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Puget Sound Fishing Report: Winter Blow Brings Blackmouth, Coho, and Crab Opportunities
Published 4 months, 1 week ago
Description
This is Artificial Lure with your Puget Sound fishing report.
We’ve got a classic winter blow rolling through. The National Weather Service marine forecast for Puget Sound and Hood Canal is calling for strong south winds 15–25 knots today, building into a full gale tonight with 25–35 knots and gusts to 45, 3–6 foot waves and steady rain. That’s small-boat-ugly, so pick your windows carefully and hug the leeward shorelines.
According to NOAA’s Seattle tide station, we’re on a strong tidal swing: a pre-dawn low just over 3 feet, a solid morning flood pushing up over 7 feet mid-morning, then draining again mid-afternoon. Those moving-water periods will be your best shot for a bite, especially that mid-morning flood when the wind and tide line up from the south.
Sunrise is right around 7:50 a.m. with sunset just before 4:20 p.m., so your prime fishable light is a short window: first light through late morning, then a brief dusk flurry if the wind allows.
Winter fishing in the Sound is all about opportunity species. Local reports from tackle shops around Edmonds, Shilshole and Tacoma Narrows say blackmouth chinook have been showing in modest numbers, with anglers picking a few legal fish per boat on good days and plenty of shakers to keep rods bouncing. Resident coho are scattered but still showing for folks running smaller gear high in the column. Dungeness crab has been decent where seasons remain open, with a lot of folks doing better on mid-depth sand flats rather than right on the dropoffs.
For gear, think classic Puget Sound winter setups. Running a Pro-Troll style flasher or 11-inch paddle with a 3.5 ace-high spoon, Coho Killer, or small glow hoochie has been the ticket for blackmouth. Most locals are fishing 80–140 feet down off downriggers, dragging slow—about 2.2 to 2.6 knots at the ball. Green glow, Irish cream, and Cop Car patterns are all producing. Herring strips or small whole herring behind a flasher are still hard to beat if you can find good bait; brined blue-label cut-plugged tight has out-fished hardware more than once this week.
Bank anglers working piers like Edmonds and Des Moines are scratching out a mix of flounder and the odd resident coho or blackmouth on metal jigs and herring. A 1–2 ounce Nordic-style jig in herring or candlefish colors, worked near bottom with a flutter on the drop, is your best bet. Tip it with a bit of herring for extra scent if the bite is slow.
Couple of hotspots to circle on the chart:
• **Possession Bar** – Classic winter blackmouth water. Work the east side during the flood, west on the ebb. Use your sounder, stay tight to bait marks in 120–150 feet, and keep gear just off bottom so you’re occasionally tapping the mud.
• **Point Defiance/Tahlequah line** – Tacoma Narrows has been giving up a nice mix of keeper blackmouth and good crab. Troll the shelf edges in 90–140 feet, watch that fast tide, and run heavy lead or deeper rigger drops to stay in the strike zone.
With this weather, smaller inside spots like Blake Island, Apple Tree Cove, or the lee of Whidbey around Clinton can fish surprisingly well and keep you out of the worst of it.
That’s the word from around Puget Sound. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a 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’ve got a classic winter blow rolling through. The National Weather Service marine forecast for Puget Sound and Hood Canal is calling for strong south winds 15–25 knots today, building into a full gale tonight with 25–35 knots and gusts to 45, 3–6 foot waves and steady rain. That’s small-boat-ugly, so pick your windows carefully and hug the leeward shorelines.
According to NOAA’s Seattle tide station, we’re on a strong tidal swing: a pre-dawn low just over 3 feet, a solid morning flood pushing up over 7 feet mid-morning, then draining again mid-afternoon. Those moving-water periods will be your best shot for a bite, especially that mid-morning flood when the wind and tide line up from the south.
Sunrise is right around 7:50 a.m. with sunset just before 4:20 p.m., so your prime fishable light is a short window: first light through late morning, then a brief dusk flurry if the wind allows.
Winter fishing in the Sound is all about opportunity species. Local reports from tackle shops around Edmonds, Shilshole and Tacoma Narrows say blackmouth chinook have been showing in modest numbers, with anglers picking a few legal fish per boat on good days and plenty of shakers to keep rods bouncing. Resident coho are scattered but still showing for folks running smaller gear high in the column. Dungeness crab has been decent where seasons remain open, with a lot of folks doing better on mid-depth sand flats rather than right on the dropoffs.
For gear, think classic Puget Sound winter setups. Running a Pro-Troll style flasher or 11-inch paddle with a 3.5 ace-high spoon, Coho Killer, or small glow hoochie has been the ticket for blackmouth. Most locals are fishing 80–140 feet down off downriggers, dragging slow—about 2.2 to 2.6 knots at the ball. Green glow, Irish cream, and Cop Car patterns are all producing. Herring strips or small whole herring behind a flasher are still hard to beat if you can find good bait; brined blue-label cut-plugged tight has out-fished hardware more than once this week.
Bank anglers working piers like Edmonds and Des Moines are scratching out a mix of flounder and the odd resident coho or blackmouth on metal jigs and herring. A 1–2 ounce Nordic-style jig in herring or candlefish colors, worked near bottom with a flutter on the drop, is your best bet. Tip it with a bit of herring for extra scent if the bite is slow.
Couple of hotspots to circle on the chart:
• **Possession Bar** – Classic winter blackmouth water. Work the east side during the flood, west on the ebb. Use your sounder, stay tight to bait marks in 120–150 feet, and keep gear just off bottom so you’re occasionally tapping the mud.
• **Point Defiance/Tahlequah line** – Tacoma Narrows has been giving up a nice mix of keeper blackmouth and good crab. Troll the shelf edges in 90–140 feet, watch that fast tide, and run heavy lead or deeper rigger drops to stay in the strike zone.
With this weather, smaller inside spots like Blake Island, Apple Tree Cove, or the lee of Whidbey around Clinton can fish surprisingly well and keep you out of the worst of it.
That’s the word from around Puget Sound. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a 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