Area 7 Report....

Yo, just checking in to see if anyone has anything to report from area 7. Was headed out on Sat, and the seas said "go crabbing in the bay"......was headed to do Obstruction/Pt Lawrence, and heard it was good....,anyone out there finding fish?....Sincerely Tom

Its still happening. If I went off of my log book I would have said dont bother over this last weekend with the full moon. But we caught fish. Pretty encouraging. Actually since my last report we have had fish and or takedowns every trip except last night. Headed out again in about 5 mins. FYI I did see a dandy caught at Obstruction Saturday an hour before the change, but I have been going that way less as we are hitting fish farther North and back towards town here.

I've heard mixed reports, although some are certainly finding fish. I spent some time jigging on Saturday morning but didn't find any fish or see any caught around me. I was further south though. Enough bait and fish on the finder to be encouraging.

Thanks for the regular reports, A-Dog. I appreciate them. It sounds like you are locked in!

-Kaiser D.

I was camping at Doe Is. this weekend and made it to Obstruction for a couple hours in the morning Saturday where we picked up a 17 pounder.
In the afternoon I took my 7yo son to Pt Lawrence at the end of the ebb and we got a 25 pounder in a half hour of fishing. He couldn't quite handle the knuckle buster (used to spinning reels) so I had to help him out, but he did great getting the other line and riggers up and netted the fish.
Good times

Did you take your 7 yo son to the naked hippie rave party @ doe bay on Sat?...just kidding. Thanks for the encouraging reports....I'm going out all day tomorrow probably to pt lawrence/Obstruction/Indian Village or Secret Harbor...The fish checker @ Squalicum checked 15 kings by 2pm on Sat(biggest day so far)....I'll post the report tomorrow....Tom

I feel pretty fortunate. We get so spoiled during Blackmouth season around here its hard to compare the two seasons. The good thing like you said is the amount of bait. More than I have seen in a long long time. The bigger tides definately make it tough but we have tried to stay on fish when we find them. It helps to have some buddy boats fishing to. FH is a small town, word gets around pretty quick, which saves some time. It died on me last night and this morning in SJ Channel. Had a good 3 day streak going there. Oh well, I will consult the tide tables and current charts and make an educated guess on where to go later this week. If the weather is good I will be north. I run a 20 Alumaweld intruder say hi. Here is a pick of one i got saturday....Oh funny I was just reading the cell phone fish on threads.....Yeah this was one of them to! My dad listened to the whole battle. Pretty cool. FYI most of the fish we have been hitting are Averaging 12-14. This one was 17.

Thanks for the reports, guys. I will be heading up to FH for a couple days this weekend and plan to fish Sat and Sun mornings.

Last year we did OK at Eagle Point (west side of SJ island). Is anyone catching fish out there or should we plan to fish at Obstruction?

I noticed that the tides are not lined up for a morning ebb at O Pass or Lawrence Point this weekend unless you start fishing at 4:00 AM. What areas do people recommend for an incoming tide in Rosario, Haro or Presidents Channel? I've had luck at Open Bay, Eagle Bluff and Girl Scout Camp. Any suggestions for this weekend. I was thinking of trying the north side of Waldron or Sucia. Any reports from up there?

You can fish Eagle Bluff on the Flood. West Side SJI you can fish the Ebb South and the flood North.

Hey, fished Pt. Lawrence/Buoy 16 ALL day...Tons of bait, especially in the deeper water...the only real take down was a 22" ling.....Fish checker checked only one fish(coho).... had a full gas tank and thought about going N. to Waldron etc...but the voice of reason said keep trolling....Going back out Sat to ????. Haven't decided where..Let's keep this post alive with some awsome reports from somewhere....Gotta cook some crab....Tom

Fished three days straight and it was sloooooooow! Went to Eagle Bluff lots of bait, birds, charter boats and nothing no fish caught by anyone. Tried O-Pass for the ebb nothing. The next day tried the west side of San Juan. Lots of orcas no bits. The final day we tried the north side of Waldron saw fish jumping probably sockeye or coho lots of bait but no bits. Great fishing weekend just poor catching. I used the same set up that was successful in early July and also tried jigging (caught an octopus and rockfish). Where were the fish this weekend? Secret Harbor?, Thatcher Pass or Lopez Flats? I think we need a good rain to push more fish into the islands.

