Where to go, landlocked newbie salmon fisher

[OCFish]

I moved to Seattle about ten years ago, from Alabama. Used to fish all the time, but was so busy after moving here that I never had time to go. I've got plenty of free time now, and want to get into some salmon once the season opens up. I picked up some basic gear (Okuma SST + Pflueger President, about half a dozen each of buzz bombs, rotators, twitch jigs, king killers), so now it's just where do I go to fish?

I live in Edmonds and don't have a boat, but I'm willing to drive a few hours to find good fishing. Kings and Coho would be awesome of course, but I'll be perfectly happy to limit out on pinks. So far here are the spots I've got on my list to try, in no particular order.

• Edmonds Fishing Pier (it's like a mile from my house, why not?)
• Mukilteo Lighthouse Park
• Possession Point
• Deception Pass
• Bush Point
• Picnic Point Park

Any advice at all would be very appreciated. Are these decent spots to try? Better spots somewhere else? Advice on when to hit these spots and what to tie on?

Thanks in advance!

[h20hunter]

One option if they still do it.....look up possession pt bait company....they have shoreline on whodbey and when in, think sept, you can cast herring under floats for coho. Good fun.

[7mmfan]

What H20 said. Lots of fun fishing herring under floats there. Add Fort Casey to your spots. Just up the island from Bush Point and an excellent place for pinks and coho with all the gear you mentioned.

[OCFish]

Awesome, thanks for the tips!

[h20hunter]

Pm sent,  check your messages.

[Stein]

Kayak Park is a place where you can get at the pinks from shore, just look for the 50 other people doing it and find a spot.

If the sockeye are doing well, people catch them from at least the Skagit shores and probably other places.

The best bet is to make friends with someone who has a boat, that's what I did when I moved here from Montana and fished for about 10 years before I owned my own boat.

Edmonds is an excellent place to run a boat from, nice central location you can catch fish literally a few yards outside the marina and easy runs north or south.  I used to have an office just south of the ferry and would watch fish being caught all day while at work.  I had to move my desk to the opposite wall it was so distracting.

[OCFish]

Kayak Point was on my list, but unfortunately most of 8-2 is closed to salmon this summer. From the regs:

Summer Salmon Fishery: Aug. 14-Sept. 19: Fishing for salmon limited to
the area south and west of a line between Clinton and Mukilteo fishing
pier, and select dates within the Tulalip Terminal Area Salmon Fishery.

I think sockeye returns are supposed to be way down this year, too.

[CP]

Carkeek, Golden Gardens & Lincoln Park should be open now for resident Coho. 

[OCFish]

Thanks for the tip, I hadn't thought to look that far south. Definitely going to check those out this week.

[Alchase]

Go across the sound to Point No Point. I fill a few punch cards casting out into the rip from from shore with a Kastmaster, Blue and silver, or plain silver, was very effective on Silvers.
Buzzbombs and Point Wilson Darts work on Kings and resident Blackmouth.

[Stein]

Kayak Point was on my list, but unfortunately most of 8-2 is closed to salmon this summer. From the regs:

Summer Salmon Fishery: Aug. 14-Sept. 19: Fishing for salmon limited to
the area south and west of a line between Clinton and Mukilteo fishing
pier, and select dates within the Tulalip Terminal Area Salmon Fishery.

I think sockeye returns are supposed to be way down this year, too.

That's a bummer, apparently 3 million pinks isn't enough for WDFW to grant opportunity for license holders.

[Alchase]

Kayak Point was on my list, but unfortunately most of 8-2 is closed to salmon this summer. From the regs:

Summer Salmon Fishery: Aug. 14-Sept. 19: Fishing for salmon limited to
the area south and west of a line between Clinton and Mukilteo fishing
pier, and select dates within the Tulalip Terminal Area Salmon Fishery.

I think sockeye returns are supposed to be way down this year, too.

That's a bummer, apparently 3 million pinks isn't enough for WDFW to grant opportunity for license holders.

Well there has to first be enough to strip the eggs out and sell to Russia, then dump the carcasses near the river first.

[OCFish]

Got my first salmon today, out of Bush Point. Thanks everyone for the advice!

