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Puget Sound Fishing Report: Blackmouth, Chum, and Crab in the Gray Winter Waters
Published 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Puget Sound fishing report.
We’re on small winter tides now. Seattle tide tables from Tides4Fishing show a pre-dawn low around 4:45 a.m. at about a foot and a solid midday high just after lunch, a bit over 11 feet, with an evening ebb pulling things down again. That translates to mellow current early, then a nice push mid‑day for moving bait and turning on the bite.
Sunrise is right around 7:10 a.m., sunset about 4:30 p.m. according to Tides4Fishing’s Seattle tables. Dress for a classic gray Sound day: cool temps in the low 40s, light wind under 10 knots, patchy rain showers, and decent visibility based on local marine forecasts out of Seattle.
Fish activity is what you’d expect for early winter. According to recent reports compiled on “Puget Sound, Washington Fishing Today” on Spreaker, the focus has shifted to **blackmouth** (resident Chinook), lingering **chum**, and solid **Dungeness crab** in select areas. Blackmouth have been coming in ones and twos per boat for folks working structure and bait edges on the mid‑day tide; fish are running 4–8 pounds with the odd larger keeper. Chum reports are tapering, but a few pods are still showing in the Central Sound and South Sound, mostly smaller bucks. Crabbing has been decent where seasons remain open, with recreational crabbers in Admiralty Inlet and the eastern Straits reporting enough legal Dungies for a meal, according to Northwest Sportsman Magazine’s recent headlines and WDFW outreach mentioned there.
Best gear right now: for blackmouth, locals are doing well trolling **3–3.5 inch spoons** in herring or glow patterns behind an 11‑inch flasher, or running **plug‑cut herring** just off bottom on the downrigger. Small **hoochie‑flasher** combos in green glow and purple haze are also producing, echoing the Puget Sound salmon setups outlined on GoneFishingNW’s jigging and hoochie articles. Keep leads short (28–42 inches) and work 80–140 feet over humps and ledges. For bank anglers targeting late coho or stray chum, **chartreuse or pink twitching jigs**, and **1/2–1 ounce metal jigs** in herring colors are still worth a swing around creek mouths on the flood.
For crab, stick with classic **chicken backs, fish carcasses, or salmon frames** in weighted pots, soaked on the edges of eelgrass and 60–90 feet of water. Fresh, oily bait is making a difference on these slower winter tides.
Couple local hot spots for you:
• **Jeff Head / Kingston side** – A consistent winter blackmouth area. Work the contour breaks on the mid‑tide push, trolling tight to bottom with spoons and herring.
• **Point No Point / Pilot Point** – Another go‑to for resident Chinook. Start on the south side on the incoming, then slide north as the current builds.
Close‑to‑town backup: **Rich Passage and the Bainbridge shoreline** can quietly kick out blackmouth for folks who hug the structure and stay in that bait zone.
Bird life in the broader Salish Sea has been wild this fall; Salish Current recently reported record numbers of short‑tailed shearwaters piling into bait balls of herring and sand lance. When you see that kind of bird and bait activity out in the main Sound, that’s your cue to work the edges with spoons or small jigs—predators won’t be far.
That’s the rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
We’re on small winter tides now. Seattle tide tables from Tides4Fishing show a pre-dawn low around 4:45 a.m. at about a foot and a solid midday high just after lunch, a bit over 11 feet, with an evening ebb pulling things down again. That translates to mellow current early, then a nice push mid‑day for moving bait and turning on the bite.
Sunrise is right around 7:10 a.m., sunset about 4:30 p.m. according to Tides4Fishing’s Seattle tables. Dress for a classic gray Sound day: cool temps in the low 40s, light wind under 10 knots, patchy rain showers, and decent visibility based on local marine forecasts out of Seattle.
Fish activity is what you’d expect for early winter. According to recent reports compiled on “Puget Sound, Washington Fishing Today” on Spreaker, the focus has shifted to **blackmouth** (resident Chinook), lingering **chum**, and solid **Dungeness crab** in select areas. Blackmouth have been coming in ones and twos per boat for folks working structure and bait edges on the mid‑day tide; fish are running 4–8 pounds with the odd larger keeper. Chum reports are tapering, but a few pods are still showing in the Central Sound and South Sound, mostly smaller bucks. Crabbing has been decent where seasons remain open, with recreational crabbers in Admiralty Inlet and the eastern Straits reporting enough legal Dungies for a meal, according to Northwest Sportsman Magazine’s recent headlines and WDFW outreach mentioned there.
Best gear right now: for blackmouth, locals are doing well trolling **3–3.5 inch spoons** in herring or glow patterns behind an 11‑inch flasher, or running **plug‑cut herring** just off bottom on the downrigger. Small **hoochie‑flasher** combos in green glow and purple haze are also producing, echoing the Puget Sound salmon setups outlined on GoneFishingNW’s jigging and hoochie articles. Keep leads short (28–42 inches) and work 80–140 feet over humps and ledges. For bank anglers targeting late coho or stray chum, **chartreuse or pink twitching jigs**, and **1/2–1 ounce metal jigs** in herring colors are still worth a swing around creek mouths on the flood.
For crab, stick with classic **chicken backs, fish carcasses, or salmon frames** in weighted pots, soaked on the edges of eelgrass and 60–90 feet of water. Fresh, oily bait is making a difference on these slower winter tides.
Couple local hot spots for you:
• **Jeff Head / Kingston side** – A consistent winter blackmouth area. Work the contour breaks on the mid‑tide push, trolling tight to bottom with spoons and herring.
• **Point No Point / Pilot Point** – Another go‑to for resident Chinook. Start on the south side on the incoming, then slide north as the current builds.
Close‑to‑town backup: **Rich Passage and the Bainbridge shoreline** can quietly kick out blackmouth for folks who hug the structure and stay in that bait zone.
Bird life in the broader Salish Sea has been wild this fall; Salish Current recently reported record numbers of short‑tailed shearwaters piling into bait balls of herring and sand lance. When you see that kind of bird and bait activity out in the main Sound, that’s your cue to work the edges with spoons or small jigs—predators won’t be far.
That’s the rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI