10 Tips for Salmon Fishing in the San Juan Islands

0:00 welcome back to the fishing for a reason podcast we're going to talk about my most favorite species to Target shinook salmon in the San Juan Islands so let's dive right into it my name is Jamie props I'm the founder and creator of Anglers unlimited where we help people catch more fish and have more fun specifically in the San Juan Islands but a lot of the tips and tools and strategies work in many different areas in the puges sound so with that we're going to Dive Right In if you've never actually fished for salmon in the one Islands you'll probably pick something up in here that might help you or if you went out for the opener and got completely skunked like not even a bite you're probably going to pick something up in here that might help you a little bit as well so just for context salmon fishing is my one true love when it

0:45 comes to fishing I I love targeting all species it's a great time there's always something nuanced and really beautiful about learning the behavior the ecology the different strategies that you can use to catch fish but salmon is how I would call it my Gateway my Gateway fish I caught my first salmon out in the San Juan Islands and if you want to hear that story you can hear it in the welcome episode in episode one I caught my first fish and it completely ruined me to be honest I went from hey maybe this fishing thing could be kind of fun to oh my goodness holy moly this just changed my life and I'm a complete Beast I just want to do this thing all the time how do I learn more more where do I go do all the things learn all the

1:32 things and experience that thrill again and I think what makes salmon fishing so magical is it's not guaranteed you are going to get skunked I don't care how many decades you've spent out on the water there are times the water will humble you and I think that's what makes fishing so beautiful it's why it's called fishing and not catching because you're not guaranteed to catch and there's so many different elements especially in the s ju islands where we have Wicked tides and currents there's so many different Dynamics to learn about the actual area and the actual fish and all the different gear to use like so many variables so many Dynamics so when you actually put the right combination or the right recipe

2:18 for an analogy together and it comes out so perfect that a fish cannot resist it and then you actually land the thing without knocking it off with the net or something silly like that it's just such an incredible feeling and I really want all Anglers whether you've never done it before or you're seasoned to have that experience I always say the only thing more fun than catching fish is watching somebody new catch their first fish so with that we're going to talk about 10 specific tips that you can use to have more success whether you're brand new to samon fishing or you've done this a few times and you just want to have a little bit more consistent whole fish boxes so number one set yourself up for Success before

3:05 you ever leave the dock and I can be a testimonial of how important this is because I was the girl who had a lot on her plate both with work life commitments all the things and so what ended up happening is yes I was so excited for the weekend to come but I didn't spend that quality time to really get myself properly prepared so when we're underway I'm kind of tying things up and you know trying get things all organized and oh crap I forgot that you know it was a little bit chaotic and because of that I had less success when I first started fishing and so one of the key elements that you're going to see when you see other Anglers and you learn from other Anglers is they all have a very specific process they follow and every process is a little bit different because it's tailored to that

3:51 person but one theme that they all have in common is setting themselves up for Success before they ever leave the dock and that means having all the gear nice and organized and tied and everything's nice and fresh and ready so that when you get to the fishing spot that you intend to start at you are ready to get the gear in the water as fast as possible so maximizing that line time is the key to your salmon fishing success so number one get yourself set up for Success before ever leaving the dock make sure you have your rod and reel ready and make sure your line doesn't have any crazy little Nicks into it make sure you've even picked out what you're going to put in the water first and have that out of your tackle box and set aside that's another really great tip so that's one thing that we do when we go out like we know what our first rig is

4:36 that's going to go into the water and we've got it ready for us tip number two is to plan the perfect trip and what I mean by that is know the tides and currents so many people come out here and they just think oh I'll just pick a random spot in the water drop stuff in there and it's going to be great this body of water here can act very much like a river in some spaces and so fish will behave accordingly by going into some little Eddy spots or along the rift like there's all these different things that happen in the water in the San Juan Islands that's going to change the behavior of the fish so understanding okay what is the tide doing is it going in or coming out is it flooding or ebbing and if you are new to fishing flooding means the Tide's coming in ebbing means the tide is going out so

