NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Washington Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: Trident 13 on November 28, 2017, 08:06:49 AM
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There's a theory (PNW weather prediction) the weather and tides might be good for a Sunday, 12-3-17 launch at Meadow Garden. There's an early low of about 6 ft. A 7-8 AM launch at the beach should allow a shallow(er) morning troll while riding the last few hours of the outgoing tide north around the area of the green buoy on the point until 10:15 when the high slack is 12 ft. During the slack it should be easier jigging a little deeper near the point while riding the flood back around about noon. The forecast is for a SE 5 mph wind which should help keep things calmer for that area so it looks like a good potential combo troll/jigging morning. That's my plan if anyone is interested in joining, should be a pretty easy day if you're getting your salt on if the theory holds.
Have no idea if any fish are being caught (anyone been out?), but I need some paddling time.
This is an older pic but shows the area and theory.
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Pretty slow out there. Not many fish being checked in. Blackmouth being caught are 20 to 21 inches. You'll have better luck jigging squid.
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Good to hear from you Brad, and THANKS, that was encouraging, lol.
Might break out the ultra light gear. My favorite jigging pole is a cheap berkly ultra light 48" casting rod with a Penn 109 reel set to direct drive. Hard on the fingers but exciting.
I'm hoping to pick up one of the shimano jigs others are having luck with. I'm getting the full range of gear use after using ultralights at Sliver Lake for crapppie, then telephone poles while casting crab snares at the Ilwaco Jetty and dodging surf and now maybe back to ultralights for small jacks. C&R is fun on the light gear anyway and I'll hope some grew an inch by Sunday?
Hoping to get some parts from Penn for my Penn Battle II which pooped the bed while pulling in the crab snares. Hand over hand with braided line while hanging onto slippery rocks on the jetty was exciting, but I saved the $2 homemade but effective snare. "Larry" at Penn Customer service was very helpful and while the reel is out of warranty, $11 and free shipping got me all new gears in the mail and hopefully here by Friday/Saturday.
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My plans are firming up and unless something significant changes, plan on launching about 7:30, catching the outgoing tide around the green buoy jigging and then catching the flood back toward shilshole after the 10 or so slack. Wind forecasthas dropped to 3 mph from the ESE which is a great direction for that area. It doesn't get much easier iin the winter and it should be pretty calm if any new folks want to test the salt.
White camo Trident 13 blue/gold kokatak suit. Optimistic with the new Shimano Butterfly Flat-Fall jigs and likely a WAY oversized net sticking up for typical winter blackmouth size, lol. If anyone comes, make sure you have 22" measuring capability, PM me if you have any questions. There is a reasonably nice bathroom to change in/use that opens at 6. Be cautious if you launch early as the shoreline to the buoy is reasonably close to the outgoing run for PB out of the marina. A light for early AM is good and be alert.
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I picked up a couple Point Wilson darts to use on Sunday, but they all came with treble hooks with barbs. To use these, I'll need to swap out the hooks to single point hooks and either use barbless or make them barbless, right?
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I picked up a couple Point Wilson darts to use on Sunday, but they all came with treble hooks with barbs. To use these, I'll need to swap out the hooks to single point hooks and either use barbless or make them barbless, right?
Correct.
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There are lots of Siwash style hooks, I usually use a 2/0 size. There are many brands, some stainless and others dark. I was surprised to see the dual hooks on the Shimano Butterfly Flat-Fall are pretty short. Long enough that I bit, but they have a whole different hook setup. I usually tie directly to the jig with a single hook on the bottom. I've seen folks attaching a hook on top and bottom. I did hook one on the top hook, but it also seems to catch the main line if jigging aggressively. Some will remove all hooks and bend the eye on the top and bottom the same direction and then run the mainline through both and tie off to a hook of choice. Important to put a bead between the hook and jig and regularly check your tie for fray as the jig will pound the knot otherwise. This allows you to use the Pt Wilson Dart more like a modified buzz bomb, which I use occasionally in lighter tide flows. All part of the game.
