Edmonds Coho Derby Tickets Are Available Now!

The very popular Edmonds Coho Derby has been set for Saturday September 11th. Tickets are available now! There are just 1,000 tickets - so get yours "Now" before they are sold out. Last year there were many disappointed anglers that were not able to participate as they waited too long to purchase a ticket.

Tickets are $30.00 cash only!

With the Snohomish River coho return expected to be twice that of last year we should see the makings for another excellent derby!

Brewster Kings

With the number of kings increasing in the Brewster fishery we have had a good number of individuals heading over that way to do a little of this Upper Columbia fishing. The sockeye numbers are still good and the kings are getting more numerous every day. Here's a picture of Eric Nissen from Selah with a 10 and 19 pound Chinook caught on a plug cut herring behind an 0 chrome dodger. Eric was fishing with Jeff Witkowski of Big Dog Fishing Guide Service. Nice pair of fish Eric!

Big Dog Fishing Guide Service

Jeff Witkowski

PO Box 1904

Chelan, WA 98816

(509) 860-7345

Puget Sound King Fishing

The king salmon fishing here in our part of the Sound has been nothing but stellar to say the least! I have not seen a season like this in many years. With the minus tides going away the fishing will get better this week. We have "Great" AM outgoing tides this week which will make for good fishing at places like Point No Point and Mid Channel Bank. The guys we spoke with this AM had good fishing on the Possession Bar with many limiting out quite quickly on the early AM flood tide. Most of the fish that we have been seeing have been in the 7 - 13 pound range with a fair number in the teens to low twenties. There has been a wide array of tackle that has been producing well! The Silver Horde Gold Star Ace Hi Flies have been producing well when fished behind a Hot Spot Flasher or an F-4 Piscator Flasher (especially the dark green spatterback pattern). We have had a hard time keeping this flasher in stock recently. The most popular Ace Hi patterns have been the 12, 140 and 142 colors. Tomic 5 inch plugs have really gained popularity lately as the dog fish numbers have been overwhelming and at least the plugs have cut back on the numbers of doggies you are having to contend with. The popular 600, 602, 603 and 632 colors have been the most popular. Fish them fast! Many of the larger fish are coming from the plugs. Spoons have been especially popular with Silver Horde Gold Star Coho Killer spoons and Kingfisher 3.5 and 4 Lights in White Lightning, White Lightning Cream, Cookies and Cream, Irish Cream, Grape Cream, Lemon Cream and Lemon Lime Cream being some of the most popular finishes. Everyone has had different stories on which one is the best. Today I had a gentleman that had a handful of Lemon Lime Cream Kingfishers and said it out fished the Cookies and Cream 4:1. Everyone is enjoying different results with all the colors.

We still have a few more weeks of good king fishing to come. We peak out here in our section of the Sound around the 4th or 5th of August.

Upper Columbia Sockeye

Wondering if the sockeye fishing in the Upper Columbia is still going on? Here's a photo which Jeff Witkowski of Big Dog Fishing Guide Service sent me this AM of a nice catch of sockeye. In the photo is Marlin and Adam Zimmerman from Tumwater and Rob Phillips who is the sales manager for Yakima Bait Company in Granger. (You wonder what guys in the industry do on a day off?) Believe it or not this group of anglers wanted to fish sockeye over king salmon!

Nice catch guys!

If you want to fish with Jeff in this unique setting of the Upper Columbia give him a call.

Big Dog Fishing Guide Service

Jeff Witkowski

PO Box 1904

Chelan, WA 98816

(509) 860-7345

jeffwitkowski@ yahoo.com

Puget Sound King Fishing

Here's a picture of a nice 21 pound King that Lance caught this past weekend off Jefferson Head. The fish fell to a flasher/green hoochie combination at 85 feet.

With the Puget Sound king fishery going hot and heavy since last weeks opener in Marine Areas 9 & 10 the fishing has continued to be quite good to say the least. In my estimation it is perhaps the best fishery that we have seen in quite some time. Though the fishing has settled down since the first days of the fishery it has continued to produce good numbers of fish. We still have around ten days before the fishery typically peaks,which is around the 4th or 5th of August, and fishing should continue for a few weeks after that.

The tides are not the best this weekend with big minus tides which equate to lots of tidal movement and dispersing the bait and in turn the salmon. With the tides the way they are besides contending with the water volume we also do not have a tide change just after dawn or just before dark which is also a plus. If it were me, I would fish the early evening high tides and continue fishing the milder evening tide. My choice would be either Point No Point or the Satchet Head side of the Possession Bar area. You will undoubtedly be battling lots of dog fish if you fish a tad bit too slow or are inclined to fish bait.

