Finally got the Skunk off!

Headed out of the Jim Clark marina (on Harbor Island) around 5:15 this morning. Didn't even slow down to think about trying Elliott Bay. Fished it hard the last two weekends without so much as a bite to show for it. Plus, the tribes were only able to catch 7 fish during their test fishery on Wednesday, so it's not looking great.

Kept on going up to Jeff Head which I've never fished before, but I'd done some reading up and felt pretty good. When I got there birds were crashing and there was bait everywhere, an awful lot of boats too, but I didn't see any fish on or nets out. This it turned out held true for the rest of the day; didn't see anyone else catch anything...

I tried a bunch of different stuff at different depths: 3" coyote spoons, coho killers, then at around 7:30 I switched over to a 4" blue Grand Slam bucktail behind an 11" green flasher, dropped it down to 80' and next thing you know my rod tip is dancing. Pulled up a nice resident silver which went straight in the to cooler (especially since I'd nearly ripped it's jaw off breaking the line off the downrigger).

I was happy to have a fish in the boat after several bad weekends, but I still wanted to feel the power of a king. About an hour before the 10:00 low tide I moved to the south side of the point in to about 180' of water and started fishing deep, with the downrigger at 150'. After picking up a dogfish doing this I reset down to 120' and BAM! I saw the first small tap on the rod tip, but once this fish found out he was hooked he popped out of the clip and started running...straight down. He took a few good runs and was down very deep, but i was able to work him up eventually and netted very easily. Unfortunately my first king of the year had one too many fins, so after a picture it was time to say goodbye. I'm guessing he would've weighed in around 12-15lbs, a good thick fish. (By the way, knotless net and he looked in great shape when released).

Didn't see any other nets out all day. Certianly was not red hot up there, but I was quite pleased to get a fight and a meal.

Photos to come.

snake7676

7/23/2010 7:32:00 PM

Rite on sounds good to me thanks for the report ! pics?

blurock

7/23/2010 11:08:00 PM

Thanks for the great report! I'm taking a friend out in Area 10 on Friday, and I'm trying to decide where exactly I want to go. Jeff Head, the green can infront of Shilshole west point or the shipping channel... If I had more time, I'd just run to possession, but I don't, so I'm stuck in 10

fear_no_fish

7/24/2010 12:18:00 PM

Careful netting chinook, you can get a ticket if you net a wild one

Bro-Rando

7/24/2010 2:47:00 PM

The rule is actually that you can't bring them over the gunwhale of the boat, which I admit I did. I understand why the rule is in effect, but since the fish was hooked very well and I was fishing alone I figured I could get the fish free a lot faster if I netted it with my knotless net and unhooked it instead of letting it thrash against the side of the boat. I know that I risked a ticket doing this, but I also wanted to release the fish as unharmed as possible.

G-Man

7/26/2010 10:24:00 PM

I also am guilty of that from time to time, usually when the seals are out in force. I've almost lost gear when a seal grabbed a fish I was trying to release. Way to stick with it out there!

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