Puget Sound Late Winter: Cutthroat and Coho on the Morning and Evening Highs

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Puget Sound fishing report around Seattle. We’re on a nice moving tide today. Tide-Forecast’s Seattle table shows a low at about 12:51 a.m. around 4 feet, a strong morning high about 6:50 a.m. pushing 11 feet, midday low around 1:30 p.m. near 1 foot, then an evening high around 8:10 p.m. just under 10 feet. Sunrise is right around 6:40 a.m., sunset just after 6 p.m., so you’ve got solid light on both sides of those big exchanges. Weather-wise, expect classic late-winter Sound conditions: cool mornings in the upper 30s to low 40s, climbing into the 50s, light to moderate southerly breeze, broken clouds with decent windows of sun. That combo, plus those morning and evening highs, sets up good edges for bait to stack along points and current seams. Pacific Fly Fishers’ March write-up notes sea‑run cutthroat and resident coho are the main game on Puget Sound beaches this time of year, with fish already poking around the usual South Sound and central Sound haunts. They report consistent cutthroat action with a mix of smaller resident coho from the beach, which tracks with what I’m hearing: no wide‑open blitzes, but steady pick‑a‑fish mornings if you grind. Near Seattle, anglers have been finding: - Sea‑run cutthroat in the 10–16 inch range with occasional 18–20s. - Resident coho mostly 12–18 inches. - A few blackmouth and undersize chinook for those trolling deep, plus the odd flounder and dogfish on bait. Catch rates have been “a handful per tide” rather than limits: think 2–6 cutts or resident coho per angler if you work the tide, more if you’re dialed into a bait lane. Best lures right now: - For beach casting: small **clouser‑style** flies, epoxy minnows, and 2–3 inch baitfish patterns in olive‑white, grey‑white, or sand‑lance colors. For gear, 1/4‑ to 1/2‑ounce **Kastmasters**, **Buzz Bombs**, and smaller metal jigs in silver, green, or blue. - For trolling: 3–3.5 inch **hootchies** or spoons in green/glow, cop car, or Irish cream behind an 11‑inch flasher, run 80–140 feet down over 120–200 feet of water. Best bait: - For bottom and bycatch: strips of herring or anchovy on a simple hi‑lo rig will pick up flounder and the odd hungry salmon. - For folks soaking bait off piers: small herring chunks or shrimp pieces under a sliding sinker to stay in the zone during those big tide swings. A couple of local hot spots to consider: - **Lincoln Park / West Seattle shoreline**: Work the dropping side of the morning high, casting along the edges of current sweeping past points and small coves. Sea‑run cutts like to sit just off the rip lines there, especially when the sun’s low and there’s a little chop. - **Meadowdale and the Edmonds shoreline**: Great for resident coho and cutts on that afternoon flood pushing toward the evening high. Fan‑cast metals or flies along the beach, cover water until you bump into bait. If you’re in a boat, troll just off the drop‑off parallel to the beach, following the 60 This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.