I do suggest that if you buy a package of Siwash (or any salmon hook for that purpose), grab a brew of choice while watching TV and bend all the barbs back so you don't get a surprise when fishing on the water.
Different folks will swear on any given one of these, so pick your choice. Mine has been the white 2-3 ounce Pt Wilson Dart, but now I've mortgaged my first born on two of the butterflies. So if you hear a loud scream out on the water, give me a moment as I'll have lost one:-O
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Nice to hear if others have even more variations.
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I wish I could go on Sunday. Maybe next time will work better for my schedule. I'm curious to see how you do, and how well those jigs work!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Raven, I’ll sing like a canary with the results, but it might cost a reciprocal brewsky at that lake city brewery. We might have enough new folks to have a crew. Good to here from you. I’ll post up the results.
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If I'm using 30lb braid for my main line for jigging tomorrow, what weight mono or flourocarbon leader should I use and how long should it be?
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I use 20 lb mono and leave it about 24 inches long. While I try to avoid hooking bottom, if that's where they are that's where I go. I can break off that two feet with the jig (with tears if its one of the Butterflies, lol) and save the braid.
If you do hang, make sure you wrap the braid around something other than your hand. That lb test (same I'm using) will easily snap a pole or REALLY cut your hand even through gloves. I attach leaders with swivels to several favorite jig styles before going out so it's a quick click to switch. My Trident has a couple of what I assume are strengthening and/or lure holding troughs on the deck hole covers. I lay a couple of favorites in those and click the swivel to the line securing the cover to the kayak to keep them from getting washed out.
I recognize the potential hazard if I'm suddenly upside down but feel pretty good about breaking free if needed. When you attach anything to your deck, it's always a good idea to PAPA (Pause, Assess, Plan, make sure you're comfortable in your Action if needed) and think about a recovery from the worst position (upside under the yak) and think your way out. Anything such as down-riggers, depth finders, pole holders, paddle leashes, etc. can hold you under or restrict re-entry and it's especially important to think about what risk you're willing to take, especially in winter.
Two people help, but holding your breath for 10 minutes while I pull in a nice fish is tough :fish:
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Was psyched to join this session, then found out other duties were scheduled for mid morning. Did get one of those butterfly's and some stingers at OE, hoping to try out soon.
Good luck all and look forward to hearing the reports!
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Got the jigs (see pic above for one) and will try for a 730 launch looking for anyone else. Will post up. Should be interesting. Parts for one of my reels didn’t come and I’m bring the old single action knuckle buster along with a stiff 5 ft bass rod with a penn 109. Hoping to meet Jason
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Had a really great day with Jason. Much appreciated. Had to laugh as it was his first trip and he hooked up trolling out to our chosen jig Area right away. LOTS of shaker coho and black mouth. WFGD made a slow pass around me just asking if they were small ones but didnt check gear or license. The watched me release about a 19-20 inch black mouth after a pass by it with my measure stick. Excellent weather and Jason was still peddling when I left. Butterflies seemed pretty effective, but I suspect a table spoon might have had some hits as well. Don’t think I like the short double line-connected hooks. Kept two under 20 coho that were fatally hooked. Will be switching one to a single siwash and comparing. Just looking over the side in calm clear water I could easily see them on the fall at 10-15 feet. Only had a couple of foul hooks to the main line.
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Many thanks to Trident 13 for all the help to this newbie. I learned a lot today. I caught my first chinook salmon ever... and also my 10th. :)
Unfortunately, they were all just barely too small to keep. I had two that were 21 1/2 inches, and a couple others that were right at 21 inches. I figured out the chinook catching method right after Trident 13 left and kept hoping that I'd get one or two that would just barely squeak over the 22 inch minimum, but it was not to be. I lost more than I caught trying to be extra careful knowing that I would be releasing most (ended up releasing all). The only ones that went in the net were the ones that I thought might make the cut. I only saw one bleeding at all, and it didn't see to be much. My right arm is aching from jigging and pulling up fish. I think next time I'll take two fishing rods, one with a right-handed reel and one with a left-handed reel....
