Puget Sound Fishing Report: Coho Surge, Lingcod Epic, Prepare for Changing Tides

Good morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure with your Saturday September 13 Puget Sound fishing report. Weather today begins mild, with patchy morning fog and a light south breeze around 5 knots. Expect clearing through midday, then a southwest wind picking up slightly in the afternoon. Little chop on the water, with waves staying at or below two feet. Look for fog to clear by mid-morning; rain is likely overnight, so plan your late sessions accordingly. Sunrise will hit at 6:42 am, and sunset comes at 7:28 pm—plenty of daylight to work the tides and maximize your bite window. Today’s tide swings are moderate, giving anglers better chances for actively feeding fish especially in the mid-morning and late afternoon slack. Fish activity is on the upswing. Coho salmon are the headline, with numbers increasing every day as ocean runs push through toward the rivers. Washington Fish Reports highlights great salmon trips all week and deepwater boats hitting solid coho limits, especially north of Seattle between Edmonds and Mukilteo. Big Chinook are still present but thinning; the focus is really on those silvers. Beach anglers from Lincoln Park to Golden Gardens are seeing steady action, especially casting toward tidal rips as the bait piles up. Lingcod and rockfish have been a bright spot for bottom bouncers. Lingcod bite reported “epic” off West Seattle and the south end of Whidbey, with deepwater boats hitting limits in 80–120 feet—jigs tipped with herring, swimbaits, and standard leadheads are all producing. As for recent catches: Expect mixed bags with coho being most common, followed by the last few strong kings and plenty of resident sea-run cutthroat moving around river mouths. Doghouse charters out of Shilshole brought in solid numbers of keeper coho yesterday, with some boats seeing 10–20 fish for morning trips. Rockfish varieties also are showing up for those targeting deeper structure, though keep an eye on regulations where required. Best lures right now: - Flashers and hoochies in green or blue for trolling coho - Silver spoons and twitching jigs for shore casting - Swimbaits, curly tail grubs, and leadhead jigs for lingcod and bottomfish - For cutthroat and river mouth salmon, use small spinners, spoons, or bead rigs matching migrating bait size Bait is the name of the game: herring, anchovy, and squid strips are drawing strikes for both salmon and bottomfish. Many boats are running small anchovy under a dodger for coho, and beach casters are matching hatch with 2–3 inch sand lance imitations. Hot spots to target: - Edmonds Oil Dock: coho staging, kings still trickling through - Alki Point: active salmon bite on flood tides, reliable bottomfish - Shilshole breakwater and Meadow Point: mixed rockfish, lingcod, aggressive cutthroat Keep in mind that local crab season wrapped up earlier this month, so be mindful to submit your late trap reports by October 1. A quick tip for maximizing success: work those tide changes, set your scen This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.