Northwest Fishing Reports

So on Sunday I got the chance to run out and fish, so I went over/down to Shilshole. First I went to the south fishing pier then the north. At the south I saw some small shiner perch. Fished with a drop shot rig with a soft red rubber sandworm and some shrimp (sorry Swede) Smelly Jelly. Nothin'. Then put on a little luminescent color jig (#6 hook) with a real backyard type worm and the Jelly. Nothin'.

After about an hour and a half of that, I went to the north pier. Tried the jig with worm. Nothin'. Tried the drop shot with the sandworm. Nothin'. Was about to leave when I noticed a good size (20+) school of perch anywhere from 5 or six inches up to over a foot. Dropped the jig with worm right into the middle of 'em. They'd come up, look it over, go away, come up, look it over, go away, etc, etc, etc, etc. Ran off, found a mussel, put Mr. Mussel on the jig, dropped it down. Got a bite that didn't set, then it was the same thing: come up, look it over, go away - over and over and over. I finally gave up as it was getting too late.

I figured the drop shot rig would have a good chance with flatfish. I'd cast it out, let it sit for about five minutes, reel it in a bit, let is sit, reel it in, recast. I figured the jig would be perfect for the perch.

So...

Where'd I go wrong?

What could I have done different?

Where you tried to fish#-o the oil docks Richmond Beach:-# the docks just north of Mukeltio:-# heading towards Everett marina and Edmonds are stuffed with Pile Perch:cheers:

This can be made very safe with a 12 or 14 ft row boat or less and trout gear and will cream them if that what your game calls and wants and needs:cyclopsan

Additional info - no boat (yet) so this is just off the pier.

On the drop shot and lack of flat fish love, I'm curious if:

1) Shrimp Smelly Jelly just does not get it done? (and yeah, next time get herring as per the Swede)

2) I had the bait about a foot off the bottom with the rig - too low or too high?

3) The water off the south Shilshole pier was pretty cloudy - does that make a difference? The lure was a nice bright red, but maybe it was the wrong color.

4) The south pier - is this place just not that great to begin with?

5) At the north pier, I noticed I'd cast out north and the rig would start moving north along the bottom from the force of the water flow. Heavier weight needed to make it stay put?

On the jigs:

1) The hook size was #6. This CAN'T be too big for perch...can it?

2) Again, the Shrimp Flavor Jelly. Not a good pick?

3) The jigs are small - I think 1/16th of an ounce. Too small? Heck, too big for perch?

Thanks again for any feedback. It was frankly kind of a discouraging day. Great weather, incoming tide off a big low, good sized fish there to be caught, and I was SURE I had the correct baits and tactics for both flatfish and perch. Especially after watching the perch just laugh at my jig over and over (you could just about hear 'em: "Hey, go over there and take a look at that bait. It's a riot!" "Oh, I already checked it out. What a joke! That guy thinks we're gonna want that? Bwahahaha!!! Hey! Go tell Bob - I don't think he's seen it yet."). This was my third time attempting to fish salt. Net result: one five inch buffalo sculpin with a mussel on a #4 hook and one bite from a perch on a mussel on a #6 hook on a 1/16th ounce jig.

if i remember my hook sizes correctly the bigger the number the bigger it is? i use a trout hook a very small one with a piece of shrimp on it. fresh shrimp that is if i catch it or buy from store from my experience a live ghost shrimp works . also i dont use smelly jelly or herring i dont think they like it cause its not natural to them. mussells work good too. the shrimp works good for flatfish also if you go this weekend i can show you some things :D. The best spot for flatfish that ive had is the side of the pier that faces the beach and the point out into the bay. put like a 1 oz bullet weight or 2 of them if the tides strong and put it behind a swivel with about 8 inch leader. with a #6 hook which works well and throw it out and reel in slowly it should work really well. I have seen a huge starry flounder being pulled from the north end i mean huge it was 25 inches. off the north end of the pier then again it rarely happens that they get that big near the pier. rockfish is also open saturday so you might have a chance at those.

I think perhaps a smaller hook would even be better. I don't know I can't seem to get those kind of perch to bite either. The one time I saw some guys catching them was with a really small hook and bait I think it was clam necks.