I have to wait until late September to fish again. Hoping for a nice Harrison River Chinook off the west side.

Sounds like there was nothing around Thatcher, Lopez, Secret Hbr, etc this weekend either. Also heard checker in Anacortes late afternoon Sat. had seen 24 boats with 4 fish, and two of those were from the same boat.

I fished Waldron for a bit Friday afternoon. Nothing. I fished Saturday afternoon at Rocky Bay. Nothing. Sunday the wind just didnt look very inviting so I went to the archery range. I didnt even do well on my crab pots over the weekend. Didnt hear of any caught either. Nets are now in on the West side of SJI I presume for Sockeye. If weather cooperates we are hitting MCB area this weeknend. Should be a fun trip. I cant even get a room or campsite over there. Wow! I though FH was a tourist show. Probably stay on my boat or if I can find a campsite would like to camp.

Fished hard Friday and Saturday. The spit off Fisherman's bay, nada, Hien Bank, nada, Eagle Point and legal side of Salmon Bank, nada. Spring pass turned out to be the ticket. Two in the upper teens and three lost during battles. Very slow and hard fishing.

Sunday....

Tide Point, Strawberry, Blakely, all til 1pm.....nada.

I got a call at 2pm, saying I should have hit O-Pass on my way out, 3 boats, 6 fish....go figure.

Good friends, good camping, good crabbing, Zodiac-induced feathered hair, and even a good fish while getting my jig on. Went 17.5 to 18 on the digital scale. It gave me the shakes. Found fish and A LOT of bait everywhere but not many biters with the exception of our share of dogfish.

-Kaiser D.

SWEET! Way to get into fish eveningbite! What kind of boat were you in? Kaiser D, EXCELLENT photo. That was sure a pretty one! Glad people are still finding fish! I was definately starting to get bummed.

A-DOG
Red 34 ft pursut center console with twin yamaha 250's. If you see me on the water give a wave. Spring Pass was fishing well on the modest low slack. Some of the locals are getting one or two at high slack of the spit off Fishermans bay in front of the rock. Picked up two thier last week. Keep the reports coming, it seems area 7 gets left out for fishing reports. For die hard fisherman who want to test thier skills I think it is some of the best water in the state. If there are nets on the outside I always run to MCB. Would love to hear how it is fishing.

Hey A-Dog, I'm also starting to get a little bummed as I'm still salmonless for 08(only blackmouth I caught @ pt lawrence got chomped by a seal...well released some native's @ Seiku on the 4th...and a long distance release @ Kingston a week or so ago, but in my home turf.....nothing...which in the last few years has become more common than I'd like.... Area 7E opens soon, and some of my favorite close spots will also.....watched a native seiner the other day set right outside of about 300 recreational pots off Aliza....pulled about a 5 gallon bucket of something bigger than herring/maybe some herring.....none of it left the boat....reefnet's on lummi had a sockeye opening today and some fish were caught....Might drag the boat to keystone/edmonds and fish Mid channel/Kingston depending....Saw you had the same plan.....I'd be in a 19ft Olympic w/Yamaha motor.....all your pics are motivating...Tom

Hey Eveningbite...just curious, are your motors 2-stroke?, wether or not, just wondering what you're gallons/hr rate is on that boat?....sounds like a mean boat....look out for pirates in a 19ft olympic....;-)

eveningbite, I saw you running up the channel this weekend. I live in between Turn Island and Brown Island. I wondered who had that boat. I saw you a couple of times this winter coming in from Salmon Bank to. Pretty sure anyway, its a pretty distinctive boat. Big Rock area can be a sweet spot. I like it in the winter. Havent been fishing it much this summer though. I released an upper 20's native up the beach closer to the entrance to Fishermans during the Roche Derby this year. Bummer, but glad to have had the fight. If I see you I will definately say hello. And yes I agree with your assessment. The islands are a great place to test your skills.

A 34 ft Pursuit Center Console.
Man that is a sweet boat. Post a pic up of it. That is so east coast. You just don't see that out here.