Was my second trip out. First trip was to Carkeek Park, which...yeah, I'm not going back there. Not a fishing friendly spot, though if there weren't a billion people crammed on the beach it looks like it would produce fish. And maybe if you showed up at dawn you could do some good, but no way late in the day like I tried.

The second spot, Bush Point, was packed with fishermen every few feet for as far as I could see. Had a bit of a spat with the guy to my right who kept casting so far to the left that he was crossing the lines of three or four people at once. All I said was that we were going to get tangled if he kept casting that way, he and his buddies acted like I'd slapped him and started whispering and pointing at me ("Did he say something to you? I'm going to say something to him, that's messed up..."), but I just ignored them and kept fishing.

I got there about an hour before high tide, and the bite seemed to be pretty strong. Passed three or four people in the parking lot who had limits, and one guy on the beach said he'd caught and released three silvers. Pretty much everyone was using a 2" pink rotator or buzz bomb, mostly without a hoochie. I started off with a 2" pink rotator and matching hoochie, but after about half an hour or so I switched over to a 3" pink and white UV buzz bomb with a hot pink hoochie to stand out a bit from the crowd. I've got some coon shrimp I meant to tip the hook with (1/0 sickle siwash), but I forgot them at home. Oh well, next time.

Left after just the one salmon. I was going to try to limit out, and maybe hand the rod off to my wife so she could get a limit too (yes, she's licensed), but my back was sore and I was annoyed at the people next to me so I decided to end it on a high note and take my prize home.

Thanks again, everyone!



Didn't weigh or measure, but it was just about the same length as my 18" cutting board.

[Jake Dogfish]

Nice! 

[bracer40]

I moved to Seattle about ten years ago, from Alabama. Used to fish all the time, but was so busy after moving here that I never had time to go. I've got plenty of free time now, and want to get into some salmon once the season opens up. I picked up some basic gear (Okuma SST + Pflueger President, about half a dozen each of buzz bombs, rotators, twitch jigs, king killers), so now it's just where do I go to fish?

I live in Edmonds and don't have a boat, but I'm willing to drive a few hours to find good fishing. Kings and Coho would be awesome of course, but I'll be perfectly happy to limit out on pinks. So far here are the spots I've got on my list to try, in no particular order.

• Edmonds Fishing Pier (it's like a mile from my house, why not?)
• Mukilteo Lighthouse Park
• Possession Point
• Deception Pass
• Bush Point
• Picnic Point Park

Any advice at all would be very appreciated. Are these decent spots to try? Better spots somewhere else? Advice on when to hit these spots and what to tie on?

Thanks in advance!

This is a great example of a newer member post seeking info. Clearly, you did your own research first (as opposed to guys that come on asking...”where should I go for x?).
You gave some history providing perspective and showed some of your results. It’s so much easier for other members to offer up assistance knowing what you’re looking for.
And thanks for following up with your results!
As a disclaimer, I haven’t done much salmon fishing lately, but used to go out of Edmonds pretty regularly. Hope to be back at it by next season in a kayak (been researching for the past few months and will look for a used deal through the winter)
Much of my initial research started by using the search function in this and other forums. That’s how I discovered the Nucanoe brand based in Bellingham. Already demo’d two of their models and suspect they’re who I’ll go with when I’m ready to purchase.

I wasn’t sure if you’re wading or fishing with dry feet, but I had a really good discussion with a guy last year at carkeek park who was fly fishing for sea run cutthroats. He told me that a lot of guys wade right through some very productive water in the 2-3’ depths closest to shore thinking they had to get to deeper water. He told me he got a good percentage of his cutts in that close water. I can’t speak to salmon doing the same, but if you ever go after cutthroats...

[7mmfan]

Got my first salmon today, out of Bush Point. Thanks everyone for the advice!

Was my second trip out. First trip was to Carkeek Park, which...yeah, I'm not going back there. Not a fishing friendly spot, though if there weren't a billion people crammed on the beach it looks like it would produce fish. And maybe if you showed up at dawn you could do some good, but no way late in the day like I tried.

The second spot, Bush Point, was packed with fishermen every few feet for as far as I could see. Had a bit of a spat with the guy to my right who kept casting so far to the left that he was crossing the lines of three or four people at once. All I said was that we were going to get tangled if he kept casting that way, he and his buddies acted like I'd slapped him and started whispering and pointing at me ("Did he say something to you? I'm going to say something to him, that's messed up..."), but I just ignored them and kept fishing.

