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Battling Blustery Blackmouth Bite: Puget Sound Fishing Report
Published 4 months, 1 week ago
Description
This is Artificial Lure with your Puget Sound fishing report.
We’ve got a classic winter system rolling through. The National Weather Service marine forecast for Puget Sound and Hood Canal is calling for strong south winds 15 to 25 knots today with rain and 2–3 foot wind waves, building higher in the main basin later. It’s wet, bumpy, and very much a “pick your window and tuck in tight to shore” kind of day.
Seattle tides are big and moving. Tides.net shows a high around 11 feet just before dawn, a mid‑morning low around 8 feet, another solid afternoon high just over 10 feet, then a big evening low dropping below zero. Sunrise is about 7:52 a.m. with sunset around 4:18 p.m., so your practical fishing window is tight and dim.
Those strong exchanges are stirring things up, and fish have been responding between squalls. Local reports and tackle shop chatter around the central Sound say blackmouth chinook have been picking up again off Jefferson Head, Kingston, and the oil docks, with a mix of legal keepers and decent shakers. Most of the better fish have been coming 80–140 feet down in 150–220 feet of water, run just off bottom.
Productive gear has been classic winter Sound fare: 3.5‑inch spoons in green/glow or Irish cream behind an 11‑inch flasher, or hoochies in UV white and green with a strip of herring. A lot of locals are sweetening hardware with a tiny teaser of herring to match the small bait that’s still around. If you’re running bait only, whole or cut‑plug herring in a tight roll is still king.
Resident coho and sea‑run cutthroat have been showing in the top 30 feet inside Elliott Bay, off West Point, and along the south Sound shoreline from Dash Point down toward Point Defiance. Think smaller profile: 2–3 inch spoons, small white or sand‑lance pattern flies, and tiny soft plastics. When the wind lets you get close to the beach, a suspended strip of herring under a float or a small jig worked along current seams has turned fish.
Crabbing is still on a lot of minds. Northwest Sportsman Magazine recently highlighted WDFW’s survey of successful Dungeness crabbers in Marine Areas 6, 7, and 9, and that lines up with what folks are seeing: pockets of good Dungies remain in deeper water, 80–120 feet, especially in Admiralty Inlet and the eastern Straits. Fresh salmon heads, razor clam guts, and oily fish frames are the baits of choice right now—change them often in this heavy current.
A couple of hot spots if you can time the lulls in the wind:
- Jefferson Head to Kingston for blackmouth on the troll. Work the contour breaks on the first of the flood or last of the ebb.
- Point Defiance and the Clay Banks for a mix of blackmouth and the odd late coho, especially around tide changes when the current eases.
If you’re shorebound, try Seacrest in West Seattle or Edmonds pier just after dark, fishing small glow jigs or herring under a float for resident salmon and the odd squid between storm pulses.
Overall, it’s a grindy, weather‑dependent day, but there are fish to be had if you lean on those tide changes, hug the lee shores, and keep your presentations small and slow.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease 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 system rolling through. The National Weather Service marine forecast for Puget Sound and Hood Canal is calling for strong south winds 15 to 25 knots today with rain and 2–3 foot wind waves, building higher in the main basin later. It’s wet, bumpy, and very much a “pick your window and tuck in tight to shore” kind of day.
Seattle tides are big and moving. Tides.net shows a high around 11 feet just before dawn, a mid‑morning low around 8 feet, another solid afternoon high just over 10 feet, then a big evening low dropping below zero. Sunrise is about 7:52 a.m. with sunset around 4:18 p.m., so your practical fishing window is tight and dim.
Those strong exchanges are stirring things up, and fish have been responding between squalls. Local reports and tackle shop chatter around the central Sound say blackmouth chinook have been picking up again off Jefferson Head, Kingston, and the oil docks, with a mix of legal keepers and decent shakers. Most of the better fish have been coming 80–140 feet down in 150–220 feet of water, run just off bottom.
Productive gear has been classic winter Sound fare: 3.5‑inch spoons in green/glow or Irish cream behind an 11‑inch flasher, or hoochies in UV white and green with a strip of herring. A lot of locals are sweetening hardware with a tiny teaser of herring to match the small bait that’s still around. If you’re running bait only, whole or cut‑plug herring in a tight roll is still king.
Resident coho and sea‑run cutthroat have been showing in the top 30 feet inside Elliott Bay, off West Point, and along the south Sound shoreline from Dash Point down toward Point Defiance. Think smaller profile: 2–3 inch spoons, small white or sand‑lance pattern flies, and tiny soft plastics. When the wind lets you get close to the beach, a suspended strip of herring under a float or a small jig worked along current seams has turned fish.
Crabbing is still on a lot of minds. Northwest Sportsman Magazine recently highlighted WDFW’s survey of successful Dungeness crabbers in Marine Areas 6, 7, and 9, and that lines up with what folks are seeing: pockets of good Dungies remain in deeper water, 80–120 feet, especially in Admiralty Inlet and the eastern Straits. Fresh salmon heads, razor clam guts, and oily fish frames are the baits of choice right now—change them often in this heavy current.
A couple of hot spots if you can time the lulls in the wind:
- Jefferson Head to Kingston for blackmouth on the troll. Work the contour breaks on the first of the flood or last of the ebb.
- Point Defiance and the Clay Banks for a mix of blackmouth and the odd late coho, especially around tide changes when the current eases.
If you’re shorebound, try Seacrest in West Seattle or Edmonds pier just after dark, fishing small glow jigs or herring under a float for resident salmon and the odd squid between storm pulses.
Overall, it’s a grindy, weather‑dependent day, but there are fish to be had if you lean on those tide changes, hug the lee shores, and keep your presentations small and slow.
Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease 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