Puget Sound

[skyriver]

Speaking of knotted nets... caught another pink with very strange markings. This one was an absolute rocket yesterday morning so a survivor no doubt. Gill net? Knotted landed net?
It was a really bright fish, but has been roughed up. I let it go. We want those genes!

 

[Matt B]

I also landed the biggest pink I've caught all season. Photo doesn't do it justice, it was a toad.

There are some big ones out there. I’ll never understand why some people don’t like catching these. Does Not Compute. Maybe I’m just too simple. But the fun is real!

 

[Matt B]

Speaking of knotted nets... caught another pink with very strange markings. This one was an absolute rocket yesterday morning so a survivor no doubt. Gill net? Knotted landed net?
It was a really bright fish, but has been roughed up. I let it go. We want those genes!
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It's like there's a plague of fine mesh knotted net using anglers out there, squishing fish in their nets!
Either that or there are a lot of pinnipeds in Puget Sound that have noticed the bonanza.

 

[the_chemist]

Fishings been pretty great the last couple weeks. Got out with my nephew and got him into his first salmon. Got out again with @Scslat. Easy pink limits but finding coho has been more tricky. Squirreled enough away to do a big batch in the smoker.

 

[Stonedfish]

There are some big ones out there. I’ll never understand why some people don’t like catching these. Does Not Compute. Maybe I’m just too simple. But the fun is real!

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I personally don’t mind catching them, but also don’t specially target them the majority of the time. You can use flies which get a lot of plucky bites and mostly eliminate hooking them, but even that doesn’t stop the over zealous of them.
Nothing against the fish themselves and people have a lot of fun with them.
Just not a fan of all the other stuff that goes on each time we get a big run of pinks, mainly some of the best fishing beaches getting plugged up with anglers. Luckily you can avoid most of that as well and it dies out pretty quickly once Labor Day and some rain arrives.
I’d also just prefer to catch coho over pinks all day.
SF

 

[Matt B]

I personally don’t mind catching them, but also don’t specially target them the majority of the time. You can use flies which get a lot of plucky bites and mostly eliminate hooking them, but even that doesn’t stop the over zealous of them.
Nothing against the fish themselves and people have a lot of fun with them.
Just not a fan of all the other stuff that goes on each time we get a big run of pinks, mainly some of the best fishing beaches getting plugged up with anglers. Luckily you can avoid most of that as well and it dies out pretty quickly once Labor Day and some rain arrives.
I’d also just prefer to catch coho over pinks all day.
SF

Some inconsistencies in there, Mr. Humpy Hater, but that's okay with me.

It's funny, I'd prefer to catch 15 lb coho all day, too. But that's not available. A decent number of 3 lb coho are available, with a fair chance of some larger than that available. Then there's a crap-ton of 5-8 lb pinks available, with a great chance at some larger than that. IDK, you do the math?

 

[Stonedfish]

Some inconsistencies in there, Mr. Humpy Hater, but that's okay with me.

It's funny, I'd prefer to catch 15 lb coho all day, too. But that's not available. A decent number of 3 lb coho are available, with a fair chance of some larger than that available. Then there's a crap-ton of 5-8 lb pinks available, with a great chance at some larger than that. IDK, you do the math?

No inconsistencies….
If a school swims by, sure I’ll toss a fly at them. If they don’t eat or I don’t catch any, no worries on my part.
If I don’t catch any coho, I’m fine with that as well. After many years of fishing the sound, I can accept a good skunking from any species. Just like yesterday’s fishing.
SF

 

[KFCDAVE]

Beautiful conditions this morning. Kind of slow for me I went 1/2 with a pink brought to hand, but there were so many fish jumping within casting range and a lot caught by other anglers! They just didn’t like my flies too much.

 

[Wiznet]

Went out this morning to my spot that produced well on Saturday/Sunday. Conditions seemed perfect, yet not a single fish to be seen. Kinda interesting seeing a dramatic change like this overnight.

 

[DimeBrite]

2 for 2 with the resident silvers this morning. Several plucky pink bites mixed in, none harmed. Slow fishing despite good conditions. Could be the calm before the storm?

