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Lower Hood Canal Derby Fishing
When: This year, 2008 may be a bright spot for the Hood Canal fishery in that WDFW estimates that there will be a considerable increase in numbers of returning Chinook.
Lower Hood Canal salmon fishery opens July 1, but the fish are usually not there yet, so fishing will usually start about August 1, but not get into full swing until about the middle of the month. The Chinook will be the first to show. The weather & water temperature will have some bearing as to how early they start coming in. There needs to be some rain to slightly cool the water & provide a slight flush to get things into full swing. So if there are a few days of rain the first week or so of August, you may consider getting on the water.
You may encounter morning fog here this time of the year. So a GPS/Plotter can be beneficial.
Where to Fish: Ayock Point (47-30-217 123-03-019) is the northern boundary of this early season to protect endangered fish from some of the upper rivers until September 1. These fish have to move down, (south) from the entrance of the canal, so early, like the first part of August, you need to target them nearer the northern boundary A good starting point below that location for Chinook, for you to target would be off the mouths of any of the small rivers that empty into the canal. Off the mouth of Lilliwaup Bay & along the shoe up to where the slides came across Hiway 101 is a good location at times.
The Chinook seem to follow the west shore, while Coho tend to follow the east shore for some reason.
In the chart below the better fishing areas are highlighted in yellow, the boat launches are green. The red are marine closures & the orange are possible crab locations. The red horizontal line near the top of the chart would be the early boundary at Ayock Point. North of this chart on the west shore, will be Trident Cove State Park which has a public launch.
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Method: If you ask 20 fishermen their preferred method, you will get at least 20 different answers. Here we will give a some methods & you can choose what fits you. One thing here is that they usually are not deep, as recent years the dissolved Oxygen is very low as this body of water is dead ended, with no large rivers flowing into it from the southern end, to the point the WDFW has closed taking of any bottomfish. With this in mind, the salmon will tend to not go deep, as they will have problems breathing. A fishing depth will usually be from 35' to 40', in water up to 150' deep. There is no need to go out in the middle & try to go deep at the 400' depths. Trolling with downriggers is probably the most common method, with trolling with divers next & jigging following that.
Trolling for Chinook: This area does not have to be fished with downriggers, however if you have them & are used to using them, go for it. For Chinook, one local "expert" uses a 4oz kidney sinker, 30" of 30# mono to a Sliver Horde Double D #10 flasher, then the lure may be a Coho killer, Coyote spoon in Army Truck, Wonder Bread or Glo green/white. Occasionally he will use a FST spoon or he has been known to scrounge yard sales for peal wobblers in 1 1/2" to 2". These spoons are tied to a leader 2 1/2 times the length of the flasher. Speed will be adjusted from 1.5 to 2.3 mph or so the flasher will just rock back & forth. He fishes shallower than most, in that he only fishes 20-30' deep & in 30-50' of water.
Using the above information, a person without downriggers is not handicapped here, as a Deep Six diver would get you down & perform quite well.
Chinook in this area tend to stay close to the shore, & usually no deeper than 75' or so of water. Just take a look at the tribal nets set there, they are attached to the shore on one end. Does that tell you something?
One thing that has been observed, is that most of the time this water is warm. I observed the temperature at a high tide in the middle of August at 65 degrees & at 70 degrees a the the low part of the outgoing tide. Later when there was a rain the temp went down to 58 degrees. The fish may tend to drift into deeper water to find a more comfortable zone. But in doing so, they tend to become lethargic. What this means to you as a fisherperson, is that IF you have to follow the dethfinder's fish, you then may have to slow your speed down. As these fish being in the lower dissolved Oxygen layer, are slowed down & you then will need to present the lure in a slow enough fashion so that if it is close enough to them, that they have enough time to consider taking the lure.
These fish also tend to darken up fast, some even after just a few days in the canal, possibly because of the water temperature.
Another observation is that when these fish show, they appear to react similar to the estuary fish, in that the bright "new" fish that come in, tend to be the biters. I believe that once the fish get in any body of water on their return trip to the home stream, that they get acclimated & then they do not bite anywhere near like fresh fish to the area. The fresh fish seem to bite the normal tackle. But as they extend their stay, then it may be best to switch from trolling gear to jigging. So it may behoove you to be sure that you have a few jigs in your salmon tackle box, even though you are not a jigger, as if they are not biting trolling it may save the day, instead of giving up & going home early.
Jigging from a boat: When jigging, you will need a good sonar unit. Locate some fish on the fishfinder & stay jigging with them if they move. Point Wilson Darts in a 3.5" size, Buzz Bombs & Grim Reapers seem to be the lure of choice for many. I have seen some jiggers jerking the whole rod considerably high in the air, moving the jig probably 6' at a time. These people either have the wrong rod, have been taught wrong, or are deliberately snagging. The rod needs to be a medium heavy but with a fast taper on the tip, otherwise you are going to wear yourself out moving the whole rod a lot but the lure is only moving a little.
Some fisherpersons will drift with the tide/wind while jigging while others, especially if near the hatchery, will anchor & cast toward what they perceive as possible schools of fish.
Some may try to use Buzz Bombs from the shore or a dock, which can be effective, as these fish tend to stay close to the shores, as evidenced by some of the Skokomish Indian nets near shore & their use of beach seines.
The year 2003, I was doing the south weigh-in for South Sound PSA salmon derby at Sunrise Motel Resort's dock in the middle of August. This was just north of the Hoodsport hatchery. I observed a couple of young men jigging out of a new 14' aluminum boat. They were doing it right, in that the rod tip was lowered, & given an upward twitch, reeled in a few cranks & the process repeated. In the 2 days I was there, I personally saw them bring in 2 fish over 25#. Of course they were not entered in the derby. The first day they even had to borrow a landing net as their boat was so new that they had not outfitted it yet.
Most of the jigging will occur in the area just north of the Hoodsport hatchery or between the Union launch & the point of land just north of it. The fish targeted here would be the fish returning to the hatchery & for those off Union would be the ones returning to the Tahuya River. For a link to a informational salmon jigging article, CLICK HERE.
Seals: These furry creatures can be a problem at times. One solution is to have a strong enough mainline, 25#, & a 30# + leader so that if the seal takes your fish, you can run the boat right over the top of him & keep above him. He can not eat the fish under water. He will have to eventually come up for air. When he does you can most likely get your fish back. One key thing here is to this is to use the newer bright colored line. This will help you see where the line is going toward the seal. Maybe for you younger people a regular colored line way be OK, but just wait until you get older & join the Mouldy Old Foggy club.
Originated for SS PSA derby 05-13-07
Last Updated 06-12-08
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