By Terry W. Sheely
North of Tacoma and south of Seattle, Vashon Island squats like 37-square miles of salmon stopper crammed into the throat of Puget Sound, a plump high-bank plug that divides central and southern Sound saltwater with no less than 10 major winter and summer salmon fishing zones, each with peculiarities and rigging specialties, tantalizingly within sight of four major boat launches.
Vashon and its umbilically bridged neighbor Maury are the largest island block in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The stopper is a high-walled fortress rimmed with the twisted red trunks of madrona trees that pushes boat traffic and salmon migrations against the shorelines of Colvos Passage to the west, and the unimaginatively named but geographically accurate East Pass. Of the two passages, for fishermen the East Pass is the most and only important one, lapping as it does at residential view property and boat launches in Des Moines and Redondo, funneling the majority of South Sound salmon movements, and creating a grab bag of salmon slots at Three Tree, Point Robinson, Poverty Bay, Dash Point, Browns Point and the mega-popular fisheries clustered around north Tacoma, Commencement Bay and Point Defiance.
The peninsular points, current rips, ledges, lay holes, channels, drifts and bait balls that are squeezed into the saltwater below this art, garden, farm, commuter and strawberry raptured island dominate and manipulate a series of solid salmon fisheries in the heart of Pugetropolis.
The island grows a decent winter blackmouth fishery along its northern, eastern and southern shorelines and boxes in migratory ocean spawners — kings, silvers, chums and pinks that are seasonally picking their ways south to major down-sound rivers-Puyallup, Nisqually, Deschutes, a scattering of south Sound net pens, hatcheries and lesser natal nurseries.
The herds of fin-clipped cookie-cutter kings and silvers bound for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) hatcheries at Chambers and Minter creeks roll down the East Pass, with the mix of Nisqually kings and chums and the Puyallup's state and tribal returns of kings, silvers, pinks and chums. The island and its far edges are the fickle heart of WDFW's Marine Area 11 management zone. The southern boundary of central Puget Sound's Area 10—the Bremerton-Seattle area—touches the north lip of Vashon. The actual 10-11 areas boundary runs east-west from the Kitsap shore at Point Southworth to a spot on the Seattle side 600 yards south of Brace Point. It's an imaginary dotted line that nicks the extreme north tip of the island.
South of Southworth in Area 11 is roughly 20 miles of East Pass-Dalco Pass salmon fishing open and legal for 10 months of the year. The southern boundary of Area 11 melts into Area 13 at the impossible to miss mile-long, 187-feet high twin suspension bridges hanging in the sky where Highway 16 crosses the Narrows between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula.
The two months when Area 11 is closed for salmon fishing are January and May putting a bit of a hole in the heart of winter blackmouth fishing, and avoiding any remnant wild springers. That allows 10 months of very "Vashonable" salmon fishing opportunity on the congested doorstep of Washington's population center.
The area includes the last best boat house in Puget Sound where it's still possible to rent a numbered kicker boat, buy live herring, and listen to fish stories; where the eight public fishing piers outnumber the four public boat launches at Des Moines, Redondo, Pt. Defiance and Gig Harbor, where salmon can be caught from the beach or a rowboat, trailerable or yacht and you can spend the night on your boat moored to public docks deep in Quartermaster Harbor at King County's Dockton Park (and on-island boat launch) or tied up at Blake Island State Park grilling dinner on a park barbee.
On the west side of the island, the unimportant side, few salmon ever stick their noses very far into Colvos Pass, probably because the current—no matter the tidal stage—always runs south to north. While Colvos, aka West Pass, is the most direct route to the South Sound for ocean spawners powering out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca it also involves bucking 14 miles of oncoming current. So smart salmon go around. Which explains why most fishing and 99 percent of the serious salmon effort, takes place off the north, east and south sides in East and Dalco passes where flood tides run south and ebb tides north and salmon can hitch a ride on the flood.
Salmon come through here in fits, starts, and stampedes.
In the 10 months of a salmon year anglers will get a crack at resident blackmouth chinook in November-December and February-March; summer ocean chinook in July and August; a gazillion pinks from July-September (in odd-numbered years); ocean coho from mid-August into October; and chums from October through November.
