Had read reports that the Coho are beginning to show off the west side of Whidbey, so I caught the first ferry out of Mukilteo on Saturday AM (6:00AM). Arrived at Fort Casey a little after 7:00 and was fishing by 7:30. Started out 100' south of north boundary sign... saw about 20 to 25 fishermen stacked a couple hundred yards south, on a slight point out from the beach. Low tide was about 5:30, so we had an incoming tide until high tide at 1:30PM. Tied on a PLine Laser Minnow, 1oz in Herring pattern... with a little Smelly Jelly for effect. Used it all day long. About 8:30 had a definite hit, just a quick tug and the water exploded behind my lure, about 150' out, just into my retrieve. Had a couple subtle hits... no telling if they were salmon or not. About 9:00 my lure stopped, and I was into a fish! For thirty seconds I was fighting... then just a heavy weight on the line... reeled in a nice Rock Fish, covered with seaweed. Out of water just long enough the remove the hook and a photo op... then back she went. A little while later the fellow fishing next to me caught one of the largest Rock Fish I've ever seen (and I've seen plenty!)... I would guess it went at least 8#... saw a couple more caught down the beach... no open season on them in area 9. Saw two fish beached and saw maybe four more carried up to the parking lot... bite was off by 9:00AM and the beach cleared down to perhaps 8 or 9 fishermen until later in the afternoon. Had a small silver follow my lure to the beach about 11:00, but nothing more... but I wanted to stay for the out-going tide... so I kept casting... the day of a thousand casts... needed some Ben Gay Saturday night! I caught enough seaweed for a ton of sushi, but no fish to go with it!
Some of the local fauna kept us entertained... a big Harbor Seal bobbed out front all day long... about 11:00 saw a gigantic Sea Lion swimming north about 100 yards out... moving like a freight train until he was out of sight. About an hour later he swam south at a more leisurely pace... almost sure I saw him with a salmon as he continued south, he surfaced and it looked like a lot of water splashing as he feasted on one of the salmon I was going to catch!!! A huge flock of Gulls had congregated of the beach about 200 yards to the north as the tide was coming in... all of a sudden they erupted into the air and looking up I spied a large Bald Eagle zeroing in on them. What was amusing was that after he made a fly-over the Gulls, he turned and headed south, obviously heading for the large white kite that a family was flying from the beach. He made one pass before he figured out that this thing was not something to eat.
The tide turned at 1:30 and I kept casting... about 2:15, Wham! Heaving fish on! He took out 40 or 50 yards of line and then got him under control.. made headway and after 5 minutes got him to the line that marks the deep from the shallow water. That, he did not like... made another run, a couple of violent headshakes and the barbless hook came unbuttoned! Should have used Super Glue instead of Smelly Jelly! I think it was probably a Chinook, as he never approached the surface, just dove deep. What a rush for several minutes! Very pleased with my new gear. After lots of shopping, had purchased a Cabela's Salt Striker reel paired with a Cabela's Fish Eagle 10' salmon/steelhead rod. Moderately priced, they performed above my expectations!
Spoke to a couple regulars on the beach... told me the fishing has been off and on the last week or so, just a sprinkling of fish caught, but they both said fishing should be hot in two more weeks! Can't wait! PTL!

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