Finally, after months away from my fishing gear in Bellingham, and with weather heating up fishing across the board, I decided to put my schoolwork and studies on hold for a couple hours in order to satisfy a most basic need of my soul.

A "reconnaissance" mission of sorts was in order, to scope out a beach, that in all honestly, looked quite promising. No fly gear today, just an ultralight seven-footer and a handful of spoons and spinners.

The weather started out poor, cloudy and breezy with remnants of the heavy showers that blew over yesterday still lingering in the salty air. But as time pressed on and the tide slowly ebbed out towards slack, the wind likewise blew out to see and left me treading most pleasantly in the shallow waters of the bay.

Wading shoes and shorts meant cold feet, but light travel and maneuverability. I covered some good ground, which turned out to be a smart move.

This beach has great habitat: Rocky, barnacle-covered rocks, abundant eelgrass and kelp, and several points jutting out into the bay. At some points, the foliage cover is too thick to penetrate, but baitfish will move in and out of these places in abundance. Of course, the trout follow these little buggers too. I noted a couple schools of salmon fry, most likely humpy but maybe chum.

At the apex of one point, my spoon was toyed with a couple times by some unseen, but surely felt trout. Short strikes were the name of the game. Finally, one decided to play a little harder, which resulted in a hookup. Reminder to self:keep pressure on the fish, barbless hooks have a tendency to..... yep, fall out when you suck at playing fish.

An hour came and went, the tide began to flood, and I returned to the same spot that I lost the first fish. This time, I had a slightly different spoon. The change proved worthwhile, as a heavy grab from a fish resulted in another hookup. I swear it was the same fish that I lost before, same size and all. He was brought to hand, and subsequently released. Beautiful Sea-Run, probably about 16 inches or a little more. Super healthy fish.

Although it was the only one caught, the amount of sea life and the great weather made for an amazing return to fishing in Bham. I honestly expected to catch nothing, but my quarry proved to be lurking about. Not bad for a couple hours!

Tight, Unbroken lines!

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