Looks like we may get a break in the weather Friday and Saturday. I'll probably be heading out on Saturday. Any brave souls going out in area 10 lately?

I went out on Monday (10:30-3:30), fished near Point Monroe, it was windy and rough, but we got a 28 inch King and two crabs! Caught a few shakers up to 18 inches too, had to drag the ball on the bottom to get bites.
Bill

I know you fish for blackmouth near the bottom. How much water should I be fishing in?

I would say 90-120' as a general rule, but guys with electric downriggers are going deeper if there not biting in the 100' range. I have manual penns and don't care to go much deeper than 140' of cable.

Easy,

As a general rule of thumb, bait is going to be deeper this time of year. If there is a huge tide swing, I will fish as deep as 225'- out of the current. I have been finding good bait balls in the 140'-165' range this month- so far so good!

I'll be out pounding the water pretty hard before C & R on the 1st. If you have a free day, let me know if you want to go fishing and we'll see if we can't work something out. My work schedule is very flexible right now.

Downriggin'

I was in ~90 foot of water, had 101 feet out(angle on the DR line) , bouncing on the bottom, and as I went to raise the downrigger the rod popped, fish on...
Saw lots of bait near shore, 80-110 feet deep.

i was out last weekend before 8-2 closed and was catchin fish in 118-122 feet of water fishin about 5 feet of bottom.

Has Anybody been out in the Manchester area?? Fishing the fuel pier or down by Youkon Harbor??Thinking of giving it a shot this weekend and was wondering if anything was happening.

DR, check your PRIVATE MESSAGES.

UM,

It is prime time historically in those areas right now. As you know, Yukon holds bait 24/7, so it's very likely that some blackmouth are nearby. From those sailboats over by Southworth all the way back into Yukon is a great area to target, if just trolling from the ramp down to Yukon doesn't produce. Check the tides, troll with it. Trust me, there are some nice fish in our backyard this time of year.

Oh Yeah! I'm planning on fishing area 10 Sunday and Monday weather permitting. Have to head down to Portland Saturday to drop Xmas presents off to the in-laws , but plan to pick up the boat Sunday morn and nail some fish.

I'm hoping to go on Friday, but my interim boat is so small, a lot depends on weather, I will have my brother in law from fairbanks with me, hope to get him a chromer, but I only have the one downrigger set up, any body do any good jigging there. i will be in the small red duraboat.

NEN

If you only have one 'rigger you can use a stacker so you can fish two lines off of one 'rigger.

Easy,
The answer is yes. I did this for a year before I got a second rigger. There are two types of clips I've seen for stacking lines. I like the ones that have two release clips on them. One is for attaching to the downrigger wire and the other is for attaching to your fishing line. A small wire snap keeps the whole thing attached to your rigger wire. The setup slides up and down the rigger wire and when you are ready to set your second line you simply attach one of the release clips to the downrigger wire and the other to your line. The other stacking setup has a release clip (for your line) and a metal clip that attaches directly to the downrigger wire. It doesn't slide freely on the downrigger wire. You clip it on, then take it off as you bring the ball up. One tip, I found it best to keep your stacked lines separated by 15-20 feet to avoid tangles.

The big disadvantage to stacking is that you have to bring both lines up to check one. Although this wasn't too much of a problem its nice to be fishing at all times with at least one line down. Also, when someplace like Sekiu the action can be fast and furious and you can barely get one line down, much less two.

JMS

NEN,

Jigging can be VERY productive in the areas I mentined to UM. Use the smallest green/white Pt. Wilson dart you can get to the bottom and stay on top of your line. You'll feel the small ones nipping the crap out of the jig, but the bigger ones will hammer it like a baseball bat on a ball. Stay right on the botom, anywhere from 1 to 5 turns up.

Gotta say that this time of year in those areas are some of the best jigging I've ever done.

Well I gave it a good try this morning for a few hours, never a decent fish on, lots of shakers as normal. Did not and have not done the troll from Yukon to Southworth, did not see that part of the post above, I stayed mainly between the launch and the harbor. Do not know if it is a plus of not but did not see to many seals, 1 maybe 2, seems years ago you would lose that many fish to 10-15. The other 2 boats out had 1 small fish just legal. Marked some bait, not as much though as in the past. Anybody try the Canal lately? Lokking for Crab, and could always give it a shot right?

NEN

I went out on the canal last week, got a few shakers but the crab on the other hand, got a pot of six 11 and a half inch dinner plate sized Dungeoness... Good eatin' I won't be out for a while as the outboard just went belly up

nen try jigging in around the fuel dock, theres a hump on the right side of the dock looking at land that you can find on your depth sounder that got me some nice fish last season. havent been out there yet this season for blackies, building a house on bainbridge and it gets dark to early. the fuel dock can be awesome at times.

alot of the seals fell victim to the nets strethed across chico bay in dyes inlet during the chum run.