MA 9/10 Opening day report

Fished out of Edmonds with Irishrogue this AM, and the plan was to stay close and check out local haunts since the tides were favorable for a few holes I know, and we had a network of buddies in different spots, so we could move if we heard of a hot bite. Turns out we made the right choice as we found a few within a 7 iron of the Edmonds Breakwater.

Day started off unfavorably. I ratnested the hell out of my Islander while stringing up my rod , then on the first drop, the Downrigger cable snaps mid-drop for no apparent reason. A couple minor setbacks and we are fishing. Irish, being the nice guy he is, gives me the other rigger while he fixes the broken cable...

A bit later and I latch into a fish, turns out to be right at 22". Hatchery blackmouth, but we decide to let it loose in hopes that it will give us a shot of good fishy karma for the rest of the morning...it might have worked.

1/2 hour or so later, my rod trips and we land a nice 10#'er for the first blood of the season. Woot!

Around 7 am Irish's rod trips, good fish, but it gets off.
Things slow, and we start thinking that maybe he should change out his downrigger that lost a lot of cable cause he can only get down 65 feet until he is at the end of the spool of cable. Just as we are breaking out the manual rigger so he can go deeper, his rod get's totally hammered, big takedown, and the fight is on! I guess 65 feet of cable was enough

I don the helmet cam and start filming as Irish gets the fish to the boat. We can tell it's big as it takes line a few times...& Sweet music sings from the knucklebuster...

The result!


...and here's both of 'em. Irish's fish weighed 'bout 20 on the nose.


Specifics: We fished south of Edmonds between the point and oil docks, and right off the breakwater. There was a HUGE school of green label sized herring off the breakwater later in the morning...& the big fish had a few in her belly.
Fish were taken on Flasher/Silver Horde Cotton Candy and White lightning Coho Killers
65 and 101 feet.




Good luck out there folks....& I Cant wait to get out again! Thanks again Irish!

Nice fish!!! I'm dying here at work today.

Congrats Sky-Guy & IrishRogue!
It's awesome playing Nookies on those smooth Islanders!
Way to go guys!

A bad start like that, seldom ends good...Nice report and great looking Kings!!!!!!!

Nice fish and a beautiful day. Tough to do better than that.

nice fish brian! thanks for the report...i'll be out in the am. thinking about pilot point, tide looks perfect. anybody else???



willy

Nice fish guys!

What's this about a helmet cam?

cant wait to get out of here today, point no point is waiting

Rogue has a nifty hardhat-style helmet with a wireless self-contained cam mounted on the side so we can film hands-free. I can think of a number of good uses for it..

Sweet Coho Rogue, they're early this year!

Great report Sky-Guy!

I ended up releasing two wild silvers, 1 clipped blackmouth and 1 wild 18ish pound king.

TJCarroll Sr whacked and stacked another clipped 18ish pound fish.

Know of quite a few board members that got in to some fish today. TBJ and Sleddddddder were on fire. I think Supcoop had at least one, if not two.

Looked to be a good opener.



PS. Who was in the boat hollering out to me this am? You obviously knew or recognized me, but I couldn't tell who you were.

i landed a silver at jeff head, and my buddie broke off a big one.

Parker, you know you can keep the wild ones this year, right?

got pics?

Kings or the coho?

Ever seen a grown man cry???? Don't say kings.....



Didn't really care about the coho. That might explain why the fish checker lady thought I was nuts for letting the coho go. D'oh!

I really hope you're yanking my chain. Gonna have to actually read the regs now.

Got some pics, but not in a place to post them. I'll try to get them up tonight.

Sky-Guy & Parker,
Thanks for the reports. What size were the silvers Parker?

What I'd call doinkers. Mabbe 3-4 pounders. Just a "tad" bigger than a shaker, but not by much.

Big enough to pop the line off of the rigger and get one all excited until you set the hook and there's no real weight on the other end.

They reverted the MA9 wild coho retention restriction this year, so, you can keep them anywhere in the sound as far as I know.

bummer! those smaller resi's are still great bbq fare!

Even knowing that now, I would have still released them. Pretty sure the clipped king I got would have been over 22". I still would have released it, too.

Don't you remember - I sort through my fish as not to mess up the quota.

Just got home heres the scoop. We went 3 for 6 with a 23 pounder, a 14, and an an 8 or 9 pounder I shoulda kept. We lost two confimed toads and one that most likely would have gone in the box. We got 9 keeper dungeness and here was what I thought was the coolest part of the day. We caught 3 true cod. I have hardly seen any true cod in our area in many many years. Tom Carrol said he had got one as well. Nice to see them rebounding. Finally. See ya out there tomarrow. -TBJ

the true cod bite has been terrific this year. lots and lots of them.
I'd give my king report but i dont want to start crying again

Cracker! We fished for 2 hours this morning. Managed a true cod, a couple of shakers, and a Jack..... No big pulls for us this morning. Didn't hit the best of the tide though.

Parker, that was me

Were you fishing in Daves boat or Tarter Sauce Neal?

I was in another buddies boat. We started at kingston, and then ran over to JH for a couple passes. Seemed to be turning on just as we left Work sucks

Sorry about that Neal. Looks like my on-board face recognition software was on the fritz or something.

I think we boated at least 3, if not 4 true cod.

TBJ was on fire.

Hey TBJ - did you land that fish you hooked right as we left? If so, how big was it. That just killed TJCarroll and I. I think I owe Carroll a case of beer now.

Yes that was the 14, did you hear my war cry?

No, but I saw your rod pop off the clip and your 2008 Bassmasters hookset job. You were not going to get cheated by that fish.....

Nice work boys! I am with D3 on the crying part today as we got worked...did hit a number of those true cod but kings were not cooperating. At it again in the am...cheers

Looks like I get to watch summerrun pull in another 35+ pounder again tomorrow. That's what happened the last time I stood next to the man.

No worries, as I'm good with the net, too.

Who's your huckleberry?

Sounds like a Great start...Thanks for the reports...work sux

it took me about 30 seconds to hook my first king of the season and about 1 to have my leader part. I have no idea what happened there but if someone gets a king with a beat up coyote in its mouth let me know. Lost another one close to the boat, 20+ lbs for sure. And had another fish peeling line but couldnt keep it pinned.
My bottom fishing skills were spectacular... flounder, rock fish, true cod and ling cod all were willing biters.