Many of the anglers that have fished the evening tides the past few days have been fishing Tomic Plugs in 602, 603 or 632 colors in 5 inch models. Also productive have been the Silver Horde Ace Hi Flies in 12 , 140 & 142 colors fished behind a Glow White or Glow Green Hot Spot Flasher. Fish the 90 - 120 foot zones on the edge of the bar and try to keep you offering close to the bottom. Only at the last light have the fish been coming up shallower.

Baker Lake Sockeye

With opening of sockeye at Baker Lake for the first time ever, all of us have been wondering how it would be. We have had a number of individuals in the shop today that had participated in the fishery both yesterday and this morning. Though the fishing was far from a barn burner the lake did produce a few sockeye. Most of those we spoke with that did catch fish found them at around 40 feet and just trolled around until they found fish on the sounder, them fished at that depth and tried to stay with the schools of fish. The typical Lake Washington sockeye set-ups worked just as well here.

This fishery will remain open until further notice. More than 10,000 sockeye have returned to the Baker system this season surpassing the 6,300 escapement goals that are needed for both natural and hatchery production needs.

For those of you that have not fished for sockeye before, the tackle is relatively simple. Most anglers fish an 0 or 1 sized dodger in chrome, hammered chrome or chrome with silver scalelite finish and follow that with a single red or black 1/0 -3/0 hook or double 1/0 & 2/0 or 2/0 or 3/0 double hook leader (hooks are spaced almost touching each other in a back to back fashion) on a 20-25 pound leader. This is fished with a leader length of 1 - 1 1/2 x length of the dodger. Fish slowly as that the dodger swims in a side to side fashion. Some fishermen also fish with U-20 or X 9 Flatfish in Chrome, Gold, Chrome w/red dots, Coho (Silver Blue Scale) and Fluorescent Red colors. Small mini squid in pink colors will also produce fish at times.

Stop by and we'll be glad to give you a run down on this fishery.

Brewster King - Columbia River

For those of you that have been wondering what is happening on the upper Columbia as far as king salmon, here's a nice 36.5 pound caught last week by this lucky 11 year old angler. With a little bit of help from grandpa he was able to hold the fish for the photo. He was fishing with local guide Ron Oules from Reel-Lentless Guide Service. The fish was caught on a Brad's Cut Plug Superbait fished behind a flasher. Though the king fishing has not been spectacular at the present time the fish numbers are improving and this fishing should see good numbers in the next few weeks.

The sockeye fishing is still fairly good though it is declining.

Opening Day Reports - Area 9 & 10

Have been swamped all day long and found no time to get any information up earlier. Overall, the opener was not too bad! We had lots of fairly good reports coming out of most of the popular spots in 9 & 10. With the number of boats that were on the water I really wonder if anyone works any more!

Port Townsend fishing was not to bad with a fair number of fish coming from this popular spot. There were perhaps as many as a couple of hundred boats fishing there today. Most everyone that we spoke with had at least opportunities to land fish there today. I spoke with Dave Sanford this afternoon, who is a Mid Channel regular had a 19 1/2 and 24 this AM jigging with Dungeness Stingers. He mentioned that most of his friends also had at least a fish per boat. He mentioned that there was a good fairly short bite this morning where he saw good numbers of fish being landed. Some of the trollers that we spoke with also had fair fishing dragging the bottom with flashers and candlefish imitations with the popular Silver Horde Gold Star Coho Killer Spoons accounting for their share of the fish. Popular finishes were of course the White Lightning, White Lighting / Cream (Glow back instead of the chrome), Lemon Cream, Cookies N Cream, Irish Cream and Grape Cream. Hoochies in the OAL12R (Purple Haze) in needlefish and octopus styles as well as Grand Slam Bucktails in white or green finishes all worked well. We spoke with one of the customers that worked hard for his limits but ended up with 4 for him and his partner in the 8 - 14 pound range.

The fishing here at Mid Channel should just get better over the next three weeks and we should see some very good fishing coming out of here when the tides settle down a tad and we get some good outgoing tides in the mornings.

I will post a few more reports of what we heard today in the AM.

Area 9 & 10 - King Opener - Friday 16th

We have been nothing but swamped this week with everyone gearing up to fish tomorrow's opener for retention of hatchery kings in areas 9 & 10. As far as where to be tomorrow AM to score on these fish will be a real crap shoot! Many are heading up to Mid - Channel Bank, though the tides are less than ideal for this popular spot, I am sure that there will still be fish to be had for those working hard. We have had some fairly good reports coming out of the Port Angeles area since it opened on July 1st and many of those fish have pushed though that area and hopefully have stopped to do their final fating up on those Mid-Channel candlefish. We have not been hearing of many fish coming off the Edmonds Pier in the past week or many C & R'd kings being caught on this side of area 10, so I don't think I would be fishing this side from Edmond's south, at least at the time being. The best reports that we have heard have been off the Kingston area and south toward Jefferson Head. There is lots of bait in the Kingston area (a mix of herring and anchovies) that is holding some fish. I have not heard of much in the way of good sized fish but one of the customers had four yesterday in a couple of hours of fishing, a blackmouth around 5 pounds and three adult fish in the 10 - 15 pound range.

