Where’s the money fish?

So you want me to tell you where to go to catch the $2,500 silver next weekend? Not a chance, Jack. If I knew where to go to catch the first-place fish in the big Everett Coho Derby on Saturday and Sunday, you think I’d be hanging it out there in front of all you slavering salmon highliners?

But since no one knows where the big beluga will come from, I guess I can share some valuable information gleaned from local experts which should at least narrow the odds a little.

First, a look at where the money fish has been taken in past editions of the derby.

Some 2,340 anglers entered last year, and the top coho, at 18.4 pounds, was caught by Mike Meske of Marysville, on a green and white squid behind a Hot Spot flasher. Meske was fishing way out in the shipping lane, between the west edge of Possession Bar and Point No Point, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett.

Participants last year weighed 1,132 coho, with an average weight of 7.79 pounds, and 190 of those fish were over 10 pounds.

The 2004 winner came from the Snohomish River system and weighed 18.14 pounds. That was a big year for river fish, because substantial rainfall had raised and dirtied the streams, pulling coho in from saltwater and making them less wary and more aggressive.

Top fish in 2003 weighed 16.09 pounds and was caught between Possession Bar and Edmonds, on herring, while the first-place coho in 2002 came from the shipwreck, on a green squid, and weighed 15.78 pounds.

The moral in this information, Krein said, is to consider weather a very important factor in your choice of fishing area. If we’ve had significant rainfall, you might try the rivers or areas closer to the river mouths, such as the Edmonds/Mukilteo shoreline. If it’s been dry, a good choice would be farther west, perhaps the triangle formed by Possession Bar, Point No Point, and Double Bluff.

Complicating these simplifications, however, are a couple of pieces of recent intelligence: Krein has been catching more coho south of the shipwreck, in Brown’s Bay and southward, than in the slot northward toward Mukilteo.

And, “Mac” McReynolds, a good fisherman who works at Master Marine in Mount Vernon, went out twice recently to a low, clear Skykomish River, near the reformatory, and caught three bright silvers of 6, 12, and 15 pounds on a side planer and blue pirate Hot Shot. So much for theory.

In saltwater, Krein recommends trolling, fairly fast, with a dodger/squid or flasher/squid combo, or herring (but only if you know how to rig herring correctly). Choose a green or white dodger/flasher for coho, and a regular (not mini) size squid in double-glow apple core, or glow white OG55R. The light green spatterback squid is also good, and Krein prefers a dark squid on dark days or early in the morning, and lighter squid on bright days. He adds scent to his squid and/or a herring strip or 1 1/2-inch triangular strip of Berkley Gulp in anchovy or herring flavor. “If you plan on using Gulp, which is easier to keep, cut and handle than herring,” he said, “you’d better be finding some right away. It’s going to be hard to find locally as the derby gets closer.”

With a dodger, Krein uses about 22 inches of leader; with a flasher, between 26 and 28 inches. He prefers a heavy, stiff leader of 35 pounds test or more, both because you break off fewer fish, and because it gives your lure more action. He’ll start at a depth of about 40 feet in the morning, stay most of the day at 40 to 50 feet if it’s dark and cloudy, or go on down to 100 feet or more if the day turns out bright or if he’s marking fish at that depth.

Krein said coho can be found onshore or way offshore, but that a higher percentage, in his opinion, will be taken farther away from structure, generally out in deeper water. The popular Mukilteo-Edmonds slot, for instance, will hold more fish offshore than on, he said, particularly out at mid-channel during the early morning high tide. Move closer to shore, he said, as the tide drops on the ebb.

Saturday morning high tide is at 6:13 a.m., Krein said, and Sunday morning at about 7:00 a.m., while low tide change Saturday is about noon, and on Sunday, at 12:42 p.m. There should be a good early bite on both days, and Saturday’s low should also present a good opportunity. Tides are strong both days, which tends to concentrate schools of coho and seems to trigger strikes by moving gear past the fish at a faster pace.

In the lower Snohomish River, guide Nick Kester likes the water from the “elbow” bend just downstream from the Lowell Park launch, on down to the area of the old clam shovel, visible above the brush on the east bank. Keep tight to the west bank, where the deep slot is, he said. Troll a Fatfish or Wiggle Wart, or take the hooks off a plug and use it as a diver, with 4 feet of leader tied to the hook eye and a Dick Nite spoon on the end. He also fishes a Dick Nite alone, with a 1-ounce dropper weight, back-bouncing it or drifting and casting, depending on tide conditions. He likes the frog pattern spoon, size 1 or 0, and for the plugs, chrome/chartreuse, green pirate, or black metalflake colors.

Mark Spada, president of the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and derby coordinator, said the state Fish and Wildlife Department is predicting a strong run of coho to Puget Sound this year, and particularly to the Snohomish River system. The farther down the river you can fish, he said, the fresher and more aggressive the salmon tend to be, so he starts the season trolling the lower river in tidal water. He pulls diving plugs against the tidal run, including Fatfish and Wiggle Warts in orange, red, or pink (particularly the red with black herringbone), and drifts with the tide, casting and slowly retrieving a Dick Nite spoon in chartreuse/white, lime green/white, or 50-50 brass/nickel. Spoon size should be number 1, fished on a three-way swivel, a 10-inch dropper, a half-ounce of lead, and 6 feet of leader, no heavier than 8-pound test.

The critical part of the system, Spada said, is keeping your lure right on the bottom, and in the deeper slots, usually found on the outside of a bend or along rock rip-rap

Drifting and casting toward shore is the way he fishes the upper river, using the spoons above, or weighted spinners such as the Blue Fox, Blue Streak and Flash-Glo in chartreuse.

“Crabb Bar is the top of tidewater on the Snohomish,” he said. “Coho will come in on the tide and often hold there for a while. If you can hit it right, it can be the best spot on the river.”