I stopped by the Shilshole ramp this morning around 8:30 am. Out of 14 boats, 12 had boat limits and lots of big ones too.

Most were caught off West Pt. and Meadow Pt. clear out in the shipping lanes with riggers set at 80 feet. Appears to be the best bite so far this season.

Cigar

Sweet... Thanks for the report.

I've not fished in Shishole bay before, where's the best launch? And what's the water like off the points that you mentioned? I'd love to give it a go but I've got a small boat and rough water can be an issue.

Thanks,

Aaron

Nice report Cigar, wish I could get back out this week.

Best launch is at Shilshole or the Don Armeni ramp in West Seattle (near Alki). Water is as rough as the wind makes it. Check the wind speed here:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=wpow1

Thanks for the report Cigar...........man it's going to be a long week!!

Talked to a fishing buddy who is retired so he can go whenever and he was out in that area this morning. Fishing near the midchannel buoy straight west from West point. They didn't get anything huge but got a boat limit for 2 guys in a little over an hour and a half . Mostly 7 to 10 lbs. 90 feet down, 11" Hotspot with green squid 32" behind in 500 to 600 feet of water. Couple of cautions in that area; watch out for the fog, boat wakes from tugs/barges combos, freighters, and that damn Victoria Clipper. Last year that thing decided to take a shortcut just outside the green buoy at West Point and came pretty close to hitting a couple of boats. Qualifies as operating vessel in an unsafe manner but when I called in to the Coast Guard, the guy on the desk sounded like he really didn't want to be bothered. I digress, Sorry but it is a concern. Anyway it is good as it's gonna get out there now so good luck. I will probably be out on Saturday to start winding up while they are still available.

You guys are killing me. I knew after fishing Sunday it was going to be smokin' this week.

Only 30 more years till retirement!

Edit: I've got a buddy who works on the Clipper boats and can tell you most the captains running the boats are considerate of other boaters/fisherman, but there are 1 or 2 who are clowns. For them I reserve my special 5oz hookless mooching rig (this is a joke)

I fished West Pt. this AM and got skunked. Had one decent hit, but nothing there when I got to the rod. Several shakers. I heard about a few getting caught on the radio. The fish checker at Armeni said it was slower than usual.

West point slow. Meadow point slow. MidChannel buoy very good. As of 1100, 21 fish for 14 boats. Several boats had limits for both anglers on board.

I was out at Medow Pt on Sunday. I had a really big one on and the hook popped out while I was trying to avoid some moochers. Anyone notice how many fish are stacked up in that area (via your depth sounder)? After the morning tide, the bite just turned off though.

Fishing was fair for us today. We brought home 2 and lost 3. On one of the three the line broke at the flasher and we chased the fish for five minutes on the surface trying to net it. That was my lucky flasher!

Anyway, that was Meadow Pt and West Pt. Sounds like we should have been farther out to the midchannel buoy. I've not fished out that far before - guess I'll have to give it a try.

Fished mid channel buoy tonight from 4:00-7:00. Not red hot but did pick up three fish. 5lb, 7lb, 9lb. All fish caught between 65ft and 90 ft. Didn't see any other nets out. Fish caught on old coho fly's and one on a cop car squid and cop car flasher.

I was on the water at 7:00 this morning and had limited out by 8:30.

I got both of my fish quite a ways out between the two points w/ a flasher and a hoochie at 60'.

Thanks Cigar

Fished the shipping lanes off West Point this morning from 7 to 9:30. We got one 7 and one 10 both on green flasher white squid, one 150' on the downrigger cable, one 80'. Not "hot" but this thread helped put me on the spot. Thanks Cigar!

Fished the center channel bouy this am (9-11). Limited out and back home by 1pm. 60 feet down, green flasher, glow hoochie. One was 8 and the other was 10lbs. See you out there tomorrow!

Here's a pic from today 9/22

Hi Guys < Any good reports from this area , I was thinking about giving it a shot Monday morning, or I'm I wasting my time ? Never fished this area ,so it will be my first time. I fished the slag pile at point defiance Saturday,it was dead saw one silver caught. Lots of small shakers everywhere had a hard time keeping them off the hook all the time

The whole area from Shilshoe down to Alki is kicking out fish this weekend. You can get them in the shipping lanes or in close to shore.

I was out at Shilshole yesterday morning, caught my first fish by 8:00, got smelly jelly on my downrigger clip, and spent the next hour and a half messing around trying to get it 'off' the clip before finally deciding to go home for the day.

Lesson learned...

Aaron

Two of us fished from 0630 to just after 1200 and got one 10lb hen. Most of our time was spent between Meadow Pt and the ship canal and out as deep as 300 feet. Got it on a coyote spoon behind a fish flash.