I "get" to work this Saturday so no joy for me.

Bastard got my favorite Prism Hot Spot too

Yeah, nice report Sky! Sure wish I could have been out there instead of sitting in meetings all day.

Saturday can't come soon enough...

Aaron

Great pic, and great company as always Ryley!

I'll be back out there tomorrow, though farther from home .

Here are a couple of pics from today.

I wasn't holding the camera on the first shot, so BigStick can't accuse me of having The Palsey on this shot!

Nice teener wild fish that was released. Put up a respectable fight on the Islander.



Chuck came through with a nice clipped kinger that was close to the 18ish mark. Photo doesn't show how thick that fish was. He had thick shoulders!

Headed out of Everett at 0 darkthirty, decided to give point no point a try for the tide change, no luck. After the tide change I trolled down towards pilot point and around that area, still zip nadda nothing. Finally around 9am decided to give possesion a try for a bit before checking the pots and calling it a day. Trolled the outer bar for awhile, one shaker and was just about to call it a bust opener when off pops the line from the rigger and the line starts to peel off. I thought for sure I had a big hog on the other end, a couple of dives to the bottom, big head shakes, the whole deal! Finally got her to the boat and she turned out to be a very scrappy 12 to 13 pounder. A bonk and bleed, trolled around another 30 minutes and called her quits. Checked my pots on the way in and came up with 5 very nice keepers (I put the pots out yesterday, so they had a pretty long soak). Back to Everett, and then to the house, fish dressed and crab cooked by 1:30, shower and a nice long nap! Sorry, no pics. Left the camera at home, guess that is what happens when you leave the house a 3am.
I will hit it again tommorow, may run down to Edmonds by all you guys if the fog isn't too bad. Look for the "Dawgfish", 17ft Arima.

TBJ! Nice fish man! If your out there on Saturday or Sunday, I'll look for your new boat (I'll see the red carpet from a mile away) man! Nice going! I'm jealous!

We have been catching true cod all spring Tom. Very cool, cuz I though they were basically goners.... Another cool thing is that they are getting bigger as the year goes on!

sweet job guys...cant wait till tomorrow!!!.....c

We hit Jeff Head around 5:20. 3 grown ups and 1 kid. Pulled 2 hatchery kings out in about 2hrs of fishing. The pump crapped out on the sled, thankfully we picked the perfect day and tide for motoring back to the dock with the kicker. Due to the engine issues we cut the fishing time short, had to be back at the dock at 10am.

Hit a 9lb fish on a coho killer 100+ feet deep, hit a 14lb fish on a hoochie at 50. The 7 year old did most the reeling on the larger fish, way cool. Was not sure we'd ever get the stank off the sled after last years salt excursions with no fish, good to be smelling fishy again!

Once we finished our 1hr putt back to the dock we managed to scrape out 7 crab to join the kings on the table.

All and all a good day!

Started off slow in the fog in north area 9. But a good trip over all. Kept three kings 34, 34.5, and 35.........inches, no scale, but all were thick hens guess around 19, 20, and 21. Worst part was keeping a 4 pound clipped coho early that was bledding and having to release two clipped kings at the end of the day when we were "rock sole fishin". Back at it in 7 hours, can't wait.

Nice to see everyone getting into some fishie's! Sounds like it's shaping up to be a good year and nice to know they are spread out a bit-sort of like two years ago. It's very cool that there is no quota this year so that those of us who didn't fish today will still get a chance at the pie!

I also caught a bunch of true cod at Sekiu two weeks ago. It had been so long since I'd seen one I had to ask the fish checker what they where. He told me more had been reported this year then he had ever seen. Also good!

Tightlines all!

Wow, Wish I could have made it out yesterday. Look like some nice fish out there. Anyone hear how the afternoon/evening tide change bite was? Going out this afternoon to get after em...

I caught a couple of true cod 10 years ago in the kelp beds south of Mukilteo out of my float tube on a fly rod. They were small--- good to see them recovering.

No love for me today 1 high finner and lost another good one. I gotta quit doing that......

Cousins had a few to many beers in him this morning, slow fishing so he decided to trail a buzz bomb behind his green glow flasher....Released a 28 pound native...Crazy, that fish might of had to many beers also..

Was he fishing just south of PNP ? I thought I saw a guy cast something like that ahead of his boat as he was trolling? ?

Maybe that will be this years hot got to lure. .... . what color??

Lost 2 at the boat @ PNP this am. One was a hatch King about 8lbs and the other was medium size silver ( I think).
Loss due to girls (friends 20 yr old daughter) first time fighting a salmon, good to get her hooked up though. By the end of day she was cut plugging and hooking her own herring and running the DR. Second fish was on her rod she had deployed herself, way to go Jess. Now we have to figure out how to get them in the boat !!

Beautiful day out there.

What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday the damn phone was off the hook with calls and pages from the "cool people" text list. Everyone was on to fish.

24 hours later and you could hear the crickets chirping.

We boated 4 silvers and 1 jack. All resident clipped doinkers. No real fish. Didn't see any nets all day.

Heard it was like that all over the Sound.

Best guess? Water visibility was awesome, except for the "dog food chunk" in the water. I bet that put the fish off the bite.

I hope theres a better evening bite tonight then, heading to jeffhead when done working. Got the big goose egg at pnp last night, 1 of 4 boats there, seen no nets. Was very disappointing after reading about everybodys success here.

Its odd that it died off so quickly. Typically the bite stays on if you can find the fish when there is even barometric pressure.

Maybe all the biters were mopped up yesterday?
Any other reports?

That's too strange. I hear that Midchanel was on fire yesterday and it too was reported as dead today. I agree with Ryley, there is no weather related issue that I can see.

Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it does'nt. I will be out tomarrow giving her hell again. They'll turn back on soon. With a vengance!

Well, it's the same thing that happened up in MA7 two weeks ago...on fire and limits of big fish on Wednesday and Thursday, deader'n a doornail on Friday and Saturday...and I didn't get there until Friday

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. I'll try again tomorrow and Sunday...

couldnt make it happen yesterday but managed to put a couple in the boat today, including a friends son's first king. Nice work Evan! Should have had a few more fish hooked up but the kids had some difficulty in paying attention to the rods even though they were blocking my path to them. The smaller fish had a bunch of candlefish in him, while the larger fish was empty. Only saw 2 other nets fly.