I got there about an hour before high tide, and the bite seemed to be pretty strong. Passed three or four people in the parking lot who had limits, and one guy on the beach said he'd caught and released three silvers. Pretty much everyone was using a 2" pink rotator or buzz bomb, mostly without a hoochie. I started off with a 2" pink rotator and matching hoochie, but after about half an hour or so I switched over to a 3" pink and white UV buzz bomb with a hot pink hoochie to stand out a bit from the crowd. I've got some coon shrimp I meant to tip the hook with (1/0 sickle siwash), but I forgot them at home. Oh well, next time.

Left after just the one salmon. I was going to try to limit out, and maybe hand the rod off to my wife so she could get a limit too (yes, she's licensed), but my back was sore and I was annoyed at the people next to me so I decided to end it on a high note and take my prize home.

Thanks again, everyone!



Didn't weigh or measure, but it was just about the same length as my 18" cutting board.

Excellent! I bet that first one tasted great on the bbq!

[OCFish]

<snip>

Excellent! I bet that first one tasted great on the bbq!

I baked the first fillet as soon as I had it cleaned. Used a recipe I saw attributed to Pioneer Woman, where you stick it in a cold oven, set it to 400F, bake for 25 minutes. Should have used more salt, but otherwise it was excellent.

The rest is either going to be fish tacos tonight, or if I can get around to cleaning the smoker...

[Alchase]

<snip>

Excellent! I bet that first one tasted great on the bbq!

I baked the first fillet as soon as I had it cleaned. Used a recipe I saw attributed to Pioneer Woman, where you stick it in a cold oven, set it to 400F, bake for 25 minutes. Should have used more salt, but otherwise it was excellent.

The rest is either going to be fish tacos tonight, or if I can get around to cleaning the smoker...

He said cleaning his smoker! 

 

[7mmfan]

<snip>

Excellent! I bet that first one tasted great on the bbq!

I baked the first fillet as soon as I had it cleaned. Used a recipe I saw attributed to Pioneer Woman, where you stick it in a cold oven, set it to 400F, bake for 25 minutes. Should have used more salt, but otherwise it was excellent.

The rest is either going to be fish tacos tonight, or if I can get around to cleaning the smoker...

Salmon filets definitely need a fair amount of salt. My favorite extremely easy salmon recipe is to coat with a little olive oil or avocado oil and then season liberally with Johnny's Seafood seasoning. It's fantastic. I cook my salmon hot and fast, 500 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes depending on thickness of filet. I want it rare-medium rare in the middle. I use a meat thermometer to check it and pull when it is at 120 degrees internal.

[bracer40]

For those without a thermometer, a good rule of thumb is 10 minutes per inch of thickness when broiling or baking at 400-450 degrees..

[Alchase]

One of our family favorite salmon recipes, make a boat out of thick aluminum foil. Place salmon fillet in boat, pour a bottle of Gerard’s Italian Dressing over the fillet. And a sliced up cube of butter and sliced portobello mushrooms and spread all over the fillet. And place on grill/smoker until done.
My family would take Hawaiian rolls, and dip them into the marinade and eat them as an appetizer!
Seriously it is that good!
 

[OCFish]

I just wanted to say thanks one more time to everybody, but most especially h20hunter, who very graciously offered to take me out on his boat to slay some pinks. The day started off rough, not just the heavy chop this morning but also I went to the wrong boat launch. Easy to mistake Mukilteo and Everett, the spelling is just so similar.

The bite was slow at first, but picked up once the tide changed. We hooked five and landed three (all trolling), including one that I very nearly fed into the prop (oops again). All in all, I had a fantastic time, and went home with a cooler full of fish and some red rock crabs for the wife.

So with that final thanks, I think I should probably just let this thread die. It's served its purpose very well, no need to turn it into The Ongoing Exploits of OCFish.

[Alchase]

Awesome!
Sounds like a great day on the water!

[paguy]

Much respect for H2Ohunter, This is great. Pay it forward and take a kid fishing.

[OCFish]

Much respect for H2Ohunter, This is great. Pay it forward and take a kid fishing.

100%.