Puget Sound

[Stonedfish]

Hi SF, I wonder if you were seeing a contact zone between freshwater (clear) and saltwater (cloudy). The cloudiness in the water is likely the result of a bloom. But we haven't had that much sunny weather to trigger a bloom though the days are growing longer, slowly, slowly... Normally, saltwater is denser than freshwater. But colder water is denser than warmer water. So, if you have cold freshwater meeting warmer saltwater they may not stratify vertically.
Steve

Steve,
Thanks for the information. I’ve fished this beach for years. After very large rain events in the winter, I’ve seen what you described with freshwater being on top of the saltwater. The best way I can describe it is it almost looks like an oil slick on the surface, but both have always been clear. I’ve never seen it get brown like this which is what made me think it was a bloom. It was pretty cool to see it change so quickly from crystal clear to brown.
SF

 

[Cabezon]

Steve,
Thanks for the information. I’ve fished this beach for years. After very large rain events in the winter, I’ve seen what you described with freshwater being on top of the saltwater. The best way I can describe it is it almost looks like an oil slick on the surface, but both have always been clear. I’ve never seen it get brown like this which is what made me think it was a bloom. It was pretty cool to see it change so quickly from crystal clear to brown.
SF

I remember bringing a group of students to Nisqually Reach Education Center on a field trip and observing that the surface water's looked chocolate brown - no visibility. But the water in a boat wake was crystal clear. That surface water was a new inches of sediment-rich freshwater from the Nisqually River sitting on top of crystal clear marine water.
It is common to see "shimmering" where two water masses of different densities meet vertically or horizontally. Density impacts the degree of light refraction. Where there is a sudden change in density between two water masses, you will see this shimmering at the transition zone due to the differences in refractive indexes of the two water masses. If you looking only in one water mass or the other, you won't see anything.
Steve

 

[Zak]

Checked out some new beaches today.
Slow, cold morning which turned into a nice, too bright day for fishing.
A couple of beach finds to add to my collection.
SF

View attachment 103735

It might be interesting to cut and polish a window into that agate:

 

[Stonedfish]

Slow day for fishing. Medium light day for trash. The Voodoo Ranger never disappoints when it comes to being a beach slob……
SF

 

[Nick Clayton]

@ffb and I spent a very soggy day out on the water today.

Puget Sound didn't suck today, but I sure did! My casting sucked, my stripping sucked, my knot tying sucked, my hook sets sucked, and my fish catching most definitely sucked. I just sucked all around today. Just one of them days where I was off my game in every area. Only thing I succeeded at was driving the boat without crashing into anything.

Jon out performed me every step of the way. At least one of us was on top of things!

Was consistently wet all day long. Wasn't super cold luckily, but wasn't warm either. Not a breath of wind though, which was nice.

Fishing was fairly slow all day. We caught some fish. but never anything consistent or any real numbers. We fished our Hover worms for the bulk of the day and Jon's definitely impressed the fish more than any of mine. I managed to lose most of mine while Jon fished his the entire day. His were sparser and in a purple color, and were definitely preferred by the fish. He landed some good quality fish, and lost a donkey late in the day that was just a stud of a fish that smashed his fly in what seemed like about 10" of water. I believe he landed 1 rezzie and we saw a few show at the last area we fished but not much in the coho department.

No pics today as it was much too wet to be pulling the phone out much. Besides, I'm not gonna take a bunch of pics of his fish anyway as mine weren't very picture worthy lol.

Some days you just can't put it together, and today was definitely one of those days for me. Still a very enjoyable, if damp, day out on the water.

 

[ffb]

Yep always a good time but much slower than it has been. I think the cutts are headed upstream making baby cutts.

Here was my variation of the hover worm:

I still giggle like a kid when you are stripping a fly in shallow water, and a fish just materializes out of nowhere behind your fly.

I was curious how it would fish with the hook so far back. Fishing the worm patterns has produced some of the strangest takes I've ever had. A vast majority were literally just slow stripping into dead weight with no take at all. A couple fish hit it hard. Of the fish that I saw actually eat the fly, I'd say over 3/4 sucked it in from behind, and the rest either t-boned it or slammed it from the front. Had one take on the surface before it started to sink as soon as the fly hit the water. Every fish that I landed was hooked on the exact same spot on the lower lip. I'm looking forward to playing with this pattern more for sure.

 

[Stonedfish]

Yep always a good time but much slower than it has been. I think the cutts are headed upstream making baby cutts.

Here was my variation of the hover worm: View attachment 104185
View attachment 104187
I still giggle like a kid when you are stripping a fly in shallow water, and a fish just materializes out of nowhere behind your fly.

I was curious how it would fish with the hook so far back. Fishing the worm patterns has produced some of the strangest takes I've ever had. A vast majority were literally just slow stripping into dead weight with no take at all. A couple fish hit it hard. Of the fish that I saw actually eat the fly, I'd say over 3/4 sucked it in from behind, and the rest either t-boned it or slammed it from the front. Had one take on the surface before it started to sink as soon as the fly hit the water. Every fish that I landed was hooked on the exact same spot on the lower lip. I'm looking forward to playing with this pattern more for sure.

Good looking pattern.
That has been my experience lately as well fishing various worm patterns. A few hard takes but most are just there and load up the rod with weigh but no take that you actually feel.
SF

 

[Bruce Baker]

Just made the trip up to the San Juan’s for a little vacation and have been greeted with a spectacular sunrise.
View attachment 103778View attachment 103779View attachment 103780

Yes, spectacular!!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jisabi]

I wasn't expecting much from my local beach, and in fact my expectations were fully met. But as always it was really nice to get out and be there.

 

[Stonedfish]

Just an FYI.
SF

WDFW invites public participation in annual salmon season-setting process

wdfw.wa.gov

 

[speedbird]

I had the strange urge to read the oldest regs pamphlet I could find and came across this: https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/00219/wdfw00219.pdf

I notice that Chinook fishing in Area 9 used to be curiously early, May 1st-June 30th. Is there a reason it was timed that way? With the exception of the Sky I don't think Puget Sound has any major Summer runs, unless the Stillaguamish fish were a bigger portion of the catch back in the day.

Lots to miss, year round salmon fishing in Area 7, 10, and 11. But also lots of questionable practices like wild winter run retention and catch and keep for the big sea run cutthroats. I also have to disagree with those who say regs used to be easier to read, take a look at the old definition of "Wild Steelhead release"

 

[johnnyboy]

I had the strange urge to read the oldest regs pamphlet I could find and came across this: https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/00219/wdfw00219.pdf

I notice that Chinook fishing in Area 9 used to be curiously early, May 1st-June 30th. Is there a reason it was timed that way? With the exception of the Sky I don't think Puget Sound has any major Summer runs, unless the Stillaguamish fish were a bigger portion of the catch back in the day.

Lots to miss, year round salmon fishing in Area 7, 10, and 11. But also lots of questionable practices like wild winter run retention and catch and keep for the big sea run cutthroats. I also have to disagree with those who say regs used to be easier to read, take a look at the old definition of "Wild Steelhead release"

Blackmouth. In some spots, it was pretty good fishing for them off the beach in the 90s in May/June according to my family fishing log. We can’t fish for them now because only a fraction of those fish are still around now.

 

[speedbird]

Blackmouth. In some spots, it was pretty good fishing for them off the beach in the 90s in May/June according to my family fishing log. We can’t fish for them now because only a fraction of those fish are still around now.

It's kinda crazy how much Blackmouth contributed to the culture of those living around Puget Sound. I remember fly fishing off a beach on Whidbey and a dog walker approached me and mentioned he never saw anyone fishing over there from the beach before. He mentioned how he used to take a little skiff with his dad off a certain point and catch plenty of blackmouth and tons of coho, so many in fact that in those days they'd try to avoid catching them like some anglers do with pinks today.

 

[Stonedfish]

You can find some good info on past blackmouth fishing and the program if you google search “ Frank Haw blackmouth”.
I’m glad I had an opportunity to experience that fishing when the program was at its peak.
SF

 

[Salmo_g]

I had the strange urge to read the oldest regs pamphlet I could find and came across this: https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/00219/wdfw00219.pdf

I notice that Chinook fishing in Area 9 used to be curiously early, May 1st-June 30th. Is there a reason it was timed that way? With the exception of the Sky I don't think Puget Sound has any major Summer runs, unless the Stillaguamish fish were a bigger portion of the catch back in the day.

Lots to miss, year round salmon fishing in Area 7, 10, and 11. But also lots of questionable practices like wild winter run retention and catch and keep for the big sea run cutthroats. I also have to disagree with those who say regs used to be easier to read, take a look at the old definition of "Wild Steelhead release"

You didn't find an old enough copy of fishing regulations. The WDG gamefish pamphlet was about 30 pages of 3" x 6" paper. Except for a few special reg areas, like fly fishing only lakes, the trout season was from later April to end of October, 12 trout per day over 6", not to exceed 6 pounds + one fish. Rivers opened the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and closed Oct. 31 unless extended for steelhead. Steelhead fishing was open in over 160 rivers and streams, limit 2 steelhead. Seasons did vary according to presence of summer steelhead or not. Salmon was way simpler - no booklet: Ocean opened Apr. 1, closed Oct. 31, limit: 3 salmon/day any species. Puget Sound open 365 days/year. Oh, and no license to fish for salmon, just get a free punch card. That was about it for fishing regulations.

 

[Kfish]

Good fishing out there this morning, certainly not hot like a couple of weeks ago at our new found spot. Fish were spread out way more and takes were also more aggressive. Worm patterns were deployed a couple of times but got ignored, pink shrimp got a hit or two but no full commits. Spoon fly caught a fish but I changed it out since I didn’t love the way it didn’t turn over, fly of the day was a small silver fry pattern.

@jasmillo had the hot hand today and landed a couple of toads, a couple of doubles were had.

We also explored some new waters further out and although it was very slow, Jason caught a random mondo there, biggest of the day.

 

[jasmillo]

That was a lot of fun. Numbers down a bit but we still caught a lot of fish and overall quality was up. Nice getting some aggressive takes. I caught about 25% of my fish on a couple different shrimp patterns and the rest on fry.

Biggest of the day. 18+ measured. Not sure the exact measurement but between 18 and 19 (did not want to handle to long).



Lots of solid fish overall. Some of the better ones.











Top fly

 

[Cabezon]

Chum / pink fry imitations?
Steve

 

[Stonedfish]

Anyone who has driven by has seen that craft anchored up.
I didn’t know the whole story behind it and all the drama that went with it.
SF

An Eyesore from the Seashore: The Purdy Spit Barge - Key Peninsula News

A converted oyster barge has become the unofficial, unintentional and unwanted welcome sign to those entering the Key Peninsula while crossing the Purdy Spit.

keypennews.org

 

[Chucker]

Anyone who has driven by has seen that craft anchored up.
I didn’t know the whole story behind it and all the drama that went with it.
SF

An Eyesore from the Seashore: The Purdy Spit Barge - Key Peninsula News

A converted oyster barge has become the unofficial, unintentional and unwanted welcome sign to those entering the Key Peninsula while crossing the Purdy Spit.

keypennews.org

Weird article! Especially the bit about starting planting geoducks in 2001 and having $2.5 million in income from them two years later. Something is not adding up.