©2009 John Abbott and Captain Downriggin's

Mainly known as a sheltered sailing/cruising destination for anchoring/docking and it’s Dungeness crab populations, one can expect with great anticipation, a positive fishing experience from Quartermaster Harbor.

Quartermaster Harbor is geographically divided by an inner harbor and outer harbor.  Although some seasonal fishing opportunities present themselves in the shallow inner harbor area I’ll only cover the outer harbor where 99-percent of fishing takes place.  Therefore, when referencing Quartermaster Harbor, it should be noted that I am referring solely to the outer harbor.

The vastness of the outer harbor can be overwhelming for the angler new to this location.  Even to the experienced eye, traveling across the outer harbor headed to various spots north or south, this area gives the appearance of “barren fish waste land.“   Unknown by many, the outer harbor has many underwater secrets and is a fish goldmine certain times of year.  Although the fish can be anywhere or any depth three key areas tend to attract forage and fish during various stages of tides.  These areas will be where you’ll want to focus your time on the water: Neill Point (Area “A”), the entrance to the inner harbor (Area “B”), and Piner Point (Area “C”).

What makes Quartermaster Harbor a productive spot?  One word- forage.  An angler can expect to encounter large schools of herring year around with the winter months providing most of the sonar activity.

In fact, I have encountered schools of herring nearly a hundred yards long and so dense that my sonar suggested I was in 20-feet of water despite knowing positively I was trolling in 130-feet of water just within seconds of the 20-foot reading.  What brings herring to this area?  Every year like clockwork herring start congregating in the waters of the outer harbor in mid to late December.  This congregation is in anticipation of winter spawning activities which takes place early January through mid- March mainly in the inner harbor centered around Dockton.  Although some spawning takes place along the beaches from Neill Point to Piner Point and northeast along the beach of Maury Island, the area of the outer harbor is defined as a prespawner holding area and attracts many hungry blackmouth.

Now that you have a little knowledge of one of the “Quartermaster secrets,” let’s next talk about the areas to fish:

Neill Point (Area “A”) is best fished on the flood tide as tidal movement pushes forage around the point from the Tacoma-Vashon ferry area into the lee and/or deeper water of Quartermaster Harbor.  My first pass always consists of setting up the gear in 60 to 70 feet of water on the south side of the point.  This gives me an opportunity to ensure all the gear is working properly and I am steady on the depth contour before heading north around the point.  More importantly, in early morning, the herring seem to be tight to the bank.  Quite possibly they have just finished a wave of spawning and are pulling off the beach area to deeper water.  Once around the point, I have two options: (1) I can continue fishing towards the entrance (Area”B) or, (2) circle back and cover a different depth.  I usually work the backside of the point thoroughly covering different depths.  Afterwards I still have an option of trolling north towards the entrance, but I usually pick up and run over to Piner Point (Area “C”).

   I also like to fish Neill Point during the last two hours of ebb tide.  During these last hours of the ebb tide, bait from the inner harbor or at the entrance will typically push along the beach south to this location and hold in the pocket water just north of the point.

The Harbor Entrance (Area “B”) is my first stop if the beginning of an ebb tide coincides with sunrise.  Even better is the last two or three hours of a minus ebb tide coinciding with sunrise.  This back and forth east/west troll pattern is designed to intercept herring exiting this natural choke point.  With most of the spawning taking place under the cover of darkness it is only natural for herring to retreat to deeper water after spawning.  Couple this with an ebb current exiting the shallow inner harbor, the morning‘s first light, and you‘re primed and ready in a hot spot!

I will start shallow in water depths of 60 to 80-feet trolling in either direction- east to west or west to east, and typically will not fish deeper than 100-feet.  Occasionally, if I haven’t located bait, a troll up inside the entrance will be productive. A good turn around point is abeam of red bouy “2” off Maury Island.