We didn't see many nets out and by 1pm the WDFW checker had about 0.5/boat with most of the successful trips coming from those who went north towards Edmonds.

When out on Saturday (25-09-04) from sunup till about 11:00 and between the two of us we got one bright chum of 12 pounds. Green squid behind a chrome flasher a few hundreds yard out from the Shilshole breakwater. We only saw one other fish landed and the fish checker had only counted four by the time we quit.

We fished West Point from 6:00-10:00 and got our 4. 2 -5lbs,2-10+lbs.the 2 smaller fish were at 35ft.and the other two at 100ft. of cable.We had to troll 2.7 or faster to get a hit.Red hotspot and green/white hoochies with herring strips did the trick.We were out in the shipping lane 500+ft.Going back next weekend.Hope it holds up.

Launched from Alki on saturday and fished off West Point with my brother. Started fishing at 7:10, limited by 9:45. Caught 5 lb, 6 lb, 7lb and 14.7 lb silvers (the 14.7 lber was weighed by the fish checker).

Followed MrBill's suggestion as to setup (Thank you very much MrBill!), but fished in water depths from 350 to 950 ft. Also the 14.7 lber was caught by my brother with the downrigger at 100 ft instead of 70 to 90 ft as the others were, and a little south of the mid-channel bouy.

I fished West Point this morning for the first time. I picked up one 8 lb. silver for about 4 hours fishing in the morning. :rolleyes: I saw only one other fish netted during that time. I was using a green flasher and green squid at about 110' tried from 60' to 90' with no luck.
Seems kinda slow ? is this the end of the run ?

In some past recent years, after the bulk of the coho run has finished then most of the big Hooknose males make their run last.

I'll bet that catch averages keep going down the next two weeks but that some BIG silvers will be caught...

Fireguy,

Did you use a herring teaser on the front hook? Seemed like if we weren't getting a bite on the same setup you were using it meant that the herring strip was gone. I finally got smart and started tying them to the top hook with some elastic thread and then the fish really had to strike it to get it off. After making this change to our setups we started hooking fish. Also, the last 2 times we've gone out and had good success, we were fishing just after the low tide change. Hope this helps!

Benfishin,
I was just using a squid no herring strip. I've never done a herring strip before, I've been trying to getout and use the boat more and learn new areas so I'm really new to this fall ,winter fishing thing. If you could give me some pointers that would be great. Are you using frozen herring and then fillet them and using some type of borax on them ?

Fireguy,
If you keep reading this website plus check out salmonuniversity.com you will really improve your technique fast.

In response to your question I prefer fresh bait, but can't readily get it so frozen is what I used 90% of the time. The problem with frozen is it turns mushy after it thaws. To toughen it up I take a package of frozen herring (the night before fishing), put it in a zip lock bag, mini cooler or tupperware container, add a splash of water then generously cover with rock or pickling salt and let it thaw. The salty water sucks the moisture out of the skin and makes it tough. I suppose borax would do the same, but I have never tried. After fishing for the day I put it back in the freezer and use it again and again until its gone or the quality suffers.

My basic setup for coho is flasher (smeared with herring smelly jelly), 32" leader, hootchy with twinkle skirt and a small herring strip. I usually filet the herring and get approx 6 small strips from each side. My two top producing hootchies are white glow and green/white glow with blue splatters on the back. One day one works, the next day the other works. I also work different depths until I find fish. Once I find the depth and the best lure/bait combo I dial all my rods in. Remember to check your gear every 15/20 minutes for schmeg, shakers and bait.

Fireguy,

I'm just a novice like yourself, but it sounds like Little Fish is pretty knowledgable. Personally, I have been brining frozen herring at least the night before. Since I'm kinda lazy, I've just been saving the brown sugar/ kosher salt brine I use for smoking my fish in a big jar and tossing a few frozen herring in as I use them (And no, I don't reuse the brine for smoking!). I beleive there are actual herring brine recipes on this website if you do a search for them.

As far as the actual teaser, I've actually just been filleting the whole side of the herring off and putting it on both hooks and tying it on with elastic thread. I'm sure that getting 6 fillets out of 1 fish saves bait, but last Saturday we only went through 4 full herring to get 4 fish.

Also, I've heard its important to spread the tenacles out so they are on the outside of the teaser. We've been using 31 to 32 inches between the hoochie and the flasher also, but using green glow for both.

I'm sure others can give you a lot better advice, this is just whats been working for us.

Thanks Guys for all the suggestions, I really hate this time of year when I get back the fish better be watching out for me