Got out on Sunday for our annual Father's Day Westport trip. The past few years we had been hitting the early hatchery Chinook season (two kings!), but with the large estimated runs this year fishing opened early and we unfortunately missed the king season and got out for the opener of regular salmon season (Two hatchery coho or one hatchery coho and any king).

The trip started out with a little concern. We run in a six pack boat and the swells were forecast at 5 ft at 9 seconds with a 3 to 4 ft wind chop. The water was calmer at first but worsened as the day progressed with some waves at 8 to 9 ft with the chop on top. In the 32 foot aluminum we charter there were a lot of ups and downs and slamming going on, but regardless we made a trip of it!

Right off the bat we ran south and saw some strange whale activity. It was too cool to pass up so we went and checked it out. A few humpbacks were throwing the rear end of their body out of the water at strange angles and slapping the water making huge sprays of water. The captain spotted this from a distance and moved closer and they continued to do it. A baby got totally air borne a couple of times.

After the whale action we continued our run down to the fleet. Had a fish on almost immediately after dropping lines and then had to wait a bit. Had to wait out the morning a while, the fleet left, but we continued on. Found some massive bait balls, lots of birds, and more whales (which turned out to be a good omen). From then on it was pretty lights out and a lot of the fleet ended up coming back from the north to fish. Lots of coho on and off from about 9 am to noon. In the afternoon the king bite picked up. Boated two nice kings (~20 lbs), lost about three. Had several triples none of which got all three, but still exciting.

I ended up with the two biggest coho at around 6 or 7 lbs, lots in the 3 to 5 range. The boat limited at about 2 including the captain and deckhand, 16 fish total (14 coho, 2 kings). The fish weren't really on a terror and there were lots of real soft bites resulting in lost fish (in combination with the rough water). When the deckhand cleaned the fish they were absolutely packed as full as they could go with krill. They were just getting greedy on us! All in all a killer trip, going to have to go back for when those coho grow up a bit and the kings want to bite a little better.

Ended up 22 miles south of the jetty over 200 to 300 feet of water. Whole herring baits and divers were the method of choice. I drug around a kingfisher in cop car for 2 hours against my will without luck, although I was told it did work the previous trip. Sometimes the real thing is just better. I fished the bow rod which was set at 15 feet (mid line was at 25 and stern at 35) so don't think I had much chance at a king. Kings mostly came on the deep line. Happy to see everyone else doing so well though!

Tight lines all!

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