Stephens Passage

Tackle & technique

Pink salmon

Pinks travel in large schools along shorelines toward their home streams in late summer and often come within casting range of beaches and points near river mouths. Cast small pink spoons, spinners or flies, or troll a pink hoochie or spoon slowly behind a small flasher at 40 to 80 feet in open water. Puget Sound pinks run in odd-numbered years only.

Pacific halibut

Halibut sit on sand and gravel bottoms near drop-offs, bars and pinnacles, most often in 90 to 500 feet in Alaska and on the shelf off Washington, Oregon and far northern California. Anchor up-current of a likely edge and fish herring, squid, octopus or a salmon head on a circle hook with 24 to 32 ounces of weight, or bounce a large jig on the bottom. The best bite usually comes in the hour around slack tide.

Pacific cod

Pacific cod school over mud, sand and gravel bottoms and shelf edges, moving shallower than 300 feet in summer and deeper to spawn in winter. Drop a heavy metal jig or a lead-head with a herring or squid strip to the bottom in 100 to 300 feet and work it a few feet up. They often come up on the same drifts as halibut, and a school can mean fast fishing once you find it.