Riding the tides for river coho?

[Gringo Pescador]

I want to try and get out on my Cataraft for some Coho action this weekend on either the Duwamish or the Snohomish and looking for some input. From those that know these systems and methods better than I.

Since I don’t have a shuttle and am completely human powered (no motor) I am thinking to use the tides to my advantage. My thought is to launch low (Duwamish @ 1st Ave S bridge or Snohomish at either Rotary Park or Langus Park) a few hours before high tide and row upstream with the incoming tide then sometime after the tide change let the outgoing tide take me back to the launch.

Looking at the tides for this weekend it looks like my best bet is to go for the afternoon evening bite (high tide is between 6:30&7:30pm Sat, Sun, Mon).

I am not worried about being swamped by other boats as my cat is big enough to handle wake (10’6”X21” diameter tubes & can run class III without even getting my feet wet).

My go to would be to bobberdog eggs or side drift corky & yarn or eggs but I would like to have other options to change it up a bit.

My questions are:

Langus Park Launch on the Snohomish - never been there, good place to start out for this type of trip or would Rotary (or maybe even Snohomish) launch be a better bet?

Pulling plugs - Don’t have much experience with this & would like to try it - think I would be able to get enough water flow under me to do this while traveling upstream with the tide (while rowing at a steady pace)? Would there be enough flow to backtroll on the way back downstream?

Dick Nites - Got all excited and bought a bunch of em a few years ago. Haven’t caught anything but little trout on em. Would I be better off side drifting em on the way downstream or a slow troll on the way upstream (I am thinking the water would move too fast for this)? Colors?

Spoons - From the bank I LOVE the feeling of a Coho slamming a spoon. I can always anchor up and toss em, but could I backtroll em or would the water just move too fast?

What am I not taking into consideration that might make (or break) an outing such as this?

[Bodofish]

I would give it try at Rotary park before you get all geared up. Not a lot of current on the incoming tide more on the out. A lot distance between the launches to think about rowing upstream. It's a lot farther than I would want to row on a calm lake. Rotary will give you a good idea how tough it will be to row and how far you could realistically make it. The launch is at the upstream edge of the park so even if you can't go up, there's plenty of room to go downstream a bit a pull out by the cars. You could probably mooch a tow one way or the other, it seems there will be a number of WA Lakers out there.

[Gringo Pescador]

I would give it try at Rotary park before you get all geared up. Not a lot of current on the incoming tide more on the out. A lot distance between the launches to think about rowing upstream. It's a lot farther than I would want to row on a calm lake. Rotary will give you a good idea how tough it will be to row and how far you could realistically make it. The launch is at the upstream edge of the park so even if you can't go up, there's plenty of room to go downstream a bit a pull out by the cars. You could probably mooch a tow one way or the other, it seems there will be a number of WA Lakers out there.

Yeah, not planning to go from one launch to another, just row upstream as far as I can with the incoming and ride the outgoing back to my starting point. That way I shouldn't get stranded anywhere (unless I take a nap and miss the takeout or something )

[Bodofish]

I would do Rotary then. I've caught fish in close proximity on both sides of the park. Just downstream there is a big bend in the river and I've caught a few right there. If you fished below, I'l bet you could get a tow back up stream if you hung your thumb out.

[chongo469]

I can give u input on the snohomish only.... I have seen many of catarafts and pontoons flipped on the snohomish from other boats..... We got swamped in my old 15 ft smoker craft Alaskan with 21" of side board.... Stay on the bank down low and save the toon for up river in the Thomas eddy area or above.... Better yet, if ya got a electric motor you can putt around all day up above .... Just would hate to see you have a accident.... The idiots on the lower river don't pay attention to no wake zones and zip by 10 yards from other boats... We actually had waves come over the side of my super V one time...

[Gringo Pescador]

I would do Rotary then. I've caught fish in close proximity on both sides of the park. Just downstream there is a big bend in the river and I've caught a few right there. If you fished below, I'l bet you could get a tow back up stream if you hung your thumb out.

I know the bend you are talking about. Suppose just to be safe I could rip the license plate off my rig and take it with me, then if I could find a tow I could just pull out at Langus and call AAA for a "tow"..

If you see a big ol black & yellow bumble bee with a GoPro mounted on the stinger floating down the river, that's me.

[Gringo Pescador]

I can give u input on the snohomish only.... I have seen many of catarafts and pontoons flipped on the snohomish from other boats..... We got swamped in my old 15 ft smoker craft Alaskan with 21" of side board.... Stay on the bank down low and save the toon for up river in the Thomas eddy area or above.... Better yet, if ya got a electric motor you can putt around all day up above .... Just would hate to see you have a accident.... The idiots on the lower river don't pay attention to no wake zones and zip by 10 yards from other boats... We actually had waves come over the side of my super V one time...

Thanks for the advice chongo. My problem is I have no way (yet) to mount a trolling motor so am at the mercy of my oars and shuttles. My bank-spot for pink runs is about 1 mile downstream from the Hwy 9 bridge and taking what I've seen there during at the height of pink fever there is no way in heck I would take one of those 9-10' Costco type pontoons out there, but flipping a cat would take a heck of a wake - more than I thought I would encounter on the river. I will definately keep that in mind!

[knotabassturd]

Gringo Pescador, sounds like a very intriguing idea.
Let us know how it goes if you apply the tide methodology.

The older I get, the better this kind of thinking sounds

[oneshot]

far as Dick Nites go.. they are DEADLY in the snoho system!
its been my experience that the best places to drift them is upstream from the town of Snohomish, where there are shallows and deep pockets the fish hunker down in. slow and low through the pockets is the trick. the lower river below town is more consistent in depths, this is where we pulled plugs or fish jigs..

if you could get in at Doug Bar (i'm still trying to find out how to get a key) and drift down, through town and down to rotary park you will cover many good zones of the river for all types of Coho fishing

[Mike Carey]

Or we could just take my tin can out. Like one shot said, there are some great spots to toss Dink notes and small small spinners. Dang I need more free time!

[Sixgill]

I would think the rotary park would be your best bet for a longer ride. On a good tide you could make it quite aways upstream with minimal effort, Most of my coho have come from closer to the Snohomish launch. That parking lot seems a bit safer to me as well, and the tide still pushes through there fairly well up past the mouth of Pilchuck Creek. Good luck

[Gringo Pescador]

Or we could just take my tin can out. Like one shot said, there are some great spots to toss Dink notes and small small spinners. Dang I need more free time!

Pick a day - I got some sick leave saved up

[knotabassturd]

Or we could just take my tin can out. Like one shot said, there are some great spots to toss Dink notes and small small spinners. Dang I need more free time!

TIN CAN??

That luxury yacht is stuff made for.... Supreme Overlords
Beats my float tube anyway. Just a matter of perspective I guess LOL.

BTW ditto on the time thing, I can relate.

Don't spoil Gringo Pescador's plan yet, I want to see how well it works and think he's on to something , especially for us older folk starting to feel more feeble by the day...

[Matt]

If you are set up to fish the sound I would skip the river all together this weekend I know I am. A9 is pumpin out fish right now, PM me for details Bodo.

[Bodofish]

My boat doesn't go in the salt. If Jay gets back from CA early enough on Sat, maybe in his boat.