This report covers two days and about 20 hours hunting MA 11 chinook. The rating is challenging, maybe a one or a two on the 8th and a four or five for fishing on the 10th. Overall experience for both days a 10! We launched at the newer public ramp at Point Defiance. What a beautiful facility. Still the old ramp but the supporting infrastructure is much more boater friendly. Both days leaving the house at 2:00 the boat was floating at 4:00. Day one we headed left and day 2 I headed right.

On the 8th we started at the Scout Camp on Clovis passage and after the tide change moved to the Clay Banks area. It was a weird day; we lost 2 downrigger balls, broke a rod and ended up with an empty fish box. We had lots of action just no adult chinook. We did release a fish that was around 25” so the empty fish box was our choosing. We primarily fished spoons but did run trolling flies for a bit. Clay Banks was plugged with dogfish. Trolling or jigging produced the same results; a 50/50 mix of dogfish and others. Lots of shakers, sanddabs and small rockfish.

Day 2 or the 10th I fished solo. I decided to head south from the ramp and fish the mouth of the Puyallup. Not really knowing the area I set up just in front of the Foss waterway. Gear down in the dark almost immediately I have a takedown. The fish made 1 good run and started swimming with the boat. So much so that I could have reached over the side and grabbed the fish. In the end it had an extra fin and was quickly released. From the point, until the sun crested the mountains the fishing was on fire. Chasing meter marks as soon as I was gear down, I had another fish on. The problem was that they were all wild. For me kind of a surprise, I didn’t think the Puyallup had any wild fish left. I did lose two fish just short of the net and don’t know if they were wild or otherwise.

Initially I took the buoy 10 approach running a cannonball on a dropper but as the day got brighter, I switched over to the downrigger. I was pulling either a Fish-Flash type dodger or a ruddered 11’ E-chip flasher followed by a helmeted herring. After the sun came out, I switched to a flasher/spoon setup. Early on my trolling speed was 1.4-2.0 MPH and I kicked it up to 2.8-3.2 when I started fishing the flasher/spoon setup.
After the sun crested the mountains the chinook fishing went flat. I was still catching shakers and did release a couple just legal nookies but the big boys were gone. I worked the flats at the lower end of the bay and systematically kept working my way out into deeper water with no luck.

Fish or no fish both days were a blast. On Saturday after we finished fishing, we went for a cruise down towards the Narrows Marina, then to Gig Harbor and back to the ramp. It was a very nice day for a cruise. Monday, I fished from about 4:30 am to 5:00 pm and had it not been for the 2-hour drive home I probably would have fished the evening bite.

I love fishing the South Sound, it is too bad that it is so far away. Both days were filled with adventure and Monday I was entertained by a porpoise that decided to keep me company.

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