Port Townsend Blackmouth Fishing

With Marine Area 9 closing down after April 15 there is a little less than two weeks left to chase blackmouth. We have had some fair blackmouth reports coming from Port Townsend's Mid Channel bank the past couple of days for some fairly nice sized fish. One of the regular guys was up there yesterday and managed to land a couple, one 11 and one 14 pounds. Both were caught on the out going tide fishing tight to the bottom. He mentioned that the fish were full of candlefish, which is very typical for this time of year. There are lots of good offerings to drag in this fishery. Typically, offerings like Gold Star Coho Killers in "White Lighting" or "White Lighting Cream" color patterns, Grand Slam Bucktails in the White or Green Needlefish, Olympic Tackle's Needlefish Coho Fly in Snow White or Peacock colors or Yamashita Needlefish in the 12 color pattern (Purple Haze) have all been good producers when the fish are actively feeding on candlefish. Remember the blackmouth limit has been reduced to just a single fish for the remainder of the season with a 22 inch minimum size.