We will have lots of reports in tomorrow and I will give a good rundown of what we hear.

"Good Fishing" to all of you!

Sockeye Opens - Skagit & Baker River - July 16th

There will be a three day opener for sockeye on a portion of the Skagit and Baker Rivers on the 16th, 17th and 18th of July. The Baker will be open from the mouth to the Highway 20 Bridge. The Skagit will be open from the Dalles Bridge to point 200 feet upstream from the mouth of the Baker River. Daily limit will be two sockeye. Anti-snagging and night closures are in effect. Additional openings are under consideration, including Baker Lake. Additional openings will be announced after coordination with tribal co-managers.

Two of the most popular techniques are plunking with 3 - 4 oz sinker, 3 way swivel setup followed by a 24 - 30 inch leader with a size 8 - 4 spin n glow (pink or pinkish colors) with the hook baited with sand shrimp.

Float and jig (pink of pinkish colors) with a piece of sand shrimp floated 12 - 18 inches off the bottom.

This is a very popular local fishery, don't think that you will be by yourself!

New Coho Killer Color - Grape Cream

We finally received our first shipment of the "New" Grape Cream Silver Horde Gold Star Coho Killer spoons. This is the newest addition the the "Cream" line of Coho Killer finishes. This spoon is a UV (Ultra Violet) white with a purple edge with a silver fish scale overlay with a "Glow" back. This will prove to be an outstanding color in our Puget Sound Chinook fishery that will open in Marine Area 9 this Friday (16th July).

Port Alberni Inlet - Vancouver Island

The sockeye fishery in the China Creek section of Port Alberni Inlet continues to be nothing short of outstanding. Even with a commercial seine and gill net fishery earlier this week the fishing didn't even miss a beat! So if you are wanting to get into some "Great" sockeye fishing I would head up in the next week or two and you shouldn't be disappointed.

When I spoke with Bill this AM he also mentioned that the king fishing is just getting started in the Broken Islands at the entrance of Port Alberni. This fishery should just get better with every passing week.

Give us a call and we'll be happy to pass on any information that we have obtained.

Vac Packed Puget Herring - Green Sized

We have plenty of Puget Sound Vac Packed Green Packed herring on hand! This is some very good looking bait. Put a little away in your freezer so when procuring bait gets a little tough you have some on hand.

Columbia River Sockeye Fishing - Fantastic!

The number of Sockeye returing to the Columbia have been in record numbers, as of yesterday there have been 378,641 counted at Bonneville. Which is four times the ten year average! The Technical Advisory Committie (TAC) has updated the run to 398,000. With this number there has been some exceptionally good sockeye fishing in the Columbia at the present time.

Our good friend and guide Jeff Witkowski send us this photo yesterday of a nice catch of Columbia River Sockeye. Jeff put in 6 hours on the river, hooked 42 fish to land their 12 fish. That's a lot of action! Jeff said that if anyone is interested that the fishing is great and should hold up well for another 10 days to two weeks. If you would like to have a great day on the water catching these great little fish give Jeff a call. Here's his contact information

Big Dog Fishing Guide Service

Jeff Witkowski

PO Box 1904

Chelan, WA 98816

(509) 860-7345

Lower Columbia Sturgeon Reopens - July 15th Through August 1st.

Fishery managers have once again extended the lower Columbia River sturgeon fishery for a second time. This fishery will reopen on July 15th and continue through August 1st. Even with the additional time fishery managers have projected at the end of the fishery there will still be 3,000 - 4,000 additional sturgeon still left on the quota. The reason for this is the low fishing pressure due to the poor fishing this season.

Grimes Lake - Lahonton Cutthroat

Here's a really nice 25" Lahonton Cutthroat caught by Rabbi Will Berkovitz of Seattle fishing with Jeff Witkowski of "Big Dog Fishing" Guide Service. Grimes Lake was very good to the Rabbi as he connected with 34 this AM. A bead head pheasant tail nymph was the fly of choice. Jeff mentioned that they were off the water today before it got a little too hot to fish, said it was 101 on his deck this evening! While it might be a tad to hot for us the fish didn't seem to care.

If you would like to fish with Jeff, here's his contact information.

