Who's fishing the King opener tomorrow?

I am planning to launch from Edmonds early AM.  My fishfinder is currently out for repairs so I am going in blind.  Bringing a trolling and jigging setup and gonna try and work the oil docks.

I've read that's a good spot for both coho and chinook, let us know how it goes! Curious how many chinook are there at this point in the season. I'm guessing there is more in MA 9 but admittedly I'm still a noob lol

Launched a little before 7, had my limit of 2 resident coho by 9am.  Released one small king around 15".  It was weird, normally for coho I start shallow and work down. Both coho I caught were at 120 ft and 105 ft on the downrigger, and I was trolling at slow king speeds.

I am planning to launch from Edmonds early AM.  My fishfinder is currently out for repairs so I am going in blind.  Bringing a trolling and jigging setup and gonna try and work the oil docks.

I've read that's a good spot for both coho and chinook, let us know how it goes! Curious how many chinook are there at this point in the season. I'm guessing there is more in MA 9 but admittedly I'm still a noob lol

Launched a little before 7, had my limit of 2 resident coho by 9am.  Released one small king around 15".  It was weird, normally for coho I start shallow and work down. Both coho I caught were at 120 ft and 105 ft on the downrigger, and I was trolling at slow king speeds.

Same thing happened to me. I've noticed that the residents seem to be all over the water column at times, they're just more predictably shallow than other salmon. Did you mark many kings deeper?

Didn't mark anything. My fishfinder is currently in the shop for repair.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow. Will be jigging PNP with PWDs for the first couple hours, then once the tide starts to ebb I'll be trolling in the Bay. Hopefully plenty of bait gets pushed into there and the bite turns on 

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

BTW -- you mentioned jigged fish shooting up to the surface. That's a thing; I think a lot of dedicated jiggers use lightweight low profile levelwind reels w/ high retrieve rates. I think a couple other companies make similar, but I use a Penn Squall Low Profile (SQL300LPHS) that has a 43" retrieve per turn. I got it late 2020, have fished it hard during the summer seasons and generally treated it like shit. Recently had to clean and re-grease the drag washers but beyond that it's been flawless. I spool it w/ metered line so I can ~accurately target suspended marks.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

BTW -- you mentioned jigged fish shooting up to the surface. That's a thing; I think a lot of dedicated jiggers use lightweight low profile levelwind reels w/ high retrieve rates. I think a couple other companies make similar, but I use a Penn Squall Low Profile (SQL300LPHS) that has a 43" retrieve per turn. I got it late 2020, have fished it hard during the summer seasons and generally treated it like shit. Recently had to clean and re-grease the drag washers but beyond that it's been flawless. I spool it w/ metered line so I can ~accurately target suspended marks.

I use a 8.5 reel for jigging 100ft+ for this reason. Easier to ruin the gears at the high gear ratios though.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

BTW -- you mentioned jigged fish shooting up to the surface. That's a thing; I think a lot of dedicated jiggers use lightweight low profile levelwind reels w/ high retrieve rates. I think a couple other companies make similar, but I use a Penn Squall Low Profile (SQL300LPHS) that has a 43" retrieve per turn. I got it late 2020, have fished it hard during the summer seasons and generally treated it like shit. Recently had to clean and re-grease the drag washers but beyond that it's been flawless. I spool it w/ metered line so I can ~accurately target suspended marks.

I use a 8:5 reel for jigging 100ft+ for this reason. Easier to ruin the gears at the high gear ratios though.

Thanks for the heads up -- I was not aware. Do they just wear out quicker, or are they more easily damaged when winching fish up with the reel?

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

Appreciate your good luck wishes, must've had an impact! Lol. Got another trolling, and even better yet it's a new PB at 32". So glad I put in the work to modify and install a downrigger over the winter. Wasn't able to get one jigging, but they're definitely still in the area and hungry.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

BTW -- you mentioned jigged fish shooting up to the surface. That's a thing; I think a lot of dedicated jiggers use lightweight low profile levelwind reels w/ high retrieve rates. I think a couple other companies make similar, but I use a Penn Squall Low Profile (SQL300LPHS) that has a 43" retrieve per turn. I got it late 2020, have fished it hard during the summer seasons and generally treated it like shit. Recently had to clean and re-grease the drag washers but beyond that it's been flawless. I spool it w/ metered line so I can ~accurately target suspended marks.

I use a 8:5 reel for jigging 100ft+ for this reason. Easier to ruin the gears at the high gear ratios though.

Thanks for the heads up -- I was not aware. Do they just wear out quicker, or are they more easily damaged when winching fish up with the reel?

Both there's just more force on the gear teeth. If you're using a 9.2 ratio reel to 'winch' in chinook in the salt that reel will be toast pretty quickly especially if the reel's gearing is brass.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

...I think a lot of dedicated jiggers use lightweight low profile levelwind reels w/ high retrieve rates. I think a couple other companies make similar, but I use a Penn Squall Low Profile (SQL300LPHS) that has a 43" retrieve per turn...

I use a 8:5 reel for jigging 100ft+ for this reason. Easier to ruin the gears at the high gear ratios though.

Thanks for the heads up -- I was not aware. Do they just wear out quicker, or are they more easily damaged when winching fish up with the reel?

Both there's just more force on the gear teeth. If you're using a 9.2 ratio reel to 'winch' in chinook in the salt that reel will be toast pretty quickly especially if the reel's gearing is brass.

Awesome, good to know. Yeah looks like the penn low profile series has brass gears; at least I'm letting the fish run pretty good... don't horse them in any more after pulling quite a few hooks out. Thanks again.

Going to fish PNP and Skunk Bay tomorrow...

Hope you kill it. I may head out there Saturday morning. Car should be outta the shop by then...

Appreciate your good luck wishes, must've had an impact! Lol. Got another trolling, and even better yet it's a new PB at 32"....

Hell yeah, that's awesome. I don't think any of mine have broken the 30" mark this year. Feel free to post up a pic or two -- always fun to see a chinook in a kayak.

Yea Im usually using a 7:1/8:1 type retrieve reel for jigging (mostly daiwa lexas I co-opted from bass fishing) - need to be able to catch up to fish/reel up quickly to move on with that kind of fishing. Make sure you do some good greasing if you go this route for the salt conditions. The HD model has steel gearing as well if that is important.                           

Did a test run at shilshole this weekend during the daylight hours, only a small coho for my efforts. Dogs were out thick and made mooching practice pretty pointless. Lots of bait in the water and it sounded like the morning tide was very productive according to the checker.

Guys, please please please start using all-around lights when fishing dawn patrol. Your headlamp isn't enough. Your fishfinder screen isn't enough. You might mistakenly think it is, but , speaking as a former kayak angler and current powerboater who also loves to get out at zero-dark thirty,  and who has recently seen quite a few barely visible, completely unlit kayakers out by the green can at Shilshole, I promise you it's not. You need to be seen from all sides. It's a small investment that might save your life.