Spent a half day casting and trolling the salt beaches of Port Susan chasing Searuns. I always forget how well these things fight, we had several fish in the 18-20 inch range that made crazy runs and of course multiple wild jumps. Most of the fish were caught casting small spoons, but we also did well trolling thin blade spoons, and minnow imitation flies. Once you locate these fish you can usually get them to hit but it my require some experimentation to find the right offering. We probably landed about twenty, and lost at least another ten which is no big deal as this is strictly a catch and release fishery.
The Bubble July 12th
Last year the Tulalip bubble was very good to me, but the reports so far this season have been weak but I had to give it a try and it's close so what the heck. I see my first solid sign that it might be a good day when I drive by the buoy there is a bass boat with three guys jigging and the guy in front is hooked up! He lands a bright fish which was probably a hard fifteen lbs, I get set up trolling a spoon at 80 feet, heading back towards the buoy and the bass boat and they are hooked up again! I've done well there with a metal jig before I got the downriggers, and was tempted to switch but though I'd hang with the spoon a little longer. They lose the fish at the net and while I'm watching all this I finally notice my pole is bouncing [ not sure how long that was going on ]. After a nice fight and a Jerry Lewis net job I got a nice crisp 10lb King on board. You forget how hard it is to net a hot fish in real bumpy water by your self! So speaking of fishing alone I deicide to put out a second line as this is one of few if not the only place you can use your two rod endorsement in the salt. So after getting both downriggers set which is tougher than you think, [remember bumpy water and no one steering] the rod on my side goes off and it's fish on! I get my downrigger up and am kind of steering with my knee when the other pole starts bouncing. At first I think It's my fish hung up in the other line...... but no I have two fish on! So I slide over to the other side and hit the switch to bring up the other ball and thats when fish #1 comes unpinned, I reel in that line and grabbed the the other pole just as that fish jumps about three feet in the air and comes off. This all happened in less than thirty seconds and my heart is pumping, it's time to sit down, have a beer and to think about the lesson learned. I fished the rest of the day using half of my two rod endorsement!
Did that just happen? Twice? July 11th
Took a group crabbing second weekend of the season, and we went to a spot I had not been in years [big risk]. They wanted to go out of Camano to learn the water as they are new to the area. The old hole did not disappoint ! We got limits of crab that were huge, and did not need the measuring tool as there were no marginal sized bucks. While we were soaking the pots we trolled for Searun Cutts and had caught several in the fifteen inch range and were fishing in about 10' of water when my pole just buries and the water 75 feet back explodes. After a crazy battle we net a hatchery Steelhead of about 8 pounds. So we go back to Searun fishing using a red Mack's wedding ring with a piece of worm on a red #2 hook. We are now trolling back against the tide heading toward the spot we hooked the Steely and we hooked two more Cutts, when BAM the other rod goes off hard and is so pegged the guy can't get the rod out of the holder. After finally getting the rod out they have a great battle on what essentially is trout gear and as we are about to net another hatchery Steelhead it makes a crazy run on the surface and comes unpinned. Steelhead in the salt with barbless hooks, what a rush!
Steel Shortage! July 9th
Back on the Sky and did we struggle! After many multi-fish days we hit the wall today, luckily we landed the one solid hook up of the day and it just so happened to be a hatchery Steelhead. We saw no kings rolling and hooked no Dollies, which you can usually count on. Spent most of the day sidedrifting, and did some bobberdoggin. I did not see any other fish caught today but there was a nice King carcass at the boat launch.
Cloudy water July 6th
After a string of really hot days the glacial silt running out of the Sauk is making a mess of of our favorite Dolly holes. We still had a strong day by most peoples standards, catching about ten each all around 3-4lbs. It was fun because we had to find new water instead of counting on our go-to holes. I swear this river has Dollies from top to bottom, and I'm amazed at how strong the population of 3+ pounders is!
Another limit of crab July 4
Nothing better than fresh crab to add to the 4th of July cookout. Took a small group for a half day of crabbing and in two short pulls got limits and they ran a little bigger today, lots of alfa-males. Also fished for flounder briefly, plenty caught but all on the small side.
The Crabs are back! July 3rd
Finally crabbing season !!! Nothing better than fresh dungies! Took a group out for some crabbing & flounder fishing. The crabbing was great with limits for all, and no real crowds at least in our area. We also caught lots of flounder which were all decent size, which was nice as you usually need to work around the little ones. We also did some catch and release cutthroat fishing which was fun as they are aggressive biters and put up a great fight. The searuns averaged about 16" with several over 20".
More Dolly action ! June 25th
After the last time out for Dollies the bar was set pretty high, and while we didn't match the red letter day level it was a strong outing none the less. We did not spend anytime targeting Kings today we went straight to working swimbaits for Dollies........yes I said swimbaits! These soft plastic smolt look-alikes were the deal as we caught fish in nearly every hole. No monsters today but plenty of 3-5 pounders to make it interesting, and as I stated in my last update these fish are in great shape putting up excellent battles. We saw no Steelhead caught and had only one brief encounter as she spit the swimbait on the very first jump. You Gotta get in on this this type of fishing is a blast and anyone can do it!
Monster Dollies.......Skagit, June 21st
Went to the Skagit with my Nephew and brother-in-law and had a red letter day!! The weather could not be better as it was sunny and 70 degrees, and the fishing was outstanding. When we got to the launch at Rockport there were about five other rigs in the lot and I recognized most as being guides. It seems they were all targeting Kings as we did not see another boat all day below the launch. I have never caught as many big Dollies this time of year, and I can't remember the fish being as healthy and robust as they were today! I lost count of how many we caught but it was ridiculous, I had the big fish of the day which was a rowdy toad that weighed in at 7 1/4 pounds and was 28 1/2 inches long. We had multiple fish that went over four pounds and they fought like 10 pound Steelhead, it was amazing. Speaking of Steelhead we hooked two summer run fish, one was hooked on a swim-bait as I was teasing a Dolly Varden, I saw it miss the bait as I was pulling the swim-bait out of the water so I quickly dropped it back down and jigged it up and down several times and boom, it hammered that swim-bait and made a hard, fast fifty yard run and did a triple back flip and was off. This is going to be an amazing Dollie year so don't get left behind, book a trip early as we will fill up quick! the Dollie fishing will be great from now until the river closes next Feb.
They come in waves......Sky, June18th
Stay focused and keep casting cause ya never know. This seemed to be the pattern today as our boat would go hours between hits and then bang we would hit a wave of fish. The Kings and Steelhead seem to traveling together today, when we did hook fish it was a nice mix of both. It might just be me and my clients but it seems this year we are getting way more native fish than in past years, and thats O.K. it's not always about bonking fish as long as you are hooking up. We did not see any of the other boats catch fish today but we saw about seven carcasses at the Lewis St. launch when we returned. All our fish today were caught side drifting eggs or cured shrimp, and had one massive take down on a Mag-Lip plug while we were eating lunch, we never saw this fish it made one long fast run and came unpinned. Today's totals- 9 hook-ups, six to the net, and two hatchery fish, one King one Steelhead.