Here’s a little secret to help you stay on the bait.  When trolling parallel to the entrance of the harbor watch the location of bait.  For instance, if you mark a sizeable bait ball closer to the Vashon side, odds are the bait will following the Vashon side towards Neill Point.  Vice versa for the Maury Island side.  The bait tends to push towards Piner Point.

As mentioned earlier the vastness of Quartermaster Harbor can be overwhelming however, it is one of it’s greatest attributes too. There’s is a lot of water to cover outside of the three areas I covered.  In fact, an angler can fish all day and not cover all the water. However, it is safe to assume if you are not finding productivity in these areas a common solution is to cover the open deeper water flats (out in the center of the outer harbor).  For those that like to fish deeper than normal at times, one can also troll along the 30-fathom contour.  However, you’ll want to hit this area as a last resort and if the current isn’t too strong.

Just a word of caution. Quartermaster Harbor is extremely popular with those that enjoy crabbing in the Dungeness rich waters.  Consequently, many pots are lost each season and downrigger anglers have a tendency to find them in short order.  Every year I bring two or three crab pots onboard that tangled with my downrigger lines.  I would recommend have a pair of good tough leather gloves onboard the boat to help bring the lost pots aboard.  It also pays to have extra downrigger balls, terminal snaps, connector sleeves, etc., in case you need them.  Nothing is worse than not having extras onboard when something was lost and fishing is good. 

Quartermaster Harbor will pump out a few fall chinook and coho every year, but the main game in town will be blackmouth December through April, or as the “open” season permits.  I generally start fishing this area around the 20^th of December until the closure (presently December 31^st each year) unless the Green Point/Fox Island sand spit (Marine Area 13) still produces fish.  Spring blackmouth fishing can be productive if the fish are not showing in the normal Point Dalco/Defiance areas.  You may run into an early fall run Chinook weighing in excess of 25-pounds mid to late June- which happens every year!  However, at this time of year, most fishing will take place on the south end of Vashon Island between Point Dalco and Neill Point.

 The opportunity to fish coho presents itself in late August through September in two areas.  The first area is at the entrance to the inner harbor adjacent to red bouy “2.”  A myriad of methods will produce fish here however, flatlining spoons, spinners, Wiggle Warts, and plug cut herring will take the majority.  The second area is adjacent to Piner Point.  If the fish are not showing in the normal spots, such as Point Robinson’s rip tides, it is a safe bet some fish will be here.

Spoons will take a fair share of fish. However, let me emphasize “size matters.“ Although there will be a lot of larger 4 to 5-inch herring in the area, smaller spoons produce more fish during fall through winter. Using smaller spoons appears to be very important during this time period- especially after the herring spawn. When spring arrives the use of larger spoons will take precedence. My custom spoon colors were all test fished in the 2 7/8-inch lengths here in February through April of 2009 with nothing short of outstand results. Silver Horde’s Kingfisher and Sonic Edge spoons in Green Spatterback, Chartreuse Spatterback, and UV finishes are also solid producers.

My first choice and most productive hoochie for blackmouth is the Captain Downriggin Special in glow or the new UV pearl.  A 3-inch B2 Squid can also be fished by itself without the Spin N‘ Glo however, I personally prefer the extra vibrations (noise) of the Spin N‘ Glo.  The hoochies of the Blackmouth Bites series were also tested here and Green Point.  The Baby Herring with it’s combination of glow in the dark and ultra violet really put a dent in the fish population in March despite low creel numbers reported. A scaled down (3 ¼ to 3 ½-inches) Switchblade, UV Herring, Lime Jellyfish, or White Knight hoochie is a good bet too.

Tomic plugs in the 3-inch Tubby or 4-inch Classic models in #140 and #632 color schemes are my mainstays here at Quartermaster Harbor.　

Disclaimer:　 The above article is based solely upon the author's experiences, opinions and thoughts of nearly 35-years of fishing on Puget Sound. Although there may be some similarities with other written or electronic information available to the public, no effort has been made to copy nor plagiarize similar work submitted verbally or in writing manually, via machine or electronically.