|
Puget Sound MA 13 (South Sound)
|
 |
|
Puget Sound MA 13 (South Sound)
|
|
Most Puget Sound Chinook will migrate out to the ocean and are known as Right Hand turning fish and travel north as far up the coast into Northern BC and even Alaska. These migrating salmon will spend some part of their early lives in the Puget Sound. A portion will stay in the sound, and are know as Blackmouth. See this article for further info on Blackmouth, CLICK HERE.
An observation of the tides in Puget Sound, having more run-off than the ocean, possibly because on an incoming tide as it reaches the upper end of the inlet, it has no where to go but UP. And then as it runs out, it goes out a lot faster.
The northern boundary of Washington State's Marine Area 13 is the Tacoma narrows bridge. In this article we will start on this northern portion and work southward. We are only covering fishing from a boat here, however if accessible shore is available, bankies can catch fish, but mostly Coho as they tend to be more shorebound.
Here, as in about all locations, sonar is your best friend. (1) To
allow you to know your water depth. (2) Next would
be to allow you to see bait concentrations. You will usually not be able
to spot fish that deep on your sonar. (3) It allows you to stay in close contact
of your downrigger ball. (4) Remember
salmon are where you find them.
Usually the current is too swift near this bridge to effectively
fish for salmon, and they usually just pass through anyway looking for calmer
water. The
first location here on lower tip of the Kitsap Peninsula, is Fox Island, a
smallish island, but around it, provides pretty good salmon fishing at times.
The Chinook run here starts at it's upper limits about mid July and peaks mid August.
However you need to remember the cardinal rule for fishing the
sound, and that is fish it as if it was 2 rivers on each side of a point of land, (1) the incoming tide,
and (2) the outgoing tide. By this, it means the bait will be be concentrated on
the leah side of any point, where there will usually be an eddy, or less current during
a tidal movement. And this changes with each tide. When bait is there it means salmon can possibly
also be there.
In the chart below, you see the southern part of MA 13 and the red
markings indicate favorite fishing locations. With the lower RH
corner being the Nisqually delta and the upper mid section Dana Passage, with
Olympia in the lower LH corner.
| Here is the southern part of Washington's MA 13 |
 |
Chinook
Salmon :
There is a distinction between Chinook and Blackmouth. Blackmouth will
be smaller fish, usually in the 12# range, a 15#er would be exceptional.
The reason for being smaller, is ocean fish have a better opportunity to
chase large schools of herring/anchovy, where the resident Blackmouth have
less bait to pick from.
Here you may encounter either, however the Blackmouth tend to stay
NEAR the
bottom. Migrating Chinook, in deeper water tend to usually be
suspended about mid depth. So if nothing is producing mid depth,
lower it nearer to the bottom.
Locations ; One of
the top locations to target salmon would be the south end of Fox Island.
Three of these top locations are Fox Point on Hale passage (the western end),
the Fox Island fishing pier (concrete) on the upper/mid east end, and Point
Gibson farther on the southeastern end, can all produce fish.
The Technique ;
Your best tactic would be to troll your
presentation just above
bottom, when you mark a bait ball on your sonar, likely in one of the many dips along
the troll, kick the boat out of gear until my downrigger balls bounce bottom.
Then put it back in gear. This tactic can entice salmon to grab a
falling lure.
You can also pick up fish trolling out into the deeper 120-140 water off the
point when the bait moves out as the tide slakens.
The pier can be a good spot to try on the last half of the incoming
tide. Bait will get swept in here and fish will follow after it. The
summer returning Chinook will rest in holes just south of the pier. Troll
the 90-ft to 150-ft water out front of the pier. For summer Chinook just troll with the
tide, and get the offering in the face. Best action on Blackmouth
will be one hour before to two hours after the tide change, Chinook not so
critical.
Here off Fox Point
between the island and the peninsula, it is best to fish on an outgoing tide.
Target the area just off the point. The bottom drops off from 60-ft out to about
150-ft. Trolling in circles off the point shallow to deep can be
productive. You can also troll the Northwestern shore in the 100-120 water up
into Hale passage, which can also be productive. Salmon will hold on
this deeper ledge. Watch for bait balls on your sonar which in turn
attract the local fish will
hone in on these.
