WHERE TO LAUNCH
To get on both the springers and the later-arriving summer kings, Weist tries to launch close to where he thinks the fish will be. If he’s fishing the Slag Pile or Point Defiance, or across from Point Defiance at Point Dalco, he’ll launch right at Point Defiance. If he’s off to Dolphin Point, Beale Point, or later at Elliott Bay, he launches at the Don Armeni ramp in west Seattle. Des Moines has a great launch, too, but it’s a sling launch.

If you have rollers on your trailer, you can get the slings at Des Moines under your boat. But if you have bunks on your trailer, or a keel as Weist does, you’re better off putting in at Point Defiance.

For the later summer kings, Dolphin Point has been the hotspot for the past two seasons.

If there’s herring in the water at Dolphin, stop and fish there. Either you’ll see the bait busting on the surface, or you’ll see bait balls on your finder.

Last year, the PSA South King County Chapter’s annual Salmon Derby winner caught the winning fish at Dolphin with a green Hot Spot Flasher and green-and-white hoochie.

“Dolphin Point was the hot point for the last two years in a row,” Weist said, “with a lot of bait there, and a lot of fish. And the bigger fish have been at Dolphin. The fish caught further south, like at the Slag Pile, were in the lower teens. At Dolphin, the fish got bigger, at 20-plus pounds.”

He likes to hit Beal and Three Tree Point north of Des Moines, and fishes Elliott Bay when it opens in the summer for kings heading up the Duwamish. Through the summer, he also hits the south Sound standards: the Slag Pile, Point Defiance and Dalco. Puyallup and Commencement Bay are really productive when they open up, usually the second week of August.

WHEN TO FISH
No matter where you elect to fish, be sure to consult your regs for opening dates and retention rules for each marine area. Whether it’s for early spring-runs, blackmouth or summer kings, Weist cites the Golden Rule of salmon fishing -- “There’s always a bite on at first light.”

“Blackmouth will always be on the bottom,” he advises. “And you have to be hitting bottom to catch them.”

But migrating kings aren’t at the bottom. During early morning, you’ll get them from 20 to 30 feet down. Then as the light comes on, they’ll drop to 60 feet, then down to 80 and 90 feet. You’ll be in much deeper water, but that’s the depth in the water column where they’re traveling.

After that first-light bite, it’s a tide game. And that game isn’t centered on highs or lows, but on tide changes.

Fishing is usually the best an hour or two before the change for high or low, and an hour or two after the change. Seems like if you hit the tide changes, the fish bite, Weist said.

CATCHING KINGS
Salmon anglers have been plying the waters of Puget Sound since before any of us took up the call. The various methods they’ve developed and tested over time are as diverse as the anglers themselves.