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Unfortunately I'm not posting a great report for the kings which seem to be slow to show up in the sound and what everyone is after right now in Area 9 and 10, but this is a 5 star report for the Coho. Where did they come from? I've never seen them in here this thick, and let alone for late July. Honest to god it was like trout fishing out there today. They were jumping everywhere and biting just as well.

Didn't get out until 9:30am or so and worked the incoming tide.. Spent the first hour fishing in 60-80 feet varying the depths on my DR from 5 feet above the bottom to midway up in the column, couldn't find anything, except one dogfish...I was working a chartreuse/glow Coho Killer behind an 8" Chartreuse Hot spot. Smeared up in Shrimp Salt/Glitter Smelly Jelly (the vaseline stuff, not the liquid stuff) I had disregarded some birds that looked like they might have been feeding up in shallow water, but they were only in about 10 feet so I kinda motored past them when I was heading out and went out to deeper water in search of fish.

Around 10:15am the birds got active again which caught my eye as I was trolling nearby, this time they looked to be out a little deeper but still right nearby where I previously saw them. I trolled right along a line that parallels the shore, and went right where the seagulls and birds were hanging out and hit a shelf were it went from 70 feet to 20-35 feet. Shoot, am I really going to fish in 30 feet of water? Heck, why not, reeled my DR up to 24 feet and started working the shallower water..Soon enough, the fishfinder was marking fish EVERYWHERE and they were jumping all over as well. The action didn't take long to find my line. Within the next 45 minutes, I had one 6lber hatchery silver in the cooler and released 4 more Coho around 4-6 lbs, most hatchery and a few wild and lost a few as well. Every pass over the short stretch (75 yards) of shallow water meant a fish or a hit. DR was anywhere from 18-25 feet in 20-30 feet of water. I tried to keep my limit open just in case I found a king or a bigger silver. Dad wanted to come out when I radioed in that it was just awesome fishing, so I brought him out and we quickly landed 5 more, kept 3, and by 11:45am, we had each bonked our two fish and headed in to clean our catch. He fished a 5" plug off the downrigger with no flasher and was having good luck with that as well, including a hit that just tore off line when it hit and didn't want to stop but we lost it 5 seconds after picking it outta the rod holder. Wonder if that mighta been a big ol king...

Figured for kicks I might as well go back out and see if they were still biting. Headed out at 2pm, and again, fish were still feeding heavily in the exact same spot. Fished from 2:00 to 3:45pm, the action was a bit slower, but still awesome fishing, I got 4 to the boat and released em all, including a 7-8 lber silver, and I lost/missed a few more. The fish started to push in a little shallower in the afternoon, so fishing in 10-20 feet of water even produced fish. I had one fish take a plug at 3' on the DR in 9 feet of water.

The key was the Coho killer spoon. Every one of the fish I filleted had a stomach full of small skinny baitfish, candlefish/sandlance? Dozens in each of these fish. Anyways, it seems that shallow shelfs and coho killers trolled near the bottom is the way to go for the Coho right now. Deeper water isn't producing anything for me or any of my buddies who are fishing were we normally catch them (70-150 feet of water) but they sure are active up in shallow water. Seems like they are all preying on baitfish together and are heavily concentrated.

Can't wait for the next few weeks, hopefully the kings will be in thick and the quota will still be open...

joekacker

7/28/2008 4:55:00 PM

Oh man thats sweet. This is weird because. August second last year My freind limited out in a few casts off the shore by mukelteo. We were both kinda like what the heck is going in here.... But Thats a good catch and a bad sign

Rollin with Rolland

7/28/2008 11:20:00 PM

great work again Kafelafish. two silvers is a good bounty. 30 ft. you say.....very interesting. that last king in my boat had an empty stomach.....not one morsel of food....

produce2troutcat

7/29/2008 6:20:00 AM

Good thing the Game Warden was not around .He would of written you up for targeting salmon after keeping your limit.

A9

7/29/2008 7:26:00 AM

oduce2troutcat:
I was releasing all the fish I caught after I had kept my limit and wasn't bringing them aboard my boat or anything. I'm almost positive I can continue to "fish" and release salmon after retaining my limit.

