Nookie you got it figured out. If you put a jig next to the pilings that the fish swim next to with mouths gapping open, gasping for oxygen and blinded by mud sooner or later an open mouth will have a line in it. It will pull on a rod and some rod will slam that jig hook into the corner of a fishes mouth or the roof of its mouth and claim the fish must be sucking that pretty jig out of the mud. With a sensetive rod and a quick trigger you can out fish the the pink, orange and chartruse jigs with any color you want and hookem in all sorts of places. When the fish are fresh and the water is cool eggs under a float on the ditch is one of my favorit things to do. That being said I will admit to flossing a s^%$load of kings up there with a big glob of eggs next to a corkie a couple feet below a 1" chunk of pencil lead. This will get you real bitters and flossed fish and you will learn to know the differance buy how far the rod moves before the hook strikes jaw bone and weather its hooked inside out or outside in. If its hooked in the head its a Keeper and its your choice what to do with it. 99.9% of those fish are hatchery fish and most will be wasted if they make it by the nets in the bay and the sporties on the stinky muddy bank of our beloved ditch. Its not a lovely fishing experiance but it can be a hellovalotafun. I don't condone this type of fishing on a real river and I will never fish it with a jig unless its under a bobber. The ditch is no more than a entrance to a fish factory when it comes to those KINGS???? What ever you chose to do enjoy it and to hell with what anyone else thinks as long as your within the law.
Hope to see you up there in the next 6 weeks...Art

oK, I'm a moron, but how do I PM someone?

Sad.

I only fished the ditch once and I was using straight eggs (no weight) and eggs under a float.

Sleighed 'em. Was fun watching the float "twitch" on the light egg bites. Set the hook like there was no tomorrow and that poor nookie got a hook in the tip of the nose! Ouch!

The flat-lined eggs were hard to fish. Hard to pick up the subtle bites, but you could do it. Downside was that as soon as you tried to reel back up your line, you almost always belly snagged a nook. Was kinda funny trying to reel in as slow as possible as to NOT snag a fish...saying "please don't snag up...please don't snag a fish" as you were reeling in.

Too bad people don't know how to fish. Like the Skok, the ditch would be a great float-n-egg fishery.

Years ago eggs under a float was the way everyone fished the Samish. Then the flossers started showing up and it was eggs with no wieght thrown up against the pilings. After that came the jigs thrown up against the pilings. All you really need is a bare hook with a small split shot to get it down but that likely would look to much like out right flossing. The best at it were the guys that figured out to use brightly colored lines. Easier to see far down into the water. When the lined moved; set the hook. I used to live on Samish Island and would hit the ditch before and after work. I used an orange blue fox and had a few spots where, depending on what the tides was doing, I could catch my two fish in about 10 casts. Usually fresh fish that had just moved into the river. The flossers would just glare at me when I had my limit in a few casts and the time it took to land them.

There is a book out there written by one of the local farmers on the history of the Samish if any are interested I believe the name is Samishgold Memoirs.

FYI: In the old times the farmers would just use a pitch fork.

Just got back from the DITCH. Pretty darn good. Eggs under the float, watch it go dink, dink, wham. Gotta love it. Some big boys going through this afternoon. Actually it was very good today. KerryS, I have that book. See the steelhead pics in that book?

I went below Thomas yesterday. Saw fish but no hook ups. I have never fished the Sammish. I typically spey fly fish for steelhead. This isreally different. Saw a few folks. All were snagging or flossing. I was pretty shocked. What a bunch of pot heads. Hey Addicted, when you say the "Ditch" does that mean the mouth or just the Samish in general? Any way, I was using eggs under a float unweighted. No luck. Just a bunch of bull heads eating all my eggs. Would anyone be willing to show a float fishing rookie a good time?

The Ditch is the whole thing. I don't fish the mouth unless there just isn't any fish up further than that. I also use a big glob of eggs, unweighted, under a float. When there is a lot of bullheads, just move. If everyone would just actually fish for 'em, the kingers would bite more too.

Addicted,

Were you by any chance at pull off on Field Rd. yesterday? I went their first.

Ok...now anyone give pointers on catching Samish Kings in the salt near the mouth? Williams Pt? I Hear it's Pt Wilson Dart action but just where do you put your boat and when (tide)? Very shallow water to fish in but I am hearing a person would fish in less than 30 ft of water? Any tips would be helpful. I would be motoring down from Bellingham Bay. BTW, I am fairly knowledgeable about the Indian Village intercept point for the same fish but more info can't hurt.

Corn-fed Kings and snaggin' dregs, sounds like a hoot!!

Don't give in to the dark side, young Skywalker, don't give to the dark side of the Samish!!

Took a look at the Ditch today after reading up on all the messages here. Wow, what a strange fishery. Saw one guy walk into a hole, yank about 10 different spots with a jig, then move along. He looked like a Cabelas advertisment. Another group sitting eggs on the bottom waiting for a bump in t-shirts and torn shorts smoking like there's no tomorrow. Still more bouncing their yarn'd hooks off the pilings and pulling the fish in from all sorts of hooked places. Felt like a loner with my float and egg setup, until I met a guy that had the same. (And was leaving with two nice fish)Nice guy, gave my buddy and I a few tips too. I'll come back, but tomorrow I'm going back out in the salt on the boat w/ my fly rod pulling silvers. (and crab) No snaggers out there to make me shake my head.