A decent beach fishery is also developing for trout-size resident silvers, blackmouth, sea-run cutthroat and passing runs of ocean migrants that is dominated by fly rods but productive too with spinning tackle. Some of the most productive stretches for beach fishing are the tapering gravel shoreline along East Pass between Redondo and Brown's Point (hot spots during pink runs), from the east side beaches on Vashon Island, around the mouth of Gig Harbor and beneath the overhanging cliffs on both sides of the Tacoma Narrows.
Public fishing piers, dominated by bait floaters (herring, shrimp, clam) and Buzz Bombers are located at the boat launches in Des Moines and Redondo, Dash Point County Park, Les Davis Pier and Old Town Dock off Ruston Way in Tacoma southeast of Pt. Defiance and at the Point Defiance Boat House. Less well positioned to hit salmon, but still available are piers at Tramp Harbor in mid-Vashon, and Harper in Yukon Harbor at Southworth.
Vashon North
Off the northern point of Vashon, on both sides of the Area 10-11 boundary, are the rocks and ragged bottom of the Allen Bank that concentrates herring schools that attract blackmouth chinook in late winter and early spring, and occasionally short-stop mid-summer migrations of ocean kings.
Feeder blackmouth and spawners hold tight to the Allen Bank, and occasionally spill southeast toward nearby Dolphin Point.
Salmon are most likely to be found on the bait in the wedge of water between the Vashon ferry dock, the Southworth ferry dock and the south side of Blake Island, a triangulated trolling and mooching zone that includes the Allen Bank.
The year's best action on the Allen Bank is for blackmouth from Thanksgiving to the end of January. You'll need to pay attention to where you fish: The waters inside Area 10 are open through Jan. 31, but are closed in Area 11 all of January.
In late-winter and early spring, when spawning herring ball up on the Allen Bank, a good plug-cut moocher can shine. Bring a herring ganglion, there's fresh bait to be jigged. Feeder blackmouth have a tough time passing up live herring, lightly hooked either through the top lip or behind the dorsal fin and suspended to struggle10 to 15 feet off bottom. Sliding weights bring out the best in this tactic.
I've caught a few ocean silvers in early September while trolling large flashers and hoochies or tight-spinning plug cut herring in the frothy tide rips between Allen Bank and Dolphin Point, but it's always a maybe bet. Migrating ocean silvers or kings are either here or they're not.
The most attractive feature is the amount of baitfish and the fact that incoming salmon from the Strait are as bright as an old Buick bumper and sporadically feeding. The farther south that incoming spawners migrate, the less inclined they are to feed and the more they need to be provoked.
Running south from Pt. Dolphin along the shore of Vashon the next major point is Beals, a quiet right shoulder on the island that at best is temperamentally productive. I try this little spot when I happen to be in the neighborhood during the magical two-hour window of a tide change on a day when I can't find fish anywhere else. Kings will sometimes follow the fast-dropping east shore of Vashon, on the 90- to 150-foot contours and if there's bait they'll stop at Point Beals.
Water with much more consistent promise lies east across East Pass three miles north of the marina at Des Moines on the mainland at Three Tree Point. A popular sling launch at the marina closed to the public last October and is now reserved exclusively for marina tenants. On charts it's called Point Pully, but salmon guys call it Three Tree, a spearpoint shaped peninsula that juts well off shore before tapering into a submerged ledge continuing into deep water. The ledge line is long, grabby and sometimes marked with brown strands of kelp.
Three Tree is one of the first significant staging areas for summer kings headed south. You'll find fish prowling along the rocks and kelp directly off the point and in the flat-water crook of aptly named Fish Haven Bay on the north side close to the private marina docks. The bay is protected from everything but stiff northerlies, providing quiet water that produces best when herring dimple the surface. Try motor-mooching spinning plug cuts in 40 to 90 feet of water while tracking the inside curve of Fish Haven.