5:22 it's is it flooding or ebbing you need to know that because certain spots in the San Juan Islands are more effective to fish on an EB more effective to fish on a flood and some are good for both so understanding that first of okay I'm leaving at this time in the morning because that's when it makes sense for my family now that I'm leaving at this time in the morning is it ebbing or is it flooding once you know that answer it pretty much eliminates a whole bunch of different spots okay now number two what's the current doing so tide the tide comes in and out and fluctuates the current is actually the speed at which the water is traveling which also is massively important to where you're going to fish there's certain spots that it's going like five six knots and you're not going to be able to fish effectively in that

6:08 kind of current and so understanding what the current's doing so you can maximize your line time for the window of time that you have especially when we have very short Seasons you want a slower current the slower that you can find current the more effective you're going to be able to troll and you're probably going to find the fish more stacked up in that area so number two set yourself up for success by understanding the tides and currents and if this is something that you want to go deeper on I could probably do a whole podcast episode just on current and like where to fish and how to understand Tides so if that is something that you guys are interested in learning more about this is also on YouTube feel free to comment below ask questions or make sure that you message Us online we're on all the social media channels Facebook is probably our most active we also have

6:54 a Facebook group Anor unlimited fishing Community that's a great Community to get some insights and we actually talk about these topics in a little bit more depth okay number three use your instruments and Trust what the water is telling you so we all have these really incredible Electronics on our boats and there's a couple things to note here if you don't have them dialed in correctly they're not going to show the returns of the fish that you may be missing essentially so how it works is when there's a swim bladder and I'm going to totally butcher this cuz I am not a technical person person at all when we run our fishing classes we have an incredible gentleman Steve Chamberlain he comes in and teaches us all this and I learn something every time because it's it's like way over my head I'll just be honest I'm not smart enough with

7:40 this stuff but I do know based on what Steve has taught me that the swim bladder inside of the fish is actually it's filled with air and that is what's actually going to send the return back up to your screen on your electronics so if you don't have that adjusted properly you're going to be missing fish so if you're out there and your screen is just not showing anything no matter where you are I would highly recommend to hop into our quick free Facebook group Steve's got a training in there even just say Jamie where's the training I'd be happy in fact I'll link it in the show notes I'll link that training in the show notes so you guys can hop in and check it out but it'll give you all the basics that you need to know to actually get set up for Success so get your instruments dialed in and then once they are dialed in and you know they're

8:26 working properly trust them when you're at slime Rock off of Blakeley Island and you don't see anything like no bait no marks nothing and you've been trolling back and forth you've been spending some time on that water trying to flush it out and you're not seeing any Bird activity trust it and that's a good time to say all right it's time to move um I'm not getting anything here and I am going to relocate and find out where the fish are because once you find them you're going to see those marks all over the place and then it's your job to use everything else on the boat that you have to actually entice that strike so tip number four tackle talk let's talk about what bait and lure to use this is always a favorite topic of everybody's of oh what should we use right my favorite saying is whatever you fish the

9:12 most with is probably what you're going to catch the most fish on because we all have our favorites let's be real and everyone who has a favorite is gonna say this is the thing so let's start with the Top bait or Hardware I would say the majority of people in the summer are fishing hardare wear reason being is it's easy you can have a lot of confidence that it's going to perform properly and it's fast bait does take a little bit more finesse to learn how to properly rig it make sure it's spinning properly and then also you need to check it a little bit more frequently because bellies will blow out something might bite it and you might miss the tug on the rod there's a lot of things that can happen that will make your bait like not fishing for you and I

9:57 always call that fishing you're fishing abl it sucks to have two rods in the water and one is not even fishing because something happened and you missed it so those are the two things to consider if you're like I just want it to be easy and I need to learn all the other Dynamics just start with Hardware that'll get you going if you're like me and you want to over complicate everything because it's fun fish bait so I love fishing bait it's my preferred method of fishing and for those of you that are listening I'll describe this the best I can I brought a rig that's old um just to kind of show you guys we also have this on the YouTube channel which will be linked in the show notes for you so you can get a visual but what I like to do I have not mastered cut plug Herring I have a gentleman that teaches us that because he's amazing at it and you know it's really fun to kind of find your thing

