Winter Blackmouth (Chinook) fishing has exceeded seasonal expectations so the WDFW is reducing retention limits for the remainder of the season to a single fish per day.
The unusually warm and calm weather has allowed a higher than normal number of boaters out fishing in the middle of winter for some record setting local chinook.
Area 7 Chinook
It’s that time of year again when those feisty “Hatchery Brat’s” make their way up the coastal rivers around Forks, WA towards the hatchery ponds. Amazingly these fish waste no time fooling around on their rather short journeys. They literally blast up the river making it difficult to find them in the lower stretches with most fishermen focusing their attention on the terminal areas of the various hatcheries. This small buck found the 1/4 oz worm zonker jig to his liking in the slightly off-colored dropping water. The consensus seems to be that the fish came in a bit early and peaked the week before Thanksgiving this year. We’ll be keeping our eyes open for their bigger wild brothers due in early 2015.
Forks WA, Hatchery Steelhead Dec 2014
December 1, 2014 was opening day for Winter Black-mouth (Chinook) in Puget Sound. Weather was very cold (28 degrees) but absolutely beautiful on the water with no wind to speak of. Capt Gary S. of Highliner Charters was the star of the day with an easy limit of two fish on trolled flasher/spoon setup fishing deep on downriggers.
Just a few shots of client Jacob “O” on a recent salmon twitching trip
Cut Plugged Halloween Coho
As the saltwater coho season winds down I have resorted to trolling cut plug herring behind a dodger to get some late arrivals interested. With the fish scattered and inconsistent from day to day ……………the most reliable method has been trolling cut plug herring. Don’t want to take any credit for twitching this fish up in the salt.
Keep eyes out for Black Friday thru Cyber Monday Specials.
NW Jig Store is having a “Black Friday thru Cyber Monday site-wide sale. Discounted pricing and free USPS US Domestic Shipping will continue throughout the weekend 2014.
There is a $50.00 minimum order for the free shipping but all products have been reduced for the Post Thanksgiving Sale.
After several weeks of very high and dirty river conditions our nearby Skagit River has finally cleared up and allowed us some late season opportunities for chum and fall coho.
Decided to try out some of the new hootchie skirt twitching jigs and found the purple/black w flash under the chartreuse bullet head to be a good choice. Twitching just off the main current into the flats seemed to be the ticket for a grouping of three biters in about 45 minutes time.
Two limits of Area 8-1 coho
Pictured are 2 limits of fish that we got trolling cut plug herring in Washington Area 8-1 at the end of October 2014.
Captain Gary Stuntz of Highliner Charter’s took a day off to fish with NW Jig Co skiff for some cut plug trolling.
The number of fresh fish showing up has been decreasing daily and the consistency of catching has been steadily declining. We got lucky on this day with some brined frozen herring trolled behind a dodger and banana weight.
Red Hot Sea Bass action on NW Jig 3/4 oz ball jigs with grub tails.
Troll caught La Push Chinook
I was blessed to have a spot to park my RV and Northriver Seahawk this summer within 5 minutes of the La Push Marina. It was a record season by most accounts for everyone fishing the Washington coast. Here is some evidence of the abundance we enjoyed this summer. Note: the black sea bass limit is still 10 fish per person in area 3 before you get all upset by the photos. This is a 2 person limit.
1/2 oz Hot Pink Salmon Hootchie Jig
The 3/4 oz Pink Hootchie Jig was the secret weapon to get this big buck’s attention cruising by Whidbey Island this September. Twitching hootchie jigs from the boat has become a main-stay of my coho fishing activities each fall. Whether it be pink salmon or coho/silvers……….. the new hootchie jig arsenal gives you the ability to scent your jigs heavily now and keep the jig action we need to attract these fish.
