Who's gona be down there fishing come opening day? What do you think will be working??

I won't be there but I can tell you what will work.

Start with an 11 inch Hot Spot dodger green or white/glow. About 30" behind that, or longer if you troll faster, put a 4.0 Coyote spoon in green/silver, blue/silver, solid silver or a white/glow hoochie (rubber squid).

Enjoy!

I'll be there, if ya see a Green Alumaweld, that's me i'll be the one catching all the dogfish hehe.

most of the salmon on opening weekend will be caught on 2 types of baits...cutplug herring or 4" coyotes.
for the spoons i always use a color combo that includes green, but i dont know that color makes much difference, there are a lot of fish out there right now so you dont have to get too technical about the little details yet. also, make sure you use a dodger or flasher if you troll spoons, if you go with herring you dont need it but you can use it if you want. hootchies should work too but i never see them in area 11 for some reason

Sullie13, where will you be launching at?

GLOW GREEN HOT SPOT, 36" LEADER, AND ARMY TRUCK COHO KILLER... UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST KING LURE COMBO... WILL OUT FISH BAIT 4 TO 1... AND DONT FORGET TO SPRAY THE HOT SPOT WITH SHRIMP SENT AND A LITTLE SPARKLE SHRIMP JELLY ON THE BACK OF THE KILLER! AFTER THE FISH HAVE BEEN BEAT ON FOR A FEW DAY'S LENGTHEN THE LEADER TO 72"

Me an sullie, will be launching at Gig Harbor and i've got grandparents that live on point richmond. Lookin foward to it, then were gona do some rockfishin.

Stifler, we will be at shilshol.

Stifler, just wanted to let you know hoochies behind a dodger is my #1 choice for salmon in area 11. Particularly the white/glow.

I've been eagerly anticipating the opener and will be out on Tuesday and Thursday morning. The tides are PERFECT and there should be some eager biters out there. I'll be trolling 2 rods and I'll be using these setups in order. All setups get some smelly jelly or herring strip for scent.

1. Green/Red HotSpot flasher andh whole herring w/ helmet on a 48-60" leader.

2. Solo whole herring w/ helmet.

3. Solo Army Truck 4" Coyote spoon.

4. Green/Red HotSpot flasher with either chartruese green or white hoochies or coyote spoons. Leader lengths of 36-48 ". All glow in the dark.

5. Green HotSpot flasher with green/white Grand Slam Bucktail.

6. A white/green 6" tomic plug.

It's good fishing when you don't make it through the whole list, and good fishing is what I expect.

Green Hotspot and a whole herring behind a 60" leader

Seacat, what kind of boat will you be fishing out of, and where will you be fishing?

I'll be in my 18' Olympic hardtop. It's got whip antenna's,GPS and electric downriggers.

I'll be putting in at 04:30 and heading to the Southworth and Dolphin Pt. areas. If I don't find good bait concentrations right away, I will be moving around until I do. The bite should be on early until about 08:00.

Well with the wind out at westport it looks as if I will be joining you guy on monday. 10 ft seas w/ 2ft wind chop doesn't sound like much fun. Is anyone fishing the bubble on sunday? Tring to decide if its worth the drive. Might just hit area 13. Any reports?

SeaCat, do you fish out of Edmonds (dry storage)?

I'll be out in a Blue Weldcraft with Blue canvas Monday evening till dark. Southworth or Dolphin don't know what I'll be using. Last year the first five or so days of July were reel good up in Southworth.

Jason S

Anybody gona be down around either Point Defiance or Point Richmond?? That's where i'll be. It'd be cool to see someone down there from the board !

-Skeets

SlabQuest, no I fish out of the west side/south end launches. I'll be putting at Manchester.

Jason S. Yep, last year started hot and stayed hot for about 2 months. Can't wait!

I keep hearing this but am not sure as to what it is, what is the Army Truck Coho Killer?


-Skeets

how deep should i be fishing at? and how fast should i troll? what times are the best fishing.

Depends on the area you are fishing. One pointer I can give you is fish the tide change. Get yourself a tide book and plan your trip with it. I always catch fish on a tide change, either and hour before or hour after.

Rite on Carl, it all depends on where your fishing and what your fishing for..


-Skeets

To target the returning spawners first light, the tide changes, and last light are the best times. Stay in the upper end of the water column from first light til the sun comes over the hill (I have caught some nice kings at 40 - 60Ft), then as the sun gets higher in the sky go deeper. Most of the fish I catch in the July/August time frame are at 80 ft on the downrigger with a 20 - 40 degree swayback. As for trollin' speed I like somewhere around 2 MPH, others will say faster but that is what works for me. Pick a small tide change (less than 6 ft), and also target the last 2 hours through the first 2 hours of the change. Find an area and learn it, don't move around with the "hot reports". It will pay off, I know where to be, what time to be there, and on what tide at Pt. Defiance and at some of my spots in the south sound. As for that Army Truck go find one!!! They are killer (oh ya that's green/red/glow in the dark, spoon or hooch it don't matter).
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

When the tide changes, go with the flow. I fish Redondo alot and no matter what day it is, there are always fish biting there. Just dont' try to troll the same areas you would for low or high tides. In a low tide, go out, high tide, come in. It's not always just the "spot" you troll.

I always see people hugging the shoreline no matter what the tide is, they are always in the same spot. I always thought most of them were there for a reason, but when i ask them howz the fishin, they say the tides aren't right and it's slow or too much sun. LOL.

On a low tide We fish the 200-300ft drop line straight out from the pier and headed south hugging the 200ft depth but only fishing 20-80ft deep for Silvers, 100-140ft for Kings. High tide we come in 100ft. In my experience of doing this, i have removed the phrase " The Bite " from my vocabulary, because there is no such thing in Salmon fishing. Just a bunch of fatties moving with the tides.

If you do the math and say: 2 hours before and after tide change with a 1/2hour to 1hour of water shift in a 24hour period with 2 full cycles at 4-5hours a cycle of "Prime" fishing. Then you come out with 8-10 hours of prime fishing in a day. More than a third of the 24 hours is "prime" fishing. That's like a 1 in 3 shot, pretty good odds. But now you have 2/3 of the day undefined. What do the salmon do in this time? Play cards, pick on the dogfish, harass the crabs? No, they feed then they feed some more, then when there so bloated and they don't think they can take another bite, they feed a little more.

SO what am i saying in all of this? Hell i don't know. It took so long, i forgot. I think it was something like, there was this old wives tail about tides and salmon.......

Hey Skeets,

The Coho Killer is a lure (spoon) made by Silver Horde tackle company. It comes in a bunch of different color patterns, Army Truck is one of the color patterns.

This is what an Army Truck Coho Killer looks like:



This is what Coho Killers look like in the box:



Hope this helps.

-Norm.

Hey thanks norm, i went to GI Joes today and picked up those same ones thatx!!

Skeets

So do you guys use trolling motors or gas motors when trolling for salmon? I didnt think a trolling motor could make it in the sound

We have a gas a 9.9 Merc, i asume that a trolling motor would work it depends on what part of the sound though.

-Skeets

I meant WOULDN'T work sorry.

I use to use a 50lb thrust electric motor at Pt. Defiance and Redondo before I had my gas motor. Just take two batteries with you and watch the clock. You will be trolling slower than normal so shorten your leader off the dodger to under 20 inches.

You will catch fish!

Hey dont matter much to me i guess... i dont even have a boat but if its good to know anyways for when i get one i guess.
besides, im goin out there in the sound with you lol... you know what your doin