4 strokes. They are a bit thirsty but that has more to do with my deadrise and weight. I average around 29 gallons per hour at 42 miles per hour and can run at 40 in just about any seas. They troll down real nice. Love the set ups. Pirates are fine as long as they have plenty of rum on board!

Was out saturday at eagle bluff, about 20 to 25 boats and saw 1 fish caught.

Kaiser, where did you jig up that king (don't need to be specific).

A-Dog. Sweet place to live and close to lots of good fishing holes. The big rock is a killer spot, I don't mention it much to stay in good graces with the locals. That was me buzzing by a couple times this weekend taking the girls to Friday Harbor and fishing Spring Pass. Salmon bank was working for everyone during the winter so that's where I spent most my time.
Seatrike. Very East Coast, had her shipped in from Miami. I would post pics but I'm bashful. I'm surprised few people in the Northwest buy big center consoles for fishing. They are a ton of fun, handle big water well, and a blast to fish in.

I guess we fished with you this weekend - nice to meet you!

We fished Eagle Pt on Saturday morning. Nothing

We fished SJ Channel between Rocky Bay and FH on Sunday morning. Nothing.

Oh well. We're back home now and the fishing has been great in Area 9. Gotta get out there this week.

Sorta glad to hear I wasn't the only one not catching this weekend. Must have fished with some of you...I was in a white 21' striper with a white hard top, fishing solo for most of the weekend. Not only did I not catch anything, but my gas bill will rival anyone's....

Friday, left Seattle at 7am, stopped at Foulweather Bluff for a bit in the fog, then went to midchannel for a bit til the fog lifted enough for me to run the straits. Didn't see a net at either place. Unfortunately the fog didn't lift as much as I'd like, but went for it and made it to Fisherman Bay about 2pm. Just crabbed that night.

Fished Eagle Pt. then a bit at Salmon Bank Saturday morning. One 20" coho, but that was it. Ran back across the straits for a wedding in Port Hadlock. Nice trip across.

Fished about an hour at midchannel later Sunday am (wedding was a late night), with a 20" blackmouth to show for it. Again didn't see any nets. Winds picked up just in time for our trip back to Lopez. Pretty sloppy trip across...wife didn't think it was all that fun. Got pounded by the wind waves at big rock that afternoon/evening, so eventually pulled up and had a nice, calm evening at O Pass. Sure was nice to get out of the wind. Lots o' bait, but no fish.

Monday am fished Lawrence Pt., then the north end of Orcas. One takedown but didn't stick. A few boats at both spots, but didn't see a net. Monday afternoon/evening fished Big Rock, again with no success.

Today, headed home. Fished the low slack at O Pass, with no nets for three boats. Then left for Deception Pass...trip that far was uneventful, then the winds kicked up as I turned south and things got interesting. Out in front of Oak Harbor had 4-5' wind waves out of the south, at which point I decided to put it on the dock. The thought of motoring 50 miles straight into a 20 knot wind didn't sound fun. Luckily my wife was taking the ferry across, so I had her pick me up on her way, headed home and got the truck and trailer, then went back to Oak Harbor to grab the boat. Just got home about 9pm. Long day.

Nice Fish Aaron! From the reports It sounds like you were one of the few. I wish i had a report to give, but i haven't been out in a couple weeks. Anyway, keep up the good work. And thanks to all the others for the reports, i'll be sure to add one after my next trip.

Mark

I will be on vacation starting Monday, Aug 5th for two weeks. No kids, no wife! They are on a trip to the east coast. Plan on getting out in the islands for crab and salmon. Glad to see this post. We need a steady report for area 7. Long runs to lots of fishing spots so would be good to know any info to increase our chances. Keep it up! I'll post when I've been out.

Hey Steve, as long as someone posts daily....the thing doesn't get put on the back burner....I haven't been out, but want to keep posting so that this post doesn't get lost.....love to hear anything about anybody catching anything in our area. Whole lotta crab has been caught recently(and all winter for that matter)....I used to have a few spots where you saw few buoy's....and they all got hammered this winter by the native fleet...and I think the recreational people took note....and there are 100's of buoys everywhere..... Tom

I am going to go out this weekend. The rain we're having will hopefully stir things up. Tide Pt, Strawberry Island, Eagle Bluff is where I will try first. Guess I better check the tides first......