Point Gibson is better
fished on the incoming tide. From the point, troll the 90-ft of water up the
shoreline to the big rock on the beach. The problem here is that the
bottom is very irregular to where you cannot become complacent on your
downrigger depth. Here is where the "Meat
Rod" shines as it is easier to follow the contour as compared to typical downriggering.
The public fishing pier
(locally referred to as the concrete dock) on the upper/mid end of the Island can be
a good spot to try on the last half of the incoming tide. Bait will get
swept in here and fish will follow after it. The summer returning Chinook
will rest in holes just south of the pier. Troll the 90-ft to 150-ft water
out front of the dock. For Summer Chinook it’s a get the offering
in the face deal, to do this, just troll with the tide.
As the season progresses, you might consider running one
downrigger at mid depth as those returning Chinook have
a different purpose in mind and don't
act like Blackmouth which will have them being higher in the water column.
There seems to not be much fishing area around McNeal or the northern tip of Anderson Island, probably because of no land projections, along with the current usually rips along quite well on the western passage here.
Location ; The next southern location would be Chambers Creek, which is located between Tacoma and Steilacoom on the mainland. You can identify it by the low railroad trestle over the creek, which leads to the fish hatchery. Fishing takes place in front of the trestle and to the north of it. Water depth at the creek mouth can run as little as 8-10 feet. As you move 50 yards off the creek mouth the water depth increases to 20-25 ft. This would be your the prime trolling area.
The Chambers
Creek summer Chinook fishery begins to heat up in early August. Depending
upon rainfall, the fishery can run well into September if the creek doesn’t get
enough rain to push the salmon upstream as they will remain in the saltwater
until then. These fish are referred to as cookie cutter kings by locals, as they
would be 3 year fish and all seem to be 10 to 15 pounds in size.
Top fishing at Chambers is just off the creek mouth on a flood tide.
Jiggers with Point Wilson Darts or Butterfly Jigs do really well at first light
in the drop offs located just to the north of the railroad bridge. For a
link to this type of jigging
CLICK HERE. This
railroad
bridge is the fishing boundary here.
In the shallower water, the best producing trolling setup would be to run a 2-3-oz. cannon ball sinker on a dropper 10
-12in. long off the main line. Then attach a 6-7 ft leader with 2/3-3/0
hooks to a Fish Flash flasher. Cut-plug herring is the Go To setup.
Let this down until the dropper makes steady contact with the bottom. The
12 in dropper will keep the thick cover of eelgrass from fouling your bait to
badly.
Troll slowly, just keep the cut-plug spinning.
Troll parallel to the beach moving in and out until you hit concentrations of
fish. Best fishing will be first light, not early morning first light,
but more like O DARK 30. Late evening and then flood tide are the next best times.
This area however, is hard to fish because, the water in front is not very deep and has a lot
of eel-grass in close where you will see the salmon rolling every where.
To the north there is a drop off and here is
where you will see the jiggers concentrating.
This takes place 100 yards north of the creek mouth. There is a serious drop
off here from 25-125 ft. The Chinook will concentrate on this drop off waiting
for baitfish. They
will stack at different depths along this drop off depending on the time of the
tide and the amount of sunlight available. Point Wilson Darts in the herring
and candlefish patterns rule here. Try the 2-3oz. green and white with a
splash of yellow seem to be favorites. And Buzz bombs seem to be
another favorite here.
Start jigging by setting up on the drop off, watch for concentrations of fish
on your sonar and stay on top of them. Most of the time lifting your rod a few inches
(no Yankum Spankum movements here) and
allowing the jig to flutter down will produce strikes.
Just a little south from here is Solo point another good
place to intercept summer Chinook, trolling parallel to the beach with spoons or
a Fish Flash and cut-plug herring, and for some reason, a red flasher seems to be a good
color here.
