Puget Sound Fishing Update: Heavy Rains, Salmon Runs, Orca Sightings

Artificial Lure here with your Puget Sound fishing report for Saturday, November 15, 2025, coming to you live and local from Seattle and the surrounding bays. We start with the weather—if you’re heading out, pack your rain gear and watch your footing near the water, as FOX 13 Seattle is reporting that heavy rain has hammered Seattle, leaving urban flooding and some lowland areas a soggy mess. A good chunk of Puget Sound remains under a Flood Advisory until this afternoon, but the rain should taper off later tonight. Winds in the Sound are changing up today—expect a slow start from the east, swinging south and ramping up to 15-25 knots by midday, then dropping off again by evening. If you’re on a smaller craft, that “Small Craft Advisory” the National Weather Service has posted means caution is more than just a good idea. For tides, the US Harbors chart for Seattle puts this morning’s low tide right around 7:00 a.m. with the incoming pushing up toward the next high at about 1:43 p.m. Best action will be the couple hours around that incoming swing as solunar tables suggest fish will be on the move. First light hit us at 7:12 a.m., and sunset will be as early as 4:33 p.m.—the days are short, so plan accordingly. Now onto the bite—autumn in Puget Sound means blackmouth (resident Chinook), coho, and chum salmon are all in play. According to Puget Sound, Washington Fishing Today, the runs have been decent after the October rains, and this past week has seen good numbers of coho and chums landed around Shilshole Bay, Point Defiance, and the Edmonds oil docks. Some folks are reporting bonus cutthroat trout in the estuaries and, for the bottom fishers, there’s solid action on lingcod and black rockfish near deeper reefs and structure. Tackle talk: trolling with 3-inch spoons like Coho Killers in chartreuse, or glow/green stripe, has drawn strikes from feeding blackmouth and silvers alike. If you’re anchored up or slow drifting, herring under a slip float (blue or purple label) is money—especially if you brine it first for durability. For artificial baits, try twitching 3/8- to 1/2-ounce marabou or rabbit jigs in pink or purple for chums in the rivers and estuaries. Shore anglers are also finding success with Buzz Bombs and Rotators, especially at dawn or dusk. If you target bottomfish, metal jigs bounced off the dropoffs between 60 and 120 feet are pulling up keeper lings and some solid black bass. For live bait options, nothing beats a sand dab or a chunk of squid fished deep, especially near rocky structure off West Point or on the Tacoma Narrows edge. As for shellfish seekers, while razor clamming is heating up this week on the open coastal beaches, Puget Sound’s local clam beds are closed for the season, so mind your harvest rules and always check for biotoxin alerts before you dig. Hot spots today: - Shilshole Bay: Mixing salmon, especially just after that morning tide swing. - Point Defiance: Trolling the clay banks is pulling in both feeder This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.