So.. how quickly do chinook salmon grow? When all of those have put on another inch or two, I'll be set. ;D
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Nice reports, a lot of action out there! Sounds like it was jigging over trolling kind of day? Didn't have the time to take advantage of most of the day unfortunately hope to catch you guys out some other time.
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I think Trident 13 went there intending to jig with his new Shimano jigs after he trolled a bit to find the fish. I went there ready to try whatever would let me catch fish, and once I saw the bait balls and wasn't getting hits trolling I started dropping jigs on their heads until they bit in self-defense. :)
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Jigging over trolling by design along with a jigging friendly tide. Jason learned the hunt and seek method by dropping low, waiting for a passing bait ball to drift over and pulling up and even through it very quickly before it broke up or went past. There would have been a lot of maneuvering to troll through them. The tide/minimal wind actually made it a good day to have tried up by you off the Kingston ferry. Weather looks good next week although a huge tide. Could hit shilshole again and launch from the parking lot and ride it north for a bit, pound the slack and ride the flood back but that tide makes the green can at nisqually, Kingston and Edmonds a little frisky unless you hit the short slack. Some nighttime 15-16 foot tides this week. That’s dang near river fishing.
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Yea I was able to drop a trap for a little bit and got a couple of crab but didn't get to do much fishing. With those swings I may just try to hit that short slack window and see what happens if I do get out.
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Smoke and Jason, if you look at this "current" chart and take the time to figure it out by checking the Seattle tide and cross referencing where you're thinking, you'll see that the inside Shilshole typically has a circular current even if the tide is ripping.
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/washu/washuc77001/washuc77001_part2.pdf (http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/washu/washuc77001/washuc77001_part2.pdf)
If the wind isn't bad, a little careful management allows you to ride in circles, kinda. it's the same around Point-No-Point which is notorious for current. There's a great launch that never received a ramp (?) right near the point with nice restrooms to change into. If that marine area is open, you can paddle out, ride the rip (don't go to far out and watch for shipping lane waves) you can circle right around. There's even a little restaurant reachable from a beach pull out for a meal or what-ever makes you brave.
If you change the #2 in the link to 1, 2 or 3 you can use the link to move around other area in Puget sound to watch current tendencies. Don't bet your life on this, but it's more accurate than not. There are hiding places in big tides around shilshole where the currents will push and hold bait. Edmonds/Kingston? Not so much.
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I think I'm going to head back down to Shilshole Bay in the morning. I'm also considering using the boat ramp to launch instead of the beach. I didn't mind having to wash all the saltwater off as much as dealing with the sand in and on everything. I don't mind walking the kayak from the non-trailer spots over to the boat ramp in return for not having to deal with the sand. I picked up a few new jigs, including an 80-gram Shimano brand butterfly flat fall jig and a 100-gram (the smallest they make) butterfly flat fall jig from Reeldiculous fishing on Amazon. I've got the new Cold Water low profile line counter reel on a medium heavy rod with 40-lb braid, so I should be able to be set up well for both trolling and jigging. I hope the chinooks are there like last week, so I can do some jig testing. I have at least six jigs I want to work through on testing. I'm interested to see if the slower fall of the flat fall jigs to stay in the strike zone longer is worth it taking longer to get down to where the fish are as they are schooling through with the bait.
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Best of luck Jason. You’ve got a good plan. At this point even after a large x mas party I’m still planning to tap sammamish got the first time ever. Have the new low profile 350 okuma and the rebuilt pan battle II spinning reel to test out. I’ll bring the downrigger but have it on good knowledge cuts might be near the top.
Looking forward to hering how you do.
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Not sure if that was you I saw out there getting your salmon taken by the seal Jason, sun was so bright out there. They were a problem all morning long for sure. I had a fairly late start but got into some undersized ones right away on a crippled herring that were easy to pop off with no issues.