Location ; Next location southward would be Ketron Island, which is a
small island close to the mainland off Steilacoom. Here you can
troll on the outside of it, trying to intercept those returning Nisqually Chinook.
One area that often gets overlooked is the shoreline from Ketron Island to the
Nisqually River. There was at one time a blasting powder loading dock on the beach,
just north of the river. This shoreline is good trolling water. A Fish
Flash
rigged with a whole herring or a Silver Horde spoon in green and white Glo have
proved effective. If the tide is outgoing, troll north, on the incoming tide
troll south along the shoreline.
Location ; The Nisqually river mouth off the southern
end of Anderson Island is the next southerly location.
Big ocean bright Chinook come rolling in here beginning early August. Their
destination is the Nisqually River which is known for one of the largest runs of
south sound hatchery Chinook. They’re heading to the south sound mecca
where Chinook at times school in tide rips in numbers where the bite can happen
so fast that the fishermen are thinking they have died and went to Heaven.
Needless to say it can get congested here at times.
As for run timing, you will start seeing these fish showing up
around Point Defiance, Point Evans and on the south end of Fox Island near Fox
Point and Gibson Point around the middle of July. Early August Lyle Point
on the south end of Anderson Island is where you want to be. Over the
years this has been one of the most popular areas for Chinook.
Near the tide changes you will definitely see rips forming off either side of
the near Lyle Point (south eastern part of Anderson Island). This area holds plenty of bait and has been a consistent Chinook producer.
When the Chinook move towards this delta in the first part of
August, this area becomes the Go To location, where fishing off the green can
be a jigger’s paradise. However the Green Can buoy has been removed
in recent years (GPS location of 46-06-29 122-41-50).
Mooching and
jigging seem to be the most popular here in 60-90 ft of prime water, when the tide run is slow
will allow you to work your Dart right on top of the holding Chinook. Use
the smallest size you can maintain bottom contact with. Jigging rods are a stiffer rod
with lots of backbone, like a steelhead back bouncer or a shorter type Walleye rod with the
reel loaded with 50# braid line, to a ball bearing swivel. From the swivel
use a 4-5 ft. piece of clear 20-pound leader to the jig. Using this leader
setup is easier to tie braid to a swivel than a line splice, and at times can
become something to get ahold of.
Keep your line
vertical in the water. You may have to back your kicker motor into the
current to do it. Stay in contact with the bottom raising the rod tip and
allowing the jig to flutter back down. Point Wilson Darts in green and white seem to be the Go
To lure here.
Lyle Point can get hectic where competition between the trollers
and the jiggers may overlap, but the trollers usually stay closer to the island,
while the jiggers more toward the delta mouth.
The incoming and high tides are
usually when the bite happens and with best fishing at the tide changes, from one hour before
to two hours after.
Thompson Cove is a small cove on the southern shore just northwest of Lyle Point. Many times there
is lots of bait in here, light line motor mooching herring works well. Many Chinook are taken every year
in here in as little as 15-20 ft of water. Troll slow with the current and keep
your bait near the bottom.
West of Thompson Cove the emphasis is on the southwest shoreline where it eddies on both
sides. It’s a good mooching area. The bottom tapers off near shore from 30-100
ft. There’s also a NW/SE trough that holds baitfish. This is great holding and
feeding water for Chinook.
Moochers can get a good drift swinging parallel with the southwest shoreline. That will allow you to drift the deepest point. The water runs south to west. Constant adjustments are needed to stay near the bottom here. You will need 4-6
oz. of lead and a cut-plug. The closer to the flood tide the more emphases you
should put on fishing the broken bottom on the shallow ledge. You will be able
to see the edge of the ledge by the choppy water created by changing tide.
Location ; Devils Head off the southern end of Key Peninsula would be your next Chinook interception location. The piling marker here is #4. This is the western edge of Drayton Passage which is a waterway on the west side of Anderson and McNeal Island and usually has a LOT of water movement. But trolling along this shoreline can also be productive at near slack tides.
Location ; Across the water to the southwest about 1 1/2 miles is Zittle's marina on the mainland where a shoreline troll westward puts you at Johnson Point. Here, remember the rule of fishing it like a river off the point.
