How long will the salt wtr Silver run last?

[BARCHASER10]

Given the crummy weather forecast for the next week, it looks like it will shut down the salt water Silver fishery for awhile. I wonder how long this run will last. Given all the rain we have had plus more in the forecast, many of the fresh fish are going to scoot up the rivers pretty fast. Good for the river guys, bad for the salt guys. Last year, in my fishing diary, the last good day we had for Silvers was October 7th. Although in some years the salt water fishery has held up until well into October. This run is so strong it might hold up into October a ways.

Opinions anybody?

[racfish]

Through October I would think. I catch or have caught silvers into late Nov. on the Willapa and Satsop.This is a wetter year then in the past and cI think the freshets make a difference too.

[Dustin07]

i hope you're right because after planning on going tomorrow all week long, i'm thinking the forecasted 5ft wind waves may be more than I want to deal with.

[Mike Carey]

I think we'll have a few more weeks of good salt water fishing left. Things are still pretty hot in the Straight and those fish are all headed this way.

[kodacachers]

Boy I hope so. Crab re-opens Tuesday and I'm hoping to add a crab-stuffed Silver recipe to the forum!

[BARCHASER10]

Looks like the salt will be fishable again by Thursday, maybe even Wednesday. Should still be a ****load of Silvers out there. I suspect since it is later in the run, more fish will be schooled up at Mulk instead of the Wreck. Even in the salt, the water may be a little cloudy from the rivers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today: SW wind 20 to 30 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. Showers and isolated tstms.

Tonight: SW wind 20 to 30 kt. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. A chance of showers.

Tue: S wind 10 to 15 kt. Wind waves 1 or 2 ft. Showers likely and slight chance of tstms.

Tue Night: S wind 10 to 15 kt. Wind waves 1 or 2 ft.

Wed: SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less.

Wed Night: N wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less.

Thu: Light wind. Wind waves less than 1 ft.

Fri: S wind 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft.

[Dustin07]

looks nice, I had planned on going to the wreck this weekend but when I saw forecasted winds up to 50kt and windwaves up to 9ft I figured my crew may not make it. no problem for the C-Dory but she's not on auto pilot

[BARCHASER10]

This one surprised me. On Saturday and Sunday, there were some stout hearted guys (a/k/a insane) launching out of Everett and catching fish! I don't think they were fishing in the river cause the fishcheckers don't count fish taken in the Snoho itself. Must have been interesting.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/creel/puget/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dustin07]

nearly 3 fish per boat yesterday, impressive
If I lived closer to the water I'd venture into worse storms than I currently do, but its nearly a 2 hr drive to get from my driveway to the launch up there, plus setup and tear down time, flush the motors, etc. If I pull into everett and sundays storm arrives a day early, its a lot of wasted driving and fuel.

[Cascadian]

We launched our 20ft Trophy out of Mukilteo Sunday morning. It was the roughest that I had personally been out it yet. To make matters worse our bimini top had come unstitched the week prior so we had no top whatsoever. We slowly made our way down near shipwreck. It was pretty crazy... pouring rain and good sized waves. We hadn't gotten any hits and weren't marking much on the sonar. After a couple people on our boat started getting seasick, we turned around and hugged the coastline back towards Mukilteo. We had been trolling different hootchie patterns all morning without a single bite. Decided to switch to spoons and immediately picked up 2 fish. Darn seal grabbed one of my fish 30 feet from the boat. Too bad as it looked and felt to be over 10lbs. The seal won the fight and pulled the coho off the hook. We called it a day around 9:45am.

[Mike Carey]

Today was windy and wavy and productive. We got three and lost three, finally got pounded off the water at 12:15.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... lid=12&t=2

Nothing of great size but very shiny!

[Dustin07]

wow, nice work! judging by your hair in the pic it was windy indeed

[kodacachers]

Any thoughts on whether Edmonds or Shipwreck is going to be the place to be for the rest of the season?

[BARCHASER10]

I'm launching at Everett so I've been at the Wreck all the time. I haven't made the run to Edmonds. But conventional wisdom is that late in the run the Stilly/Snoho fish tend to school further north of the Wreck around Mulk. So I'll prob start fishing at Mulk. I used to use the sling at Edmonds but when the sling price went up to 25 bucks I quit, particularly since I have an old guys free pass sticker on my windshield for Everett. But Edmonds, the oil docks etc used to be good well into October.

[BARCHASER10]

Question, I'll prob launch out of Everett on Thurs but I'm afraid of the fog. Back in the 80s' we used to fish Silvers just north of the Edmonds buoy towards Hat Island but nobody does that anymore. I'm kinda leery of that run to Mulk in the fog. Has anybody tried it near the Edmonds buoy lately?

[kodacachers]

Hi Barchaser, i don't know the answer, but do you (or anyone) have a good source for a fog forecast? I can find rain, wind, waves, but would like to know when to expect fog.

[Mike Carey]

Don't know about a fog forecast but IMO one of the most important tools I have is my handheld GPS. I would not consider going out without it. Fog can roll in unexpectedly. It's also great to easily double back on the fish when you run with the "breadcrumb" feature on.

There is a nice handheld for sale by one of the members in the classifieds, BTW.

[BentRod]

Don't know about a fog forecast but IMO one of the most important tools I have is my handheld GPS. I would not consider going out without it. .....

+1

I've been "navigator" more than a few times as my buddy drives and I tell him which way to steer as I watch my hand held GPS (must have at least basic mapping to show land borders). It's amazing how disorienting the fog is. He learned a while ago not to question when I told him he was drifting off course. He had refused to believe that he'd manage to turn more than 90 degrees to port from our intended straight course until some lights on a Whidbey bluff came into view straight ahead. He was a little freaked out over that one. Takes some practice to trust your electronics over dead reckoning too. The only thing I hate about fog is keeping an eye out for debris in the water. Fortunately it doesn't happen often, but when a log appears most of the time there isn't much time to react especially when you combine fog and o'dark-thirty. Hate those conditions.

[Dustin07]

I can follow the breadcrumb on my garmin 440 back to my crab pots within an inch. its crazy. people tell me "go left, no I think its to the right" and I say, "just wait, i'm following the breadcrumb" and voila, like magic this silly thing leads me back to run right directly over my crab pots every time.

[Mike Carey]

Years ago I was fishing off Blake Island for blackmouth. I was fogged in and down to a couple gallons of gas for my fiberform. I had a compass and figured - "if I head due east I'll run into Alki". Well, in a little bit the ferry landing lights came in to view so I figured I had made it across to Lincoln Park and the Vashon Ferry - WRONG. I was in front of the Southworth Ferry dock. I had turned around 180 degrees. So even with a compass I was all turned around.

After that I went out and got a lowrance unit, and later upgraded to a GPS. Lesson learned.