How do the tides look this weekend?

No pictures but SJ Channel has been hot this week. We have quite a few upper teens and low 20's fish weighed in to our derby from the area this week. I have been flinging arrows but got a call from a buddy about an hour ago and he said they had another multiple fish night.......Leaving for PT Townsend in the early am and starting to second guess that plan. Have fun boys!

I fished eagle bluff, tide point and lopez flats on saturday. Never say a fish and never saw a net fly. Talked to one guy who said he had a fish. Really slow. Only about 15 boats at tide point and about 10 at lopez flats.

Fished Saturday and Sunday, el skunkaroo both days.

Saturday- Obstruction and Tide Point, we saw one fish caught and the fish checker had only checked in one fish from Guemes.

Sunday- Strawberry Island/Tidepoint, Secret Harbor and Guemes, only saw one fish caught and the fish checker said they had only counted again one fish claiming to come from Pt. Lawrence.

Needless to say, it SUCKED!

Fished for a few hours on Sunday mid-day. Obstruction was bare of fishermen and fish. Fished Eagle Bluff and Tide Point briefly but didn't see any action. I was glad I skipped Saturday. Things will brighten up soon.

Fished Eagle Bluff & Slime Hole/Armitage Is. Fri PM...nada.
Talked to a guy at Eagle, he had one fish on...before a seal got it!

Waterboy,

We were down at Lopez/James Is. Sat AM, in my 19' Arima Hardtop.
Probably saw you. What boat were you in?

I saw one fish netted, otherwise nada.

Fished low slack Sat aft @ Obstruction, about 10 other boats...nada.

This is gettin' old...


BTW -
Longtime lurker - new member.
First Post.
Woohoo!

Here is a second hand report, just to keep this post going.

Friends fished yesterday:
Eagle point and Lime Kilm. No fish caught and they said they didn't see any fish on by the handfull of other boats out there.

I can only hope that someone else has a more positive report.

Not hearing glowing reports but as long as the wind isn't up too much this weekend I'll try and make it out and post the results.
Good luck all

I'll be out a little this weekend.

If anyone is looking for a shred of positivity, I did see 3 salmon heads and guts at the launch when leaving last Saturday. One of the heads was from a fish that would have easily gone over 20. They must have picked the fish up in the morning and cleaned them right before I launched because the crabs hadn't even gotten to them yet.

Due to two little kids at home and a now busy schedule i was unable to fish again this weekend, but i can relay a report from a couple of friends.

They fished saturday and reported the following:
Eagle bluff...no fish
Pt. Lawerance...no fish
Indian village....saw one fish caught

With this rain we had over the weekend i suspect this next week/weekend we'll see a marked improvement.

chumsalmon

I fished for a few hours and even ran into chumsalmon's friends. The situation was bleak. I found very little bait and marked hardly anything on the finder. I saw a fair number of boats putting in their time but didn't hear of any fish caught. Currents were nice too. Bummer.

I was looking back at 2007 photos and at this time last year, I was into very consistent fishing.

I had one take down yesterday afternoon. Swing and a miss. Im telling myself it was a bow wow. Its slowed dramatically from what I can tell. I heard Sooke is improving so maybe there is hope?

The battle with Phoenix77 postssss continues...


I went out to drop the crab pots last night and then fished for nearly 3 hours. It was a positive development in that I did see a little bait (compared to virtually nothing the last time out), marked "fish", and caught a bunch of dogfish crab bait. I guess that tells you how lame the fishing has been lately when catching dogfish is actually a good thing. The girl I was with may have hooked a salmon for about 2 or 3 seconds but it came unbuttoned before a 100% positive ID could be established.

Last year at this time, there was a ton of bait, birds, and salmon at the spot I was fishing. This year, no birds, little bait, and missing salmon.

Addicted's post has lured me into fishing silvers on Saturday and getting out of Area 7. Enjoy the weather!

-Kaiser D.

Hit Hale's pass/goosbury/pt Migley which is an annual ritual for the opening of Bellingham bay......saw lots of tiny silvers.....saw a pod of Kayaker's using their rainfly off the tent as a spinnaker and making good time against the current....Tom

Does anyone fish for silvers in there and how so? Thanks.

