Hey there. First post to this forum and it is a rookie one but hey ho....

I have just moved to Bainbridge from Scotland where I used to fly fish for salmon and trout in the River Tweed. Being on the island I thought I would give saltwater a try.

At the moment I have just been playing around using bait (mostly herring) and spinners from a pier and the shore. Have had some luck with sculpins (do you call that luck ?), flounder and the odd spiny dogfish but now I want to get back to salmon. What do you reccomend by ways of spinning vs bait from the shore/pier? I want to leave the fly rod at home for now.
Also, any good beaches/piers on the island for whatever you reccomend? I do not have access to a boat as yet.


Thanks in advance!

I'm not familiar with the Bainbridge area, but I can give you some ideas for gear that should give you some results.

If you're using spinning gear, try a small herring under a float. On slack water, I like to use a sliding float (look in the archives for tips on rigging a sliding float) and set the bobber stop pretty far up your line. Cast out, let it sink to your bobber stop, and then slowly crank the herring back up toward your float and then back down again.

If the tide is running, you can use a fixed float, hang about 6 feet of line off it, cast it out, and then hold back on it and let the current get your herring rolling. Let it swing back in towards shore and do it again.

Or try slipping a small hoochie squid body over about a 3/8 oz. bullet head jig, and cast it out and lift/retrieve it back to you.

I've also read about guys beach fishing the islands that tie on a drift rig (snap swivel, pencil lead, about a 30" leader and a 2/0 octopus hook, bead on top of hook) with a hootchie squid on the leader, with a bead and Spin-n-Glo on top of the hootchie. Cast it out, let it sink to the bottom, and lift/retrieve it back to you.

If you're hooking bullheads, dogfish and flounder, you're probably spending too much time near bottom. Silvers aren't the bottom-huggers chinook are.

Good luck.

I'd like to hear some stories about fishing in Scotland.

Send me a PM and lets go fishing if you want. I'll hook you up.

Man, you guys suck!

Here's your big chance to goof on the foreign guy and you have to go and give him half-way solid advice.......

Fly-guys do allright for coho in that area, I'm sure someone that knows the deal will hook you up. For god's sakes don't listen to anything I tell you.

I saw some guys breaking down flyrods near the Agate Passage bridge the other day. I suspect that might be a spot.

You should be able to get into resident coho and searun cutthroats from the beach. Use a floating line, 11 foot leader, and streamers that look like sculpins or herring. Cuthroats will be near creek mouths. Please release them.

Coho may prefer a faster retrieve. Look for baitfish being chased - you'll see them breaking the surface.

There is also good beach fishing for Coho with your flyrod up near Hansville.

Have you tried Hagus????

Welcome to da board eh

i have been in a similar being transplanted from port angeles to bainbridge for the last 2 weeks at a family members house and not having access to my boat. but i asked around for the best onshore fishing and i found that someone told me there is a peir off jefferson point and they had huge success there. it was so good that the guys kids were catching silvers on snoopy rods with a herring head casting 20 feet out. so not very much knowledge is needed. unfortunately i wasnt able to test the area do to unpreparedness/reel trouble. however the guy gave me the idea to try a snoopy rod ocean tourney....anyone up for it

Good productive beach access for salmon can be a little tough on the Rock. Personally I would try Fay Bainbridge early or late for incoming silvers. Although Skiff Point can be good on a high tide, I don't really know about access these days. Of course, just off island Agate Pass, Old Man House and Suguamish are also possibilities. But better yet you might want keep going and try the Hood Canal/Salsbury Point area near Port Gamble or Pt. No Pt. further north. If you don't mind getting off the rock I will be happy to recommend a couple of other good lesser known spots if you PM me (bankies only please).

Good luck and don't leave home without it (your fly rod that is ).

Welcome to America!

I don't know enough about Fly fishing to help you with that--but the Coho's are starting to show up in good numbers.

One of the best ways (and most productive) from land is to use you spinning/casting gear and fish for them at incoming/slack/outgoing tides with a 4" Buzz Bomb (white and blue or white and green). I always toss the treble hooks they come with and use a Siwash hook (on BB's), also a little Smelly Jelly Hearing salt never hurts. You can cast the 4" BB's a country mile--work the middle and upper water columns if you're targeting silvers.

Silvers are a blast on light tackle--and as table fair goes, I'll bet they beat Hagus any day. ]

FISH ON!