My brother and I went 2-3 this morning at PnP. Lost a mid teens King before we got a good look at the fin or lack of. Hit a 10lb hatchery King next pass,and also got a small resident Silver.

We had the second and third fish checked at Everett.

Heard of one boat that got 3 and that they were trolling much faster than everyone else. Anyone trolling at Warp 9 today pick up any fish (above 4 knots)?

....just trying to figure out what you 10-percenters did different today.

We really wanted to blame Summerrun for the lack of fish, but unfortunately, that's not it...

I usually troll fast. 4.5-5 mph isn't unheard of in my boat. Today we were only running about 3 though.

I was blanked today, threw the tackle box at 'em with no luck. didn't see any other action from the other boats. Another 5 nice crab so the day wasn't a total bust. will hit it again next week, gotta get some work done before I get to play again.

we fished craven rock and mid channel today...and yes at warp speed...most of the time we were over 4 no prob...

i caught this one below craven rock went 13 lbs...caught it on a Ace High Fly...blue....



trolled for a while...wind kicked up pretty good and we headed to Mid Channel...my hubby picked this one up on the Captian Downriggings i belive its called Artic Morning...im sure John will let us know what its called heres a pic of it....went 25 on the scale..nice fish babe...




heres another on the water....



and here is one at home....c



anyway...it was slow today...we only caught two jacks, two kings and one small wild coho that was not worth keeping....it was slow...his was caught on the rigger 89 feet down, mine was 135....didnt mark a lot of fish on the craven rock, Lip Lip area, but when we came around the corner to Mid Channel later in the day there was nice bait nice fish on the finder, but no real takers....c

Nice Fish Cheryl! Hopefully the fish are biting good tomorrow for all the derby goers!

oh crap i forgot...got one keeper dungie...and only one undersize...c

My son and I hit Jeff Head from 5:00 - 7:00 tonight and took home the big skunk. Quite a few boats in the area, didn't see any nets.

Nice fish Cheryl and hubbie.

Steve

Was certainly slower, checker in PT said 1/3 of the fish caught for a few more boats compared to yesterday. Never saw a real bite materalize, just the odd fish here and there. I lost two jigging in deep water, one opened the eye on a well used (guess the rust should have been my clue to change it out) Gami Si-wash, would have liked to see that fish. Ended up getting a 8 and 15 later in the day, but we worked hard for them, 11 hours total.

Anybody running rvrfisher cicle si-wash (sp) on darts, any size recomendations? I really like how well they worked the coho killers, held great. Gonna take Saturday off and try again Sunday pending better reports.

Good Luck,

fished jeffhead this evening an got a hi teener possibly bigger but forgot scale and a 6 or 7 lb coho all on herring at 35ft in 70 ft of water after 830 pm. My buddy got a 29 at port townsend today an the fish checker told him it was the biggest fish of the day. Fish checker in kingston told me at 530 pm that 2 kings and 1 silver had been checked in since the early morning.
Water was not very flat an never laid down.

Todd designed this setup using size 2/0's I think. Looks like it would work great on the back of a Pt Wilson too, alot better than the stock hooks.

Put in a solid 9 hours of fishing on Thursday. We had a hard time getting fish to stick, but plenty of hits on the rigger. My buddy hooked into one about 0830 that almost spooled him before it came unglued. We released a number of shaker blackmouth. On Friday all we could muster up was three dog fish and we didn't see one net out. There was definitely something that happened between Thursday and Friday. There was a lot of slime and jelly fish in the areas we hit on Friday.

Good job to all of you that caught some fish and good luck this weekend. I will be curious to see how things go today. As for me its back to the remodel I have going on. Hope to get out for two days again sometime in the next two weeks.

Just like the pic that SkyGuy posted, my darts have either double 2/0's or double 3/0 Sickle Siwash hooks, back to back on a large split ring.

The rig seems to have the perfect combination of hooking fish and not letting them off, and it is also pretty easy to turn both hooks and slide them out...barbless, of course...

Fish on...

Todd

Todd, are you guys going to develop any saltwater Salmon spoons?

Team Carroll has a 20+er in the box this am. Looks like the bite has picked up today.

Should be some good fish in the derby today.

"Wishin' I was fishin'....instead of cleaning the house and going to Costco."

I'm down here at work watching all the Sounder fans file by, I'm out of here at 1:30, I'm not going to get caught in the end of the game circle jerk traffic mess.

I only hooked two and landed one today not counting silvers and blackmouth shakers. This is the one. Probly shoulda bought a derby ticket.........Just shy of 25 pounds. 24.8

Awesome!!!!!!!!

Nice fish...what did it weigh?

3 of us fished PnP from 5-9am and didn't see a fish caught.

Hey Tom, that would have been the 3rd place fish worth $1,000. We took a "disputed" 4th place in the EB derby with a 21.3.

A 29 9, 28 10 and 24 4 got the cash...I will let T Carrol Jr. explain the dispute...cheers

I took Friday off work because the fish were jumping in the boats on Thursday. Fish count went from 3 fish per boat Thurs to 1 per 3 boats Friday...how smart was I? [censored]! I netted a 30 or so Friday morn with too many fins (by myself) at about 7:15 and figured it was going to be red hot....but.....rest of Friday produced the entire variety of fish previously mentioned by others, and two more solid strikes with one on/off and the other a few heavy head shakes then gone and no more salmon to net.
Today was a longer play time, but again nothing netted (and I had help today) ..... two good fish battles that ended with involuntary releases right at the boat, but not yet within net range.
Oh well, had a great crab louie salad this afternoon and long nap.

Note to self: turn other hook around and try it.

let me guess the dispute is a half clip???

good job Tom...thats a nice fish there...im not sure i ever saw a net up...

fished 65 miles and never even saw a shaker...tough fishing, although we didnt head out early, started at 745...after checking the pots...

fished craven rock, mid channel, craven rock down to lip lip, headed over to Bush for a min, then headed to skunk bay and ended at Point no Point and called it a day...neighbor just got home they got the skunk also...

got two dungies and a bunch of red rock...c

We fished Skunk Bay and PNP from 4am to 10am today. No bites, and only saw one net fly. Gonna head out again tomorrow morning for another try.

Damn nice fish Tom!