Swapped to a p-line and a point wilson for a bit which got shakers and flounder then the current during incoming made jigging with the light ones I had with me impossible so had to eventually call it. Water got pretty choppy about then as well but still manageable.
All in all a pretty nice day out, looking forward to getting my battery for my finder which should help things a bit.
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Not sure if that was you I saw out there getting your salmon taken by the seal Jason, sun was so bright out there. They were a problem all morning long for sure. I had a fairly late start but got into some undersized ones right away on a crippled herring that were easy to pop off with no issues.
Swapped to a p-line and a point wilson for a bit which got shakers and flounder then the current during incoming made jigging with the light ones I had with me impossible so had to eventually call it. Water got pretty choppy about then as well but still manageable.
All in all a pretty nice day out, looking forward to getting my battery for my finder which should help things a bit.
That wasn't me that got the fish stolen. That was user "Dawn Patrol" who posted about in another thread.
Blackmouth from Kayak (http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=20046.new)
I was out yesterday at Shilshole Bay from about 8am to 2pm. I launched from the boat ramp instead of the beach, which I liked much better thanks to not having to deal with sand in/on everything. I started out trolling just like the week before. I hooked up on 18 to 21 inch chinook three times in a row trolling through one specific area just out from the mouth of the sheltered harbor area. I was using a green/red/white 3.5 coyote spoon with a 42" leader behind a 3oz banana weight. As I was letting out line for a fourth fish, I evidently let it out a little too quickly and hit bottom, where the spoon got snagged up and broke off. I had another spoon of the same model/size in 50/50 green and chrome, but I decided to get started with the jig testing instead.
Over the next several hours, I tried an assortment of vertical jigs. For each of them, I was using 40lb braid to a #4 snap swivel, with a 42" leader of 20lb flouro to a double snap (to make it easy to switch jigs). I waited until I saw a bait ball or individual larger fish on the fish finder and then immediately dropped a jig down to that depth or just below (or bottom if it was within a few feet of the fish finder marks) according to my line counter reel and jigged vertically. The fish were in 40 to 65 feet of water and the marks varied from 25 feet down to the bottom.
I'll write up more later when I'm not at work, but the star of the day was a blue/chrome Gibbs 2oz crippled herring jig. It had by far the highest ratio of hits. More than half the time I dropped it into bait or individual larger fish, I got a hit on it. In hindsight, that probably shouldn't be a surprise since most of the bait was herring.
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Glad to hear the crippled herring was the right choice out there ;D! Yea I actually saw Dawn Patrol getting towed away but there was another guy who was posted up next to me during that time who also got taken, thought it might have been you.
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Nope.. I had a big one following me around for at least 30 minutes. I kept moving slowly away from the seal and caught two fish during that time and had them to the boat in about 10 seconds or less, thumbing the spool hard to completely stop any runs before they got going. Neither time did the seal show up at the kayak and only once did I see it cross under me on the fish finder. I was getting farther away from the area that I wanted to fish and I finally decided that I might as well get a good video of the seal staying so close to me, so I turned around and headed back toward that area which happened to be the same direction that the seal was. It surfaced again facing away from me soon after I changed direction and turned to face me in time to see me getting closer than I think it expected me to be (but still 20+ feet away). As I stopped pedaling, it visibly panicked and turned away from me to jet away. I never saw it surface again.
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Crap. Just as I was tieing up cutthroat gear I noticed a favorable tide off shilshole. Late notice, and I’m still feeling rage need to hit cuts, but an early tide could make for a good time to offer the fur burgers a meal off golden gardens. Just checking interest on short notice
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I'd love to but I have a couple shooting matches tomorrow that I'm both shooting in and helping run. I also have two matches on sunday that I'm the match director for, so no chasing fish for me this weekend. I start a 2-week vacation next Wednesday or Thursday, though, so I'll be up for fishing then.
Also, if I didn't have those shooting matches tomorrow, I'd probably be headed down to Portland for the kayak sturgeon event. That sounds like a LOT of fun. ;D
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Curious what folks are finding about the time of day and the tide effecting the bite off Shilshole. The AM seems better, but then again I haven't fished the PM. Anyone?
