Hood Canal chum fishing?

Me and a couple of buddies plan to attend the Derby this year. All of us are noobs lol I've only manage to take my Lure 11.5 on smaller lakes earlier this year. Any tips on fishing the area during the Derby? Thanks in advance!

Bring a 10# weight on a rope for an anchor, cast bobber + jigs. Tipped w/ shrimp helps a lot. Green, orange, pink, red, purple is all good. That's it!

Awesome! This helps alot. Thanks DWB123!

You'll eliminate snagging with this method, and there's so many fish there that you'll undoubtedly find a good # of willing biters. Don't overthink it. It's a simple, and fantastic, fishery. Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions- sounds like a lot of fun

I fish the hatchery every year from the bank and no doubt the fishery there is amazing.  Just looking to be as safe as possible and get a full experience on the yak lol 

Bring a 10# weight on a rope for an anchor, cast bobber + jigs. Tipped w/ shrimp helps a lot. Green, orange, pink, red, purple is all good. That's it!

Why a 10 lb weight on a rope for an anchor? Is the current so strong that my normal 3lb kayak anchor won't hold?

Are you guys going to launch at the hatchery?

Are you guys going to launch at the hatchery?

Many of the guys are staying at the Sunrise Motel so we launch from there. The other launch is the park down by the grocery store.

Bring a 10# weight on a rope for an anchor, cast bobber + jigs. Tipped w/ shrimp helps a lot. Green, orange, pink, red, purple is all good. That's it!

Why a 10 lb weight on a rope for an anchor? Is the current so strong that my normal 3lb kayak anchor won't hold?

The weather for the last two Slayrides have started off sporty. The bottom is pretty flat so if the wind/wind waves pick up you need a little more weight to stay in one place.

yeah I would say that 25mph winds with 35ish mph gusts make it a little sporty LOL

Maybe bring 20lbs.  or a big ass rock.

Pray the weather is favorable.  The tide looks like it will be pretty good.  The high and low swing is pretty small on derby day.

Bring a 10# weight on a rope for an anchor, cast bobber + jigs. Tipped w/ shrimp helps a lot. Green, orange, pink, red, purple is all good. That's it!

Why a 10 lb weight on a rope for an anchor? Is the current so strong that my normal 3lb kayak anchor won't hold?

actually kinda the opposite. current is very mild so your claw won't dig in, and you're only in 4-8' of water. it's nicer to have little line out and no scope, especially when you're surrounded by so many other watercraft. big rock, cinder block, 10# weight is much easier for this fishery, IMHO.

NWIFC's Apple Cove purse seine test boat caught a little over 2k Chum yesterday. There should be a fair amount of Chum in the canal right now.

Hmmm...Thinking about this. Looks like a blast and only 1.5 hour drive for me. Have to look at the weather forecast. When do the blackmouth start showing up in the canal? I'd really like to give some of that a try this year (just south of Dabob area). I can't find very much specific info googling. Looks like its generally better fishing in Feb-March for blackmouth but it's open now sooo...

Just fished Hoodsport this morning through the low tide change.  Didn't see anyone hooking up or landing any. Really quiet.  I was using my fly rod with a chartreuse shrimp on a slow strip and a floating line.  I'm a newbie at this chum fishing.  No wind and flat as parking lot.  Saw only a couple jumpers.

When do the blackmouth start showing up in the canal? I'd really like to give some of that a try this year (just south of Dabob area). I can't find very much specific info googling. Looks like its generally better fishing in Feb-March for blackmouth but it's open now sooo...

They're in there now. Some were picked up near the area you were talking about earlier in the month as seen on WDFW's creel reports. As a tip don't give too much credence to the creel reports in 13, 12, 11 (Winter), 6 (Some Summers), 5 (Winter). WDFW's sample design (pg.89) doesn't incorporate intensive monitoring in these areas and during these time periods, they basically sample random ports on random days. Just because they didn't see fish being caught isn't very much of an indication that there aren't fish there. It's always best to try it yourself and be the rumor - and not follow them.

Fish hard.