MA 6 report/plea for help

Dear northern neighbors,

Transplant Oregonian here, I just got back from a wonderful week fishing west marine area 6 for chinook on the strait of juan de fuca. We camped on Whiskey Creek Beach (just west of Crescent Bay). We chose that area for two reasons:

1.) not too many people so we could minimize our interactions with folks (don't want to be a COVID vector, we brought all our food and were super careful for the same reason)

2.) NWKA-er workhard's excellent post from last year (https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=21592.0) overviewing catch per unit effort (CPUE) by marine area.

MA 6 looked like the best bet for late July at CPUE ~0.3. I was able to fish 4 mornings and two evenings in the Crescent Bay area. This was very much a trip where I realized I don't really know what I am doing fishing for chinook (or any salmon really). Below is what I tried (please let me us know what you would do differently, I'm sure there are other salmon newbies here that could benefit from your collective experience).

First evening July 26th: trolled green hoochie/green and pink spotted coho killer and 8" pro troll flasher UV green, down to Crescent Bay on the incoming tide. From 60 t0 120 fow, downrigger between 30 and 90 ft down. Did a bit of jigging around the point in some bait balls with a white point wilson dart on the slider rig. Got my butt kicked when the tide didn't turn at 7 like it was supposed to didn't get back to the campsite until 9:30 pushing as hard as I could against the current and wind (learned the difference between currents and tides in the strait the hard way).

Actually to keep this from being a ridiculously long post I'm just going to overview the 4 days. I stuck with that smaller flasher, trolled hoochie with scent mostly but messed with some spoons a bit. Tried to troll down current, but when the current wasn't cooperating I went down and across so I could make it back to the site without killing myself. I didn't fish supper early, which may have been my mistake. I was usually on the water by 6:30 or 7.  I didn't see much bait until the last morning, where I think I saw a few salmon marks. Now that I think about it that was one of the few mornings I fished the outgoing tide. I trolled around the bait balls, jigged in them too, but no luck. I fished both incoming and outgoing tides and concentrated effort 1 to 2 hrs around slack (after I found the current prediction tables).

Overall I had a great trip, on a really cool body of water! I caught my first rock sole, pacific sanddab, quillback rockfish, and caught a mountain of small lingcod and greenling. But the salmon eluded me. So, what would you more experienced folks have done differently? Tried new spots? Different colors/sizes of lures, I'm not sure if the fish are there they will bite, or I really need to match the hatch? I have never mooched (honestly I only have a basic idea of what it is to mooch), is that a technique I should add to my arsenal as a kayak fisherman? Any insight on how people find fish (especially during a bad year) would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

I can't offer much insight RE what you could do to improve your chances, but figured I'd share the fact that I've spent ~30hrs in MA10 going after Chinook and have only brought one home. You and I both know - that's fishing, lol.

Edit to add: Thanks for taking the time to post the report! Looks like a beautiful area.

Now you know why the guys who do a lot of Puget Sound Chinook talk about losing weight!

Doesn't look like you did much wrong, I'd keep the troll gear closer to the bottom and stay away from non-geography/bathymetry based jigging. That stuff is fine in the ocean but less odds of a hook up in the Sound. It's a slow year and catching Chinook off the kayak in Puget Sound is difficult especially when youre working areas that don't really concentrate fish, just how the cookie crumbles.

Usually if a location has 'Point' in it's name, theres a good chance there's fish nearby. Next time if you don't pick up fish bust out the map and start working those areas.

In my book, your trip would definitely go down in the win column. Nice photos and I like the bonk stick!

I can't offer much insight RE what you could do to improve your chances, but figured I'd share the fact that I've spent ~30hrs in MA10 going after Chinook and have only brought one home. You and I both know - that's fishing, lol.

Edit to add: Thanks for taking the time to post the report! Looks like a beautiful area.

Yep, that's the truth! I'm loving getting to know the fisheries out here. The area was spectacular, also there were so few other boats out there! I probably saw 10 other sport boats the whole week... (which maybe should have told me something). Regardless, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next time I can get up there.

Now you know why the guys who do a lot of Puget Sound Chinook talk about losing weight!

Doesn't look like you did much wrong, I'd keep the troll gear closer to the bottom and stay away from non-geography/bathymetry based jigging. That stuff is fine in the ocean but less odds of a hook up in the Sound. It's a slow year and catching Chinook off the kayak in Puget Sound is difficult especially when youre working areas that don't really concentrate fish, just how the cookie crumbles.