Nice fish, keep up the good work. I had an opportunity to go out and join the crowds at Jeff Head today, what a circus, seemed like the bigger the boat the straighter it would go, no one seemed to want to turn much. Certainly made things interesting. Had a good bite around tide change but all small fish. We had one fish on that was really shakeing the rod, but my friend did not get the line out of the downrigger clip and turned on the scotty, anyway that fish almost made it to the surface before it popped loose. What a fire drill. Thats why they call it fishin and............Chuck G

That's a Fridgefiller there boy, nice King!

I was up at Midchannel Friday and Saturday. My buddy calls up Thursday night saying, "Man, you are gonna have a good day on Friday because we limited 3 people by 10:00. And, the kings are big this year... blah, blah, blah" Fish checker at noon had checked better than 3 kings per boat!

So, I'm all excited heading up early on Friday.

I get there and 500 people must have called their buddies and said "get up here today". It looked like the City of Olympia had moved out onto Midchannel Bank.

Start fishing. Nothing... Fishing longer... nothing. Shaker.. nothing. Not seeing much. Fish here, fish there. Now, I'm thinking, "shoulda been here yesterday?" Toward the end of the day, I finally hook into a nice one. Not hooked well, though. Saw it was a hatchery fish ... getting closer. Now it's spent, ready to drag into the net. Then one last turn the fish toward the boat, and pop! out comes the coho killer out of the corner of its mouth. Geez! What a way to end the day. Easy 20 lb+ fish lost at the very, very last minute.

Long story short. In two days fishing, had two hookups for my boat. One lost next to the boat, the other a native 15-18 lb. Should been there on the opening.

Fished Mid Channel this morning. No bites, nada! Saw three fish caught, and 2 of those were keepers. Fish checker at PT dock had 1 fish for 18 boats when I got back to the ramp to head home. It has seriously died up there for now. I'm sure it will be picking back up here real soon though.

Thats a great fish! I'm still looking for something in the 20 Lb range.

Fished Fri. night , Sat. morning & evening. Covered alot of water and ended up getting 1 small but mature fish around 7 Lbs. fri night for 3 rods. Picked up a 12 at liplip on Sat morning , a 5 lb blackmouth at mutiny bay and a 15 at jeff head at dusk last night for 2 rods.

reatively slow fishing but at least there are a few around.

Gotta love the KINGS!

CNB

Fished Midchannel this morning and picked up 3 fish, 6, 12 & 18# respectively. For the first 4 days, our count was 9 chinook. Not too bad for a bunch of knuckelheads. BTW, all but one fish was taken on a UV coho killer.

glad to see you guys get into a few. last i heard you were 0-3 as you passed by us.

my buddie broke a big one off right after you passed us.

Just got back from a weekend of adding to the mayhem at Midchannel. Thurs was great with a 20, 16 & 10 & one B/M with too many fins. Friend of mine up there landed 10 thurs with only 3 clipped to show. Fri was dead but got a few crab. Sat I fished with Coopduck & he picked up with an 18 & I got a 10 & another high teener lost at the boat. Sun Cory got about a 9lbr & I in true form lost another high teener & 8-10lbr at the boat. This having fish come unbuttoned at the boat is getting old.

I had family obligations all weekend so I'm pulling a before-work shorty trip tomorrow with the Rogue. Report to follow...

Spud, CaptainQ, or anyone else have any pics of some chrome pigs I heard about from over the weekend?

decided to try something a little different today and hit Jeff Head, Apple Tree cove, point no point and Elglon...had a hit on top of the water before i could get my flasher down just before we were calling it quits, so i put down at 31 feet and got a pretty little native coho...just after that my hubby had what we belive was a little coho...lost it, and called it....this weekend was really slow, but hey, its still a little early...hopefully they will turn on again..this time when im not at work please???...hahhahah...c

Gilly is on fire right now with Summerrun onboard. North wind blew me and my little red boat off of the water early today. No fish for me today. Already looking forward to tomarrow. -TBJ

One with too many fins and one lost at the boat for me this morning. Good to see you out there Tom!
Neal

If you touch your fingertips together above your head, that'll tell ya how many fish Irish and I brought aboard this morning at Edmonds/Richmond beach...

Are you guys fishing mid channel with gear on the bottom? Or are the fish suspended there?

We blanked at Jeffhead this morning.

1 king was checked in at Shilshole when we gave up at 11 today. All we could add to the pile was a little clipped coho. I got a nice headshake on a fish that was larger than a doinker, but couldn't tell much more than that before it was gone.

We watched Captain Q and crew release a nice nate but that was it.

Summerrun is gonna make us cry if he posts tonight.

Hdn out here in a few to catch the evening tide/bite hope I still have some of Keith's stink on the boat. .. . . .

Gilly and summerun and crew certainly bucked the average today....... I should have known better than to do my own thing when Matt is fishing with nobody else around.... Gotta keep an eye on him to keep him honest.

Neal was that you I saw ripping through P.A. with the F/V Tartar Sauce?

Ya Neal, that Matt is a sneaky dude:) A huge shoutout to Matt and Tyee Charters. To all that want to get dialed in on the MA 10 fishery give him a call but he is booking up fast so ya better hurry up. You will have fun AND catch fish, good combo in my book.

No pics but we landed 4 keeper kings from 8-16lbs and a nice fat coho. The ones that got away were the story today as we had two obviously huge fish shred our 40lb leaders, violent hits n huge runs then snap! Guess thats what makes ya come back. Better tides towards the later part of this week will get the bite going off more consistently as today we had a great morning bite that lasted an hour or so with other fish mixed in throughout the rest of the day. I need a nap...cheers

Now you know where he got the name Astroglide.

With the kids hanging out the window with corn dogs and MnM's? Yeah that was me. Fished about an hour and a half at CQ saturday morning for kings with not a touch. Didn't try for silvers, cuz the kids both had to go poop.....

Friggin hilarious!

Yes. I almost pulled out in front of you when you turned right onto Lauridson Blvd...... If you used your turn signal, it isn't working.

That's funny about your kids... king fishing slowed down out there, the fish checker out there is the son of owner of the charter boat I operate. He checked 6 kings for 23 boats on Saturday, 2 of which were illegal undersized blackmouth, two were barely legal blackmouth, and the others were about 8 and 15 lbs. Notso Hotso. But the silver fishing has been good.

I'd like to encourage people to take a little more time and care in identifying their fish, both for species and size....

So you were the guy I cut off Sorry about that! Seriously, I was trying to hear myself think over my son wailing from the back seat that he was either going to vomit or poop his pants. He came down with a stomach bug while we were out at the cabin. We were on the hunt for a bathroom, and it was a last minute decision to make that turn! Thankfully we made it to Safeway in time....
I have a hunch less than half the people fishing out there can tell the difference between a pink and a BM.... The Game Warden was at the dock when I pulled out, so hopefully there was some edjumucation going on....

haha no worries man. sounds like you had your hands full.....

sorry to hear the little guy had a rough go.

the funniest/saddest thing about the humpy/bm mis-identification trip, is the people that bring in adipose-clipped undersize bm, then argue strenuously in favor of them actually being pinks. in case anyone's not aware, there are NO hatchery humpy's.

A guy at work witnessed a 32lber being caught on the Edmonds pier on Sunday, but overall it was slow.

well we had our yearly Carlsen fishing derby Sat and Sun. 27 Anglers in the party 0 keeper fish....Pretty frustrating...We only saw 1 other boat release a nice 20+ native...Started Eglon trolled with tides thru Point no point, finishing out of Skunk Bay...Saturday tried Fowl Weather Bluff...Can't believe 0 fish for all of us...Sunday Fish checker, checked 0 fish when we pulled out of Kingston at 10:30am...We will carry the purse and the rod sage made for us until next year...

Must all be up North still.....

We got all ours right on the bottom. One hit when the ball was laying on the bottom paying out downrigger cable, go figure.

We fished top, middle, deep and dragging downrigger ball....Don't know what we did wrong... o-well, next time

Saturday took the girls to Jeffhead ended up with one 20+ for 6 hours trolling. after tide switched run over to the oil docks for a leisurely pass up to carkeek just for a looksee, I liked what I saw but the tide was wrong > So Sunday my buddy and I O darked thirty up to Richmond Beach , 3 passes 3 kings and as soon as the sun hit the water it was over nothing big but mature fish, when we went in fish checker had 5 fish for 30 boats so we were smiling!!!PEACE

you would be surprised how many people cant tell the difference...i have been on the dock filleting my fish and people throw those up and i cant help but give em a earfull....they say they are humpies, and i say no that is a text book chinook....of course i alway explain...people should not keep fish until they know what they are...it does not look good at north of falcon when we cant control sporties...stupid people...anyway....

was thinking of heading up to Seiku again...sorry i didnt post a report...ill have to do that...sorry...c

No pics as I was solo on Sunday, but she was a beaut.

Good to see Supcoop and Parker out there this morning. Tally for Team Q today was 2 wild 18-20# kings cnr, 1 dink 8# clipped king bonked and 1 3# silver bonked. All fish came on either the green or purple haze hotspot and purple haze ace high fly. We'll be out again tomorrow.

Keith's reports this morning while I was driving N from Chico were killing me. Didn't know he was fishing with Gilly. Makes sense now!
Cap Q sounded like he did alright from his spot as well.
I'm looking fwd to getting in the game later this week.
Truck is going into the shop for a week starting tomorrow morning.....any body feel like towing my boat about 4 miles to and from the ramp (Shilshole) give me a shout! Before anybody says it 3 Rivers has been through the boat and she's running great :-) The boy will be at mom's and then out of town camping for the next 12 days.
Hope y'all didn't catch all of em.

My boat went from nasty dirty pollen coated spiderweb farm to the old shiny fish killin' machine in about 4 hours tonight. I've been so busy with work and house projects I hadn't touched it in months. Surprisingly, for once in my life, everything checked out and works great after being stored for several months. Trailer lights, electrical, battery in good condition...I was amazed!


...hope I didnt just jinx myself

Looking forward to some MA9 coho trips with Rico and crew, and hitting MA9/10 a ton over the next month....

Question....kind of new to the downrigger game. I was fishing meadow point on Sunday (all day), marked fish but they wouldn't bite. Went with hoochies, and coyote's in 120 - 180ft of water with ball down around 80-110. In the morning two guys caught kinger's but overall appeared slow. Around 11:30 the flood tide got trucking and I found large schools of fish, and big bait balls pushing up against the point. Managed to entice one shaker on a jig of all things, he went back to his friends, and had another shaker hit the coyote. Now these fish were in a zone of 200-250 ft of water down around 150-180ft. The question is what would you run and how would you do it. I got down deep and trolled through the zone but nothing. Help a guy out please. Colors, depth, leader length, fast troll with the tide, how bout deeper water toward the fishing lanes? Thank you in advance. This is frustrating. I went to the locks this evening and teener kings in the window. I gave them the finger and left. Thanks.

Try talking to them softly next time, and it may work out better for you!
Sounds like you did as well as most on sunday. You say your depth range is 80-110. In the morning, start shallow (30-50 ft). Then go deeper as the day goes on, or the bait warrants. If you are marking fish at 180 (its probablly bait) drop it down to 180! Remember the throw back decreases the depth your lure is at, so adjust accordingly to be at the depth the fish are haunting.
Good luck.
Neal

Neal thanks. How does one factor in throwback. 12lb ball was being used should we say 5 ft.?

Depends on depth and speed ... sometimes can be as much as 30'. I have had 180' of cable out and not bounced bottom until I was in 140' of water trolling at 3k with the tide.
Just get out there and run your gear down until you bounce bottom and check the depth on the sounder and counter on the rigger.
Results may vary .. . .

Get to know your depth/fishfinder. I can track my DR balls on mine. No guessing where you are then.

What He said! Play with the gain on your sounder and you can see your balls with no problem.

I found that it helps to just lose some weight..........

Kingston ramp -- July 17: 35 boats with 74 anglers caught seven chinook and four coho; July 19: 59 boats with 126 anglers caught one chinook, seven coho and one chum

I don't feel so bad about our 0 fish on Saturday..

I didn't make the connection until much later in the am when we moved over to Kingston and Supcoop finally told me you were the guys in the Grady. Coop wasn't paying attention to his phone, so he didn't see the texts until after 9:00 or so. That's why he kept asking how you guys were doing.

You are easily one of *the* top boats out in da 'hood!

I'm sure I'll see you out there again soon.

