Was wonderin' who all was going to hit the Bubble on the 4th?

Did you fish it last year?

How'd you do?

I fished it. So, so.. 22# and 38# missed a few others. Pretty slow though...

It sure can be a tough fishery. I ended up gettin mine on splatterback behind green HS.
LOTS OF BOATS!! I did see a few taken but really never saw anything consistent. By consistant I mean the type a gear the fish were taken with...Well except gil nets..

Anyone else??

I'

I fished it 3-4 times last year and only came up with a 5 lber. In my opinion, it was really slow. If I remember right, there were a lot of boats out there last year on the opener - a heckava lot. By 10:00am, there was a blue haze hanging over the area.

That said, I'll probably be back out there...

What do you mean by the bubble?

The Tulalip bubble fishery in area 8-2 or is it 8-1?

Thanks I was wondering if he was refering to the sinclair inlet fishery.

Thanks I was wondering if he was refering to the sinclair inlet fishery.

Jerry...it's in area 8-2.

Took a friend out and got his boy his first king an 18lbr. on the opener. Took a fort lewis type from detroit out the next weekend and got him his first salmon, a 20lbr. Took my neghbor out and got him his first king, a 15lbr.( hmmm I think I see a pattern developing here) Fished it just about every weekend I could and did fair. Best day was 3 kings in 1/2 hr right in the middle of all those boats. The smallest was 20lbs the biggest was 28lbs. I'll definately be out there on the 4th. Heard the Indians were selling fish out by walmart and touting them as springers That bodes well for the opener if they came from tulalip

I'm pretty new to salmon fishing but I worked the bubble hard all summer and came up empty handed. My wife's family has a cabin on Mission Beach right at the eastern end of the bubble. I even went out with a charter for the opener hoping to learn a thing or two but we ended up with one hit and no fish.

I'll be back out this year looking for fishing tips and fish. For those who posted positive results, what suggestions do you have?

It was hard to be depressed with my results seeing only a couple fish caught for every 100 boats! Look for a 19' "striper" with teal green canvas.

I did well out there the last few years, You just need to put your time in and keep your binocs handy to spy on the successful boats. That trick works just about everywhere for me. I have been in the "escape pod" alumaweld sled but sold it, now I'm in a green Willie Predator tiller sled. Give a wave if you see me!

I'll probably go but I haven't done that well the last couple of years my boat seems to have developed an electrical problem sure does attract the dog fish though.

I did hear about 5 years ago that the tribe was trying to develop a run of springers even heard of a few guy's fishing for them late in the blackmouth season but haven't heard any real big numbers. just the occasional 20+ blackmouth(maybe springer) right before the closer.

How treacherous is the bubble fishery. I was thinking about coming up with my 14 foot Gregor to give it a shot. Assuming the weather is good and I can dodge all the boats would I have any problems? Thanks for the advice,

Wade

bounty hunter,
its a long run from everett and can get ruff on a summer day but if you plan to head back on slack tide and don't wait for afternoon you'll be ok. the area around everett is some of the worst water I've seen on a warm afternoon with the wrong tide. but I haven't figured out which tide direction is the bad one. I just know some days it's 25 min. back to everett and some days it seems like 6 hours. you might want to find a closer launch that is a little more "rustic" for the smaller boat. I didn't have a small boat anymore when this fishery started so I don't know if there is one that is closer.
Rattle

In terms of boat launches, although Everett is much bigger and better at low tide, the Tulalip ramp right in the bay works fine for my 19' Sea Swirl and the finally replaced the dock so that you don't have to swim in at high tide! For a small boat, it's much better than Everett and once you're outside the bay you're right in the middle of the bubble.

OK, sounds like the Tulalip ramp is the spot for me. Thanks for the information guys, I appreciate the help.

Make sure you know the channel in and out of the bay at tulalip if you launch there. You can get into some pretty shallow water with a lots of eel grass pretty easy.

I'll second the warning on following the channel out of the bay. High tide, no problem but if you shoot a straight line from the docks to the mouth of the bay at low tide you'll end up poling or pushing to deep water. Just hang along the right shore as you leave the launch and stay just outside of the end of the set nets inside the bay. TDICKSON, first rule for scoring on tulalip kings is "Take a newbie fishing" Tulalip fish enter the bay with the tide. Since they dont have anyway to ascend the creek(dam) they'll mill around inside the bay and then go out with the tide. They will be along the ledge just outside the bay about halfway into the runoff and then move into open water(deep) either to the hole just north of the entrance, straight out from the entrance or the area along the beach south of the entrance. You'll have to move around untill you find a school and then stay with them. As Pmartin mentioned, they'll hit anything. The key is to put it in front of them. When they arrive at tulalip not all the fish enter the bay right away. They'll move around out in deep water untill the urge to spawn pushes them in so dont hesitate to explore the water out by the outer boundry. In fact if you see a red sled with a red top trolling back and forth waaay out towards the middle, FOLLOW HIM AROUND HE ALWAYS GETS FISH

Chaser, thanks for the advice. I've asked a lot of people and haven't gotten anything near that specific in terms of tides and locations. Unfortunately, I know plenty of people who used to fish mission beach in "the good old days" when they'd get a couple of kings in the morning before heading out to work for the day.

I've always been told that the bubble is a downrigger only fishery (plus a few jiggers). I've gotten into mooching and even tried it a couple times last year but I was certainly the only boat out of a hundred with herring on board. Do you favor particular gear?

Another note on low tide in the bay. Although I have gotten stuck in the mud and eel grass at low tide, it's not even worth trying the ramp at low tide. They've fixed the dock but as far as I can tell the ramp is unchanged and that means at low tide you'll be off the concrete with tires in the muck if you try launching or pulling out at low tide.

I fish mostly hotspots and flies for these kings but coyotes will work well. I like the green and white colors in glow. 55 ft and deeper has been the starting point. Last year I was down between 90 - 100ft. The jiggers can do really good when the fish pass the area they're working. I always keep an eye on them to get an idea of when the fish are nearing the ledge. I've never tried mooching there but I imagine motor mooching will work as many guys are using herring behind their flashers and dodgers. Remember, the schools move around so you have to be able to go searching for them.

Oh great. Now with all this attention there's gonna be a lot of pressure on this fishery this year. :p