Northwest Fishing Reports

I was curious about something.. I was out crabbing last night after work, did OK btw. Got 3.
but I spent my other time trying to learn the salmon thing. I was wondering... I marked almost all my fish in the 30-40' of the water colum. Often this was when I was in maybe 100-150' of water. I would see them often in tight groups of 5 or 6.
I am aware of bait balls, but I don't think these were bait balls. I have a pretty nice f.f. and it was also reading them as on the large scale of things. Do you guys think these are silvers? I know Kafelafish is still catching silvers, I think the kings are closer to the bottom,, right.
Anyway, I couldn't get them to respond to my offerings, but I just wondered what you all thought.

quadradomus wrote:I was curious about something.. I was out crabbing last night after work, did OK btw. Got 3.
but I spent my other time trying to learn the salmon thing. I was wondering... I marked almost all my fish in the 30-40' of the water colum. Often this was when I was in maybe 100-150' of water. I would see them often in tight groups of 5 or 6.
I am aware of bait balls, but I don't think these were bait balls. I have a pretty nice f.f. and it was also reading them as on the large scale of things. Do you guys think these are silvers? I know Kafelafish is still catching silvers, I think the kings are closer to the bottom,, right.
Anyway, I couldn't get them to respond to my offerings, but I just wondered what you all thought.

Could be silvers. Could be bait. Best thing to do is (don't know what your FF is set at) is to not use the Fish ID icon and just use the regular setting. Fish should show as arcs or bigger blobs. You will figure out how to read it all (bait, bottom structure, fish) after some time.

It also could be kings. Sometimes they aren't on the bottom, they often aren't, especially in low light conditions (early AM/late PM)

They won't always respond to a lure. Best thing you can do is try and circle back through and try and get em to take it again. I especially recommend this if you do catch one too. Run through them, hope theres a few more and see if they'll take your offering....Sometimes they do.

Thanks Sam..

I trust you're pretty experienced with your sonar quadradomus. They will definitely show as large "arch's". Being in 30-40 ft, they should have some color difference to them (if you have color), not just the typical black arc (a nice fish on my finder will have a red center, with a black/blue outline). Fish near the bottom, say 110ft, will more than likely only show as black arch's. At least this is the case with my finder (less power (watts) the deeper you go, thus less "resolution"). Very well could be salmon, but there are lots of fish swimming in the ocean. Just have to catch one and find out!!!

quadradomus wrote: I was wondering... I marked almost all my fish in the 30-40' of the water colum. Often this was when I was in maybe 100-150' of water. Do you guys think these are silvers? I know Kafelafish is still catching silvers, I think the kings are closer to the bottom,, right.

Quad I can only give you my .02. After countless hours of trolling the salt, in MA-10 these fish are mostly dogfish. I learned the hard way by using up 6 of my herring but they would take spoons and hootchies, even unscented. It was the worse on Possession. The kings this year for the most part are being caught in 140 - 170 feet of water with 120-130 feet of cable out. Of course some fish will suspend, yes, but most of my dogfish all came in that range 30-40 feet with my fish finder clogged with "fish." After learning they were dogs, I switched it up. Possession is notorious for dogs, and it continues to be this year as well. Jeff Head and West Point are hit and miss, but even unscented spoons have taken these pesky pieces of garbage. To find out, send down a little herring -- you'll know within 1-2 minutes. If not, then you may have some cohos or kings on your hands. Most of my king action has been on the flood and ebb, 2 hours either side, down around 115-130 feet in 140-155 feet of water early thing in the morning (5AM) or late at night (6PM+)...etc. Good luck Quad...let us know how it goes and what you can further 'find out' (no pun intended). KTK

Boy, all I can say after reading this is I gotta get a better FF. Mine is an inexpensive sub-$100 unit I got free thru a work points program. It works great for depth and temp and reading bottom structure, but I don't rely on it for identifying fish. Hunches and luck take over from there.

Sorry Quad, if I hijacked your thread!

A very good chance they are dogfish. No, it doesn't make sense for them to be in 30 feet of water suspended over deep water, but there are so many darn dogfish in the salt this year, its CRAZY! They are getting a hold of all of my artificials, scent or not. I'm speeding up if I'm finding em, actually if they are finding my gear....Hate those things...

Sam Kafelafish wrote:A very good chance they are dogfish. No, it doesn't make sense for them to be in 30 feet of water suspended over deep water, but there are so many darn dogfish in the salt this year, its CRAZY! They are getting a hold of all of my artificials, scent or not. I'm speeding up if I'm finding em, actually if they are finding my gear....Hate those things...

Couldn't agree more]SK [/b]on nailing a king. Bring the sunscreen, and fish really early 20-30 feet off the bottom. My go-to lure has been the baitbuster.. KTK