Puget Sound

[jasmillo]

Hit the sound with @Kfish this morning. Fished a bunch of spots with the boat and hooked up on nearly every stop. We just never found fish stacked up so it ended up being a pretty slow morning. Lost my biggest src while netting him. The rest were on the small side. Never found src really keyed on fry but did find rezzie pods on them again. Some healthy, chunky fish in some of the pods we came across.

Some cuts.







Some rezzies.

 

[Kfish]

That top src you stole was supposed to be mine but can’t hardly blame him for choosing that pink shrimp over my white rabbit mystery meat haha

Those rezzie blitz provided a good deal of entertainment (and also frustration) to makeup for the slow cutty fishing, hooked a couple and one was pretty good size. Those guys have been feasting on fry for a couple of weeks now, all healthy and aggressive.

Spotted one group of fry near the boat about 60 in numbers, still very tiny.

 

[Stonedfish]

Slow day. Way too bright and sunny then the north wind kicked in and colored up the water.
Earlier in the day, an otter popped up right in front of me. A bit later, I see something swimming up the shoreline directly at me. I got out of the water thinking it was the otter, but it turned out to be a little beaver.
SF

 

[NRC]

Slow day. Way too bright and sunny then the north wind kicked in and colored up the water.
Earlier in the day, an otter popped up right in front of me. A bit later, I see something swimming up the shoreline directly at me. I got out of the water thinking it was the otter, but it turned out to be a little beaver.
SF

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You’d have been better off as a fur trapper than an angler today.

 

[GeekOfAllTrades]

Only found two that wanted to play yesterday. Both off the same beach, so it might even be the same fish. Had to be out there early before the sun got too high and the wind picked up.

 

[Stonedfish]

Anyone seeing much fry activity?
I saw zero this weekend. Prior trips I’ve seen a few, but very small groups, sometimes only a couple of them together.
With both chum and pink fry available this spring, it seems there should be more for this time of the year. Every year is different though so hopefully more will be outmigrating with the slightly warmer weather.
SF

 

[GeekOfAllTrades]

Anyone seeing much fry activity?
I saw zero this weekend. Prior trips I’ve seen a few, but very small groups, sometimes only a couple of them together.
With both chum and pink fry available this spring, it seems there should be more for this time of the year. Every year is different though so hopefully more will be outmigrating with the slightly warmer weather.
SF

I did see a small school yesterday, hard to count but I'd guess between 25-50 fry. It was also pretty close to a creek mouth, like maybe 25 yards away from the creek as I was making my way out onto a neighboring point. Maybe things are just a little slower than normal?

 

[Pink Nighty]

I'm wondering if with the warmer winter we had if the fry emerged earlier and got missed.

 

[Stonedfish]

Could be, but I fish the beaches all winter and didn’t see any early. Could also be location based and they just aren’t where I’m fishing.
SF

 

[Tallguy]

I was in the deep south sound Saturday and saw a few small schools of smallish fry swimming around on top through the day. It was calm, so here and there were small dimpling fish in many places, even if I didn't try to go look at them. No idea what they were, other than definitely salmon fry.

 

[oakbrookjeff]

I fished 3 South Sound beaches last Thursday and saw nothing.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Could be, but I fish the beaches all winter and didn’t see any early. Could also be location based and they just aren’t where I’m fishing.
SF

This crossed my mind as soon as I hit post. Pretty unlikely you missed them!

 

[Semper_Fly]

Headed south Friday morning to catch the small window with the least wind forecasted.

The first beach produced one to the net with another 4 missed opportunities.

Second beach already had 3 anglers so I passed.

Third beach had lots of active fish but they were just too focused on the chum fry. Saw lots of fry swimming around about 1" in length. I stayed for about an hour after realizing they just weren't interested. Headed back to the second beach.

Back to the second beach, the tide was already so low that people were digging for clams. I figured this was the last beach to fish before heading back so I gave it a go. Second cast and got a strike. I wasn't prepared so I did not set the hook. A few seconds later the fish shot out of the water, flipped me off and went off up the beach never to be interested in my fly again.

Was a Good Friday indeed.

 

[Stonedfish]

More fry on the way this month for the south sound and canal…..guaranteed.
SF

 

[gwb72tii]

That last hatchery is interesting. I was told some years ago the Minter quit propagating chum salmon? My son and I would fly fish for them in the estuary just below the hatchery with small chartreuse flies with ancient Fenwick fiberglass 7wt rods. Lots of fun.

 

[Kfish]

Pretty slow today, @jasmillo caught most of the fish with his hot fly. Wind was ugly most of the time creating some awkward casting angles and self back snags. Lost my biggest at boat side because I couldn’t get the net down fast enough.



Did not see any fry at all, all the chops didn’t help either.

 

[jasmillo]

It was definitely a shrimpy kind of day.

Day started looking like the sun might warm things up early. That changed pretty quickly though.



Only caught one fish on a fry pattern but it was a cool one. Nice colors on this fish.



Shrimp for the rest of these guys.

 

[Stonedfish]

Had to head south to get a family visit in so fished the canal today. Started at 6:45 and called it a day when the whitecaps arrived at around 11:30. Cool morning to start at 37°.
Good day for numbers of fish, but not much size wise. I do like seeing the different size and age classes of fish which bodes well for the future.
I had flat water this morning and saw no fry again. Even though I saw no fry, I fished the same fry fly all day.
Overall a nice day and I added to my golf ball collection.
SF

 

[ThatGuyRyRy]

Hey if anybody was out fishing this week or next week? My wife is doing some salmon curriculum and wanted to do a salmon fish print at school. If anybody were running into legal coho in 13 or 11 this weekend, it would be really cool to be able to come and pick one up.

 

[5 Weight]

Had to head south to get a family visit in so fished the canal today. Started at 6:45 and called it a day when the whitecaps arrived at around 11:30. Cool morning to start at 37°.
Good day for numbers of fish, but not much size wise. I do like seeing the different size and age classes of fish which bodes well for the future.
I had flat water this morning and saw no fry again. Even though I saw no fry, I fished the same fry fly all day.
Overall a nice day and I added to my golf ball collection.
SF

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Good outing! You can’t go wrong with that fly pattern. Judging from pic #4, the White Claw and Twisted Tea guys have not hit the beaches yet.