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Puget Sound Fishing Report: Blackmouth Bite, Cutthroat Action, and Top Spots
Published 4 months, 1 week ago
Description
This is Artificial Lure with your Puget Sound fishing report out of Seattle.
We’re on a classic winter pattern now. According to the National Weather Service, expect a cool, gray day around the mid‑40s, light southerly breeze, scattered showers, and a freezing level well above town – in other words, typical Sound winter steelhead and blackmouth weather. Sunrise is right around 8 a.m., with sunset about 4:20 p.m., so you’ve only got a short mid‑day window before that light really fades.
NOAA tide tables for Seattle show a nice moving tide this morning rolling into an afternoon slack – not huge swings, but enough current to push bait around the points and ledges. Focus your efforts an hour or two on either side of the stronger exchanges; that’s when the bite has lined up lately.
Out on the water, the winter **blackmouth** (resident Chinook) have been the headline. Local charters and private boats this past week have been quietly putting a few keepers a trip in the box, with plenty of shakers to keep rods bouncing. Most fish are cookie‑cutter 5–8 pounds, with an occasional low‑teens fish showing if you grind. Expect to work for them, but the quality’s solid.
Best producers have been **small spoons and hoochies** fished behind flashers, trolled tight to structure in 90–150 feet. Think 3.0–3.5 spoons in glow/green, Irish cream, or cop car patterns, and white or glow hoochies over a herring/UV flasher. A generous smear of herring or anchovy scent hasn’t hurt. A lot of locals are running 30–42 inches of 25‑ to 30‑pound leader to keep those spoons working right in the cold water.
If you’re running bait, **small herring or anchovies** in a tight helmet or strip behind a flasher are still putting out fish when the spoon bite goes quiet. Work close to bottom – literally a crank or two up – and be ready to clear gear when you slide up onto a hump.
Resident **coho** are still around in the central Sound, mostly smaller fish, but they’re adding some bycatch action to the blackmouth program. Same gear, just run your sets a little higher in the water column when you’re marking suspended bait.
For shore anglers, the **sea‑run cutthroat** bite has been decent between storms. Light 7–8 foot rods, 8‑pound mono or 10‑pound braid, and small metal or marabou jigs in olive/white or pink have been taking fish on the flood. Fly folks are doing well with sparse baitfish patterns in olive and gray.
A couple of **hot spots** to circle on your map:
- **Jeff Head / West Point:** Classic winter blackmouth structure. Troll the edges of the bar and breaklines in 100–150 feet, following your sounder. Early tide changes here have produced some of the better fish in the last week.
- **Point No Point / Pilot Point:** When the tide is moving, these have held good schools of bait and keeper‑class blackmouth. Long tacks along the contour, spoons right off bottom, have been the ticket.
Inside Elliott Bay has seen a few fish, but most folks are running a little farther for better marks. If the wind stays reasonable, don’t be afraid to stretch your legs north toward Kingston or south toward the Tacoma Narrows edges for a mixed blackmouth and flounder grab‑bag.
Remember your selective gear and size regs – it’s winter, the checks are real, and those under‑legal blackmouth have been thick. Handle shakers gently, keep them in the water, and get them back quickly.
That’s the intel from the salt. I’m 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 a classic winter pattern now. According to the National Weather Service, expect a cool, gray day around the mid‑40s, light southerly breeze, scattered showers, and a freezing level well above town – in other words, typical Sound winter steelhead and blackmouth weather. Sunrise is right around 8 a.m., with sunset about 4:20 p.m., so you’ve only got a short mid‑day window before that light really fades.
NOAA tide tables for Seattle show a nice moving tide this morning rolling into an afternoon slack – not huge swings, but enough current to push bait around the points and ledges. Focus your efforts an hour or two on either side of the stronger exchanges; that’s when the bite has lined up lately.
Out on the water, the winter **blackmouth** (resident Chinook) have been the headline. Local charters and private boats this past week have been quietly putting a few keepers a trip in the box, with plenty of shakers to keep rods bouncing. Most fish are cookie‑cutter 5–8 pounds, with an occasional low‑teens fish showing if you grind. Expect to work for them, but the quality’s solid.
Best producers have been **small spoons and hoochies** fished behind flashers, trolled tight to structure in 90–150 feet. Think 3.0–3.5 spoons in glow/green, Irish cream, or cop car patterns, and white or glow hoochies over a herring/UV flasher. A generous smear of herring or anchovy scent hasn’t hurt. A lot of locals are running 30–42 inches of 25‑ to 30‑pound leader to keep those spoons working right in the cold water.
If you’re running bait, **small herring or anchovies** in a tight helmet or strip behind a flasher are still putting out fish when the spoon bite goes quiet. Work close to bottom – literally a crank or two up – and be ready to clear gear when you slide up onto a hump.
Resident **coho** are still around in the central Sound, mostly smaller fish, but they’re adding some bycatch action to the blackmouth program. Same gear, just run your sets a little higher in the water column when you’re marking suspended bait.
For shore anglers, the **sea‑run cutthroat** bite has been decent between storms. Light 7–8 foot rods, 8‑pound mono or 10‑pound braid, and small metal or marabou jigs in olive/white or pink have been taking fish on the flood. Fly folks are doing well with sparse baitfish patterns in olive and gray.
A couple of **hot spots** to circle on your map:
- **Jeff Head / West Point:** Classic winter blackmouth structure. Troll the edges of the bar and breaklines in 100–150 feet, following your sounder. Early tide changes here have produced some of the better fish in the last week.
- **Point No Point / Pilot Point:** When the tide is moving, these have held good schools of bait and keeper‑class blackmouth. Long tacks along the contour, spoons right off bottom, have been the ticket.
Inside Elliott Bay has seen a few fish, but most folks are running a little farther for better marks. If the wind stays reasonable, don’t be afraid to stretch your legs north toward Kingston or south toward the Tacoma Narrows edges for a mixed blackmouth and flounder grab‑bag.
Remember your selective gear and size regs – it’s winter, the checks are real, and those under‑legal blackmouth have been thick. Handle shakers gently, keep them in the water, and get them back quickly.
That’s the intel from the salt. I’m 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