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Washington Salmon, Steelhead, and Sturgeon Fishing Guides, Charters & Trips
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Lower Hood Canal Chinook & Coho Fishing When: Hood Canal Salmon fishery will start about August 1, but not get into full swing until about the middle of the month. The Chinook will be the first to show. The weather & water temperature will have some bearing as to how early they start coming in. There needs to be some rain to slightly cool the water & provide a slight flush to get things into full swing. So if there are a few days of rain the first week or so of August, you may consider getting on the water. Where to Fish: The area north of Ayock Point is closed for Salmon fishing until September 1. These fish have to move down, (south) from the entrance of the canal, so early, like the first part of August, you need to target them nearer the northern boundary A good starting point below that location for Chinook, for you to target would be off the mouths of any of the small rivers that empty into the canal. Later in the season Coho can be found here also, but when they are in, about anywhere, even in the middle of the canal seems to produce. In the chart below the better fishing areas are highlighted in yellow, the boat launches are green. The red are marine closures & the orange are possible crab locations. The red horizontal line would be the early boundary at Ayock Point. Just north of this chart on the west shore, will be Trident Cove State Park which has a public launch.
Where to Launch: One thing common with most launches here is that the water off the shores are not deep & there is usually a problem launching or reloading at a low tide. There are few to choose from in this area, but the main ones will be as follows. (1) Hood Canal Saltwater Park is across the road
from the Tacoma Public Utilities powerhouse & operated by
Hood Canal Saltwater Park at Potlatch Method: If you ask 20 fishermen their preferred method, you will get at least 20 different answers. Here we will give a some methods & you can choose what fits you. One thing here is that they usually are not deep, as recent years the dissolved Oxygen is very low as this body of water is dead ended, with no large rivers flowing into it from the southern end, to the point the WDFW has closed taking of any bottomfish. With this in mind, the Salmon will tend to not go deep, as they will have problems breathing. A depth will usually be from 30' to 70', in water up to 150' deep. There is no need to go out in the middle & try to go deep at the 400' depths. Trolling with downriggers is probably the most common method, with trolling with divers next & jigging following that.
Trolling for Chinook: This area does not have to be fished with downriggers, however if you have them & are used to using them, go for it. For Chinook, one local "expert" uses a 4oz kidney sinker, 30" of 30# mono to a Sliver Horde Double D #10 flasher, then the lure may be a Coho killer, Coyote spoon in Army Truck, Wonder Bread or glo green/white. Occasionally he will use a FST spoon or he has been known to scrounge yard sales for peal wobblers in 1 1/2" to 2". These spoons are tied to a leader 2 1/2 times the length of the flasher. Speed will be adjusted from 1.5 to 2.3 mph or so the flasher will just rock back & forth. He fishes shallower than most, in that he only fishes 20-30' deep in 30-50' of water. Using the above information, a person without downriggers is not handicapped here, as a Deep Six diver would get you down & perform quite well. One thing that has been observed, is that most of the time this water is warm. I observed the temperature at a high tide in the middle of August at 65 degrees & at 70 degrees a the the low part of the outgoing tide. Later when there was a rain the temp went down to 58 degrees. The fish may tend to drift into deeper water to find a more comfortable zone. But in doing so they tend to become lethargic. What this means to you as a fisherperson, is that IF you have to follow the dethfinder's fish, you then may have to slow your speed down. As these fish being in the lower dissolved Oxygen layer, are slowed down & you then will need to present the lure in a slow enough fashion so that if it is close enough to them, that they have enough time to consider taking the lure. They also tend to darken up some, possibly because of the water temperature. Another observation is that when these fish show, they appear to react similar to the estuary fish, in that the bright "new" fish that come in, tend to be the biters. I believe that once the fish get in any body of water on their return trip to the home stream, that they get acclimated & then they do not bite anywhere near like fresh fish to the area. The fresh fish seem to bite the normal