Fresh from the East Coast

Hi All, I moved here in June from central NC. Partner took a job at UW and I decided to tag along (she's too cool not to follow). I'm situated in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle, and store my boat between Capitol Hill and Puget Sound. Because of convenience, it seems that Golden Gardens will be my main stomping grounds, but I'll also do a fair bit of traveling at non-rush hour times.

I've been kayak fishing from beaches for about 15 years -- everything from glass to choppy choppy surf. It took a month or so to assemble my kayak and safety gear out here. My current set-up is:
   Craigslist acquired Perception Pescador pilot 12'
   Garmin Striker 4
   Kokatat dry suit
   Cheapo life vest

I intend to purchase a VHF radio and fishing life vest in the near future (recommendations always appreciated). Will also purchase flares, a whistle, and running lights for low-light conditions... are there any more safety items that I should consider?

I am hoping to target all retainable salmon and ling fisheries in Puget Sound, and would like to learn how to fish freshwater lakes for kokes & trout. I've had decent success so far -- caught a couple of pinks, resident coho, and one fat cutty. I am looking forward to learning this complex fishery... We'll be out here for at least four years, so I'm hoping to make the most of the time that I'll have on Puget Sound.

I am excited to be a part of the NWKA community.

Welcome to the forums, bougeYaker! 

I also own a Pescador Pilot with a Garmin Striker 4cv. Just FYI: Puget Sound has a lot of broken grass floating around more often than not. You may have to stop to get the grass out of your prop every once in awhile so be sure to bring some good pliers.

mikeee and I were planning on hitting Golden Gardens bright and early on Sunday at 5AM if you want to join us. They just closed for Chinook in MA10 so we're planning on targeting pinks with buzz  bombs, spinners, hootchies and so on (they love to hit pink lures in case you weren't aware). I caught a nice 2.4 lbs pink there a couple days ago.

Thanks for the welcome, Noob Noob!

Thanks too for the heads up RE the grass. I have learned to not peddle through the floating mats -- I felt pretty silly the first that I did that.

My weekend is up in the air, but if I'm available Sunday morning I'd love to tag along. Where do you guys form up? Is 5:00 the 'meet in the parking lot' time, or the 'get on the water time'? I did pretty well at GG yesterday afternoon -- landed a pink, a resident coho, and a cuttie, all on a pink coho killer. Saw jumpers but wasn't able connect with any.

Thanks for the welcome, Noob Noob!

Thanks too for the heads up RE the grass. I have learned to not peddle through the floating mats -- I felt pretty silly the first that I did that.

My weekend is up in the air, but if I'm available Sunday morning I'd love to tag along. Where do you guys form up? Is 5:00 the 'meet in the parking lot' time, or the 'get on the water time'? I did pretty well at GG yesterday afternoon -- landed a pink, a resident coho, and a cuttie, all on a pink coho killer. Saw jumpers but wasn't able connect with any.

Sound like you had a fun day out there 

We were going to meet at 5AM and launch around 5:30. I still don't have a 360 light yet but that's going to be my next DIY project. The gate to the main parking lot is usually closed that early but the smaller parking (take a left at the closed gate) should be accessible. It's just a short trip down the sidewalk to the beach from there.

Okay, my weekend shaped up in such a fashion that I'll be able to make it. I'll have to rig up some sort of light too... See you out there!!

Hey hey! A fellow Cackalackan! What part of central NC ya from? I grew up in Benson and lived in Raleigh for a brief stint as well.
Welcome to the great PNW! The fishing here has much more of a learning curve than the east coast, but it sure is fun once you start getting it down (sounds like you’ve already made decent progress on that front). If you ever head down to Oregon let me know and we can have an east coasters reunion!

Hey, cool! I grew up a bit south of Chapel Hill and was living in Carrboro most recently.  You might get a kick out of this - I caught my first salmon a couple weeks ago on a gotcha plug (modified to one barbless hook, of course). I'll be sure to let you know when I head down to Oregon for some fishing

Writing this from my new home in North Carolina -- my partner finished her residency program and we scooted back east to be closer to family. Crazy four years, I wrote my first post on NWKA ~5 months before COVID blew the everloving shit out of things.

Had a blast fishing Puget salmon, looking forward to figuring out a way to keep doing that in the coming years. Big thanks to the folks I interacted with online and on the water -- I'd like to think that I grew a lot as an angler while on Puget Sound, y'all were no small part of that growth.

I'll probably still be posting a bit on the kayak related forums until I forget my password. Stay safe and kill some fish.

The MA6 chinook population was probably happy to see you go.

The MA6 chinook population was probably happy to see you go.

If I get my way they're just getting a bit of a reprieve.

That place was a bucket of fun. I don't subscribe to any organized religions but if there does happen to be an afterlife I really hope those cliffs, eddies, and kelp beds are part of it.

Thanks for upping the activity around these parts, you killed it while you were here!

Thanks for upping the activity around these parts, you killed it while you were here!

It was fun interacting with you and other Puget area folks -- again, really grateful for the advice y'all dispensed.

One bonus of posting a lot back then is that now I can go back and relive some of it until I find a way to hit WA salmon in July again. Come to think of it, I should probably figure out a way to archive some of those fishing report threads before I lose my password

Awesome trading notes with you here and meeting you on the water in the Sound and the Straits. You run a good show, have fun back East and look forward to having you back out here!