Puget Sound

[Stonedfish]

Fished slack, then the incoming for a couple hours today. Pretty good north wind. A few jumpers quite aways out and two seal lions patrolling, moving them around.

Left handed casting practice.

The east side of the sound with a good north wind can be very discriminating against righties. I took a clouser to the back of the head yesterday.
SF

 

[Greggor]

The east side of the sound with a good north wind can be very discriminating against righties. I took a clouser to the back of the head yesterday.
SF

Yes, I was doing the roll cast right side, then shoot over left shoulder. The guy next to me was facing shore, and releasing his backcast. If not, there might have been some unexpected piercings involved.

 

[jasmillo]

Hit the beach this morning for a short 1.5 hour session before work. Generally, I only go if I can get in 2-2.5 hours but today was cut short due to another case of Puget Sound equipment failure syndrome. The old 7 weight Sage One exploded on a cast for no apparent reason. I have not even fished clousers with it the last couple of days. I guess I should be happy, it lasted for three weeks of use during salmon season. I think this will be the 5th?? time in for repair. Of course it happened just after I landed a fish along with the two guys to my right. Perfect timing.

Walked the 10 minutes back to the truck, grabbed the back-up rod and hoofed it back to the beach. In my absence, the spot I was fishing, right in my favorite juicy rip, was taken. Decided to give a different spot a shot for the last 1/2 hour and didn’t get a bump.

So, overall, 1-1 on clipped coho. Pretty standard rezzie.



This guy beat me to the beach this morning. Not many early birds today but when I left the beach was busy. Surprising for a Monday. It is a pink year I suppose.

 

[DimeBrite]

The weather Mon, Tues, Wed is no good for coho fishing or wearing waders. I'm out.

 

[Stonedfish]

We need someone to write a new book. "The shattered dreams of Puget Sound Coho Anglers".
SF

 

[Vandelay Industries]

We need someone to write a new book. "The shattered dreams of Puget Sound Coho Anglers".
SF

That will be a multi-volume series.

 

[Porter2]

The weather Mon, Tues, Wed is no good for coho fishing or wearing waders. I'm out.

That’s why they made light weight pants/shorts and bite/keen sandals for. Early am bro… then hit the towel, put some sun tan oil on, position some aluminum reflector shields, read a book, and have a melted chocolate nutrition -grain bar burger shaped thing peeled from a hot plastic wrapper ….. All good stuff. And remember to hydrate. Keep the fish on ice. Or simply release …ah…. Looking forward to it. At least everything fishing and wet wading and releasing . Won’t be doing the other stuff. But I’m not judging.

 

[speedbird]

The weather Mon, Tues, Wed is no good for coho fishing or wearing waders. I'm out.

I dunno, a ferry trip on Wednesday looks like an awesome way to escape the heat. I am unexpectedly without access to a boat for a while so it's a good excuse for me to hit the beaches. Debating between which ferry to take and leaning towards the cheaper one, but if I get up in time the earlier one might be a good move too.

 

[DimeBrite]

The winds from the south return Thursday. Until then the waders stay dry.

 

[jasmillo]

The winds from the south return Thursday. Until then the waders stay dry.

I’m over here doing a wind dance so they stay from the north…..

 

[Wiznet]

Got two yesterday and two today at the president's beach. It's been crowded, but very good fishing. Planning on getting back to fly fishing next week when im house sitting in edmonds. Till then, the gear fishing continues.

 

[Chris Johnson]

I don't think 8# Maxima would have broken under those same conditions.

Ahh ya!

 

[Porter2]

Not much to report this am at a convenient north beach. A few fishing on the beach and a few kayakers, no boats tho (not a good sign). The water activity was near nil. Basically a 2.5 hour casting practice session. On a side note I did catch and release enough wild sea salad that would have easily made an appetizer for 12 tonight.

 

[Matt B]

2 hookups this morning and one fish landed. Seems to be the pattern for me. Pretty sure the one I lost was a resi coho.

The breeze picked up after the sun rose. It was out of the North and I had to put my sweatshirt on!

 

[Wiznet]

Which one is coho and which one is pink?

 

[VMP]

View attachment 78119
Which one is coho and which one is pink?

Trying to trick us, hmm? Not coho nor pink on those jars, scale size don't lie, but you got a silver and a humpy there!

 

[DimeBrite]

View attachment 78119
Which one is coho and which one is pink?

Slime rocket bottled on the right.

 

[Wiznet]

Slime rocket bottled on the right.

You know that's got me thinking. I should bottle up this pink slime and sell it as an all natural lubricant at the Ballard farmers market. The hipsters would love it!

 

[speedbird]

I finally did it! I caught my first salmon on the fly. Overslept and missed the early morning ferry. Got there around 9AM. I saw a small school of Pinks surface and jump right from the ferry too. I planned the trip avoiding combat beaches. Beach #1 had a few scattered fishermen. There were what looked like small Blackmouth or Rezzies jumping well out of casting range, but I hooked into a small sculpin. One of my favorite things about fly fishing is that even with a six weight fly rod, small fish are still fun. A school of shiner perch swam right past me, even brushing up against my leg. I wasn’t seeing any tide rips or fish activity closer to shore, so I decided to pack it up and try somewhere else. At this point I was still targeting Pinks, so seeing no pods of fish rising or jumping was discouraging. I picked another beach on the map and started driving. The parking lot was crowded, but fortunately the most promising part of the beach on the map was quite a walk, so most swimmers, dogwalkers, and suntanners weren’t in the way. I found a nice tide rip off a point and starting casting towards it. Within ten minutes of casting, I am stripping my fly back in and pause; That pause and drop is all it takes for a fish to chomp down on my fly savagely. Watching a salmon bite a fly ten feet away from you is something else. It quickly puts itself on the reel, and makes a run. Probably the most fun I have ever had fighting a fish. At one point the fish starts quickly running towards the beach! I was still expecting to be connecting with Pinks, but my first real look at the fish showed round spots on its back: Coho or Blackmouth. I get a good look at the tail and gums, and then see the tail confirming that it is a resi. The fish makes one last run pulling a little line, and i bring it onto shore.



I am generally a pessimist, but especially about shore fishing salmon, so I didn’t pack ice. This was a mistake because it meant I lost around 30 minutes buying some, probably missing some chances at connection as this was just around tide change. When I got back, slack tide meant a good serving of Puget Sound Garden Salad, so I did some exploring. I saw a smaller fish jumping well within casting range up the beach, so I decided to look for some more spots.




I was rewarded with some more marine diversity. As I made my way back to my original spot, I learned the hard way to never give up on a retrieve, when I pulled my fly out to backcast right as a 1-2lb resi was about to commit. One more sculpin decided to play, and then I got another chance at a smallish resi! This time he committed. Unfortunately I still need practice fighting fish while stripping them in, and this one was too small to put itself on the reel. I put too much tension and it got off. I’d call it a long distance release, I probably wouldn’t have brought him home.







I have a small collection of buzzbombs but those are probably staying in the drawer from now on

 

[DimeBrite]

Congratulations!