silvers are in you can catch them at just about any depth! In years past I have gotten them as low as 95 feet at Neah during the middle of the day.

Now I typically start about 20 feet on the ball at a slight angle on the cable and go down from there as the morning progresses. The first half hour of daylight can be pretty awsome! We hooked 6 fish at Neah 2 weeks ago within 20 minutes. We started at 4:30 and by 5:00 we had released 6 blackmouth at 20 feet deep. By 8:00 we had our limits of silvers after releasing about 20 blackmouth and silvers. We were fishing about a 1/4 mile west of Wadah Island in 190 feet of water.

This is the last weekend to fish Salmon at Neah so you might want to head out there!

It's my experience that the further into the sound the silvers come the deeper they are. Take Posession Bar for instance. I've caught more silvers there at 115 - 125 feet than any other depth. Yes, I've had them rip the line out of my hand at the surface Neah Bay style while attaching it to the downrigger but by far have caught more silvers at depth. Look for the bait - If it's on the bottom the silvers'll be there. If it's on the surface they'll be there. Silvers are eating machines at this time of year. Possesion traps bait in vertical "back eddies" as the tide sweeps accross the edge of the drop off - this happens at depth not on the surface. Fish the edge of the bar as you would for blackmouth and you'll find actively feeding silvers there. Early morning at the surface sure - but don't be shy about dropping down deep - even if you see rolling fish around you - the feeders are where the bait is.

BTW - same holds true for B-10 - A couple miles further out in the ocean and they're in the top 30 feet. If things slow down try dropping to 75' and see what happens. And while I'm on B-10 try trolling the bottom 5' of water with your downrigger and a green hotspot/glow-green hootchie if you want some serious upriver bright action. First time I tried this I didn't know any better being an old-time puget sound blackmouth fisherman - 8 upriver brights in 2-1/2 hours from 20 - 45 lbs. Everyone else around me was using divers/bait and limiting on silvers.

Wow, thanks! Lots of great advice here. Seems like I should take a trip to neah bay! Long drive by boat or trailer and sounds like its almost WAY to easy. I'm just mystified by the mystery of the elusive ocean going coho once they're in the puget sound, mainly in area 9 and 10. I think with all this kind of help I wont be "that guy" whom gets skunked for Coho anymore. And instead be like the rest of the bunch that hit 6-8 nice fish everytime.

last 3 days on the west side oe whidbey, limits of silvers, all from 8 to 10 lbs. shorline , buzzbomin from boat close to shore

Right on! Thats where I'm headed Tues. morn. Hopefully they're still there.

Hey Fishnfool-

Were you down near Possession or up farther north? In past years we've had real good luck up by Bush Point that way. Last year was not so good.

Sure is fun to catch them on a spin pole!

Thanks for the info.

Hey Fishnfool-

Were you down near Possession or up farther north? In past years we've had real good luck up by Bush Point that way. Last year was not so good.

Sure is fun to catch them on a spin pole!

Thanks for the info.

Anyone suppose I need to run all the way up to Bush Point to find some good Coho action now considering all the reports of people getting their limits of the ocean fish near edmonds and possesion?

possesion??? ...nope.... stay home and dont fish at 45'/65' either.

The magic number for us last weekend was 80' on the DR wire. This of course translates into something less accounting for blow back, but still deeper than 60' (or less) which was unproductive for us.

Finally after putting in about 3 hours trolling this morn;hooked 2 nice 10#+ silvers in the shipping lanes off Kingston @ noon slack.About 95' down w/ green spackle back hootchie w/ green flasher.

I'm so excited, headed out in the A.M. on the tailcatcher! If you're out there feel free to tune to 68 and don't be afraid to say hi.

Went out of Edmonds today and fished mainly SouthWest of the marina on the east side of the shipping lane and lost 3, caught one 8# Silver at 70ft deep on a GS Bucktail(gree needlefish)/ Green/glo hotspot. I almost felt retarted considering everyone and their brother was nailing fish all around me. Prolly because I had no herring. Buds was out. Saw atleast 4 boats hit 6 or more fish. Saw atleast 20+ fish taken just in the other boats rolling near me.

