Chinook/Humpy Shipwreck report.

Yes, I fish for humpies. We have launched at 6am for the last 2 days and been limited on Pinks by 730am. all fish have been coming 75ft down on the downrigger with the standard white flasher and pink hootchie in 200' of water along Humpy Hollow. A great way to get my 2 boys out fishing especially with the flat calm water we have had. Both days we have also C n R'd 5 Chinook averaging about 15lbs will trolling. All of the kings were Natives.

I was actually trying for chinook this weekend Saturday but it became a pain trying to wade through the Pinks at each location I tried. My neighbor has been hitting the Apple cove area hard and has been boating a few decent Silvers in the 6-10 lb range.

The sealions have been bad all around MA 9 and 8-2. We had them stealing fish while fishing Edmonds, Shipwreck and the Midchannel area.

Also to the boats with Kids, I have a few words of advice,

#1 Do not let a child under 10 drive the boat when you are not paying attention. I was almost hit twice by a huge bayliner with a small boy "driving", or should I say steering by himself while staring back and seeing what his dad was doing.

#2 I am pretty sure it is the law for all Children 12 and under to wear a Lifevest. So for the half dozen boats with small kids (most under 6 years old) I saw today that had no lifevests on, Please get a clue about safety. I don't care how big your boat is or how calm the water is, A small child with no lifevest on the saltwater is not only illegal but also a stupid move on the parents part.

The pinks are in and a great activity for the kids. My boys are hooked.

Thats actually not the law.

Kids 12 and under need to be wearing a PFD only on boats that are 19' and under while underway

If the kids are in a fully enclosed area on a 19' or under boat while underway then they aren't required to wear a PFD either.

Not that letting your kids go PFDless is a smart move though. My kids wear their PFD before they set foot on the dock.

Paul 12,

I went out for pinks at shipwreck on fri when the bite turned off (lost a nice 20+ at the boat.

I too was almost tagged by a kid (12) steering his dads boat, looking back at dad and not what was in front of him. Its always good to let your kid have some responsibility and learn the tricks of the trade. As long as their supervised......

Anyways,
Good to hear you caught fish, and the kids had fun...

Paul,
I agree 100% with you on the PFD thing. Are you a Black Hull sailor?

If its humpies you are targeting try ditching the dodger and go with a rod rated for 4-8 lb line. They will bite cut plug herring or spoons and using the rig I described they will give a good tussle - waaaay better than Lake Washington sockeye.

When Chinnok fishing, I was only targeting them, but the pinks seemed to love the Chinook gear. I was pulling flashers with ace hi flies, Hootchies, coho killers, herring and the pinks hit all of it. I found that when targeting the Pinks, they are biting more with a bit faster speed than normal. I don't see a problem trolling pink gear and Chinook gear at the same time. They are similar speed fishing.

Washington muley- I was. I just left the CGC Fir in Astoria in June and Transferred back up here to Seattle at the MSST at Pier 36.

Dave -
I agree that pinks on that lighter tackle can be a blast. However over the years I have noticed that once they begin staging at Humpy Hollow prior to running up the river they become less agressive and Chinook/coho tactics become less effective.

It is at that point that things like the dodger and squid become more effective; also those staging fish seem to hold deeper. However that doesn't mean that you can't still use lighter tackle. At that stage the fish seem to prefer slower troll speeds so it is easy to fish "0" dodgers on ligth steelhead tackle (10# line) off the downrigger with the appropriate release. Another option is use dummy flashers/dodgers of the downrigger ball with a standard kokanee outfit with a 4 inch dodger/squid set 4 feet or so above the dummy; that is my plan the next trip to the hollow and I suspect those "slimers" will be a handful.

In the same areas the some of the fish will school near the shore where they can provide some excellent sport on things like casted jigs/buzz bombs or flies though at the "hollow" the trolling game seems to be more consistent. If one is looking for the shore game on the inner sound you might try fishing off the typically sea-run cutthroat beach near the pink's home rivers. However the pinks will often be a little further off shore (especially at mid-day) so fishing from a boat might provide more consistent fishing.

Enjoy these excellent game fish; after all they are only hear every other year.

BTW - noticed on WDFW's website that on Sunday the Everett creel check was 261 boats with 8 Chinook, 20 coho and over a thousand pinks - game on!

Tight lines
Curt