After having great success on Monday, decided to try for Coho again at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo. Was delighted to be joined by my wife, Boni, for this adventure. Boni has landed salmon out of a boat in the past, but never off the beach. Late last month she had three on, off the beach at Possession Point, but high winds kept her from beaching them. Maybe this will prove to be the day!
We arrived at the beach at about 7:00 AM, just the time of low tide, so we would be fishing the in-coming all morning. I went with my "go-to", the chartreuse Rotator with a pink hoochie, while I rigged a plug-cut herring for Boni. Boni sat and watched for the first half hour, while I went down to the water-line and began casting... as with Monday, I really didn't expect much for the early morning... second cast, wham, bam... FISH ON... heading for Clinton on Whidbey... this fish was wild, leaped out of the water half a dozen times... He was at the beach, thrashing in the shallows, when the hook popped straight up into the air, he came unbuttoned and scampered back to sea. The adrenaline was really pumping now, my heart was in my throat and Boni was back up the beach jumping and shouting encouragement. They do call it "fishing", not "catching"! Half a dozen casts later, and again, FISH ON... this one just as spectacular as the first, but this time was able to get it on the beach... a wild buck that weighed in at 5# 2oz on the digital scale, dressed. Chris (Cdsantiago216) showed up and greeted me as I carried the fish up the beach to the cooler. Good to see fellow NW Fishing friends out enjoying the sport. It was now about 7:30 and Boni was ready for action... several shoulder surgeries keep her from casting, so I do that for her, but she does everything else. A slight north to south current developed out front as the tide changed, so she was getting some decent action on the plug-cut... ran into bunches of eel grass that shredded the bait several times, but about 8:00 her float slipped beneath the surface, about 40' out... I immediately looked at the tip of her rod and saw it arcing wildly... she was into a fish... she did everything beautifully, keeping the rod-tip high, reeling steadily to keep pressure on the fish, and finally, backing slowly up the beach to bring the fish in... she beached a beautiful hatchery hen of 3# 2oz... couldn't have been more proud of her. In the next half hour I had three more hits without a hook-up, then the Rotator struck again... on the retrieve, only 10' off the tip of my rod, a fish exploded out of the water with my hoochie embedded in it's jaw... several bulldog runs toward Everett, leaping out of the water three, four times... twisting around and around, finally able to beach a beautiful wild hen of 4# 8oz... had the leader twisted around it's body so many times, it took me five minutes to unwind it. My fishing was done at 9:15... We kept trying for Boni's second. We fished until about 10:00, several soft bites left teeth marks on the herring, but couldn't get another hook-up. The bite really tailed off for a couple of hours. Took a break and ate lunch and just watched the beach activity for awhile... about 11:30 decided to try for another hour... our dozen herring were gone, so I cast the Rotator and schooled Boni on the retrieve... she did marvelously... she hooked two great fish and brought them both to the beach... the first, about 12:15, ran down the beach and straight into another fisherman's line, and the hook popped off. The second, about 12:45 came to the beach and as Boni backed up, with the fish's belly on the sand, the hook popped off and I watched, stunned, as the fish twisted it's way back to the water and swam off to fight another day... I was actually in place to kick the fish up the beach, but hesitated just long enough to see it get past me and to the water safely. We left the beach at 1:00, after an incredible, joyous day of "fishing" and "catching" too!
Quite a good number of fishermen (and women) out this day. As many as 12 to 15 at one point in time. Saw several hook-ups, but only saw one other fish landed. These Coho aren't going to break any weight records, but they are beautiful, feisty, and glorious on the dinner table. Such a blessing to be able to share in such a bounty! PTL!

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