Off the point, figuring out which side of the ledge to fish is determined by ebb and flood tides and it will be obvious. While I consider it a perfect, albeit challenging spot to motor mooch close to bottom, I recognize that it's a snag-prone tactic. Which explains why most of the locals prefer to troll—flashers and squid, flashers and Ace High flies, flashers and small green, purple or blue plugs. July is tops, but there will be Puyallup and Chambers Creek chinook here well into August.
The water plunges to more than 300 feet on all sides of Three Tree setting up long north-south tide rip lines that will be followed like a toll road by pinks in August, but more importantly, ocean silvers from late August until October. Troll flashers and flies, herring or plastic squid anywhere from 30 to 100 feet deep and stay on the froth line. Stay with it into the nasty weather of November and you could wind up with a mix of blackmouth, plus chums aiming for the Puyallup, Nisqually rivers, Squaxin, Kennedy and Minter Creeks and South Sound streams along with some memorably large, hook-nosed late ocean silvers.
Vashon Central
Point Robinson juts further out into East Passage than any other point off the Vashon-Maury Island plug. Robinson is actually the eastern-most point of Maury Island, with a landmark lighthouse, strong tidal rips, deep water and hopefully baitfish.
It's the most prominent point on the east flank of Vashon, short-stops a lot of salmon but it can be maddening to fish. This is a bait-dependent show. Long-time salmon instructor and former charter boat skipper John Keizer says that the key to catching Point Robinson salmon is finding and fishing baitfish. "Find the bait first, and fish right there—no where else," he says.
Working birds will keep track of the bait dimples and you need to keep track of working birds. Currents boil around the point, creating tumultuous eddies and strong rip lines that scatter and relocate herring balls in a blink. You'll spend a lot of time looking for fish, and fish are here all year long, which is reason enough to troll. Watch the depth sounder/flasher to zero in on bait balls that can be in 30 or 600 feet of water and only a few yards apart.
For summer kings Keizer trolls with the tide and brackets the area covering a mix of shallow to deeper water until pinpointing the depth at which salmon are migrating. Concentrate all of the rods on that depth. Both moochers and trollers score well when they find fish. A good sonar unit can pay for itself at Point Robinson.
Away from the Point, I've caught fish by trolling along the 100- to 150-foot break line running south along the island, but never had a good tug west of the point toward Tramp Harbor flats.
The lighthouse stands in Vashon-Maury Island Park and Recreation District, with public beach access from Maury Island that gives bank casters a reasonable crack at nailing passing salmon. You'll find most anglers throwing big spoons, nickel jigs or Buzz Bombs, but I suspect that a plug-cut herring suspended 20 feet below a sliding bobber or balloon, pitched into the rip line and fished downcurrent will prove productive although I admit I've only fished here from boats.
Back across East Pass at the head of Poverty Bay is a boat launch, public fishing pier and decent fish and chips at Redondo. The good news about Redondo is that it sits squarely on a productive salmon migration line, has a fishing pier and restroom, is the only ramp and launch between West Seattle and Tacoma ($8 parking), and sometimes there's frozen herring available. The bad news is that it's congested during seasonal peaks, and the two-lane launch ramp was designed by idiots.
A busy waterfront road separates the ramp from the parking lot (take my advice and invest a few minutes watching others to see how it's done before jamming up the launch), the floating loading docks bounce like tinkertoys on a string, pea gravel and kelp often leave the lanes as slippery as grease, and when there's a south or west wind (we call that summer) the waves pile straight into the ramp bouncing boats on and off trailers at will. A cute little chain of bouncy white floats, anchored and strung like a dancing bulkhead, takes the edge of some of the larger waves, but there's still enough danger to go around. But it's a great place to fish close to shore.
A very long cast away from the end of the ramp is a drop-off that plunges to 100 feet, runs north-south and is followed by every fish that swims in Puget Sound. Work the 100-foot line with mooched herring or troll it with flashers and the works and you stand a decent chance of connecting during every season and run.
Resident blackmouth hug the line along with summer-runs of ocean chinook, odd-year pinks, ocean silvers, chums and squadrons of squid. Back in the day, this was a honey hole for true cod and greenling.
