Winter Blackmouth and Coho Bite in Puget Sound's Gray, Choppy Conditions

South Sound folks woke up to a classic gray, wet winter pattern, with a stiff south breeze already ruffling Puget Sound and more wind on the way this afternoon. Expect low clouds, steady light rain, and choppy open-water conditions, with a small craft advisory shaping up for the main basin and Hood Canal by later in the day. Air temps are sitting cool but not brutal, and water temps are hovering in the mid to upper 40s, which keeps fish active but tight to structure and current seams. First light came on the late side and the window between dawn and the onset of the stronger afternoon wind is the prime shot today. That early gray light around the morning tide change is when the rods have been going off. The evening fade offers a second, shorter window, but plan to be back in before the breeze really stacks the tide against the wind. Winter blackmouth (resident chinook) have been the main show in the central Sound lately, with anglers quietly picking up legal fish mixed with a lot of shakers off Jeff Head, West Point, and the oil docks. Most keepers have been running in that 5–8 pound class, with a few into the low teens for those grinding the contours hard. Bait sign has been tight to the bottom in 80–140 feet, so you want your gear dragging just off the deck, not riding mid-column. Standard winter metal is getting it done: 3–3.5 inch spoons in muted greens and glow whites, hootchies in army truck or glow with a strip of herring, and small anchovy or herring behind a green or chartreuse flasher. Downriggers set just a couple feet off bottom have outfished everything else. If you’re mooching, run cut-plug herring with a slow, steady drop and lift, letting the boat’s drift do most of the work. Out toward Tacoma and the Narrows, the resident coho and sea-run cutthroat bite has been decent on the softer tide phases. Fly anglers and light-tackle folks are seeing action on small baitfish patterns, olive-over-white clousers, and 2–3 inch soft plastics in candlefish colors. Focus on current breaks, beach points, and the edges of eelgrass beds; fish are cruising tight to shore, especially on the flooding tide. For those thinking bottomfish, it’s mostly a lingcod and rockfish scratch game around deeper rock and wreck structure where open, so check current regs carefully. When you do find them, 4–6 ounce jigheads with grub tails or metal jigs bounced slowly along the bottom in 60–120 feet have produced a few solid lingcod alongside the usual cabezon and incidental rockfish. Two solid “hot spots” to put on the list today: Jeff Head for blackmouth if your boat and experience are up to the building wind and chop, and Point Defiance/Tahlequah area in the Narrows for a mix of blackmouth and resident coho when the tide mellows. Beach anglers should look at Lincoln Park and the south end of Vashon for sea-run cutts on the flood, working parallel to shore with light gear and keeping on the move. Given the weather and the advisory, this is a day for good rain This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.