Interesting that the fish checker added the Chum into the stats at the Kingston boat ramp. It has been a long time since you could keep a summer Chum in the Sound. Unless I am missing something, you cant keep a Chum until September.

Matt

I've actually seen things like that before where the fish checker is documenting fish that shouldn't have been kept in the first place. I've always found the "fish checker" thing a little strange as it seems like that is an ideal time for fish/license checks and general enforcement if you are already going through the trouble of talking with people face-to-face?

as bad as those counts are, its still way better than area 11 during june

The fish checkers always asked if you released any fish etc....Do they report that also? maybe someone caught and released that chum,...as far as I know you can't keep them...

The regs say it is OK to retain chum in area 10 until August 1.

Hey bonkit,
If Clary Sr. is one of the ones fishing in your group then that was your problem. Joking.

Bonkit, I believe the fish checkers do count fish released (probably dead).


WN1A, Good thing I have not caught one yet this year. I like eating them. Thanks for the report. I guess the people in charge have found that Summer Chum are gone

Matt

Gilly
Have you tried your bread and butter plugs yet? I'm sure the answer is yes but all I'm hearing is metal and hoochies.
Is all the bait small stuff?

Gilly uses plugs made out of bread and butter? Wow!

That's a nice looking fish. Congrats.

you would be surprised how many people just keep fish they have no idea what they are...they just think they are salmon...

the biggest problem this time of the year is stupid people keeping humpies that are really blackmouth....c

Damn, what a difference a day makes! Todays catch was zip. We had one coho to the boat before it spit the hooks and that was it. Never saw a net fly and the charter sounded like they were struggling to put some fish in the box. We fished over bait the entire time, it was everywhere!

I did have an interesting experience when someone asked me if I was Parker! I thought about it for a minute and wondered what trouble I could stir up, but then decided to tell him my real identity. I saw that the boat he was fishing in said Rotten Chum Guide Service, so I assume it was John and he was taking a break from his river gig to try for a chromer king. Only one problem, no biters today.

I stopped by the Locks tonight and there were ZERO kings in the windows and none milling out front. Man, that first push of fish shot through quickly.

On a brighter note, two buddies are out at Jeff Head tonight and have a 10# 'nook in the box. I'm taking tomorrow off, but back at it at 'o dark thirty Thursday morning, Hopefully the forecasted weather change brings in some fish.

You can fix that problem by getting me in your boat!

Capn Q that was us that asked you that question. John thought you looked familiar.

We had one good takedown that started peeling off line, grabbed the rod and there was nothing there.

Finally caught a nice big hatchery hen at Jeff Head about an hour after low slack. My scale only goes to 30# but she weighed a bit more. 120' of water with downrigger at 75' on BC daisychain and a 3.5 green splatterback coyote. What a blast.

Just got back from fishing Kingston released an 18ish high finner and lost a good one I never got a look at. Back at it in the AM. -TBJ

Three limits from area 9 this afternoon, one dink at 7 lbs, 5 between 15-20 lbs. plus one wild released.

If someone wants to put up the photo I'll e-mail it to you, way to tired right now.

Sounds like a nice haul NEN! You getting them jigging again, or trolling/mooching? You seem very dialed!

Thur Fishing Report
Thanks again TJ for hauling me around!


[img:left][/img]

That's better....................

The hat I mean

Nice-


<-------------------------------------

Good to see the mods keeping entertained!

Nice fish Keith!

I can't believe Stam's been whining for a piece of king. The tuna and coho must not have been enough for the StamSmoke House! I'll take a piece if you're giving some away.... Hell, not like I can actually catch a keeper king these days.

Nice Avitar, Brood! I didn't know you and Merg were friends?

Stam is getting his king tomorrow, I like to keep my word...I assume you are going to have a bunch fresh tomorrow Parker and if not I can make sure you are set up. Brood the DudeT, love the avatar homie and just wait till I break out the ASU hat tomorrow and catch a monster...cheers

I was wondering when you'd notice the new avatar

Fish on...

Todd

This World's Best Boat Ho just convinced TJ to take the day off from fishing tomorrow.



Even us Ho's don't like to see their clients die off due to exhaustion, etc.

Coop's angry at me because he lost a fish today due to a Vision hook that broke on him. I did offer to sell him a thousand pack of the hooks FOR CHEAP, though!

As far as I know, I'll be at work tomorrow.

I think he'd be better off buying a 100 pack from me

Fish on...

Todd

It probably didn't help when I told him that I had switched to your hooks for the salt.

My first and last Vision hook break was on a 5/0 octopus on a coho. Big fish, broke in half at the shank...and I was pissed... Last one I ever used. Sorry.

Why should you be sorry?

I just happen to have a large stockpile of the hooks and have never had one break one me, or bend out on a fish. The 7/0 and 8/0's I used up on the Kenai were great! Sharp as hell and landed some beauty fish with no damage whatsoever to the hooks.

But, I'll be the first person to say that I use gear that works for me, regardless of who makes it.

It's just hard to justify replacing 5,000+ hooks for no other reason than what someone else said or did.

Now, the day I lose a trophy fish because the hook busted is probaby the day you'll see 'em all up for sale on the board.

PS. I will say that the fish I've hooked on the hootchies this year with the RVRFSHR 4/0 octopus hooks have all been flat pinned by BOTH hooks! Just murder on the fish!

Not too impressed by running a siwash on the coho killer, though. I've lost a couple of nice fish now while using a sickle siwash. Don't know why what is. I know TBJ has had some bad luck with 'em on the CK too. What's up with that? Bad luck, I suppose.

I've had good luck keeping fish pinned on the sickle siwash. I've been using the 1/O hook to go with the coho killers. Larger hooks for the larger spoons.
Neal

I think there are a few factors to consider if you are using spoons to troll behind a downrigger...

First, make sure the hook is properly sized for the lure...it should allow the spoon all its action, but be big enough to get a mouthful of hook rather than just a mouthful of metal when the fish hits it. Like Neil, I think the 1/0 might be the best size for a Coho Killer, maybe a 2/0 in some situations.

Second, don't be weasly with your downrigger clip...get it on there tight! For a fish to pop the downrigger, it should mostly be hooked solidly before you ever touch the rod.

Third, use a long and limber enough rod on your downrigger to take up as much of the slack as possible that is created when the 'rigger pops.