10:43 that you freaking love about this fishery and mine is bait I love fishing bait but I was taught this by a mentor of mine Jerry Thomas shout out so this is a jdf hood it's made in Canada and they have a very specific Bend you can see it it's kind of curved a little bit the one I'm holding up for those of you listening is pink but then there's a little pin so you shove the bait inside of here using this wire now it does not come with the wire which is half the fun um this is locking wire that I purchased at uh one of our local sport sporting goods stores so it's like locking wire for a crab pot and it's pretty pliable so you can see here it moves and bends really really easily and so what I did was just take a lighter and I lit the end and kind of bent so it

11:29 fit itself on top on top of that jdf hood and then I use this wire inside of my Herring so I like really small Herring orange label is my preferred and I will just slide that inside of the Gill right inside the Gill along the back bone and then bend that fish just a little bit you don't want it too bent because then it kind of creates this weird wobbly look um you want it to be you want it to spin like a bullet when it spins like a tight bullet uh you know you've got it nailed and then you just take the front hook and you put it into the back of the fish so it's like this and the tail Hook is like it says trailing right by the tail so that's what I use I also like seagar fluorocarbon leader that stuff holds up really really well as far as leader

12:15 length what I do is just stretch my arms out like that's perfect and then these little owner Barrel swivels or I'm sorry bead chains these owner bead Shams are excellent they'll last you multiple Seasons if you take care of them and they're a little more expensive but to me like you get what you pay for we all know that so I love fishing bait just because once a fish actually hits it pops it out of the clip and I'm not feeling that flasher so one of the downsides of Hardware most guys fish Hardware behind a flasher and if you have any questions about what this all means feel free to send me a message on Facebook and I can do a podcast or another video about what these terms actually are so many people know this terminology but sometimes like

13:02 I've been in the industry so long you forget what you don't know so again if you have questions that related to anything that I'm sharing please ask and we'll create the content for you around that but like I was saying so if you have Hardware behind the Flasher as soon as that fish hits you feel the Flasher also even with a big fish some guys will say oh and the fish is so big you don't even feel the flash I disagree with that the Flasher does create resistance in the water that's how it acts that's how it performs and actually creates the action that attracts fish to it so I like fishing bait because there is no resistance in the water that being said if you are brand brand brand new start with Hardware just get used to all the different Dynamics on the boat of sending the downrigger down and trolling before you transition into bait there

13:48 are guys that say you shouldn't play with bait for a long time I firmly disagree if you fish four times and you you got this thing figured out and you want to play with bait play with bait it's a blast it's an absolute blast I started out on a bait very quickly so don't be afraid of it just make sure if you do fish bait you check it that was a long a long time on number four tip number five don't chase boats Chase fish there's so many people that go out and they had a plan based on the tides and currents they're pretty confident in their plan and their spot maybe some fishing reports were why they were going to go somewhere and then they see a whole bunch of boats at a different spot and they change their plan don't do that I can't tell you how many many times we've done that we've made that same mistake everybody does it

14:33 you know they very naturally you're like oh what are we missing out on right but you're better off sticking to your initial plan because there's so many times that we have made the change and that area didn't produce it was just a whole bunch of other boats chasing other boats versus going to what we knew would be a good productive area or a decision that we had made and It produced that being said if you do get to your initial spot and you're like all right I'm not seeing anything on the sonar I really haven't seen any Nets fly and I'm talking for at least an hour spending some time really checking that water in that area then we will see if there's any area we need to go to that's different we usually have a backup plan or two based on our local knowledge but also if we're hearing reports on the radio because there's guys that'll tell

15:18 you all about what's going on out there we will go to that area and check it out sometimes those reports can be great too because it is just more eyeballs on the water tip number six remember your intention it's fishing not catching so often times it will be slow out on the water and there's people that get very uptight about that and it just takes away from the whole experience you're not necessarily going to catch a fish every single time and that's okay why are you actually out there and I guarantee it's something Beyond catching that fish that's the thing we're all chasing but just look around you look at these islands look at the wildlife it pre appreciate those moments that you're having with the person that you love on the boat that quality time is so

