I’m sure you’ve heard something about the Marine Area 11 Salmon 2019 Season Opener at this point but are probably curious on what is the truth of how it went and what it means for the rest of the season.
We were out there on the water and will share everything we observed while on the water and what we learned later on compiling the various reports to equip you with everything you need to know.
We arrived before sunrise on the July 1st opener, but already felt like we were late. If you were not in the water by 4:30 am, you were late for this opener.
Although, I’m not sure it mattered as fishing was a steady grind-it-out affair throughout the morning.
The tides were huge on July 1st with a 12 ft high tide ripping out to a -2 ft low by about 11 am.
Here are the facts: There were absolutely a number of fish caught throughout the day and great fishing for some. The other side of the coin is the many many boats went fishless as well.
The WDFW Creel Report gives you a glimpse as to what occurred on the opener. The Creel Report is also a good reference you can use throughout the season to follow the runs of salmon as they make their way through Puget Sound.
The survey for the Point Defiance Public Ramp was 12 fish caught for 76 anglers or .15 fish per angler. The survey showed a bit better success from the Boathouse at 28 fish for 89 anglers. The more experienced and local anglers tend to use the Boathouse and generally have a higher number of fish per angler historically.
There was a lot of hype around this opener as the area is usually open in June and provides steady fishing as resident blackmouth are usually plentiful and the first summer fish start to trickle in. With that hype comes a significant amount of angling pressure.
Even though several other Marine Areas opened up on July 1st and did better than MA11, this one got most of the angling pressure. There were an awful lot of folks who were probably not MA11 regulars that will skew the numbers to look worse than they were, but there were also quite a few “regulars” who walked away without fish. I’m sure some folks had it dialed in, but for most of us, it was a grind-it-out and play-the-odds kind of deal.
There were also great salmon marks throughout the Owens beach to Clay Banks area in 80 ft – 160 ft of water.
Most of these fish were suspended in the mid-water column. Most of them were also not biting. Seeing marks like this in the South Sound is different than seeing this off of Ediz Hook, or somewhere closer to the ocean where they may still be actively feeding and usually translates to hookups.
There were probably close to 100 boats trolling the stretch of Point Defiance back and forth over these suspended fish or dropping jigs on them.
We started out fishing trolling spoons off the downriggers and a cut plug green label herring behind a deep six diver near the point. You can read more about rigging techniques and approaches to catching salmon at our page devoted to the topic.
We hooked up immediately on the cut plug and the telltale head shakes indicated it was likely not a dogfish. I handed the rod off to one of my crew and the fish promptly became unbuttoned.
Action was slow for several hours after that, and when I say slow I mean we probably caught a dozen dogfish and a few shakers on trolling spoons over the next several hours.
We saw a fish caught and kept here or there, but many folks who were “hooked up” were reeling in dogfish or shakers.
Finally, we had our take down and hookup on the starboard downrigger from an adult salmon that came all the way out of the surface and leapt out of the water. Unfortunately, the leader broke soon after that. This was maybe a 12 lb fish.
I’m betting that the 6 dogfish we caught on that leader/spoon did not help our situation and is a stark reminder to change leaders at some point when catching that many dogfish.
Between their teeth and sandpaper-like skin, it doesn’t take much to weaken a leader. My buddy even backed off his drag a bit once he had it solidly hooked up but to no avail.
What does all this mean? Should you go running out to Point Defiance and get in on the “hot action”? We are dealing with the front and leading edge of the summer king run on Puget Sound. The majority of the fish are going to arrive over the next 2 weeks and sustain until about mid-August when the action will move from the salt water into the rivers.
As we wrote about in our post about the 2019 salmon season on Puget Sound though, the quotas are significantly reduced this year on kings. My prediction is that some of these areas will receive so much angling pressure that they will close before the run really peaks.
If you want a king this year from Puget Sound, you may need to get out there and grind it out. But don’t be surprised if you walk away empty-handed a few times, especially until about mid-July. I’m going to be shocked if the Marine Area 11 2,800 fish quota lasts beyond the month of July (3rd week?). Also, please remember that it’s closed from fishing from a boat on Thursdays and Fridays this year.
My next trip will be for crab this week, followed by hitting up the Strait for salmon. I’m hoping to follow the main peak of the runs into the Puget Sound and then really drop the hammer on the fish in the South Sound in the last 2 weeks of July and into August. Good luck out there, stay safe, and have a happy 4th of July!