Dave

7/29/2008 8:18:00 AM

Page 98 of the Sport Fishing Rules, bottom right corner. It states that all on board may fish until the daily limit is achieved. When I read this I understand it to mean, when your limit is achieved, you must stop fishing; Unless the area a person is fishing has a special rule indicated in the pamphlet that allows catch and release. I am positive Sam wasn't aware of this rule. Great report Sam, outstanding fishing. Now if we can just talk you into giving up your spot LOL. On a side note, the WDFW is out in a very nice welded aluminum fishing boat with polls sticking out the back. The only identifier on the boat is the WDFW logo in small letters on the side of the boat. I absolutely love it! Just like the WSP workin the highway in completely unmarked rigs including pick up trucks which 2 of my buddies in the Patrol drive. Who ever raided 3 of our pots last week is in for a big surprise if we catch them doing that in the future. I will definately be watching more closely! You never know where the police are. :)

Mike Carey

7/29/2008 1:14:00 PM

I have it on page 102 -

"In Washington waters where a saltwater
license is valid, each angler aboard a vessel
may continue to deploy angling gear or
shellfish gear until the daily limit of fish and
shellfish for all licensed and juvenile anglers
aboard has been achieved."

I don't mind people making friendly reminders about fishing regs, but it would a good thing to be really sure about the reg and the circumstances before posting. Otherwise we end up with these back and forth threads.

produce2troutcat

7/29/2008 7:23:00 PM

To all concerned ,I do know what the regs say on both those pages,But those rules are going to be interpretated by the Enforcement Agent .If he/she sees that you have cuaght your limit of salmon and you are still fishing with gear that is salmon orientated(downrigger/COHO KILLER),then your chances of being ticketed increase dramatically.Like I said,the agent is the one who is making the call,not the fisherperson.I would not like to hear about any of us getting ticketed, so I spoke up.
The Judge will always tell you that ignorance of the the law is no excuse.

fishnislife

7/30/2008 8:24:00 AM

Another quality report Sam. Nice work out there, The Kings are coming. This week will be it and that quota will get met by the second weekend in Aug.
Get out there and shake those silvers off for them fat Kings.

fishnislife

Shad_Eating_Grin

8/5/2008 2:24:00 PM

To follow up Mike Carey's comment below, here's what page 31 of the regs say:

YOU MAY NOT Continue to fish for SALMON after the adult
portion of the daily limit has been retained

So, in a case where the limit has been retained for everyone in the boat, it looks like the folks will need to stop fishing for salmon for the day.

From Sam's report:

"Dad wanted to come out when I radioed in that it was just awesome fishing, so I brought him out and we quickly landed 5 more, kept 3, and by 11:45am, we had each bonked our two fish and headed in to clean our catch. ... Figured for kicks I might as well go back out and see if they were still biting. Headed out at 2pm, and again, fish were still feeding heavily in the exact same spot. Fished from 2:00 to 3:45pm, the action was a bit slower, but still awesome fishing, I got 4 to the boat and released em all."

Be careful out there folks... ya never know when a warden might come by asking questions. I seem to attract them like flies on poop--I get checked 3-4 times a year.

Mike Carey

8/5/2008 6:45:00 PM

wow, I didn't see that second one, talk about contradictory regs. Page 102 says "all licensed and juvenile anglers", but page 31 says "adult portion retained". I'm sorry, unless someone can explain this to my feable mind, these two statements don't work together. Help!

Shad_Eating_Grin

8/5/2008 10:17:00 PM

Mike,

The "adult portion of the daily limit" on page 31 means "adult fish" portion of the daily limit. The page 102 regs is speaking of licensed "adult fishermen" and "licensed juvenile fishermen."

In other words, the page 31 regs is saying that a person (whether a juvenile angler or an adult angler) has to stop fishing for salmon when he/she has retained his daily limit of "adult salmon."

The page 102 regs is the so-called "boat limit", where an individual person can continue to fish (for salmon or other fish) even though that individual may have already retained his daily limit, so long as the"boat limit" has not yet been reached. An example: there are two fishermen in a boat and the daily limit is 2 salmon per person, and so the "boat limit" is 4 salmon. One of the fishermen gets seasick and quits fishing and lies down. The other fishermen on the boat can then catch and keep 4 salmon (but each person will need to punch 2 fish on their catch cards).

In Sam's report, it looks like he and his dad tagged each of their individual limits (as well as the boat limit) in the morning, and so there is no CNR allowed for salmon for the rest of the day.

Mike Carey

8/6/2008 6:47:00 AM

that helps, but still I think they could have done a much better job of writing these rules, and keeping them in the same spot.

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