This is the tide today.
This is the tide today:
4:56 AM high 12.17 ft.
10:06 AM low 7.36 ft.
3:07 PM high 12.18 ft.
10:15 PM low -3.29 ft.
Would have been an easy outgoing tide from dawn to 10 AM, maybe 30+- minutes slack and then an easy incoming till 3 PM.
However, from 3 PM to 10 PM there's a huge 15+ foot outgoing that would make it pretty tough. I'm not talking about night fishing. But if it was a huge incoming tide during the morning, when I might normally pass as that's a lot of current, it seems it would create a big back eddy toward the entrance to the marina allowing fishing in that area? It might also push any bait to the south of the green buoy and create a circle in the pocket in front of the beach house where we tend to hook up quite often.
Lately it been fishing when there's time and dealing with the environment as best as possible. Just wondering if anyone is charting or interested in charting catches and noting time and tide tendencies.
For new comers, this is the area I'm referencing:
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I fished today from about 9am to 1pm. Thought the forecast looked awesome with low winds and a pretty small tide swing during that time would be ideal. The sun was shining but the winds picked up a lot more than forecasted and kicked up some good waves. I also didn't feel much of a slack today, call me crazy but it seemed like the water was pushing me towards the marina the whole damned time. Also nice to meet you out there ballardbrad, man was I envious of your peddle kayak today!
Didn't get a lot of quality fishing time, spent most of it paddling back to reposition and eventually had to pack it in as my arms were calling it quits. Only hooked up with one good fish the whole time and it shook me off with a great arial display, with several others after tossing the hook to truly let me know it wasn't my day. I am 0/3 so far on my keeper-sized blackmouth so far lol. The rest were shakers and flounders, per usual.
The last few times I've fished golden gardens I've hit it around 7-9am to start and finished off around 12-2pm. There seems to be a good bite right off the bat every time (except today) and then another as the water picks up after the middle slack and the one I got into today would fit that description, probably around 11ish maybe?
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Good meeting you SmokeOnDaWater. It was a little tough out there with the wind and waves. I gave up soon after running into you and pedaled back through the marina. Wish I had brought my Sabiki Rig. The herring schools completely blocked out my screen on multiple occasions. There's got to be a couple keepers in the mix. I landed one undersize and the other shook off. I had squid gear but the wind and chop made it difficult to stay on top of anything vertical. I landed a couple surf perch earlier. Thought about hitting it today but got stuck running errands. Maybe Thursday.
Here's my report and pics: https://www.facebook.com/KayakFishingWashington/posts/1015303871941247
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Full confession, fished GG on a motorized boat today. That said hoping some of the feedback may be useful for the kayak program. Caught 10 or so, mostly wild,1 keeper hatchery fish. All were near the bottom in 110-160', on Irish cream, white/cop car spoons or coho killers. And an Army Truck Hoochie.
Interestingly a lot of the strikes were where/when there were no marks on the FF. I spoke to a guy yesterday in Anacortes who had had good success and likewise all his were w/o marks. We targeted a lot of fish marked btw 25-70' but no action there. Most fish caught in vicinity of dropped pin in pic attached.
Did see a good bit of bait, birds. See attached pic from bait in stomach of keeper. Like Smoke's experience yesterday, conditions on the water were far worse than the forecast, which was pretty mild.
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Thanks for the report. I think I saw you out there. Sounds like the fish are pretty deep.
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Wish I had brought my Sabiki Rig.
Good reports and thanks. I haven't used a Sabiki rig for years since I had my PB, and it might be interesting in a kayak any smaller than Brads land yacht, lol. Here is a picture and a link to a pretty good description:
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https://www.theonlinefisherman.com/how-to-fish/using-a-sabiki (https://www.theonlinefisherman.com/how-to-fish/using-a-sabiki)
When I used them before I dropped a weight inside a pool tube and wound the hooks/line around it until I could hook the pole swivel back through a hook. If I did it on a kayak I think I'd secure it inside a 2 quart bag as the guy in the video is right, the hooks are a PITA, but they work well. Would be a good way to catch a lot of herring and freeze them for later use.