I always start at 30 feet in the morning. I'll run one rod at 30 and another at 45. If nothing, I'll put one at 50 and the other at 75. And so on, until we start hitting fish. Once I find a zone, I still separate the lines by about 10 feet. That's probably just because I'm anal.

For gear, I like a chartreuse/glo hotspot flasher, about 30 inches of leader, a chartreuse glo squid, with a herring fillet hanging from the squid. If they're around, that seems to get them pretty reliably. Kings bite it pretty well, too.

And refreeze. As long as the bellies aren't decomposed the re-thawed herring will work again.

I'm wondering, do most people put un-iodized salt on their herring before they fish it?

How do you brine it after thawing? A bucket? how much salt do you use?

The night before I either use Sea water or a tub of ice, add rock salt, I guess as to the amount (if your hands sting when you reach in that's a decent amount ), and then the frozen herring. If I am not going to fish again for a few days I zip lock the herring and freeze it again but only for herring strips. I don't use the re-frozen for cut plugs although you probably can. If you thaw it first remember to punch some holes in the bag or it won't thaw well.

Thanks for the info, seems like there is alot of knowledge I am gaining from the folks on these boards. Now this is probably a stupid question, but where do you get rock salt?

Grocery stores have rock salt. I think it is near baking soda.

Where the spices are.

So how long would you say these silvers will be around in the sound before they drift on up the rivers?

Looks like October is an excellent time to take the boat up the river or maybe even on Lake washington according to the forums from last year.

blue_jay,

Don't forget to check the archived reports for lake Washington on silver fishing over at WashingtonLakes.com. There are reports dating back several years with a lot of great tips on catching coho in lake Washington. It's a short fishing season but very enjoyable. good luck!

I was just talking to my fishing partner on the phone, I guess were hittn the water in the morning around 7am near edmonds, if you see the "tailcatcher", say hi. I expect it will be a busy morning

Ok heres a report from today:

Went out at 8:30am. Fished the high tide right outfront of the Edmonds marina and my partner had one bust his line as soon as we got the rigger down to 80ft. That was a bucktail/green hotspot setup (total loss $20 setup). After that we didn't hit any fish, just watched other people all around us hit them until just before we had to bring the boat back to the dock ( had to be at work at noon ). We ended up getting a double on with a 7# and a 8#. Mine was on a green hotspot/bucktail and his was on a green hotspot/ army truck squad/herring strip.

Heres mine:

Spent the weekend at sekiu, more fish than you can shake a stick at ... and you will have to release alot of natives... we acught about 30 - 40 fish friday to get our 8 fish ( 4 on the boat) done at 11 am. sat 8 fish by noon, sun 8 fish by 9am. I t was really good this weekend, you wanna catch fish head up there. our biggest was 14.6lbs,!!! most averaged around 6-10 lbs. 5 minutes out of the launch..

I have yet another question that maybe someone can answer: What size is the most common weight for downrigger cannonballs? Were using 10 lbs weights. It seems like our lines spend alot of time at more then a 45 degree angle of attack in the water. I've noticed while I've been trolling other folks are trolling just as quickly, if not faster and their angles are 20-30 degree angles.

I have yet another question that maybe someone can answer: What size is the most common weight for downrigger cannonballs? Were using 10 lbs weights. It seems like our lines spend alot of time at more then a 45 degree angle of attack in the water. I've noticed while I've been trolling other folks are trolling just as quickly, if not faster and their angles are 20-30 degree angles.

a great website to check out for info on herring brine and other stuff is salmonuniversity.com there is an absolute fountain of information posted

BJ, uh I mean Blue Jay. Do you know how fast you are trolling? I use 12 lb cannon balls but I iwll have different angles depending on teh tides, wind, etc. Give a shout if you see me out in Edmonds, 26' Grady White-says Popular MEchanics on the side. Well compare speeds.

One other question, 13 silvers and only kept three. Why only three?

Maybe we need to go with 12s instead, the ones were using have rudders on them and don't seem like they weigh very much. I found this conversion chart to help out:

http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/downrigger_depth.htm

I bet we're fishing at 50 - 65 ft in reality, because most of the time we've got our rigger cables out to 70-85 ft at a 45 degree angle. Just seems like sometimes were going way too fast, but then we watch other folks nail them going faster then us.

Oh yeah my 13 come from the little residents we were catching before the main run came in.