I was out at indian village this weekend. About 15 boats fishing, didn't mark any fish, didn't see any caught! I don't think there is a fish in area 7!

It is time to be out fishing the West side of San Juan Island. Quite a few 20-30 pound fish caught this last week by the Friday Harbor Crew. I have not been out. Just passing along a report from some friends. Our derby leader board is starting to change everyday it seems.

After last weekend, it is official...

I hate Indian Village. We hit one shaker and didn't see any nets fly.

A-Dog, I concur, the outside has been the place to be as of late.

Now that area 9 is closed for kings was wondering if anyone had any reports from Eastern Bank?

There are most definitely some fish to be found closer than the west side of San Juan (although they aren't the 20-30's that A-DOG mentioned). Thrasher and I will be posting the pretty pics in a few days. I've only had one chance to get out recently but lost a 12-14 right at the net as the dart popped out... bastards.

I would like to stick one of those big fish on the outside though...

Does anyone fish for silvers in Hales passage?

I have and when it's good it's usually from Labor day on through Sept. But, it's been pretty poor the last few years after 2 or 3 years of being really good. I don't have much hope that we'll have the hot fishing of 3 or 4 years ago. I plan on getting out there this Sat to see how it's going. Just because you see them jumping doesn't mean you can get them to bite.

Ain't that the truth.

So how did you fish for them? Trolling shallow with bucktails or coho killer spoons? Or was it a herring thing shallow? Did you use flashers? What depths?

It has always been my opinion if you see them jumping then those are the ones that aren't biting!

Best method appears to be gillnets....I've watched em pick nice fish in 15ft of water right on the shore. Most of the fish I've caught were jigging/mooching in close to shore or where it drops to 50 ft....The small resident/young fish can be thick in the masses of eelgrass/crap that can be everywhere when the tide's right, gulping crab larvae on the surface......Tiny flies/4wt and can be hot, though I've seen thousands of feeding pods that just laughed at me...Many people, especially the older crowd, downriggers down the middle of channel from Pt. Migley to the Buoy near Portage...Usually too much eelgrass/crap to troll/ or even fish in shallow...The boat finally has 2 downriggers, and I plan to spend more time this year trolling that shelf out in the middle....Sandy point/oil dock used to be as hot as any coho fishing, but I've been fishless up here for more than a few years....for that matter, I was salmonless in area 7 all last year(no ling either), and finally caught a nice blackmouth on the last day of the season @ Pt lawrence, and a seal got it and showed it to me, before leaving with the flasher....I called that my $2000 fish, as I had 6 empty gallons of 2-stroke oil in the garage from the year and did the math. I did way more than try.

I've had days in Hales Pass where a shrimp fly was deadly. I have had other days where a green/glow hoochie was the ticket. Keeping an eye on the crab and shrimp as feed is key. Once you finally catch one (that you can keep) check out what they are eating. I haven't pulled too many from Hales Pass that weren't feeding on small shrimp and crab larvae in the eel grass mess. But, we've had a few off years in a row now so it's hard to say what it's going to be like.

I remember a day when I was using my downriggers in 15 feet of water and down 8 feet using a shrimp fly in front of the ship wreck. Couldn't keep them off of it. Others were casting with no luck. In fact, I was having the same luck until I got a wild hair and decided it was insane to see all of the fish jumping (splashing the boat) and not catching anything. That's when the old shrimp fly came out.

I fished Hales this past Sat around mid day. No luck but only fished a couple of hours. Saw one jumper. Water was starting to clear up after all the hard rains.

Fished Hales Pass for about an hour on Saturday after getting frustrated with Samish Bay. We were throwing buzz bombs into shore at Hales. A friend and his boy caught one small one. I repeat, very small...but, it was a friends kids first fish of any kind to ever reel in.

Tell me this kid wasn't happy.

Anyone fishing the outside of San Juan Island?

Thraher that's great!!!! Man that Lil' Guy is a future Super Star!!!

From what I've heard and seen, the fishing has been really hit and miss lately. There were a lot of fish in Samish Bay a while back but they either went up the river, left, or (most likely) got gill netted by the huge fleet out there. I fished that a little last weekend but it was loaded with fishless fishermen.