Trolling from just off Saltwater State Park south to Dumas Bay along the 100-foot line is recommended for locating salmon. Keizer, a popular seminar speaker who operates Salt.Patrol.Com recommends tempting winter blackmouth with Pro-Troll flashers and Silver Horde spoons trolled just off the bottom. Look for concentrations of baitfish.
Summer chinook migrating past Redondo from mid-to-late summer are often surprisingly shallow, often stratifying in mid-water travel lanes 40 to 60 feet under the surface. Keizer recommends trolling plugs and herring off downriggers. I like to drift the always-present rip line slowly working a chinook-cut herring bait from bottom to top and back again. Don't be afraid to put a sharp fast spin on herring—it attracts both kings and silvers.
Vashon South
The 100-foot contour runs within a couple of hundred yards of the beach for 6 miles from Saltwater State Park south past Redondo, the county pier at Dash Point to Brown's Point gateway to Commencement Bay—and every inch of the route is a decent prospect.
While followed heavily by most migrants headed south, it's the beaten path for Puyallup River salmon from July into November. First up are kings in July, followed by silvers in August and September and chums in October and November.
When pink salmon are in the Sound every other year this place is swamped with humpies. Pinks swarm the contour highway in migrating bunches, usually in the top 20 feet, wad up around the land points, roll across the wadeably-shallow beaches at Dash Point state and county parks, and hug the shoreline around Brown's Point well into Commencement Bay.
Puyallup silvers start to show in August at Brown's Point and can linger through September unless a good rain pulls them upriver.
"I have had my best luck," Keizer confides, "on chinook during August fishing the deep drop offs located in front of Browns Point. I try fishing the north side of Browns Point on the incoming tide and high slack, then on the outgoing troll south of the point to target fish holding on the ledges."
Keizer says he's found that herring are pushed into pockets on outgoing tides and as the tide flow increases; bait gets sucked into Brown's Point from Commencement Bay. He favors trolling Silver Horde glow white 5-inch rattle plugs or flasher and squid combinations for fall kings and blackmouth. Fresh herring, rigged whole or cut plug is tough to beat, unless dogfish are too thick to argue with.
For fall silvers, try trolling cut-plug herring off downriggers or behind a Deep Six-style diving planer in the top 30 feet. This works best early before boat traffic pushes the coho deep into 50 to 90 feet.
In most of this area, Keizer says he has an "Ace in the Hole."
"One of my favorite techniques is to troll a Hotspot flasher off the downrigger ball and run a Silver Horde Sonic Edge spoon or a cut-plug herring just above it. "This setup gives you the attraction of a flasher without the pull on the line of the flasher when you hook up with a salmon."
The south end of Vashon gets a trickle or two of Puyallup River salmon, but most are either 12- to 15-pound Chambers Creek fin-clipped kings, silvers or chums, Nisqually River fish or salmon headed for hatcheries and nets pens at Minter Creek and other far South Sound destinations.
Except for blackmouth, which prey heavily on the herring balls that roll through Dalco Pass between Vashon and Tacoma and have established the half a dozen fishing zones as premier blackmouth areas.
Point Dalco is the southern tip of Vashon Island you'll want to be here on the incoming tide. Start mooching in front of the ferry dock in about a 100 feet of water and drift mooch west toward deeper water at Point Dalco. The peak bite at Dalco almost always happens at first light, dusk and one hour before to two hours after a tide change.
The fresh cut plug herring is the number one bait at Dalco pinned to barbless 2/0-3/0 hooks on 12 to 14-pound test line. I like 8-foot leaders and herring that spin like ice dancers. Mooching sinkers vary from 2 to 6 ounces and need to be adjusted according to current. The bad news is that the cross currents in Dalco Pass can fill up with dogfish sharks that make it impossible to fish fresh herring. Break out the troll gear.
Keizer advises trolling Hotspot flashers in green glow and when possible use herring rigged in a helmet fished off downriggers. When bait is not possible, switch to the B-2 Reef Fisher mini glow squid especially for summer kings. Spoons like the Silver Horde Kingfisher and white and green salmon plugs are local heroes in the Vashon Zone.