Jeff Witkowski
Big Dog Fishing Guide Service
PO Box 1904
Chelan, WA 98816
(509) 860-7345

Sockeye - Port Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island, B.C.

One of the customers stopped by this morning returning from a trip to Port Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island B.C. to give us a sockeye fishing report. The fishing was so good that the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans had increased the limit from two to four. Bill said that the fishing was so good that you could easily limit the boat in a couple of hours of fishing. He fished out of the China Creek area of the inlet.

The set up that he had the best success with was a small Gold Star mini sardine squid body in a F-15,FG193 or F224R. These are all all pink, pink glow or UV pink in color. Rig them with a single 2/0 or 3/0 black siwash hook crimped to a swivel. Tie this to a section of leader in 25 - 40 pound test, slide down a bead and them the squid onto the leader. The squid is then fished behind an 11 inch Hot Spot Flasher with a leader length of 20 - 24 inches. The length will vary a tad due to the speed you fish and the stiffness of the leader. It is best to vary this distance until you find what is most successful for you.

Troll slowly, 1.2 -1.6 mph and depth will vary, watch your sounder and adjust your depth to when the fish are showing.

Bill mentioned that there were lots of fish still coming through the inlet and good fishing should continue for quite some time.

Elliott Bay Salmon Derby - Saturday July 24th 2010

We received our allotment of Elliot Bay Derby Tickets today! Here's a little rundown on the derby.

Saturday July 24th - Dawn to 2:00pm

Tickets are $40.00 and can be purchased at Elliot Bay Fuel Dock, Ted's Sports Center, A & J Meats, Outdoor Emporium, Sportco and online at ElliotBaySalmonDerby.com.

Cash prizes for 1st through 10th place winners.

Fishing is allowed in inner Elliot Bay and Marine Areas 9 & 10.

Weigh in will be at Elliot Bay Marina - N Dock between 10:00am - 2:00pm.
(only marked hatchery Chinook salmon qualify)

Award Ceremony will be held at the Seattle Yacht Club outstation between 2:30pm to 3:00pm.

Free hot dogs, hamburgers and refreshments.

For more information, visit www.ElliotBaySalmonDerby.com

Crabbing Violations

With the start of our Puget Sound crabbing season underway I am going to take a minute and warn all of you that are participating in this fishery to make sure that you read the rules and follow them to a T. The WDFW Enforcement Officers have been having a field day writing citations to crabbers for virtually everything in the book. Some of the citations have been for simple things and others have been blatant.

Here's a few things that you really need to watch:
1. Make sure you have a current licence and catch record card.
2. Make sure to record your crab on your catch record card immediately before you reset your gear.
3. Make sure that your crab are legal: Male,61/4 inches in front of the points and hard shelled.
4. Make sure that you have the biodegradable rot cord on your traps.
5. Make sure to mark your traps as per the regulations.
6. Make sure to keep just your limit.

Please read over your WDFW regulations on crabbing as all citations are easily avoided.

Edmonds Fishing Pier - Kings

We have started to see a few kings being landed off the Edmonds fishing pier in the past couple of weeks. Though the fishing has not been anything to write home about it is at least a place to go toss a lure or two and have a chance of hooking a king at the present time. There is not much opportunity for the shore bound angler to fish for saltwater kings in Puget Sound. The fish that have been caught have come from those fishing lead minnows such as Point Wilson Darts, Gibbs Minnows, Pucci Lazer Minnows or Dungeness Minnows. Stick to colors such as white or pearl white, pearl green or silver/black back colors. Jigs are generally in the 2 - 2/12 ounce range in weight.

Please feel free to stop by and talk with John or Shawn if you have any questions on fishing the pier. From now on we will have reports on the pier coming in all the time as customers will be in every day letting us know what is going on.

Elliot Bay - King Fishery

The Inner Elliot Bay Chinook Fishery opened yesterday! Overall, the reports that we received were not all that bad. We heard of a mix of blackmouth and mature kings being caught. Didn't hear of any exceptionally large fish, but fish into the upper teens were landed. From what we heard, there was perhaps a fish landed for every other boat on Friday and one for every five boats today. Nothing "Red" hot but at least considerably better than what we have been seeing at the Tulalip Bubble up here in Area 8-2.

Talked with Pete our WDFW checker at the Elliot Bay Ramp and this is what he told me that went on during his AM shift.

Friday: 42 boats checked - 19 Chinook (11 Blackmouth and 8 Adults)
Saturday: 52 boats checked - 10 Chinook (5 Blackmouth and 5 Adults)

Remember, this fishery is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through August 8th.

This fishery should get progressively better as time goes on and should peak during the last couple of weeks of the season.