On the west side of Johnson Point is Henderson Inlet, which has piling marker #7 at about mid way in the entrance, and the eastern entrance into Dana Passage. Here, this inlet is SHALLOW so be extra careful if you venture into it very far on an outgoing tide. Dickenson Point would be the next mainland protrusion. Along this southern shoreline you will encounter Big and Little Fish Trap areas, which are just small inlets, with Big fish Trap considerably larger. Trolling or jigging in these area can be productive, all the way to Boston Harbor. Here you will be targeting Deschutes river fish.
Location ; Budd inlet, Deschutes river fish can be targeted in many spots including Brisco Point (off Harstine Island), Hunter Point, Cooper Point, here you can troll a squid and flasher combo in the 70 ft of water or move in close to shore in the 30-35 ft of water and drift with the tide and try your favorite jig. Of these three points, as the tide begins running there is a noticeable rip off Brisco Point, that will be hard to fish.
Tackle ;
Rods and reels need not to
be as heavy duty as if you were ocean fishing. I prefer 8 1/2'
Coho rods in a line weight of 12 to 17# for trolling. Steelhead reels like
Ambassadeur or Shimano TR 200s work well here.
For jigging, I like a shorter rod, like 7 or 7 1/2' like Okuma
Deadeye Classic DEC-C-762ML in line weight 8-17#. For reels, you
will be hurting yourself if you don't go to a line counter reel here. My
go to reel is Okuma Convector, Low profile, line counter CV-354D with a 5.4-1
retrieve ratio. This is basically the same as the more expensive Coldwater
reel, but with less ball bearings, making for a cheaper reel and for jigging,
you would never know the difference.
Start with fresh herring on a 20 pound leader trolled behind the downrigger, if this doesn’t entice a bite, then there are several spoons that have proven effective. If you are running two downriggers, try different presentations until you find what the fish want that day. An Apex or a Brad's Super Cut Plug by themselves, or a Silver Horde Kingfisher or coyote spoon behind a Fish Flash are very effective. Or if the bait is bigger a Sonic Edge fished behind an 11” 360 flasher. Top colors have been army truck, green and white or the cop car for the spoons. These flashers can be more productive if they are connected to the newer electronic blinkers.
From Kelly's
Playbook :
Productive spots to explore
and target summer Chinook salmon starting in early to late August are limitless
in area 13.
I say this because, the at that timeframe,
these salmon have not gotten their real homing hormone sense yet.
I remember a dark thirty morning with my
brother leaving out of Swan Town and slow trolling herring with the stern light
on, in front of Burfoot Park with multiple hook ups and him landing a chrome
bright #19 lb Chinook.
These are the Tumwater Falls run.
These
fish are here in July but will peak around middle of August.
A
great starting point is Dana passage between Dover Point and Dickenson Point.
With
most activity in the little and big fish trap area.
Fisherman will target these fish while drifting
with the tide and using jigs. The favorite color is white, but don't
overlook black. They will start in
the 50 ft of water and work their way in to 35 ft of water.
The most productive is the
outgoing tide, but the fish are caught both tides. The trollers use flashers and
hoochies or spoons.
Once you find the 70 ft water depth you are in
the strike zone with down riggers set between 50 - and 60 ft.
Here
you troll with the tide.
Dana passage is a narrow body of water and the
tide moves very fast.
Some will use divers and herring and troll the
shore line and catch fish, while others will drift over Itsami Ledge and mooch a
3-4 ounce crescent sinker and green label herring shallow enough to avoid the
dog fish this time of year.
On a big incoming tide at Gray light in front
of the Boston Harbor light house can be also productive at times.
Remember they all have to go
up Budd inlet to get home.
A typical year the Tumwater Hatchery recovers just
over 9,000 fish back.
On average its around 10,000 fish.
Coho Salmon:
These returning (mature) Coho will start showing in the middle of July and will be here
through August and into September.
These fish are Squaxin Tribe raised
and they release about 2 million smolt a year from their pens near the island.