Usually if a location has 'Point' in it's name, theres a good chance there's fish nearby. Next time if you don't pick up fish bust out the map and start working those areas.

Excellent, those are some good tips! I'm fine working for fish, just don't want to be working harder than I should because I'm ignorant of the techniques.

In my book, your trip would definitely go down in the win column. Nice photos and I like the bonk stick!

Definitely a great trip! Thanks, it's the very first thing I turned on my lathe up here.

Juan-de-Fuca straight "Canadian side" (directly north of the MA6) is my typical fishing area.

I've never used a pink Coho Killer.  For Coho Killer's the cop car seems to be the go-to (Black and White).  The glow in the dark cop car is also particularly effective.  We tend to go with pink or purple flashers.

Tomic plugs are also good option.  Go online, there's lot's of video's on tuning them.

Trolling speed!  Aside from your mention on the tide, I didn't see any mention of trolling speed.  Try to keep your trolling speed around 2-2.2 knots.  Make sure the action on your bait/lure is good and settle in for some serious cardio...  haha

Another good option to have on hand is a Buzz Bomb or two.  Pink and white pearl or blue and white pearl in the 3"-4" range tend to work well.  They've brought out a lot of new colors but I have no experience with them.  I've found that Buzz Bombs and Braid don't play very nice together so use Mono if you're using a Buzz Bomb.

As for tide changes...  yeah, they absolutely rip through the Juan-de-Fuca Straight and the Georgia Straight.  People really need to be aware of the areas they are heading out in.  Stay safe and do the research before heading out!

Juan-de-Fuca straight "Canadian side" (directly north of the MA6) is my typical fishing area.

I've never used a pink Coho Killer.  For Coho Killer's the cop car seems to be the go-to (Black and White).  The glow in the dark cop car is also particularly effective.  We tend to go with pink or purple flashers.

Tomic plugs are also good option.  Go online, there's lot's of video's on tuning them.

Trolling speed!  Aside from your mention on the tide, I didn't see any mention of trolling speed.  Try to keep your trolling speed around 2-2.2 knots.  Make sure the action on your bait/lure is good and settle in for some serious cardio...  haha

Another good option to have on hand is a Buzz Bomb or two.  Pink and white pearl or blue and white pearl in the 3"-4" range tend to work well.  They've brought out a lot of new colors but I have no experience with them.  I've found that Buzz Bombs and Braid don't play very nice together so use Mono if you're using a Buzz Bomb.

As for tide changes...  yeah, they absolutely rip through the Juan-de-Fuca Straight and the Georgia Straight.  People really need to be aware of the areas they are heading out in.  Stay safe and do the research before heading out!

Great, thanks for the info! I'm jealous of all the protected water you guys have to explore up there. I honestly really wanted to get up to north Vancouver Island. Just another reason to hate COVID.

I saw people mentioning the tomic but couldn't find one in my local tackle store, and wasn't shopping up in WA. I like the idea of dropping the flasher. I'll order one online next time I go up there. I did grab some buzz bombs  but never ended up trying them.

Thanks for the info on trolling speed! Most of the time I was in that range, but definitely on the low end, or slipped out of it as the day went on.

I knew the currents rip up there, but the tides still confuse me a bit. My experience was that the tide predictions in my area were off by a few hours. That first evening I went out, I looked at the tide predictions for Crescent bay, which was about a 3 miles from me. After the current was still incoming 1 hour after the tide was supposed to have switched I had to basically sprint the 3 miles back to camp just to make 1 to 2 mph. After that, I looked around and found current predictions (rather than tide) for Pillar Point, which was about 20 miles away. Those seemed more accurate for what I was experiencing. I'm guessing it just takes a while for all that water from the sound to switch directions? I just don't understand how the tide can be falling but the currents still incoming hours later. Any insight? But my message for folks heading up there from other areas is pay attention to the current predictions in addition to the tides (correct me if I'm missing something folks who actually know the area). Don't be me and start the trip by barely being able to walk when you get off the boat!

I'm in MA 10.  Caught about 5 good sized Chinook this year (in about 8 trips).  Mostly trolling 80-150 FOW relatively close to the bottom between 1.5 and 2.5 mph.  Also caught a few nearly legal fish trolling 100 feet down in 200+ foot water--no idea what that was all about.  I was using an 11" UV green flasher with an agitator, a roughly 3" UV green Kingfisher spoon and some anise/herring lunker lotion.  They definitely tend to hit on speed changes.  The vast majority of the fish I hooked came right after an abrupt turn, speed up or slow down.  I do put in A LOT of miles also.