Golden Gardens

Not much trailered boat traffic in the winter. In contrast summer/fall there is usually a lineup of trailers beginning early, esp on weekends.

Pretty sure you’d be able to park elsewhere then roller to ramps and stay out of ppls way though. Just haven’t done it, and know the boat crowd can be ancy when there’s a lineup to get out on the water.

I'm planning on this weekend and will post when I know which times/days

It's possible to get into the parking lot when the gate's not open, but the entry method is of dubious legality. Having a vehicle with a bit of ground clearance helps.

Like Heaney said, most vehicle can drive over the curb to get in, or park a little way past and roll up to the beach if you put your cart on the yak.

Having trouble posting.

Planning on 6am Saturday north beach launch.

I'll be in a yellow inflatable

I've been dealing with some unexpected events and am just now getting in, so no way I'll be up in two hours to head down to Golden Gardens. Hopefully tomorrow (Sunday) will be better. Good luck, BugNerd. Hope you catch big keepers that you can show us pictures of. 

Later start than I wanted, but headed that way and will post pics...hopefully

The last few times I went down to Shilshole last winter I just launched from the ramp and had no problems at all. I had the kayak fully rigged on the cart, so took me about 20 seconds from the time the kayak touched water until I was out of the way. I was also off to the side so a PB could launch at the same time I was launching. I parked at the car spots closest to the ramp, not in the ramp parking lot as I heard reports of ticketing vehicles that didn't have boat trailers attached in the ramp parking lot.

There isn't much of a place or reason to loiter near those spots and they're clearly visible from every direction, even from the water. Even so, I made sure not to leave anything of any value in view and launched right as the sun was rising, so the vehicle wasn't ever alone in the dark. I do like launching from the ramp instead of the beach, as that effectively eliminates all the sand all over everything, including the axles of the cart. I'm not a fan of beach launches, more due to the sand getting all over everything than the effort of pulling the kayak/cart through the sand.

Think I'll do this next time. The sand is a pain.  Do you have to pay the launch fee for a kayak?

There are some days when you shouldn't get out of bed. Haha

Late start, left a brand new reel at home (which led to panic about it being stolen, etc.), water shoes left in the car, didn't plug the drain holes in the yak... That's apparent right when you sit the first time, transducer or chart plotter started malfunctioning...it stopped showing the bottom and was giving the depth of fish as the total depth.  Checked all settings and reset with no luck.  Got really choppy, etc etc

I'm still learning of course, but got a couple shakers initially because I couldn't resist fish on the screen in 40ft of water

Did manage a slightly larger resident ~15in. 

I went out a bit late to avoid the big tide swing and catch the 10:30 low. Hit one chunky buck right at low tide. No other takedowns all day. Conditions were a bit ugly between the wind and tide. I was off Carkeek fishing a purple haze flasher/squid combo at 80' on the LC behind a Deep Six.

Great job!  That's a fatty.  I tried trolling for just a bit, but don't have the hang of it.  The line kept getting in the way of my paddle, but I think some of that was the wind trying to turn me.

Was it a little extra rough or is that pretty typical?

It was a bit rougher than usual, especially trolling into the wind.

Trolling 3+ MPH for hours at a time in the sound might be possible from a traditional kayak, but it seems much more difficult. I tried it a few times from my Tarpon 120 when I first started the kayak thing, and I found the whole thing really frustrating. Were you jigging or mooching?

Were you jigging or mooching?

I was jigging.  Didn't bring any bait, but might have good with the amount of current and wind.  Getting back to the launch site was the tough part.

I went out a bit late to avoid the big tide swing and catch the 10:30 low. Hit one chunky buck right at low tide. No other takedowns all day. Conditions were a bit ugly between the wind and tide. I was off Carkeek fishing a purple haze flasher/squid combo at 80' on the LC behind a Deep Six.

Nice fish. +1 for details, thanks.