Posts Tagged ‘Puget Sound Fishing’
WDFW sent me a note today with this years Halibut Openers. For LaPush, where I usually fish, it will be just as we suspected. May 10, 12, 17 and 19th these are Thursday, Saturday. If there is quota left there will be an open on May 31 or June 2. If there is still Quota left after that there will be periodic openers Thursdays and/or Saturdays till the quota is filled.
For the rest of the coastal Marine areas and the Puget Sound you can check the press release here.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
We have been working on the boat getting it ready for Spring Halibut, Summer Salmon and Fall Tuna. We are adding 10 rocket launchers, Upgrading the electronics to add a Garmin 740S which will replace the old Furuno ls4000 fish finder and an old Garmin 210 GPS, replacing the plugs on my Scotty Downriggers, patching some holes and cleaning out a bunch of old wires. We are also adding a b60 tilted element thru hull transducer, it is scary drilling a 2 3/8 hole in the bottom of the boat.
While I was down yesterday laying out some stuff and cleaning out my wiring area my friend Ringo (Bob) was down to help me. Ringo is an old gill netter from back in the day and we were swapping stories, I was mostly listening. When I finally poked my head out of the cabin I saw what Ringo had been working on. He made this beautiful series of knots on my starboard grab rail and started on the port one as well. 
These are beautiful but I told him when people ask me at the dock if I did that myself I was going to have to tell them I did. He just laughed. I also learned that he had never been halibut fishing off the coast here. So Ringo has promised to do more of his magic to my boat and I am going to make it a priority to get Ringo Halibut fishing this year. It’s a win win. I get more cool stuff for the boat, and I get to go fishing with Ringo. It kicks ass being me.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Here’s a fun thing I found on-line:
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I almost missed it but winter crab opened today. 
The cool thing about winter crab is the shells are harder and they are packed full of yummy meat. Check out the map pages for where to fish and there is some good info on the wdfw website also. The season will be open 7 days a week till December 31st but make sure you check the regs.
From WDFW: Waters reopening to sport crabbing Oct. 8 at 8 a.m. include marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner), and a portion of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) north of a line that extends from Olele Point to Foulweather Bluff.
Marine areas 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island) and 13 (South Puget Sound) will reopen for sport crabbing at 8 a.m. on Nov. 21.
In each area, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Dec. 31.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
If your a regular reader you know this year I have been learning to fish Tuna.
So I get on line to the great offshore guys on Bloodydecks.com and learn from people that have been doing it for a while. 
One of the things I learned was that because it has been a fairly small market it is hard to find good tuna gear here. Until now.
Many Washington anglers will be familiar with Bo Palmer from Defiance Boats. Local Gig Harbor folks will know that Tiderunner Boats were once manufactured and sold here. And by a long and winding road Tiderunner is now part of the defiance boat family.
So I get on line and see that Bo has opened a new store out by the Bremerton National Airport in Port Orchard. Guys from Bloodydecks that had been there say he has everything I need for tuna. And they are the guys that know. The wife and I decide it’s a nice day for a road trip so we jump in the car and off we go. 
From Gig Harbor you can get there taking 16 to hwy3 through beautiful downtown Gorst (gateway to Belfair). but we decided to take back roads for fun. On the way, out in the middle of nowhere, We hit this road construction that turns out to be another perfectly good intersection our wonderful state of Washington is screwing into a roundy round (Pet Peeve).
We get there and The store is great!!
Bo himself helps me find the things I need and explains to me how to rig and use the gear. Now you know that when you go to a store asking what do I need for this fishery usually the salesman will grab a hand full of what ever costs the most and say you absolutely need this and a dozen of those etc. So I did a little homework ahead of time. I knew going in I needed x-wraps, clones and live bait hooks. Bo explained to me which hooks to buy, how to use weights to keep live bait underwater and even helped me find some purple x-wraps that were in the back. What he did not do was try to sell me a bunch of crap I didn’t need. I was also able to find some salmon stuff I had been looking for but was sold out in other places.
Bo even helped my wife pick out a kick ass birthday present for me. 
Overall the store was a bit of a hike. For me it is about the same distance as Sportco in Fife or Warehouse in Silverdale (but those places don’t carry much tuna gear). Prices were about what you would expect. The big difference for me is that this is a real fisherman’s store. 
It has all the stuff you really need without all the extraneous crap larger stores have to carry. I can see this becoming a regular stop for me when planning any type of fishing.
Thanks Bo
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Guys are catching Kings right now in all the usual spots. Now is the time we wait all year for so get out there and get some!!!
This one was Jessica’s first salmon and was good for 19th place in the Gig Harbor PSA derby last Saturday. The winner was a 25.42 pound hog caught near Nisqually by Russel Stone.
I was out tonight and there were several fish caught, including one that I broke off for my other daughter Kristina. Sorry Babe.
Anyway this is a great time to go fishing so get out there in anything that will float and get some!!!!!
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Last Saturday we had the first of two derbies in area 11. It was the South King County PSA derby and was held in area 10,11 and 13. I will post results as soon as I get them.
We caught on king about 7.5 lbs. first thing in the morning and had nothing the rest of the day.It wasn’t much but it was good for a prize. My friend Jeff scored a beautiful fillet knife set, which if you’d a seen the hatchet job he did on that fish you would appreciate. We also had a lot of fun catching herring to use for bait and test running the bait tank as we get ready for Tuna.
It seemed fishing was slow for everyone with a very few fish turned in. I believe the winner was 23ish.I will post the rest of the results when I get them.
Lets hope next Saturday is better when the Gig Harbor PSA hosts their derby. Tickets are still available and there is still time to join the chapter at the meeting this Tuesday night at the TOA in Tacoma at Titlow Beach.
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
Yes boys and girls the fourth of july is past and now it is just a couple weeks till Kings come rolling in to the south sound. There have already been a couple small groups of kings come through with few fish but good size. Guys are picking a few by the Girl Scout Camp and the Slag Pile. I will be going out tomorrow to try Point Richmond and maybe the Girl Scout Camp. I will be starting this year with what worked last year. 3.5 inch kingfishers in cookies and cream and green uv. 36 inches behind green hotspots. I also have a couple ace hi flies I am looking forward to trying this year. As you may know the Gig Harbor PSA derby winner came on an ace hi last year by the Girl Scout Camp.
Here is the video on how to tie spoons:
I look forward to seeing you all on the water.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
As opening day of crab season approached I was feeling a little tentative. I have heard the tribes hit my favorite spot, Quartermaster Harbor, pretty hard so I was afraid it was going to be slim pickens if you know what I mean.
As we arrived Friday morning there were tons of boats around and loads of pots. So we wiggled our way in and dropped in about 75 feet of water. The low tide was a -2.5 that day so I didn’t want to go much deeper than that. We went to Dockton for the day and came back and checked after lunch. There were three nice dungeness in one pot and nothing in the other so we moved it closer to the first. At 8 o’clock we checked a last time and got three more combined to finish my limit.
Saturday morning brought 5 more dungeness (one was about 7.5 inches) and a rock crab that went back. we soaked the pots again till 11:00am and when we checked them they were completely empty.
Overall it was an average opening but I hope we will do better as the season continues and there is less pressure on the fishery.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com