I saw one nice fish caught at Indian Village last weekend but that was out of about 30 boats. Fish was out deeper, in about 160 feet of water. A marked a few more nearby at the same depth but we only got one strike. Caught some dogfish over at Secret Harbor but there was only one other boat over there.

Corey, that pic of the kid with the fish is awesome. I'm guessing he's hooked now.

-Kaiser D.

Well, at least gas is coming down to $4 in the Bellingham area. Can't think of any other news up in the San Juans. Stick to crabbing in the Area 7 north I guess.

A 37 pounder was weighed into our derby this morning.

Very nice! Been hearing of more and more larger ones coming thru. I need to hear of one in my boat soon however!!!!

37 from where?

Have heard that the kings are getting netted like crazy at PT Roberts. I have done really well this time of year trolling cut plug herring there. If I was not working all weekend I be there fishing for sure.

rumor is it was caught at Pt. Caution

bham bay showed me a little coho love today

Did that drop old Chuck Payne into third?

Chuck Payne?

Roger that.

Soooooo...

I'm gonna go out tomorrow AM.
Can't really do the full-day deal, just a couple hours around tide change.

I'm really achin' for a take-down here, "almost" don't care what flavor...

Best bets as I see it:

- Indian Village
- Thompson/Parker
- Hale Passage hohos
- Limekiln/Pile/Eagle

Penny for your thoughts...fresh 'down-low' / recommendations / advice welcome.

EDIT - NIce fish Thrasher...care to share the what/where/when?
I can't really tell from the background what area that is in B-Bay.

today, niiiiiice

pt. williams?

jig or troll?

A true beauty Corey! Did you get a weight on that thing? Low to mid 20's? I took my parents down to the shallow water with the bug rods tonight. Dead. I have fish repellant on me lately. I think you gave me motivation for tomorrow though. Send me an e-mail if you have an location help for me.

-Kaiser D.

No, not pt williams. Looks like indian village.

Awsome....Hey, didn't you say you officially hate indian village......I went out Sat, and trolled around Pt Willams with a bunch of other people....didn't see anything....Fish checker checked a few nice coho from Hales and a chinook(maybe your's) from somewhere around indian village...Still fishless....Tom

Coho, the pic was taken at bham Bay

King, the pic was taken at the village.

I can't really say that I like the Village. A blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.

Hey, are you going out this week?...I've got this entire week off,sort of, then busy. While rinsing the boat off on Sat, noticed that the "bandaid" weld on the lower unit(91 Yamaha 130) has recracked.....possibly have a line on a used lower unit to finally replace it(will know tomorrow). It's been increasingly difficult to get anyone to go out with(during the week), and will shamefully ask if you need someone in the boat, let me know, as I'll happily pay for gas/whatever....thinking this coming week is the week we've all been waiting for. I've been planning my trips out this summer to coencide with the crab openings, to justify the gas, but those pics make me care little about the crab....Tom (360)969-0711

Fished Indian Village either side of low slack yesterday afternoon, along with 25 or so other boats.

Not a scratch for us, no bent rods or flying nets witnessed elsewhere.
Did mark some fish around the beach rocks, on consecutive passes.

Kinda starting to, um, "dislike" The Village...

I wasn't going to go out yesterday but after walking around Boulevard Park in the morning and watching the gill netters slay fish just off the shore, I decided to go. The gill netters were pulling up some kings and some big silvers all along the bank of Bellingham Bay.

Purse seiners were down south a little, just north of Larrabee park but we didn't see them pull much. Went over to Indian Village and Secret Harbor but didn't touch anything. Went to Hales Pass and saw a couple of small jumpers. Had one fish hit a spoon right after it hit the water but, other than that, nada. Got some crab out at Eliza.

I watched the tribal seiners at pt williams on monday. Watched one of the large boats set his net and then pull it. We got right up behind him to see what he caught. He worked for a good hour to get all the net out and back in with two boats burning diesel. He had 1 dogfish and 8 salmon....that was it.

I have wondered the same question on the silvers.

Fished area 7 this weekend and managed to jig up a couple small kings, both around 10lbs is all. But man they taste good!