Thanks for the great board to follow.

Soden..I usually do park there, but yesterday I fish about a block above Farm to Market.

Salmon Leader..if you figure out how/where to catch those fish in the salt, let me know, I want to do that.

I fished it today without any luck. I saw quite a few fish in the spots I fished, just got bulheads, not like yesterday. Probably spooked.

On the Jig talk. How many of you have actually been there, watched and gotten out of the water and looked at where fish were hooked? How many of you have taken the time to talk in depth with a State Fish Biologist about it? How many of you have experienced the Jig being moved 5 feet in, just like a lot of us have experienced with eggs. How many of you have been between 2 people who catch lots of fish, the 3 jigs within a few feet of each other, they are hooking fish left and right and I don't feel a thing. My guess is not many.

If you think the amount of fish I've seen hooked in the mouth is luck or some other far fetched idea, then you should go get a lottery ticket. I'm sure the odds are better.

Also explain to me how you floss the fish when the jig is sitting in one place. And when you tell me it's because the fish move into it, tell me what you think that bite should feel like. To me that would have to be a YANK or a steady down-pull or something similar. Not the TAP-TAPS.

More than once I've had guys fishing eggs (who showed up saying no way) next to me, watch me get the TAP_TAP, set, and land a fish in the mouth and shake there heads.

Also for you uninformed who must stand on the bank and fish, the main channel is sand and you do not sink much. Every year early in the season I walk out as far as I can to see what has changed. I sure don't sink in mud. So the jig sinking in the mud is far fetched.

I had a lot of the same thoughts about it as a lot of you. Unlike a lot of you I tried to figure out how and why it seemed to work.

I also understand that there are people who set on anything or basicly have no clue of what a bite feels like. I can't control that. I can only tell you what I see, feel and hear.

There will always be fish that are flossed, foul-hooked etc. That is the nature of the Samish. Small area with lots of fish and people.

Of course a little smelly stuff always helps.

Soden , careful how you say "pot heads" 'cause

most of my friends are "pot heads" and they work, pay taxes, vote, have teeth, morals, and some even have religion.. However, most of the faithful who fish there do seem to be how shall I say, made of the stuff Jerry Springer made a fortune on..

If someone bets me that I can't hook a king in the mouth on the ditch with a jig thats been coated in glue then rolled in the same sand we stand in up there Ill take it. I would also bet that the first one I caught and most of the ones I caught would be in the mouth. Think about it if you feel a tap tap while you are holding tension on a jig couldn't it mean that a kings gasping mouth just ran into your line 4" to 3' away from your jig and is draging it. Try throwing your jig to the far side of your bathtub and have your wife hold the rod like you would with the same line angle at the ditch. tell her to jerk as hard as she can when she feels something tap it. Now you dive into the tub at one end and swim with you mouth open to the other end. If you do this enough times eventualy your gona get a hook in your mouth. How would a 10 to 30lb pound king go about tapping on a jig. He can't be licking it because I aint never seen one lick anything. Its hole life it's been hitting moving targets but now it smells that wonderful dead shrimp in cow crap creek and it.s got to have it. They will hit eggs but not because they are there favorit food. They simply want to kill them. The same reason they will ocasionaly grab a milt sack off a sand bar. If you have ever watched salmon in the river you have probably seen them attack each other. A spinner ,a plug, a spoon evan a cut plug in fresh water are reaction and reflex baits. I think if you hook a king in the mouth with a 1/2 to 1 ounce jig thats just laying in the mud or on the sand you should feel free to keep it BUT
I THINK it,s a snaged fish.
The Samish is a hatchery creek and as long as they keep the hatchery open there will be fish for all types. I just hope the jig thing dosn't spread to real rivers.
Lifes to short to not have fun. We shouldn't waste to much of our own time complaining about the way that someone else is having fun.
Tight lines to all

Pot head or no pot head NO FISH IN THE SAMISH BITES JIGS! PERIOD! there is less then 6" of Vis in that thing and your jig is on the bottem..hmm lets thing about this now. who here thinks they bite that napppy roots style jig on the bottem or...or maybe the line angle combined with the feel of the line through the fishes mouth is why you are HOOKING not catching HOOKING fish.
Why do people have to resort to the easiest method of hooking? wouldnt it be more enjoyable to use those eggs that you slaved over to cure and catch your own salmon on rather then hooking one wherever? dont really know if its the mouth . tail or asssss.

All I know is I go down with my eggs or bait and come back with a 2 punches on my card. Try it it reallly does work.!~

I enjoy the bite and hookset. Eggs floated or still fished or a spinner are great ways to catch fish at the Samish. I've learned to ignore the rest of the methods used. To each his own.....but at least I know I can relax if the "man" wants to check my gear or even watch me release a foul hooked fish.

The sadest thing I've heard while fishing was on the Samish.A teenage boy was teaching his buddy how to fish the river. He says I have been fishing here with my Dad for years and I've never felt a bite. I just set the hook when my line moves.A nother young fisher lost!

Nookie,

I didn't say it. I wrote it. There are not a lot of ways to write it. You obviously understood what I was saying. On a side note, crack heads and criminals work, pay taxes, vote, have teeth, morals, and religion. Any way, this is not the kind of topic that needs to be discussed on this message board.

P.S. Your friends are fortunate to have someone as caring as you to look after them.