So when they come back, they have no home stream, so they just wonder around
Budd and Eld inlets, until caught by recreational or by the tribal commercial
netters. Possibly a few may spawn in adjacent small streams.
When they come in, you will start seeing them at Tolmie State Park area first, then moving west to Johnson Point, Vaugn Bay, South end of Harstine Island, Sunshine Point, near Terry Rudnick’s house (the big yellow one next to the shore) then Burfoot Park. Most of them will school on the east shore of Budd Inlet between Boston Harbor and Swantown Marina in Olympia. They may stay in an area for weeks, or only a few days and move clear across the bay, miles away overnight. Or until the tribe nets them.
| Kelly with a couple of nice MA 13 Coho |
 |
Find
the rip tide and bait and you will find Coho. The
early fish, I think run deeper and are the ones to target.
They are feeders, but as time goes by they have spawning on their mind
and with no river to return home to they become harder to hook. Many fish
that have been caught early were full of squid. That would be why they are deep.
All along Harstine Island on the Dana
Passage side is good Coho water with lots of kelp patches and current.
Coho love current and the bait fish love kelp patches. The best place to
fish for Coho in late August is Salmon point, (the very northern tip of Squaxin
Island). Between there and Harstine Island is a very narrow body of water with
lots of fast moving water. The
locals call this area ‘The Cut’.
Fisherman will drift or anchor and throw spinners, swim baits, anchovies under a
bobber and troll.
This is a shallow
fishery and the fish are spooky so if trolling, let out 100' PLUS line with very little or no
weight, you need light tackle and small herring.
You want to troll fast and have your offering a good distance behind the
boat. Some fisherman will troll
wiggle warts in reds and pink and kill ‘em.
Bob Carlson past PSA member always told
me don't troll on these fish as they spook and won’t bite.
here is a time to sneak up on them and cast spinners or plugs.
Bob was the Coho guru around here with #18 lb Coho to his name.
Chum
Salmon :
Here, the most popular areas for Chum
are in Totten Inlet or Hammersley Inlet. Fishing will be in the
shallow mouths of the small creeks, using anchovy under a bobber or casting
small chartreuse spinners.
Boats; Here, you don't need an
ocean boat, however a 12' aluminum Jon boat might be really stretching it on the
smallish side. You will see many 16'ers, either aluminum or
fiberglass here, HOWEVER no bass boats allowed in my book, basically because of
no gunnel height.
Typically, any bad boating weather is less here in MA 13 simply because of the
less exposure to open water due to the confines of closer hills and shoreline.
The one thing, check the weather the night before you plan on going, If it looks
stormy, stay home and sort through your tackle, as there is no fish worth
loosing your life over. AND wear your automatic inflatable vest at
all times.
I have a deal with my wife, where that I can go fishing anytime I want,
BUT I have to come back home at the end of the day. And I would turn
over in my grave if I found out she sold my boat/gear for peanuts to some so
called CHEAP CHARLIE fishing friend.
I even fish alone a lot of the time. Therefore I am probably
more safety conscious than some. I have a plaque on my boat that
says "All persons onboard this vessel WILL be wearing a PFD
while under way". When alone I even have a 10' tether which I attach
to my offshore inflatable vest.
Boat launches ;
(1) McAllister Creek -
(NARROW-SHALLOW channel at low tide, out of west side of the Nisqually delta)
(2)
Steilacoom is just a driveway to the water and only for small boats (16’ or
less). Open 24 hours.
(3) Solo Point launch - DuPont, Fort Lewis owned,
mainly for retired military, or permit required
(5) Boston Harbor, WDFW launch, rebuilt 2024 -- NOTE
TIDE DOMINATING -- LONG SHALLOW
RAMP - limited parking if you arrive late after the kayakers
(6) Swantown (Olympia) - Long run, but good 2
lane ramp with lots of parking
Some
of these notes off Kelly's Playbook
Copyright © 2004 - 2025 LeeRoy Wisner All Rights Reserved
Back to the Main
Ramblings Page
Originated 08-09-2025 Last updated 08-17-2025
Contact the author