I've been doing quite a bit of trolling off of Shilshoal in the past week. fish have been thin for the "peak" of the season. Any better options close to there? standard methods- two dipseys at 15-30 and two down riggers at 45 and 60. Stanard terminal- cutplug/flashers.

We've had good success with just a flasher and hoochie combo. 36" of 30lb. Ultra Green leader between the white with silver Hot Spot Flasher and the perl white hoochie. Greens or clear with silver Hot Spots have worked equally as well (not too sure it really matters). Put a herring teaser on the trailing hook. Start shallow (25') in the early am and work your way deeper (50-80') as the morning progresses. Troll fast.

I've nailed 'em with drift boat while using a Delta Diver above the flasher/hoochie combo. Not to sure how deep the Delta's dive, but I don't think the fish are too picky. I know they are down at least 35 feet...as they bump bottom in the shallows at 35'.

Remember to keep your hooks close together. One right on top of the other. 5/0's seem to work Ok....especially if they are Vision Hooks! Pinch the barbs. Two beads go down the leader to the hooks, followed by a gummy-squid-head-thingy (Fits in the hoochie head and keeps it intact). Have no idea what it's called - Cigar knows and might tell us.

I've given away all my secrets. Cigar and drift boat will probably never fish with me again! You have no excuse now. Ok, so I'm drift boats lucky charm (I've never been skunked in any of his boats)- he'll probably let me fish with him again. Ok, so Cigar and I doo OK, too. Looks like I'm out of hot water!

Actually, I've learned over the years that no matter what I tell/show people, for some, it just does't matter. They still won't catch fish! Good luck!

Parker, just curious, why such big hooks for silvers, I have rarely used anything bigger then 4/0 for kings and usually 2/0 or 3/0 for silver, like I say, just curious.

how about the location- i'm pretty confident w/ my methods and mix it up when necessary. just think the schools are moving around- as the PI sport section said today. is shipwreck a reasonable on water ride from Ballard?

from ballard to shipwreck at aboout 30 mph about 1/2 hr to conserative

Try running 2oz lead, 16" of leader, barrel swivel, then your leader with a cut plug. Nothing else! No flasher or sqiud. Last saturday, we put 14 silvers in the boat between 4-10lbs. Only kept our limit. It seems that at about 8:30 am the water gets a good chop on top and the fish are right on the surface. We had a triple header and several doubles. Had fish hit while we were trying to get our 22 pulls behind the boat.
Give it a try. Try one area for 30-40 minutes and move if you don't get anything.
They are schooling up. When you find them it's pretty fast action. :p

I don't think hook size is all that critical. It's the *brand* of hook that is most important!

Craig - Where were you fishing? I have been fishing the west side, Yeomalt and Jeff Head, for the last three weeks and have seen a similar thinning out of the fish. Two weeks ago we were limiting in 2-3 hours for 4 guys, last Saturday it took almost 7 hours. There were plenty of boats at Jeff Head, but very few nets out. Seems like the fish are thicker on the east side, Edmonds to Elliot Bay. Better reports coming from there, and a friend who lives at President Point say all the boats this week have been across the Sound at the Oil Docks.

Interestingly, I usually troll one flasher adn cut plug combo on a rigger, one shallow flat line w/ cut plug, and one deeper bare cut plug on the rigger. Until last weekend, the fish didn't seem to care, but last weekend we didn't get one fish on the flasher!

Hope they come back to the west side before it's all over!

I was at West Point Wenesday AM and can confirm the 2oz lead and just cut-plug method. Unfortunately, I didn't have bait. The usual flasher/hoochie method got me two strikes (lost both), while I saw several guys trolling plug cuts and putting fish in the boat. Very frustrating - here in Redmond there is no place that has bait.
So I hit Ballard Bait and will be ready for Saturday!

That squid thingy is called a gum-pucky, but a big bead will do just fine. When those hooknose silvers smash a squid that's traveling at least 3.5 mph, that 5/0 hook really nails them, no need to worry about it
being barbless, it'll grab like a gaff.

Parker always gets fish, he can ride in my
boats ANYTIME !!

The tribe fished Area 10 Tuesday night and
Wednesday with sieners. Their catch was poor,
according to WDFW. However, they netted Elliot Bay last night and really cleaned up.

I'd say Area 8.2 will be the best bet this
weekend.

Chip, We were fishing the west side by----
If you e-mail me @ craigh@sellen.com I'll tell you!

Out far an hour or so this morning. Breifly met Cigar at the ramp. No fish for me. Saw one caught trolling and I could actually see some guy dragging one up the bank on meadow point. There were some guys wading out to there chests.
Back at it again this evening.
Big Blue and White Eastside Driftboat. Say hello!

GutZ

Hey Gutz, glad to have met ya. I was at the ramp again this morning, and a guy limited out with some nise hooknose down in the West
Waterway, he said there was thick schools everywhere. Guess the nets didn't make a dent after all.

John

That would be a long ride from Shilshole on my 5 horse

the duwamish was still hot today, we got our fish by 7 oclock. the muckelshoots go in sunday night at 6 till friday at noon for the rest of the season.

The Muckelshoots netted area 10 all the way
up to Edmonds from Friday night until about
5:30 am this morning. I recomend fishing out
in real deep water or try the west side.

Cigar

Man, I wish I had checked this thread last night. We fished West Point this morning and it was tough. We saw some fish being caught, but our luck was all bad. Had about 6-8 hits and didn't hook one. I checked everything - sharp hooks, troll speed 2-2 1/2 mph. Using herring and vame away with nothing but slash marks and tattered remains. Amazing that not one got the hook impalled in their mouths! So it goes... Back at it Wednesday I hope. Maybe run over to Jeff Head this?
Bummer of the day - when I got home my right wheel was very hot, smell of hot lead, steam as I sprayed the boat down. Maybe a burned out surge brake? Bet it won't be cheap. But more important, can I get it fixed in time for fishing Wednesday?

i realy dont think it was the muckelshoots, thats the tulalup tribes water

I saw the seine boat off of Meadow Point Friday afternoon so we went north to PNP and the west side of the bar. The low slack at PNP produced a few fish, but it wasn't really hot. The bar was good on the incoming for coho 5-12#. Not hot, but steady action. We were trolling cut plugs and coyote spoons. Both produced well and it seemed to go in spurts with 3 or 4 fish in a row on one set up and then it would go dead and they would start to bite on the other set up. Experience with coho tells me you have to move around and find the fish. I know that's hard for some guys because they have to commit to a certain area. If you can't move around and have to stick with one area don't get frustrated because the fish will bite if they're there. Patience.

[ 09-16-2001: Message edited by: Captain Q ]