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Had a flurry of action yesterday morning that lasted maybe 30 minutes. This guy seems like he’s seen some bigger water judging by the tight scales and orange flesh. Had a follow close in that I won’t forget anytime soon as well. Thought for sure it was a seal as it was leaving such a big wake behind my fly. Even the guy next to me saw the big wake. With only a few feet to spare I stopped stripping and it lost interest. I thought for sure I had a seal swimming directly at me but in hindsight I wonder if it wasn’t a king. Slack low tide and a school of herring within casting distance. No seals ever presented themselves.

 

[Ceviche]

There are some big ones out there. I’ll never understand why some people don’t like catching these. Does Not Compute. Maybe I’m just too simple. But the fun is real!

View attachment 79809

I cool with people catching humpies. My only reason for avoiding them is that they smell weird to me. I once worked on a seafood processing ship, and the smell weirded me out after a while.

 

[Stonedfish]

View attachment 79840
Had a flurry of action yesterday morning that lasted maybe 30 minutes. This guy seems like he’s seen some bigger water judging by the tight scales and orange flesh. Had a follow close in that I won’t forget anytime soon as well. Thought for sure it was a seal as it was leaving such a big wake behind my fly. Even the guy next to me saw the big wake. With only a few feet to spare I stopped stripping and it lost interest. I thought for sure I had a seal swimming directly at me but in hindsight I wonder if it wasn’t a king. Slack low tide and a school of herring within casting distance. No seals ever presented themselves.

Nice fish.
Also starting to get a bit of a hook on the nose.
SF

 

[Jake Watrous]

3 for 3 this morning. One coho, one silver and one heading for the beach pig.
SF
View attachment 79292

Heck. I think I’d have bagged off of fishing to try and catch that thing. Haven't had a good pig roast in years. Old neighbor kept calling the fire department and sheriff and it got annoying.

 

[holtad]

Went 2/2 this morning on Pinks in MA9. Released one and gave the other to a kid who clearly was eager to take something home. Most guys at least hooked up but I saw a lot of horsed fish and a bunch lost at the beach. Seal also claimed a few victims and stole a nice coho from the guy next to me right at the beach. Neither of us saw it until it was too late. Tax man strikes again.

 

[Nick Clayton]

@ffb and I got out today and went to a beautiful place to just soak it all in and maybe get a tug or two.

Neither of us had fished this strange fishery before, but it didn't take long to figure it out. We caught fish till we physically couldn't do it any more. It was pretty silly.

It was really cool checking out a whole new area. It was a trip fishing in that environment.





And remember....if you're struggling with fly casting distance I highly advise working on your.....

 

[Jake Watrous]

@ffb and I got out today and went to a beautiful place to just soak it all in and maybe get a tug or two.

Neither of us had fished this strange fishery before, but it didn't take long to figure it out. We caught fish till we physically couldn't do it any more. It was pretty silly.

It was really cool checking out a whole new area. It was a trip fishing in that environment.

View attachment 79905View attachment 79906View attachment 79907View attachment 79908



And remember....if you're struggling with fly casting distance I highly advise working on your.....



View attachment 79909

So, where were you? Or would that be hotspotting?

 

[ffb]

Yep, today was fun. Different fishing than what I've been doing the last few weeks. They were picky for a bit while I motored us around to get a feel for our surroundings. But eventually we found where they were congregating and it got real silly. We saw some pretty humped up ugly fish jumping and had an ugly fish contest but the real gnarly ones didn't seem to want to commit to the fly.


Obligatory double shot.


Nothing makes you feel smaller than being up close to one of these.

A couple other fly guys fishing off the bow of this container ship.

 

[Nick Clayton]

So, where were you? Or would that be hotspotting?

The specific location isn't important. What was important was just spending the day in nature. Letting the sights and sounds of the water just wash away the stresses of the world. And the smell of crane exhaust has soul healing power.

 

[the_chemist]

So, where were you? Or would that be hotspotting?

It's not about the hotspotting, it's about the PCBs we got along the way.