If the weather theory for Saturday is right, 8-10 winds out of the South can make for a challenging paddle in the GG area area as the wave wrap round the southern point and roll in, but it's something I'm going to take a look at.
The tide looks like an early launch would be best. If the wind is from the south, the flood tide might help hold you against the wind in the fish area Smoke pointed out, but might become a challenge later when the ebb tide combines with the wind to carry you north.
You can end up paddling 1.5-2 MPH to hold steady, but, it you're in the fish area and trolling, you'll have some bait movement, although expect a pretty flat line out behind. By 10:30/11 fishing might be tougher than early. Sunday provides a little later window in the morning, and Saturday afternoon also provides a low tide about 3 PM that might work, and could also be a bit warmer. Have not fished later in the PM, but...if we're exploring winter blackmounth, maybe.
Hope this helps some newer folks get some ideas of how to look at the wind, tide currents and other factors to plan some trips. Some good stuff to go over during the meeting on Sunday the 14th in north Seattle. Look for Seattle Meetup post.
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Will be watching the weather/wind on Saturday and Sunday. Outside of cold, will be hoping for a wind from the Easter/SE. With the tides smoking between a low of -1.1 and a high of 12.7 Saturday morning about 8:39, have to wonder if that will push a bunch of bait south around the corner of Meadow Gardens into the Marina entrance hole? Sunday will be a little later high providing a bit more time. As a rule I'd done better on an incoming tide there (and most places).
Sa 6 Low 1:24 AM -1.1 7:57 AM Set 11:01 AM 81
6 High 8:39 AM 12.7 4:34 PM Rise 10:37 PM
6 Low 2:47 PM 5.1
6 High 7:51 PM 9.2
Su 7 Low 2:13 AM 0.4 7:57 AM Set 11:29 AM 71
7 High 9:23 AM 12.5 4:35 PM Rise 11:46 PM
7 Low 3:51 PM 4.4
7 High 9:05 PM 8.4
There are a lot of small fish but I've heard some are growing close. Watch for wild fish that must be released: Page 117: Nov. 1-Feb. 28 CHINOOK - min. size 22". Other SALMON species - no min. size. Daily limit 2 (combined). Only 1 hatchery CHINOOK may be retained. Release wild COHO and wild CHINOOK.
Might even try jigging a sabiki for live herring and trying to drop them down. Kind of exciting having one hit a live herring with an open bail on the spinning reel or thumbing the Okuma. Lol, you don't have to wonder if you'd had a hit.
If the wind is less attractive, might head to Sammamish and try for some illusive (for me, but not for lead/line Brad! ??? cutthroat.
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So, if anyone is interested, I’ll plan on a 7 am launch off GG on Sunday. I’ll plan on hunting in the backwaters neat the beach until about 11.
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I'm in... I'll have to see when the expected winds are, generally anything 7 and below and it's great there. Once it hits 7, it turns into a bit of a washing machine. Last time I was out like that I stayed somewhat close to the marina and came home with a keeper.
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Possibly looking at a sunday morning trip as well. Going to bring the sabiki rig if I do.
Any tips on successful live bait rigs for salmon?
I had bought some circle hooks+leaders (owner mutu) in the summer in anticipation of doing this but never got around to it yet. Was planning on putting a light weight above the leader swivel, lip or dorsal hooking and letting them go to meet their maker.
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I've just used a double snelled 2-3 hook on a 3-4 foot leader. I try for a bottom lip hook with the top hook and let the back one trail. Doesn't always work so I go to a 45 degree plug-cut behind the gills to get some spin and then mooch. If I hit dog fish I switch out to jigs pretty quickly. Might be a couple others, if you have a radio try channel 71.
