Winter 2020 Blackmouth

[Crunchy]

I fish more hoochies than anything.  If not a hooch I run spoons.  Roughly a 32 inch leader on hoochies and 50 inch on spoons.  I love running a tomic plug as well.  Just a plug about 20 feet behind the ball.

[luvmystang67]

Taggin this because I'm going to get out.

[h20hunter]

Hoochies and spoons. I like a lot of white and white pearl.

[funkster]

I fish more hoochies than anything.  If not a hooch I run spoons.  Roughly a 32 inch leader on hoochies and 50 inch on spoons.  I love running a tomic plug as well.  Just a plug about 20 feet behind the ball.

Interesting, I’ll have to give it a try!
 
Has anyone tried Brads spinbaits or Yakima bait spinfish for Puget sound blackies? We had really good success with the spinfish for coho.

[blackpowderhunter]

came home with a keeper today.
first trip out in the new boat, so it was a fun shakedown trip...figuring out ins and outs and whats different from the old boat.
water is a mess though, im sure the visibility is having a huge impact on the fishing.

[funkster]

came home with a keeper today.
first trip out in the new boat, so it was a fun shakedown trip...figuring out ins and outs and whats different from the old boat.
water is a mess though, im sure the visibility is having a huge impact on the fishing.

Congrats, what did the keeper bite on? I didn’t get out this weekend, a family friend needed help moving, the reports I’m hearing match yours, the heavy rains did a number on the water conditions.

How did you like the new boat?

[Chesterdog]

I fish more hoochies than anything.  If not a hooch I run spoons.  Roughly a 32 inch leader on hoochies and 50 inch on spoons.  I love running a tomic plug as well.  Just a plug about 20 feet behind the ball.

Interesting, I’ll have to give it a try!
 
Has anyone tried Brads spinbaits or Yakima bait spinfish for Puget sound blackies? We had really good success with the spinfish for coho.

I've had success on Brads "glow bloody nose" and "shamrock" patterns.  Haven't fished the Yakima spinfish.

[funkster]

Finally got out to drop a line for blackmouth. Fished point no point, with no luck. Found some bait and a few schools but no luck. Tried trolling and mooching, there were about 15ish boats fishing, didn’t see any hook ups. I talked to the WDFW fish counter and he said their test boat only caught 1 fish all week. He also said he didn’t check any fish yesterday and 2 today, he said both were caught at point no point at the tide change.

Anybody else get out lately?

[pnwbestlife]

I've been out several times and other than having success in late January near Kingston, most everywhere else has been shorts. Look at the creel reports and you basically see the same story. The only reliable places would be in this order:

Area 7 San Juan Islands
Area 6 near PA or the Banks in the middle of the Strait
Area 8-2 between Camano head and Hat Island.