Combine all those things together and your hit to hookup to land ratios ought to improve.

Fish on...

Todd

Too funny.

Well hell. That explains it all!

That 8/0 sickle siwash on the coho killer is too big, huh?

I like to set the line at the very edge of the clip - just to be sure it pops off the clip when that 3" shaker grabs it.

You saying my BBR 966 is too stiff as a rigger rod? I like lots of slack in the line as it keeps the rod from bending too much therefore reduces the odds of me breaking it.

WWTD? He'll tell you what to do, how to do it, and what you're doing wrong, even if you're not doing anything wrong!

Vision hooks SUCK!!!!!










Just thought I'd throw that in here for ol' time's sake...

Done VERY well on the sickle siwash with spoons (actually practically every hookup came to hand) but I have had some challenges getting solid hookups using the same with plugs. My thought was that the shank was a hair shorter than other siwash hooks I use.

Must clarify this was while fishing for steelhead not salt!

On the topic of broken hooks... I was fishing with a guide in Thailand who targeted big (and I mean BIG) Mekong Catfish. I broke a hook while we were fishing and he explained that it happens when the hook doesn't get "set" all the way through the bone. His theory is that the hook only penetrates slightly and hooks are designed to bear all the weight at the bend, not the tip. BTW what size hooks are you guys using on your coho killers and coyotes? I replaced mine with Owners and a nice king popped off at the surface a couple weeks ago. I'm a little nervous about using too big a hook and spoiling the action. The newer coho killers seem to have a decent hook.

I've had several bigger fish peel line and then zippo they're gone with the sickle siwash lately. I've also boated some nice fish but I'd have to say the jury is still out on them for me. I run a 2/0 on the CK and 3.5 Coyote and 3/0 on everything else. I have a few CK's rigged with 1/0 but I won't use them till the Coho show in numbers to avoid them rusting.

I run a Lami CG and a Penn Intl with braid and crank that SOB to the water line. That rod is loaded and when it pops there is a hookset. I have more 'sperimentin' to do with the sickles but other than they look badazz I want some better landing ratios.

They worked well today, no complaints as long as you or the system you use pegs that hook they dont come out once buried IMO...cheers

"I've had several bigger fish peel line and then zippo they're gone with the sickle siwash lately. "

me too!

That happened to Doc steelhead fishing with me this spring, three times in a row, and since I had a front row(er's) seat to watch it, I can say that even when two of them were taking line, they had not been well hooked...if any hook is not "in there", it won't stay no matter what you do before or after...

Once they're pinned, they're pinned, but especially when trolling it's a little harder to make sure the hook is fully sunk, at least when using downriggers.

So far as I can tell, it's just one of the costs of using 'riggers...sometimes fish just don't get hooked. If you're getting more bites fishing that way, and you land the ones that are fully pinned, then I think the math works out pretty well in your favor still!

The wire diameter difference between the 1/0 and 2/0 is pretty significant...consider using a 1/0, especially on the smaller lures like a Coho Killer, and I bet that they will penetrate quicker and easier.

Fish on...

Todd

I've been running the 1/0 on the CK and have been impressed, albeit a small sample size of four fish, and nothing over 15#, but still 100% is well 100%.

I just switched to the sickle siwash on some of my jigs. I started the day of at 2 landed for 6 hookups on Gami siwash and ended the day at 4 for 4 on the SS. Still a small sample, but I'm gonna start with them next time.

Todd, the back to back that you and sky-guy showed in the photo, my hooks seem to come up often side by side or interlocked. Do you think the swivel is to small or are you going right to the split ring? Probably be putting another order in soon. What kind of discount does a few quality photos get me? Had to ask...

Since it's changed to a hook topic...
We went 5/5 on the sickle siwash last saturday and ALL lines will be running sickle hooks this saturday!!! Including the Royal Flash on the flat line...

7/25 just got back from Jeff Head. 2 small kings 9-10 pounds each, 1 pink slime rocket about 5 pounds and 1 coho about 5 pounds. Lost a few too. Time for a nap. TBJ OUT!

My 8 year old and I hit PnP for 3 hours this morning. Fished through the 7:20 incoming and hit an 8-9lb blackmouth and a chumpie. Had another drive by that didn't stick. We'll hit it again in the AM.

Almost forgot...

If the guy in the big ass LUHRS cruiser reads this,get your head out of your ass. Just because you're bigger than anyone else out there doesn't mean you own the damn water. Take your boat off auto pilot and pay attention to WTF you're doing.

My son and I started late this morning, but our first pass on the water produced a nice ten pound clipped king for the box. We released a legal sized unclipped blackmouth on the next pass then it was all over. Good to see Spud and RognSue on the water today. We will probably be out tomorrow morning and give TBJ some company over at Jeff.

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Good looking boy. We are heading out tonight to try our luck around Shilshole. I'm bringing TBird and Summerrun for luck! Need some.

Hit area 10/11 off Southworth yesterday morning, 14lb hatchery chinook

Saw 3 or more boats with atleast one fish...

Will post pics later

3 rods 0 fish. Lost a 10+ at Shilshole this morning. We did get to watch Captain Q and his Son land that fish so the day wasn't a total bust! Way to go you 2 and nice to meet you.

My son and I launched at Edmonds this morning (7/25) fished Edmonds breakwater to the oil docks, Point No Point, and Posession Bar. Hoochies, Ace Hi, and Coho Killers, varied depth 65 - 125 feet, and speed 2.5 - 3.5. Went home empty handed. Lost count of skunk days this year. Bad voodoo.

Aaron

Ended a seasons long skunk streak with a 15+ lb clipped nook today.

12 hr day yesterday from Jeff head-Skunk bay. Friend got a nice 10+ hatchery king @ first light. I went 3 for 4 on Humpies (1@ president's point,rest @ Pt no Pt on a green flasher/whole herring). Lost the one when the rod went off in mid piss. Saw someone's hot girlfriend mooch up a nice king in the middle of the traffic jam @ pt no pt....Humpies were immediatly bled/cleaned/iced and are just about to enter the smoker. Yum...

Team Q had an exceptional day today out on the water in MA10. Six fish on this morning and limited with four kings of 8, 10, 17 and 20 pounds. All were chrome so it looks as though a fresh batch of fish has moved in. Purple haze Hotspot and purple haze hoochie did the trick. Fish were caught at 70' to 100' on the rigger. We'll be out again tomorrow morning trying to cool off.