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I've just used a double snelled 2-3 hook on a 3-4 foot leader. I try for a bottom lip hook with the top hook and let the back one trail. Doesn't always work so I go to a 45 degree plug-cut behind the gills to get some spin and then mooch. If I hit dog fish I switch out to jigs pretty quickly. Might be a couple others, if you have a radio try channel 71.
How big are the dogfish? I'm trying to convince myself that I won't care about the rain tomorrow if I'm fishing, but catching a new species might be enough to convince me. I know I'll be releasing most of the blackmouths, so if the dogfish are bigger I wouldn't mind catching them. :)
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Them dogs tend to run from 18” to 48”. I’ve tried eating them many ways and would appreciate tips if any knows how to get a good meal from a filet. If you haven’t caught one, be a bit careful when handling them. They are flexible like a snake and have barbed tails that I’m told aren’t fun to be poked by. Kind of rare to get them on metal, but live bait can be a magnet.
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Oh, well. I'm not going to be able to make it anyway. I've been working 16+ hours a day on a big incident for work since Thursday and it's going to keep going at least through tomorrow night. Good luck to those who get to go tomorrow morning!
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Them dogs tend to run from 18” to 48”. I’ve tried eating them many ways and would appreciate tips if any knows how to get a good meal from a filet. If you haven’t caught one, be a bit careful when handling them. They are flexible like a snake and have barbed tails that I’m told aren’t fun to be poked by. Kind of rare to get them on metal, but live bait can be a magnet.
It’s not just the tails with barbs. Watch out for the fins as well. DAMHIK
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It's been dark for hours now, and I'm still doing work stuff. Where are the fishing reports and pictures of the catches? ;D
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Jason, you know my count, NADA but a shaker and flounder (jigging about 30 ft in 120 fow?) Four guys fishing hard and unless the hardcore had luck in the middle of the sailboat races it looks like 4 kayaks fished the area hard with nothing to show. Checker had only a few fish for the weekend and those came from Jeff Head, Kingston or the oil docks. Good meeting everyone and the weather cooperated much better than anticipated. Have a good one. Hoping the other guys are still cleaning fish ::)
Nice to see another Trident 13 yak on the water!
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Just a one-flounder day for me. Admittedly could have fished harder but first day out with the new electronics and did a lot of paddling around staring at the screen instead but not a lot of action regardless. Brought the sabiki rig and like clockwork, the huge herring balls from the week before moved on. Great meeting everyone as well and glad to be a part of Team T13 ;D.
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Smoke and I worked in a short session 4-6 today at Golden Gardens when we saw a small weather window that lined up with end of work and the slowly improving daylight. Both jigging, I tried smaller point Wilson dart in Pearl then switched to one of the butterfly jigs. Smoke stuck with a green/white/chrome crippled herring I believe.
Did some drift jigging from near the sea wall beyond/deeper than marina entrance, blown out towards end of beach then paddled back. Got a little windy so not ideal, but each of us hooked nice fish and lost them after good fights. Mine was starting to tow me around at end, felt bigger than the fish I have been catching up to now, probably 24" +.
Odd timing and short window but nice to get out. Not as fishy as times past but could be due to a number of things. Regardless there are salmon out there!
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Yeah, the weather hasn't been promising for weekend jaunts. I'm considering taking a day off after this system blows through. It should be calm winds then.
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Looks like there will be a few hours of fishing Saturday am before the tide drops 10 feet. That also looks (lol) like the best chance for sun and low wind. Might make the bay ok so I’m tentatively planning an early launch off the beach in the park. Thinking about a few hard hours of jigging to see if the fish have gown just a bit. Feeling a little lucky after fillet a nice bunch of crappies last weekend.
Yell out if there’s any interest. I’m a 95%er at this point.
Nice to see the goal of going to school on these winter blackmouth developing pretty well. Plan on trying some Dawn Patrol techniques.
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Will be switching to Sunday off the Garden vs Saturday. Little longer period from dawn to the big low tide starts and it’s the middle of the three day sunshine group.
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I'll likely be out one of the weekend days, leaning Sunday as well.
