Puget Sound Fishing Report: Hot Coho Bite, Tactics for Fall Salmon

Morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure with your September 3rd, 2025 fishing report from the waters in and around Puget Sound, Washington.

First light hit right around 6:26 am and you’ll have daylight until 7:51 pm—plenty of time to put in a full day on the water. Out on Puget Sound, you’re looking at soft conditions today: temperature around 54 to 57 degrees, with a current water temperature hovering near 50. Winds are light out of the north at 11 mph with just a little cloud cover, making for comfortable visibility and a mild chop.

Now, let’s check tides. This morning saw a 4 ft low tide about 6:40 am, followed by a 5.54 ft high coming in at 11:18 am, and your next low at 4:59 pm dropping to 2.49 ft. Currents are moderate but not ripping, so you can work a variety of presentations without having to worry too much about big drifts or fouled lines. According to Tides4Fishing, the tidal coefficient is low, so action may spike around the tide changes, especially at the late morning flood and again as the evening slack approaches.

Fishing has picked up noticeably after a mellow summer spell. Labor Day weekend brought reports of hot salmon bites—Hella Fishy Adventures put up a fresh video showing solid coho and pink salmon action trolling and mooching in Area 13 just two days ago. Pink and coho are stacking up near the mouths and running strong. While king retention is mostly off-limits now, you’ll find plenty of action on the silvers. Most anglers are reporting fast limits if you hit the tides right.

Best baits right now are classics for our fall run: plug-cut herring works well behind a green or chartreuse flasher when trolling, but don’t neglect artificial lures. Seattle locals swear by pink hoochies and needlefish spoons, and a UV Ace-Hi Fly behind an 11-inch flasher continues to hammer coho. For those off the beach or in the rivers, try twitching jigs or casting Buzz Bombs—especially good around the Narrows and Dash Point.

For coho near the surface, lures with some flash, like Silver Horde Coho Killers or mini-G spoons in green/glow or Army Truck patterns, are proving deadly. Early-morning and dusk are your best bets, but if the sun’s high, try dropping a bit deeper or working edges of current and shade lines. Folks fishing roe for the early river-bound kings and coho—don’t forget to set up your egg loops right for a strong presentation, per tips from Gone Fishing Northwest.

As for bait, herring and anchovy continue to be the go-to for trollers, while moochers are picking up fish on cut-plug and strip bait. On the artificial side, nothing beats a pink or chartreuse spinner during the pink run, or a well-worked marabou jig in darker coastal colors.

Hot spots to highlight: Possession Bar is putting up numbers for coho right now, especially trolling the drop-offs on the western side. The Point No Point area is another favorite, with limits hitting the docks by mid-morning for anglers willing to keep moving to find them. Down south, the Tacoma Narrows is still plugging away with pinks moving through—the beach bite there has been full of action for both fly and spin anglers.

A couple reminders: Dungeness crab is mostly wrapped up in-season, but if you’ve got pots, double-check regs and report your catches. Careful out there as ferry and boat traffic is heavy around Labor Day—expect busy launches, but the weather’s holding steady making for great boat handling and fewer safety worries.

That’s your Puget Sound report for today. Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure—don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an update.

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