Posts Tagged ‘Coho Salmon’
Our original plan was to be Tuna fishing the entire month of August out of Westport. This was killing me because I know this is the best time of year to fish Salmon in Gig Harbor (my home base). I have often said that August is the reward God gives us for making it through the rest of the year here. I have so many friends and supporters in this area that I just had to make it happen.
So, We have decided to take two weeks in August and run as many trips as we can. From August 5th through the 15th Offshore Northwest Charters and Gig Harbor fishing will be one and the same with daily Salmon Charters twice daily from 6:00am to noon and from 4:00pm till dark. I expect these to fill up fast so check out Offshore Northwest and get hold of me as soon as possible.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
If you have fished around the Gig Harbor area for very long you know about Chambers Creek Hatchery. August is by far the best month to fish salmon around here and most of those fish come from Chambers Creek hatchery.
There is a dam at Chambers that was built a long time ago to provide water for the old paper mill that was closed in 2000. In the last couple years Pierce County and the Puyallup Tribe have spent over $13 million on upstream habitat restoration but as I have said a million times habitat means nothing if the fish can’t get to it. There has been one fish ladder in operation and the other was abandoned thirty years ago.
Enter the Chambers Creek Restoration Team. This is a group of volunteers that, with grant funding and technical assistance from the Puyallup tribe, have restored the second fish ladder and christened it on September 27th. While the hatchery kings will still be intercepted and the eggs used to replenish the hatchery, the new ladder will assist runs of coho and chum to get upstream to the habitat that has been restored. Which should mean increased runs of these species and that is great news for those of us that like to fish them in September and October.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
It’s the end of October and that means some great fall fishing is coming to a close and with it goes the retention of wild kings and the ability to keep two Chinook. The good news is blackmouth season is upon us. My personal favorite Puget Sound fishery is blackmouth, or local kings, so I get very excited about this time of year. We are back to releasing wild Chinook (adipose fin in tact) and only keeping one Chinook but there are still some chum around and local coho to fill the two fish limit. And we will have winter crabbing in area 11 this year starting November 21st seven days a week til December 31st.
There is nothing like a crisp clear winter day, where the sun is out and the water is perfectly flat. There is very little competition for these fish so I am usually the only boat out, or one of just a couple. If I’m lucky I can get my buddy James or one of the other hard cores to go. We fish Blackmouth mostly at the tide changes, and hour before to an hour after. I’ll fish the Girl Scout Camp or Point Richmond on the in and Point Defiance on the out. Or Gig Harbor on either tide. There is a hump just north of the harbor that holds fish on the leeward side.
I troll between 2.5 and 3 MPH but will go slower if I’m running fat plugs like the Tomic Tubby’s. I usually run spoons or hoochies in green. I also have a couple Tomic Plugs one white and one green that work really well for Blackmouth. For instructions on rigging these check out my youtube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe. And you want to run this right on the bottom. usually if you run your downrigger ball the same depth as the water, or even a little deeper for the angle, you will usually be close enough. These fish are sitting on the bottom and feeding up.
Don’t forget to wear a life jacket when fishing in the winter and let someone know where your going and when you’ll be back. Unlike the summer, there aren’t a lot of other people around so a small mistake could be disastrous. Good Luck
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
It turns out there is more quota left so there will be some more Chinook retention in the ocean.
The rule now reads: Change daily bag limit in Marine Areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 to two salmon only one of which may be a chinook, release wild coho.
Effective dates are:
Sept. 5 through Sept. 30, 2011, in Marine Area 1 and Sept. 5 through Sept. 18, 2011 in Marine Areas 2, 3 and 4.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Wow!!!! 
Every year we get a couple fish caught around Dalco and Point Evans in the thirties but this is the first 40+ I’ve seen here in a long time.
Check out the TNT story below:
Angler lands 42-pound chinook salmon off Point Dalco.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
As I was fishing yesterday morning with my buddy Jeff We snagged this dude. It’s an eight and a half inch herring. The herring in the south sound tend to be a little smaller than in the north sound or the ocean so smaller spoons, hoochies and plugs usually work better here. Kingfisher and Apex spoons in the 3.5 inch or 4 inch Tomic plugs are my favorites. I also like needlefish hoochies. They give a smaller presentation to more closely match what the salmon are eating.
So at the end of our day we snag this huge herring. Can you guess what I’ll be trying on Thursday when I go out next?
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I am reading this article by Dave Shorett at the Kitsap Sun. Dave is a great writer with strong ties to the area. While, as in this case, I don’t always agree with him you always know where Dave stands on issues. And, while the Suquamish Tribe, and most other tribes, have done a lot toward salmon restoration to say they played no part in the demise of this once plentiful resource while stretching nets across the rivers and seining the beaches is a bit of a reach.
Please read the article and let me know what you think but know I will delete any comments that include personal attacks. I welcome civil disagreement.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
This looked so good I had to share it. I try to get around the net a bit and share things from other sites. this recipe comes from carycitizen.com
If you think it looks yummy also click on the picture.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Last week, Tacoma Power recovered 10,003 coho adults, 402 jacks, 465 fall Chinook adults, 30 jacks, one chum salmon adult, 207 summer-run steelhead, seven winter-run steelhead and 82 sea-r
un cutthroat trout during seven days of operation at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.
They released 809 coho adults and 91 jacks into the upper Cowlitz River at the Skate Creek Bridge in Packwood.
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/11/12/1437644/angling-steady-plenty-of-elbow.html#ixzz158D3WmtS
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
This will make Ben happy.
Four marine areas of Puget Sound will reopen to recreational crab fishing Nov. 15, based on summer catch assessments by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) that show more crab are available for harvest.
At 8 a.m. on Nov. 15, marine areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 12 (Hood Canal) will reopen for sport crabbing seven days a week through Jan. 2, 2011.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com