I started the thread, and by God I'll keep posting until they pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands.

So I found myself with a manufactured hour and a half of free time this afternoon and bailed on over to Shilshole for forty minutes of love with my perch friends. Nibbles on my sacrificial limpet bait. I'm getting closer to actually catching something. I can FEEL it.

There was a guy who showed up with his little daughter and was using a multi-hook thingy with leeeeeeetle tiny hooks - herring jigs he said. He was pulling Shiners up at will and also brought in about a seven inch herring.

My conclusion: small hooks. For perch, the fours I've been using and even the six on the small jigs are too freakin' big. Eight or smaller. I know for a lot of you more experienced types this is a major league "duh" and I'm cluttering up your ling cod frenzy with thoughts on how to catch things at the bottom of the prestige totem pole, but I'm a noob, I'm learning, and I figure there are other learning noobs who might find this useful.

FISH [not] ON!!!

I've been fishing for them since the late 1970s and have never been able to figure them out with a great amount of success. Bar none, they are the toughest fish in our local waters to get to bite (unless you count trying to catch sockeye in saltwater).

Your experience with them sniffing your bait and moving away is typical.

Some things I have tried in the past that have helped: use small hooks (size 6 or 8). Use flourocarbon in 4-6 lb test or lighter--make your line invisible. Use small weights or no weight, and no swivel (again, this is to make your bait look natural). Baits of choice are grocery shrimp, sand shrimp, pile worms, clams/mussels, shore crabs, squid pieces, night crawlers.

Best to fish for them from March to June, or January to March. If you fish for them during the late spring and summer, the small shiner perch will strip your bait away and give you no chance of reaching the big fish.

The redtail surfperch (caught from WA coastal beaches) is a lot easier to catch than the pile perch in Puget Sound, probably since they dont have much time to examine your bait in the boiling surf and since they do not see a lot of fishing gear thrown their way.

On my best day, i caught 25-30 pile perch (this was a number of years ago, when there was no limit on them). On a good day in Puget Sound, I would be happy to catch 2-3. On the coast, the pile perch seem to bite more aggressively and so I can usually get 5 or so on a great day. For redtails, its usually lights out fishing if you find them.

ive had good luck on live ghost shrimp no weight let him swim into the group and give it just enuff line so he dangles in front of them. i usually dont use shrimp cut because of all the shiners that also gather around the pile perch and they usually mob it

Your posts are great:bounce: Keep up the hard work, it will pay off. i was going to say though.. when you do catch one be sure and open it's stomach, because we all damn sure want to know what they have been living off of.
And the offer to get out in the boat is still open.

Try a # 6 hook drop shotted ...........And if you can find them piling worms are the ticket for pile perch or prawn meat.............years ago off the mukilteo pier we could catch plenty in a day...........the asians would catch 100+ in a day on pile worms and prawn meat.....i would catch 5-6( enough for dinner) but if you can find them pile worms are the stuff

The Quadfather wrote:Your posts are great:bounce: Keep up the hard work, it will pay off. i was going to say though.. when you do catch one be sure and open it's stomach, because we all damn sure want to know what they have been living off of.
And the offer to get out in the boat is still open.

When I open the stomachs of pile perch, the great majority of the contents have almost always been crushed barnacles. In the back of their jaws, they have some large very hard bony blocks that they use for crushing shells.

I have had great success using sandshrimp, size 6 hook and a float about 6 feet deep, but was very successful during incoming high tides. There is a spot in Tacoma, but you have to walk about a mile along the railroad tracks to get to this secluded beach.

jens wrote:I have had great success using sandshrimp, size 6 hook and a float about 6 feet deep, but was very successful during incoming high tides. There is a spot in Tacoma, but you have to walk about a mile along the railroad tracks to get to this secluded beach.

PM coming.

Shad_Eating_Grin wrote:

jens wrote:I have had great success using sandshrimp, size 6 hook and a float about 6 feet deep, but was very successful during incoming high tides. There is a spot in Tacoma, but you have to walk about a mile along the railroad tracks to get to this secluded beach.

PM coming.

PM sent back, I grew up in that area, so let me know if you going to try..Tommytitan08 grew up in that area too, and he knows a lot about perch too...