Just got home from a bunch of running around and doing errands after fishing. Fished the NorthWest Point of Bainbridge today with herring and sliding sinker mooching rigs. First thing this morning my nephew who is here from Florida see's his rod tip bury in the water. After some serious coaching and some spectacular jumps we netted his biggest fish so far. A beauty 25 pound hen hatchery king. He cant even hold it straight out for a good picture. Later while trying to burn up the bait I was giving my Dad who is also here from Florida some drift mooching lessons when I watch him getting a bite that developed in to a 10 - 12 pound hatchery king. I baited hooks, drove the boat, netted the fish today, and had as much fun as they did. -TBJ

Great report, way to put the crew on the fish!

Good day to be on the water. Got twin 15 pounders and discovered they were actually triplets while fishing for my two remaining pinks. off by 7am. I think it was my new fishing partner

Think Coop and TBJ have put in more hours than most this season, nice to see the effort paying off with some chromers...cheers

Damn, I've been replaced by a dog

Nice work Coop, we loved the pup!

Nice job and good looking partner.

great lookin pup!


revisiting the sickles, I am done with them. fished a capt downriggin spoon yesterday with a sickle and lost 5 fish on it. i am thinking of either running back to back sickles or tying up a couple of 4/0 gamis to run as a pair behind the spoon. i know i am not the only one losing fish on spoons this year. there has to be a way to improve the hookup to landed ratio.

A lot better looking too. I first thought the kennel was a crab pot...nice fish!

Thats why I dont like to use flashers for summer kings, and run cutplug herring because of fish coming unglued. The flasher works the barbless hook out of there mouth, atleast that is what I thought it was. For blackmouth I like spoons and attach the flasher to the downrigger and run the spoon close and hardly lose a fish.
I guess I just got tired of fish peeling line and coming off using flashers an dont have that problem as much as I dont use them hardly anymore.

Nice looking pup Sup.
Have fun with the next 6 mos of chewing!
Mine is finally done with that at 1 year old.

Also if trolling against the current you need to leave the boat in gear while playing the fish. Take it out of gear and you are backing down on him providing slack.

i hear you rockfish. I will try fishing a straight spoon tonight and see what happens. I agree that it is the flasher and i am so sick and tired of fish peeling line and then just coming unbuttoned. i am not losing fish on my hootchies though so there must be some way to make them stick with a spoon better than they have been.
I love to fish cutplugs but hate paying for it.

D3, I'm not sure why you're loosing fish, that's weird using the sickles. For Coyote's, we run a split ring, barrel swivel, then the 3/0 sickle, Coho killers, we take the ring off, put our own split ring on, barrel swivel, then a 2/0 sickle. Ace-Hi's and hootchies, we run 18 to 26" of leader, double 3/0 sickles with beads between the two hooks and the trailer hook being behind the hootchie itself or Ac-Hi and we RARELY loose a fish, like hardly ever. All are ran with 40 pound test leader. We switched to this last year and have excellent results on summer kings and blackmouth, like almost perfect results, I can hardly think of a fish we did loose. We do run a tight drag too, sometimes when too much line gets taken off for a peeler the line angle can pull a hook, or the fish turns with bad line angle and can pull a hook, but I'm sure you already know that. I just can't believe your loosing that many fish. Maybe it's just a streak of bad luck. I hope that changes soon for ya. The only fish we lost this year was one Vedder had on, it was a small blackmouth or humpy, I'm saying humpy, and he didn't take it too serious and pretty much tried to loose it, which he did by the boat, mostly cuz he didn't want to be know for catching skanks.

I do the same thing with the split rings and swivles. I have been running the custom capt downriggin kingfishers and some coho killers when i go up north. The only thing i see different is my leader length which has been at 30-36 for hootchies and 40-46 for spoons. 40# maxima or #50 ande flouro. i am setting my clips as tight as possible and deep. I have never had so many hard take downs as i have this year, litterally having rods pinned into the rod holder and peeling line, only to come unpinned... i hope its just bad luck but i am going to try some other hook combos and see what happens.

Must be some bad luck D3, which sucks, but will turn around soon and hopefully the luck turns the other way. There has been some vicious take downs this year and some BIG fish, including a couple of pigs taken at mid-channel yesterday, though it was not hot there. We have had two break offs where the fish hit so hard, burried the rod, released and broke the leader, I like them vicious hits and it's worth the leader breakage to see the hit. Pretty much as good as a burried K16.

pehaps its the longer leader when using spoons behind flashers. I experienced the same with spoons two yrs ago. Switched to the JIm's BreakaWay flasher for spoons and it improved my landing percentage on spoons. 48", 30lb leader on spoons, sickle siwash from RvrFisher. Love the hook.

No problems with lost fish on hoochies-Ace Hi's & Hot Spot flasher. But much shorter leader used; 28-34".

Sounds like just one of them days D3. Take into account that you losing 5 fish in one day is waayyyy better than most get to see. Doesnt make it any easier, but hey [censored] happens. Next day out you will land 100% and not even think twice.

Rico, why do you use a bead between the hooks? I don't, and am confused how it helps (is it just a visual, or mechanical thing?)

I use the beads first cuz in lessons the chewing of the leader between the two hooks so the trailer hook has less a chance of getting worn off on some teeth, but mostly for more color, I use neon green beads with some bright pink beads mixed in the middle, sometimes red. All I know is when I set it up this way, I was catching fish, so I just keep doing it ya know, one of those things, and I keep telling people I fish with to do it too. The Ace_Hi looks awesome in the water with the beads, I know it doesn't look the same 120' down, but hey, it works so I'm sticking to it. But then again, whatever ya fish with the most is probably gonna work the best for ya. You know how that goes.

1 8# hatchery Nookie bonked near President tonight.... much slower than it should be in general!

Yeah, I do the same thing with mine, red and green beads with a glow bead thrown in as well. It was working so I stuck with it. . ..

Picked up a pink and had two BIG takedowns this AM around Edmonds, but never saw either of the fish we missed. One was peeling line and then just gone (echoing some earlier posts) on a coho killer. So disappointing with relatively few fish this year to lose them.

Did see/hear of maybe 2 other kings boated today, but most folks seemed empty handed.