Hobie livewell pimpin'

I guess I don't know the history of the regulation very well.  How long has it been in effect?  I thought it was a response to the whole Diamond Lake/Thule Chub incident.

It's been in effect for as long as I can remember. WA has gotten stricter, on the freshwater front, by banning even leeches this year.

Live (local) bait is fine in the Sound. Live herring works spectacularly well, for bottomfish or salmon. Fun to watch the rod tip get excited just before the grab.

Live bait has never been that popular in the NW (no where near the following as SoCal), but it does have pockets of success.  I think in BC it has historically had more of a following than WA, but still not that popular.  Probably because techniques such as mooching a cutplug is deemed as "effective enough" compared to live bait (at least for salmon) and securing a supply of dead bait is more reliable than making live bait.  Heck, even back in the day, most bait shops offered live bait (remember Ballard Bait and Tackle or the live bait outfit at Point D or Edmunds???) and most people still used it for cutplugging.

Also it is easier to control depth with heavier sinkers which tend to kill the action of live bait.  We used to fiddle around with live bait and sliding crescent sinkers, but a cut plug on a fixed crescent sinker seemed to be more productive.  Something about the the "crippled action" the bait took on when cut plugging is more appealing the salmon.  Salmon tend to slash through bait balls then turn around and pick up the dying, crippled bait that resulted from the slashing.

Fresh dead (like Zee is talking about) is way more effective (stays on the hook better) than frozen pre-packaged bait.  But I don't think you need to keep it alive until the time you cutplug it.  Fresh dead from the same day works great.

-Allen

Live bait has never been that popular in the NW (no where near the following as SoCal), but it does have pockets of success.  I think in BC it has historically had more of a following than WA, but still not that popular. 

Live bait is extremely popular in Hawaii.  One reason is live bait is VERY easy to catch. 

   Point Defiance boathouse has remodelled, they open at 05:30 right now, but they don't have live herring. Their blue label is $4.99 / dozen.  THey sell herring jigs, and the area out in front of the boathouse is usually good jigging.  The jigged herring, whether you fish them live or cut-plug, are much better bait than frozen----shiny scales and nice fresh slimy smelling!!

I picked up a livewell at dealer cost from Next Adventure here in Portland - they had a guy buy one a year ago or so, and had ordered two.  The one that I picked up had been sitting in their shop since.

I'm planning on using it as a live storage for crayfish or crabs that I hope to catch this summer.