Morning, folks. Art here, your Artificial Lure, with the lowdown on Puget Sound and Seattle fishing this morning.

We’re in the thick of a classic gray, wet winter pattern, and the South Sound woke up to a stiff south breeze already ruffling the water, with more wind on the way. Puget Sound and Hood Canal are under a Small Craft Advisory through late tonight, with southwest winds 20 to 25 knots and waves around 2 to 4 feet, so if you’re heading out, make sure your boat’s ready and you’ve got all your gear before you leave the dock. Conditions will ease a bit after midnight, but it’s still a day to respect the water.

Tide-wise, we’ve got a big one this morning. In Seattle, high tide is at 6:41 a.m. at 13.12 feet, and low tide follows at 11:43 a.m. at 8.13 feet. That’s a serious push, and it’s going to drive a lot of current, especially in the narrows and channels. For fishing, that means focus on the outgoing tide around slack and the first few hours of the ebb, when the water’s moving but not too violent. The big tides are stacking fish up, and they’re feeding.

Sunrise is around 7:42 a.m. and sunset about 4:18 p.m., so we’ve got a short window of daylight. Get on the water early and make the most of it.

Fish activity has been solid. Chinook and coho are still scattered in the main basins and around the usual haunts near the Seattle waterfront, Elliott Bay, and the Duwamish. There’s been a decent number of hatchery kings and silvers caught trolling with cut plug herring and flasher combos, but the bite is hit or miss. The real action lately has been on bottomfish – lingcod, cabezon, and some nice rockfish – especially around Bainbridge Island, Colvos Passage, and the deeper holes near the Tacoma Narrows. Budd Inlet and the Olympia Shoal area are also producing, with anglers pulling in rockfish and some winter perch.

For lures, stick with what works in the cold, dirty water. For salmon, try green or chartreuse hoochies, Buzz Bombs, and small spoons like Kwikfish or Flatfish in bright colors with a little flash. For bottomfish, leadheads in 1–2 oz with plastic tails in white, pink, or green are money, especially when tipped with a bit of shrimp or squid. Jigs like the Gulp! Sand Shrimp or the local favorite, the Pink Shrimp, are also killing it on the bottom.

If you’re looking for a couple of hot spots, I’d hit the Seattle seawall and the piers around the central Sound early in the morning, then move to the deeper water off Bainbridge Point or the Colvos Passage ledges as the tide turns. The outgoing tide around slack is prime time for both salmon and bottomfish.

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