tackle. But as they extend their stay, then it may be best to switch from trolling gear to jigging. So it may behoove you to be sure that you have a few jigs in your Salmon tackle box, even though you are not a jigger, as if they are not biting trolling it may save the day, instead of giving up & going home early. Jigging from a boat: When jigging, you will need a good fishfinder. Locate the some fish & stay jigging with them if they move. Point Wilson Darts in a 3.5" size & Buzz Bombs seem to be the lure of choice for many. I have seen some jiggers jerking the whole rod considerably high in the air, moving the jig probably 6' at a time. These people either have the wrong rod, have been taught wrong, or are deliberately snagging. The rod needs to be a medium heavy but with a fast taper on the tip, otherwise you are going to wear yourself out moving the whole rod a lot but the lure is only moving a little. Some fisherpersons will drift with the tide/wind while others, especially if near the hatchery, will anchor & cast toward what they perceive as possible schools of fish. Some may try to use Buzz Bombs from the shore or a dock, which can be effective, as these fish tend to stay close to the shores, as evidenced by some of the Skokomish Indian nets near shore & their use of beach seines. Last year as I was doing the south weigh in for South Sound PSA derby at Sunrise Beach resort's dock in the middle of August. This was just north of the Hoodsport hatchery. I observed a couple of young men jigging out of a new 14' aluminum boat. They were doing it right, in that the rod tip was lowered, & given an upward twitch, reeled in a few cranks & the process repeated. In the 2 days I was there, I personally saw them bring in 2 fish over 25#. Of course they were not entered in the derby. The first day they even had to borrow a landing net. Casting from the Beach at the Hatchery: This is something that everyone should at least observe. You can park & walk thru the hatchery parking lot & past the ponds to the SW corner of the hatchery. From here you can walk the "cat walk" & climb down to the beach. Finch Creek flows past the hatchery & is used for the water in the hatchery, so these fish are imprinted to return here. The creek out into the canal is narrow, 20' & shallow 6". If the fish are there & wanting to return to the hatchery, on an incoming tide of about 1/2 way in, they will be in schools just off the beach. They will swim up the creek to the hatchery, (about 100 yards). The creek is so shallow, part of the fish will be out of the water & as they wriggle up the creek, you can see this commotion from some distance. These fisherpersons can be dressed in normal clothing & just stand on the beach, or from those that are using chest waders & in water up to their chest. They may tend to wait until they see a fish jump or roll & then cast toward it. The lures are usually a 1/4 ounce lead sinker tied onto the end of the line, & then a leader of about 36" to a orange corkie about 1/2" dia. with a single hook & red or green yarn attached. The regulars there tend to discourage those who may show up with a spinner, saying that it spooks the fish when cast into that shallow water. Some of the fishers who wade out farther may use Buzz Bombs of about 3 1/2" size. The rules appear to be that you can fish the salt water, but not the freshwater of the creek. However as the tide comes in the creek soon becomes saltwater.
Salmon coming up the creek Aug 22 2004 A line of fisherpersons Tackle for Coho: The Coho will not start showing until the end of August, with September being considered about the best time depending on the weather, but still into October can be good. Some of the Chinook lures will also work for these fish, but you may want to consider changing to a redish orange Wriggle Wart, Spi-N-Glo or any of the more typical Coho lures. If you do go to the Wriggle Warts, then remove the triple hooks & replace them with a single Siwash. You will get more fish into the boat, in that it seems that the triple hooks tend to not get hooked as good & when the fish is fighting, will pull out easier. Seals: These furry creatures can be a problem at times. One solution is to have a strong enough mainline, 25#, & a 30# + leader so that if the seal takes your fish, you can run the boat right over the top of him & keep above him. He can not eat the fish under water. He will have to eventually come up for air. When he does you can most likely get your fish back. One key thing here is to this is to use the newer bright colored line. This will help you see where the line is going toward the seal. Maybe for you younger people a regular colored line way be OK, but just wait until you get older & join the Mouldy Old Foggy club. Last updated
08-24-2004 |
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