Puget Sound January 14-16 (video)

Headed up to the Puget Sound to pad the list for the Cascadia Big Fishing Year www.bigfishingyear.net. I camped for two nights at Illahee State Park and launched the kayak from there around noon on the 14th. I was hoping to scrounge up some flatfish. I started bouncing a 1/2 oz jig with a 2" curly tail jig from 30' working out to 50' with a few nibbles but nothing stuck. I rerigged with two snelled #4 owner left over from the steelhead season and popped some clam necks on with a couple oz sliding weight and drop them down to 80'. After just a few seconds I had my first fish on and landed a nice 13" Rock Sole. I went on to land several more as well as a couple Pacific Staghorn Sculpin. I was using light gear and it was a lot of fun.



The next day I met up with Slime to try for blackmouth off Manchester. We tried trolling for a couple hours with nothing to show. There was a fair concentration of bait not far off the ramp so we switched to mooching this area for a while. While slow reeling through a bait ball about 20' off the bottom my line got heavy and reeled down. Gradually the fish became aware it was hooked and the familiar pump and pull of chinook head shaking was felt and then it popped off.  That was our sole encounter with blackmouth that day. Slime kept at the blackmouth long after the tide change. I switched back to the clam necks in hopes of dredging up another flatfish species but only caught several more Rock Sole. I also saw several large clouds of nebulous baitfish hugging the bottom. I assumed those were Market Squid so I added a 1 oz dropped to my jig squids and dropped them down to the bottoms. After a little bit I feel a tug on the line and pulled up a couple more Market Squid. Another species from the kayak.



The next day I headed down solo to fish Hale Passage and the Carr Inlet for blackmouth. The electronics revealed a virtual desert...no baitfish anywhere...nada. I tried trolling a coho killer type spoon for a couple of hours. Saw nothing more than a pod of Harbor Porpoise and several flocks of Long-tailed Ducks (Oldsquaw for ya old timers) which are always pleasing to the eye. At the end of the day I again switched to bottomfishing and hooked several more Rock Sole. I also grabbed a couple pounds of Foolish Mussels and some Plate Limpets before calling it a day. I figure together with the squid those should make a fine seafood jjigea (a spicy korean dish)!

I added 6 species total to my big year fishing list. I missed a few but that's okay. I had a blast, enjoyed the scenery, and the few sunny breaks we had. The bottomfish fishery in the Puget Sound seems highly undervalued and would be a great fishery for kids. I found the vast majority of my fish between 50' and 80' deep and on light tackle they are fun. I'll be headed back to the sound for sure in June after geoduck, dogfish, and whatever else I can muster up.

Another great report. Congrats on adding 6 species towards your goal.

Great video! And I've just got to repeat again: I love what you're doing with your big year. I really appreciate you explaining where you went and what you used to produce your results. I have been wanting to spend a few days up on BBI with my kids for a few years now, and this just makes that look all the more fun.

Did you eat the sole? If so, how was it?

I did not eat the sole. A couple fish had swallowed the hooks when fishing near Illahee so I retained those fish but given its proximity to Sinclair Inlet, which has a no consumption advisory, I plan on using them for Dungies and Red Rocks in the next couple weeks. Rock Sole are purported to taste extremely good and the only reason I opted not to retain those caught elsewhere is I am still sitting on 40+ lbs of rockfish, lingcod, and surf perch at home so I have all the white fish I need for a while.

I will be headed up back there in June to target geoduck, shrimp, dogfish, and other flatfish. Purportedly the flatfish fishing gets even better as they move up out of the deep to spawn. I also spoke to a couple locals who fished for dogfish from a kayak and said it was not uncommon it to get into large individuals in the 4-6' range that would drag your kayak for a while. Sounds like fun to me!

Nice vid.

I also spoke to a couple locals who fished for dogfish from a kayak and said it was not uncommon it to get into large individuals in the 4-6' range that would drag your kayak for a while. Sounds like fun to me!

I've caught numerous dogfish on gulp! products, they devour the stuff. Gulp is quite effective on flounder too, any bottomfish really.