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Hope to see ya. I'm starting to pay attention to these areas in the NOAH charts
https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/ (https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/)
You have to play with the chart and on the left side I turn off everything except the color button. If you move the cursor around you get depth and GPS coordinates.
(http://)
Seems like we get more hits in these areas. I think #4 is the dragon and those are two sunken boats at the bottom in the lower area. Just fun to track areas.
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How was Shilshole Bay today? I was hoping to be out there bright and early this morning, but some issues with my wife's car ended up with us buying a car last night. That prevented me from doing any prep last night, and the forecast was saying that the wind would be rough by the time I got everything ready and got to the water late this morning. I hope you guys loaded the kayaks with fish. :)
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It was a bit chilly at 0dark30. . Before the wind jumped up I got to see what
smokeondathewater looked like in a Trident 13. (http://)
Saw lots of bait but could not hook up. Tried herring for the first time in a year or more and A nwka fellow in a PB came by and said they had one on a spoon like I typically use. Go figure. Wind came up pushing us hard to the south with a big tide heading north. When I quit I had a 4 oz dart almost planned off 200 feet down stream.
Felt a bit nervous as I loaded up watching a guy pumping up a Folbot type inflatable to go out with his daughter. She had a down coat and ski pants and he had golf rain pants. I asked him twice if he was sure he wanted to go out, and he was determined. I suggested they paddle through the marina and he thought they might, but he wanted to head to the green buoy. Hope all went well.
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heyoo its good to see the setup from that angle every once in a while ;D
I should have gotten there earlier when there was seemingly more bait and calmer conditions. It was also my first day out with herring this year and the wind/current didn't help to dial in much today. Had some swivel issues as well but these are the learning days.
Swapped to a 4oz PW dart as I started to slowly paddle in along the marina, hit a pretty good fighting ~24" wild fish, one undersized clipped fish maybe pushing 20", and a couple of big head shakers down low that popped off on the way up that I did not get to see. 70-100 FOW, sun shining near noon.
Had almost all the right things happen but still waiting to tick that keeper blackmouth for the year...
I watched those folks in the inflatable wondering if they were going to venture out further and they stayed pretty close to the beach. Good thing too because those waves were getting large out there and the wind made the paddle back in a real pain.
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I tried going in close to the jetty earlier w/o any action. Wonder if you were in bait when you had some action. I wasn’t seeing any life in closer. Glad you hooked up with fish of any kind, nice job. You looked good out there. If I had put my net up we’d have been closer to twins as I have the same one. I kept it down to reduce the sail effect. As I was loading up a gal stopped said mine looked just like the one way out there lol. Good to know about were you did hookup. Thanks.
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I got out a bit late I think compared to you guys. Maybe 12:15? Lots of white caps out there but I decided to give it a try. I saw tons of bait in about 150-200 FOW about due west of the Golden Gardens Bathhouse. Not much in the way of fish arches that I could see around the bait. I did see some but they were scattered.
By about 2pm I called it quits as the waves were getting pretty intense. I launched from the boat launch and interestingly I saw some pretty good marks on the fish finder just inside the marina.
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Likely was in some bait but the finder wasn't marking much down there when I did hook up. Still trying to learn the settings/reading the unit.
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I couldn't quite see your FF. I'm learning more about mine, a Lowrance Elite 4-HDI. If that's what you have I'd be happy for a meet up sometime and try sharing what little we might know.
If a "pro from dover" joined in I'd buy a brew if they were dialed in. Down south towards Sumner the Half-Lyon would let us bring a kayak with battery hooked up inside but that's a bit of a hike for you. My cables are fixed in the yak. If your FF or someones could be fired up, we could use the simulator inside somewhere. I'm functional at seeing bait and the bottom, but would appreciate any help with the sonar/downscan overlay, and even plotting way points, etc.
(http://)
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I'm using a Simrad Go7 XSE but it uses the same totalscan transducer as some Lowrance units so I imagine readings are going to be same/similar between the two being Navico companies and all.