I understand fishing around the net pens can be productive for resident coho.

Where are the net pens located in the south sound?

Net pen locations are now zipperlip?

get off the computer and take a boat ride

Why?

It's stupid and counterproductive to get in a boat and ride around all day burning gas looking for something relatively small in the entire Puget Sound.

Why couldn't someone simply post that they are near this city/town or in this or that bay? Why is everyone so damned paranoid about someone else getting "their" fish? Greed? Selfishness?

I don't believe that's the attitude this board is meant to exhibit.

A fisherman that wont give up his secret spot? Say it aint so.........

Ugh, Aunty.... I'll be your best friend....

thanks aunty, now you will have lots of new best friends

Thanks, Ms. M, but I don't need the locations; I doubt I'd utilize that fishery.

I didn't mean to make a big deal about it, and didn't realize that it was such a small fishery. I thought there were several locations around the Sound with net pens.

As far as zipperlips, I think the common mantra of "how to always, where to never" is backwards.

I'd rather someone tell me where I can find some fish and let me figure out the how-to on my own. That to me is the real and true challenge of fishing; convincing a fish to take my offering. If people are so concerned with fishing in solitude, there are miles upon miles of water to wet a line, albeit devoid of fish. But me, I'm not into the needle-in-a-haystack approach.

I don't mind sharing a hole with someone - I enjoy the commraderie. Plus it makes the challenge all that much greater trying to convince the fish to take my offering versus the others' plying the waters.

I think much (but not all) of the zipperlip mentality speaks of a glutenous, selfish chest-thumping "I-got-something-you-aint-got" trait that is a derivitive of overcrowding on our waters.

Harley, why don't you give up one of your z-lips, if indeed you actually fish spots other than just those posted on this site. Not meaning to get personal here but it is way too easy to lurk behind a computer screen and accuse others of being glutenous, chest thumping folks for not giving up places that they have spent their time and money researching and enjoying.
I don't post frequently here but check out the topics daily and know that you are no lurker, I'm not accusing you of that.
I know this has been debated but I still get tired of these types of accusations. I'd be happy to advise people how to catch coho in the sound because it can handle the pressure. The river I'll fish for the next two months and catch steelhead almost every trip with my fly rod took me years to find and figure out. Not a whole lot of fish in there but undisturbed and aggressive. Does every person with internet skills DESERVE this information just because they ask? NO.
You want to know the where to instead of the how to because you want to know there are fish in there before wetting a line. The biggest part of the mystery is the timing of the where to. Figure that out and the how to comes easy.
Sorry for the rant but there is too much information for those not willing to put in the effort and too little space left to be found.

Cheers

Maybe some need that little bit of info.

The more I know the better fisherman I become. :p

Sheesh, email me and i'll tell you all the zipperlips, still don't mean you'll catch anything. I thought this board was to post successfull fishing trips and good fishing info. Just maybe some of these newer fisherpeople may have been listening to the great ethics pushed on this board, and maybe they may become one of the next fisherman to really participate in the prevention of poaching or raping of the system. Someone worthy of fishing next to. And not in it for the fame of the catch. You cant just know, you must learn, learn by example and wisdom of others. Or, maybe we should just talk about knitting.

Well said F F F

I actualy do see both sides of the zipperlip argument, but I hedge on the free share of information side.

I personally don't have any zipperlips. That means I've never fished any place that isn't fished by others. I've also never fished any place that was so spectacular that I felt I needed to keep its location all to myself.

I admit, though, I don't have the time, nor resources, to venture into unchartered canyons on the penisula in search of the perfect stretch of unmolested water.

Here is some info from The Squaxin Island Tribe website:

In cooperation with the State of Washington, we (The Squaxin Island Tribe) operate the one of largest salmon netpen programs in the Northwest to enhance commercial and sport fishing. The netpen facility is located between Squaxin and Harstine Islands in Peale Passage and releases about two million coho into Puget Sound each year.

More Links:
http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/northfalcon/coho.htm
http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2003-03-31/local/109252.shtml

I truly hope that this forum never sinks to a level where words like Peale Passage, Dosewallups, Wynoochie, Wind, Pysht and Salmon Creek become taboo.

Plunker I have to drive up to Bellingham today. Do you have a favorite fishing hole up that way? Where is it ?

right AM, they don't bite anyway. $20 to the guys with the nets is always good for a smoker load , those fish are too dark for anything else.

Plunker : come on tell me where is your favorite spot. I could go up there and spend some time on the river , review some fishing reports, check some maps, enjoy the scouting trip , but it would be so much easier if you would just tell me so I can come fish next to you .And would it be ok if I bring some of my friends from Puyalup, Washougal, Chinook, and Toledo?

After growing up in a family where fishing ment mootching mid-channel bank, I was overwhelmed when I got back into salmon fishing a few years ago, walked into the tack shop, and saw all the different tackle options.

Looking back now, I realize I occasionaly wasted time fishing the wrong technique in the wrong area @ the wrong time, but slowly you pick up on it. (slowly for me anyway)

I am still learning and this board has been great for that.

I would have to agree, the small fisheries that can't take the pressure are best shared by private email and face-to-face. Eventually these spots will be printed in the F&H News for the rest anyway

The new fisherman really only needs to be pointed in the right direction with the right gear at the right time. (the mechanics of fishing) so they waste minimal time/money in hope they stick with it.

Most experienced people tend to appreciate a small zipperlip spot that can't take much pressure and understand why it's not something to post on whatever thread comes up.

So far I have taken a lot more than I have offered on this board, but with time I hope to have something to offer back.

Sounds like WoolyW & GOH just didn't realize what they were asking for - and I would've made the same mistake.

Harley, I agree with you. The more people we can bring into this sport, the stronger we can be as a group to help change our fishing outlook for the future.
But, it was pretty easy to see from the lack of response to the initial topic that we didn't need to go down the "c'mon, just tell me where it is" road.
Good fishin' y'all

I guess it is just plumb amazing that I ever caught a fish with out asking for deirections on the internet.Those of us that have put on the hard work finding our special spots are obligated to what???I have years invested,studying maps,burning gas in the rig and HUNDREDS OF MILES hiking into dead ends to find my special spots.And I get great satisfaction knowing that I earned the privealage of enjoying these spots.The last thing I feel like or ever will do is put them on the internet to be exploited by people that do not apreciate them enough to put in the energy and TIME that I had to, to find these spots.

I do as some of you know volunteer info privately if I feel like you are somebody that wil apreciate it,just like auntyM did n this case.

How can a spot on the Sound be zipper-lipped?

And to think... I have been flamed sprayed a few times because I have mentioned a few spots... Green Point, Ketron Island, Oro Bay...

I can see a river and small stream where pressure would be bad, but it is the Puget Sound folks!

And I have to agree with Downriggin' as what good are net pen locations if you don't want to fish for them?

Not to mention that places like Possession Bar and Anderson Island, and Hammersley Inlet are slightly bigger than the Cracker Bar, the Fall City Drift, and Hazel combined!

Hell, I have been on the Hat Island Bar, when a bunch of commercial boats hit it, and I was a mile away. Who cares? Not me.