Well I am finaly back on line, the last three weeks or so have been a nightmare. Our house got broken into and robbed, the boat blew a head gasket, and the upstairs neighbors hot water tank blew above my condo (that I am trying to sell) destroying all the sheetrock in the garage, (Thank god my renter got home when he did!! It could have been so much worse)
So now that I have cobbled together a computer out of whats left, the boat is back up and running, we have a new alarm system and back door, and a contractor showing up next weekend to do my condo, I am ready to get back to some seriuos fishing.
My question is since this is still my first year with a boat and I seem to have a pretty good idea what is going on with the blackmouth, I want to know more about the kings coming in. I know they are chinook so I am assuming the blackmouth methods will work, but it seems like I remember someone awhile back saying they could be at any depth. Does this make it even more important to find bait on the electronics and focus on the bottom of the school. What about lures and or bait, Plugs? How about those spinning flashers? every one keeps talking about dogfish and herring, will hootchies and flashers work...I got a million questions
I guess it all boils down to " I need some stress free time on the water" and I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
I have done a little bit of lurking and searching in the last couple of weeks, but since I am starting with a basicly blank slate( other than blackmouth, wich I might add after I started applying what I learned here I never got skunked!!!) anything will help. Oh and we are trying to schedule some time this summer for my girlfriends father to come up and do some fishing, what would be a good time for him to at least try and hit the peak time( maybe even for coho???)

JD,
I think the biggest difference between Fishing BM's and Kings is depth. While we pretty much , as DR would say, "Ring the Dinner Bell" for the BM (bounce bottom) it's a different story for the kings. Starting early in the morning you may want to start fishing as shallow as 30 to 60 feet on the downriggers and then as the day gets brighter with sunlight gradually start working down deeper. And while finding bait is always a good thing, I don't think it is as important for Kings as it is for Black mouth. Those BM's are residents and are pretty much always searching for food, the Kings are migrating through and are going to pretty much follow a path to where they are going and will feed as the opportunity arises. Pretty much all your BM tactics should produce kings as well. Herring, Hootchies, Bucktails, Coyote's, Sonic Edge, Silver Horde's whatever.

Good luck out there, they should be coming soon!

Forgive me if I missed something, but don't blackmouth == Chinook == King? IIRC, they are they same thing!

Yes, blackmouth = king = chinook.

The difference is blackmouth are resident king/chinook. Meaning, they hang out in Puget Sound and don't migrate to a river to spawn in the fall.

JohnnyD, so many questions. You best just come fishing with one of us.

It is a little early for migrating kings. About the middle of July they will start to flood in to Puget Sound.

Hope "FLOOD" is the operative word this year....

JD,

Sorry to hear such unfortunate news... I had some similiar things happen a few years back.. Very stressful environment.

Two keys to successful King fishing: (1) depth, and (2) leader length.

As UM suggested, start early, early, early morning. I will usually be on the water 1/2 prior to twilight (this is the light gray to black skies). The returning fish will usually migrate in the upper 80 feet of water- so 30-80 feet is a good start. Increase leader length by at least 10 inches or so... About an half hour after sunrise, I don't waste time, I drop down to the bottom. Although fish can be anywhere in the water column, the majority will head deep near the bottom. Who knows, you might even pick up that 20# BM this time of year- so kill two birds with one stone and fish the bottom 10'. Last year, all but three of my Kings were taken from the bottom 10'.

I wouldn't worry about finding bait- migrating Kings generally do not feed. As far as lure or bait. If you use bait, find the biggest available and troll slowly. This time of year, I especially hate bait because of the Barkers... I like big lures that make a lot of noise... Pi$$ those fish off and they'll hit.

Hey D Riggin have you ever tried tolling magnum wiggle warts or kwikfish behind a downrigger.

Mini,

SSSShhhhhhh !!!! (Jokingly)

I can't say that I have run them off the DRs, but I do flatline them out in front of Chambers and McAllister Creek- fl pink Mag Wart. Haven't tried a flatfish or kwikfish yet.

I usually charge the heck out of a 5" glo/green splatter back J-plug (rattle) first thing.... Followed by a 5 or 6 inch spoon or hootchy

If you are fishing for Chinook in the ocean like Neah Bay, LaPush,Westport etc...the fish are still feeding and hitting herring pretty hard. Troll a plug cut or whole herring at 30-60ft down..especially effective is motor mooching near the kelp line at first light. At Sekiu for example fish at 50ft down in 60ft of water and you will catch fish...remember to release all unclipped fish....good luck

FLOOD should be the word when it comes to the pink and coho run this year, not sure about the kings though......