GG / Meadow Point tomorrow 6-29

So me and mikeee are planning to launch from GG tomorrow morning between 6 and 7AM.

Neither one of us have fished the area before (it'll be my first time in the salt). Any experienced anglers familiar with Meadow Point feel up to giving us a tour?

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

Shit! Our fishing plans are literally flushed down the toilet. 

Thanks for the heads-up, workhard    Any suggestions as to where we might bag a few salmon tomorrow?

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

Shit! Our fishing plans are literally flushed down the toilet. 

Thanks for the heads-up, workhard    Any suggestions as to where we might bag a few salmon tomorrow?

Honestly, I'd just launch somewhere else if the beach is closed. The tides probably diluted or flushed out the nasties already anyway.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

Shit! Our fishing plans are literally flushed down the toilet. 

Thanks for the heads-up, workhard    Any suggestions as to where we might bag a few salmon tomorrow?

Honestly, I'd just launch somewhere else if the beach is closed. The tides probably diluted or flushed out the nasties already anyway.

I know you mostly fish in the South part of the Sound but do you know where the next best launch site would be? I was thinking maybe the Edmonds Marina Beach but I'm not sure if the fish we're after are that far North. I've heard they are concentrated mostly South of Jeff Head.

Sorry to be such a Noob LOL.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

Shit! Our fishing plans are literally flushed down the toilet. 

Thanks for the heads-up, workhard    Any suggestions as to where we might bag a few salmon tomorrow?

Honestly, I'd just launch somewhere else if the beach is closed. The tides probably diluted or flushed out the nasties already anyway.

I know you mostly fish in the South part of the Sound but do you know where the next best launch site would be? I was thinking maybe the Edmonds Marina Beach but I'm not sure if the fish we're after are that far North. I've heard they are concentrated mostly South of Jeff Head.

Sorry to be such a Noob LOL.

Can't speak about the West side of the sound that far North besides launching at Golden Gardens fishing for Chinook, I rarely go North on I-5 past Tacoma for anything besides work.  I've launched at the boat launch next to the Kingston Ferry and Bainbridge Island to fish Jeff Head for Chinook, but you'd want some experience before tackling open water and current like that. Someone will chime in with a place to launch over there, just have to wait.

Don't worry about being a newbie, due to dumb laws in WA state finding a place to launch is extremely difficult for a lot of areas. A lot of kayak guys keep their launches real quiet due to the amount of research you have to do to find them and how small they are.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/165000-gallons-of-sewage-overflows-into-water-near-seattles-golden-gardens-park/281-c401dcad-1b69-4427-b792-94162c509250

Shit! Our fishing plans are literally flushed down the toilet. 

Thanks for the heads-up, workhard    Any suggestions as to where we might bag a few salmon tomorrow?

Honestly, I'd just launch somewhere else if the beach is closed. The tides probably diluted or flushed out the nasties already anyway.

I know you mostly fish in the South part of the Sound but do you know where the next best launch site would be? I was thinking maybe the Edmonds Marina Beach but I'm not sure if the fish we're after are that far North. I've heard they are concentrated mostly South of Jeff Head.

Sorry to be such a Noob LOL.

Can't speak about the West side of the sound that far North besides launching at Golden Gardens fishing for Chinook, I rarely go North on I-5 past Tacoma for anything besides work.  I've launched at the boat launch next to the Kingston Ferry and Bainbridge Island to fish Jeff Head for Chinook, but you'd want some experience before tackling open water and current like that. Someone will chime in with a place to launch over there, just have to wait.

Don't worry about being a newbie, due to dumb laws in WA state finding a place to launch is extremely difficult for a lot of areas. A lot of kayak guys keep their launches real quiet due to the amount of research you have to do to find them and how small they are.

Definitely won't be charging across the Sound to Jeff Head anytime soon hehehe. I got her up to almost 5mph on the lake the other day but wasn't able to sustain that speed for very long. I think I averaged about 3.75mph comfortably for 2 laps. The Pilot is cheaper but not as energy-efficient as the Hobie drives.

You mentioned that you launch from actual boat launches. Would you recommend buying a permit? I do plan to go fishing a lot this summer and fall.

I just paid the $8, if I do it again this year I'll just launch out of Bainbridge. Jeff Head is probably the best spot to fish in 10, for Chinook at least. I would focus on building endurance and studying the tides and the directions they go, top speed doesn't mean much fighting the current out there.

Honestly, I'd just stick to areas close to where you live a good long while to learn it in and out. Learn your backyard before you chase some report to fish someone else's and you'll always catch fish. Back when I first started fishing the Sound everybody told me Area 13 was bad and had no fish in it, nobody fishes there in a kayak, jigging doesn't work, etc... First time I tried Chinook jigging on a kayak I caught one and had to fight it to death because I was so sure I wasn't going to catch anything I didn't bother to bring a net. There are two types of fishermen, those who follow reports and those who are the report, you want to be the latter.

You could launch by the dog park at Edmonds. Make sure you stay south of the park to stay in area 10. You have at least as much chance to catch a coho there as you do at GG.

Noob, I used Google Maps and created a list of places to launch. Some are boat ramps, some are docks like the city park down here in Gig Harbor, some are a peculiarly Washington thing... We have patchwork laws regarding the ownership of beaches and tidelands, and it all depends on what the rules were at the time a tract was sold off.  Hence the very limited public beach access we have.

But.  Wherever a road *used to* connect to a bridge, a dock, etc, that no longer exists - that piece of the beach is **still part of the public right of way** and you can legally use it to launch your kayak. With or without an official boat ramp. And the neighboring property owners can NOT block access to prevent it. So you may have only the width of a road, but it’s still there.  For an example I have used a number of times, look at

47°19'49.6"N 122°39'21.4"W
(47.330450, -122.655930)

It’s a tedious process to find more, but you can use the Satellite view in Google Maps to search the shorelines for roads that dead-end at the beach. Many have been turned into city or county or state boat ramps, some just dead end like the one at those coordinates. There is another one at Three Tree Point that is a popular diving spot.

Jim

Noob, I used Google Maps and created a list of places to launch. Some are boat ramps, some are docks like the city park down here in Gig Harbor, some are a peculiarly Washington thing... We have patchwork laws regarding the ownership of beaches and tidelands, and it all depends on what the rules were at the time a tract was sold off.  Hence the very limited public beach access we have.

But.  Wherever a road *used to* connect to a bridge, a dock, etc, that no longer exists - that piece of the beach is **still part of the public right of way** and you can legally use it to launch your kayak. With or without an official boat ramp. And the neighboring property owners can NOT block access to prevent it. So you may have only the width of a road, but it’s still there... <snip>
Jim

I'm going to suggest a new acronym for this... EII (Not Edward the Second - I mean Extraordinarily Invaluable Information). Wow, just wow. So many pieces of the puzzle are coming together. I didn't know what workhard was referring to when he mentioned the "dumb laws" in WA State but now it makes perfect sense!

Learning more every day! Thanks, guys!

There was a lot of googling and reading old newspaper articles and legal abstracts and court opinions and fishing forums and real estate law forums and...

47°19'49.6"N 122°39'21.4"W
(47.330450, -122.655930)

Your coordinates show a kayak on the beach in the satellite feed!

47°19'49.6"N 122°39'21.4"W
(47.330450, -122.655930)

Your coordinates show a kayak on the beach in the satellite feed!

Yep. I’m not the only one who knows about this!