16:04 Priceless when we're not strapped to our cell phones and we all can relate to this so I would just say when fishing gets slow and you get frustrated remember why you're out there remember your intention and try to lean into the beauty of everything that's happening because oftentimes once you forget about fishing you catch a fish or if you start working on the boat it it never fails all right number seven don't leave fish to find fish if you see somebody else catching fish if a net is flying then there's fish in the area they don't swim solo so if you maybe caught a fish and it's small or whatever if you've had some sort of activity don't leave the fish to find fish stick and stay and make it pay which is tip number eight so knowing that there's fish in the area you're better off fishing through that prime time I can't tell you how many times people will pick up and run every

16:51 15 minutes just because they're not getting that immediate gratification of catching a fish and you're actually wasting time and fuel the more that you can have your line in the water and actively fishing the more likely you're going to have success in the water so tip number seven don't leave fish to find fish and stick and stay to make it pay is a common term that Tom Nelson used to use if you've listened to the 710 ESPN radio show The Outdoor line Tom Nelson talks a lot about different Fisheries in different areas so I highly recommend tuning into that show as well it's a great one to kind of get inspired for different fisheries and get some real-time reports of what's been going on tip number nine learn from locals so you're going to see some charter boats out there those are guys to pay attention to let's say you're in a brand

17:38 new area you're out at Eagle Bluff and you're not quite sure how to troll it you just know that that's where somebody told you to go watch guys that have a very specific trolling pattern and you can kind of get an understanding of how to follow those Contours and put your gear in the right spots to grab those fish also ask around people are so happy to share and help don't do it over the radio that's not necessarily the best place to ask for advice just from experience but if you're at a local tackle shop or maybe you head over to Blakeley Island to grab a beverage and an ice cream cone if you see somebody with a bunch of fishing rods on their boat ask them questions ask how it's been going and where they were fishing people are so happy to share It's just sometimes a little intimidating if you are newer to fishing to ask so highly

18:24 recommend and if you are one of those seasoned Anglers and you're listening to this podcast make sure to share pay it forward it it just it pays back in dividends when someone can have that experience that you've been so lucky to have decades and Decades of learning and I'm a product of that my fishing Mentor was so gracious in telling me everything that I needed to know or where to go on what tides and because of all of that knowledge I was able to create success and it completely transformed my life in ways that that I can't even explain so pay it for is my other tip for you guys as well and finally number 10 check the RS check the RS and then recheck the RS just in case our regulations out in the sanan islands and Marine area 7 are really

19:09 really complicated and it's just important to make sure that you understand how big your fish should be so understanding 22 in is the minimum size of a fish that you keep also understand what's open so as an example the opener we just experienced was was you could keep two salmon one Hatchery shnook and then release a wild fish and I want to just highlight what does that mean wild so if you look at a fish's back there's the fish and there's the little fin the Big Fin and then right by the tail there's a little tiny fin that's called the adapost fin and what they do is they actually clip that off in the hatcheries and that's how you can understand whether a fish is wild or

19:55 whether a fish is a hatchery raised fish and so you want to make sure that you are within those regulations another great thing to do is subscribe to wdfw email list and I'll make sure to list that in the show notes because you're going to get information if there's emergency closures in real time that email goes out immediately and then you know it's real also you can find out when there's emergency openers like we're waiting for another potential opener here in the San Juan Islands and make sure that you are in compliance also it's a great idea to download the fish Washington app and check on the website and again all of this will be linked in the show notes for you always make sure you're fishing legally and ethically it's just part of what we can do to sustain this fishery for generations to come and continue to

20:41 have a great time so with that go out there catch some fish and keep an eye out for that email that we're hoping to see that opens it up again for next week and if you want to know more about any of these topics in another future episode please shoot me a DM on Facebook and Instagram and we will get that created for you happy fishing