Northwest Fishing Reports

Let's all cry it out here...Misery loves company.

Well, not horrible, but certainly could have been better. Most everyone I met on the bank this season professed that they'd not had much luck either, so from that I'd say most were working hard to scratch out a few.

I didn't catch any Coho salmon this season yet. I don't think that i have no luck, but i think that i have no skills
I ordered a bunch of twitching jigs a few days ago, but i guess there is no Coho in the Duwamish left, so i didn't even bother to try.

I've been properly humbled.

If it makes anyone feel any better, it was more the weather and water conditions than anything... Super low for the majority of the season kept the main run in the salt for extended time, and the ones trickling in had a terrible case of LOCKJAW in low clear flow... Followed by blowout after blowout these last few weeks... My season on the skagit last year... 20 coho days were the norm with good flow. This year, some days we had as low as 6 chances. Most around 10... Well below average. It affected us all

In the salt, last year and 2012 was better. In the Shipwreck-Muk-Browns Bay area, last year we limited the boat 14 out of 15 times (usually 2, sometimes 3 rods), 63 total, not counting 15 or so we tossed back. This year, fished about the same amount, 39 in the boat, none tossed back, never got skunked but limited just 4-5 times.

It's still fun just slower. Hope next year is like 2013! Weather was a little worse too.

I've had a good season for HOOKING coho just not landing them all, been catching a lot more this year at different rivers compared to last year, I think the king run was more frustrating. Been also doing a lot better on twitching jigs this year than last which is a nice change from egg covered hands, rod and vest haha. have noticed a lot of smaller fish this year, except freak seems to be able to find the big ones I may have maybe 6 or 7 on my cards that actually are over 10lbs, I think they are just late on my home rivers just like the kings were

I have done ok this year. 9 on the catch card. Did around 20 last year...But still a little time left.

I've had an okay coho year, not good, but not horrible. 2 fish away from filling a punch card on just coho, and I've released a lot more as well as lost plenty, but for the amount of time I've put in this year I haven't done nearly as well as the last few years. I'd say I've put more time in this year than any other year and have caught less fish than the last two or three years. I'd say the weather conditions have a lot to do with it. The river I fish has been blown out almost all season, and the other one was nearly dry, both making things on the slower side. I've also noticed more fishing pressure on the rivers I fish this year making it more difficult to get fish to bite on certain days.

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I've been skunked all season. I've worked hard to find the schools, but haven't been able to find any biters. Used up all my egg suply and invested to much money on every twitching jig color combo available. At this point I desperately need a hen in order to restock my bait. Does anybody know where to buy quality fresh (uncured) eggs in Everett area?

Yea, horrible year for me on the Stilly (no fish landed). When the river was fishable, they were lockjaw, and when they came through in good numbers, the river was blown. Had one day when I hooked up 4 times in the dirty water within feet of shore and lost all of them. Last few years the bank at Haller would be full of guys pulling fish into the bank, but this year I've probably only seen 6 people at one time and only saw 1 fish pulled in. Had a decent year in the salt though considering it was my first year out there trolling. We averaged 2 fish each trip. Next year should be better since we kinda know what were doing now. Thanks for the article tips and reports BARCHASER.

Last year by the second week of October I had 21 Coho on my card with several limits caught and a few that were released. This year I have landed THREE HO's and lost a few others . As previously mentioned the lack of rain then blows outs contributed to my low score......depressing... I( did get a very bright hen last Saturday .

Very tough season so far! Although starting to get better. Last 2 trips have been making up. Trip before last I actually lost count of how many coho I released.....more then a dozen! last trip a bit tougher with only 4....but compared to season in a whole....terrible! We will see how it ends, not to late for some great catching!

Last year I filled a card and started another with salt water Coho. Caught 0 in the rivers or Lake Washington (likely because I never tried)...

This year a whoppin 14 (may have to double check) 4 on a beach, 1 in Lake Washington, the rest on my friends boat. All but one was in the 5 - 7 lb range and the other at 12 lb.

Felt like we put more time in this year and still a lot of nothing days.

I'm glad to see lots of people with lots more experience than myself doing poorly. I think after ferry rides, fuel, bait, lost gear ..... I probably paid $250 each for the 2 fish I caught. And that's counting my time at zero. I should have just bought salmon from the tribe down at Shilshole and fished for perch in Lake Washington. They would have happily filled a catch card for that price. I could have been eating smoked salmon every day until next season. Sigh. And the dumb thing? I haven't learned my lesson. I still want to catch salmon.

Where can I buy salmon? Is it legal? Hopefully much cheaper and fresher than retail?

coho? what's a coho?

I don't usually keep fish, so don;t have a kill-count, but my journal shows I have done just about as well as last year... pretty lame... about 30 fish or so thus far.... and I fish a couple times a week. (so that number equates to about a little over 1.4 fish an outing, with some days just wet and cold, and others very good)
the fish do seem on the smallerish side (5-6lbs). when I look through my notes - over the years, the "early" run on the sky has generally produced smaller fish (avg 7-8lbs) than the late run has (10+ lbs - by my experience). By mid-late Nov, the late run starts to show, and over the years those have always seem to have been the larger fish and come to my hook much easier.


I find the summer chinooks to be much more willing biters than the first batch of silvers..... and chums to be only slightly less aggressive than pinks.....

Sky

I dont know if they're still there. But if you are facing the Shilshole marina from the road, all the way to the far left it looks like it ends. But it doesn't. There's a business or something. It's either the A dock, or past the A dock, I can't remember. There's a sign that says Tribal Fleet. There was an old guy there selling fish out of a box of crushed ice. Had about 6 or so in the little box, and a ... volkswagon bug sized box of crushed ice that another younger guy was loading fish into. Looked like he just came off the water with about 20.

I dont know when they're there on the dock "open to the public". I dont know how often they cycle their fish ... are they selling today's? Yesterday's? I dont know. I bought 1 to give them a chance, it was $3 per pound whole (he didn't weigh it just told me that looks like 6 pounds so I gave him a $20 and got change), and it was fine.

I grew up out on the peninsula, 10 minutes from a boat launch. My idea of fresh fish is we put in at 5pm, trolling at 5:30, back at 6:30 with 1-2 silvers, at the dinner table eating them at 8.

Even by my standards, the fish was fine. I would purchase more from them. In fact, I *will* purchase more from them. I need to drive down there and see if they still on the dock.

I am not a fan of gill netting, so buying from them is a morale dilemma for me .... But me not being a fan isn't going to stop it, so I might as well get mine.

As for the Coho season, this link is a pretty good measure. Its the fishchecker report for the Everett ramp going back into 2013. In 2013 there was 100% success on Cohos a lot. As a matter of fact it was normal! This year we got to 100% success only a few times, mostly 50-60%..
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