My wife, Boni, and I got up at o'dark-thirty and caught the 5:05 AM ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton and headed for Possession Point to fish for Coho (hopefully!). Low tide had occurred at 5:45 so we were fishing an incoming tide all the way to high tide at 2:00 PM... great tide change for fishing all day! I purchased our first bucket of live herring, and had lines in the water by 6:15. Two other fishermen on the beach with us at the beginning of the day. Slow for the first couple of hours... saw a few juvenile salmon jump... Water was moving fast out front, so the floats were going fast from left to right. Boni was the first to connect, her float went down about 9:30 and she reeled in (after a spirited fight) a 14" juvenile hatchery hen, stuck in the lip, so returned to grow bigger. A half hour later, another strike, and she reeled in a nice sized, gorgeous Quillback Rockfish (released unharmed)... a short time later, she reeled in a nice Sandab (Flounder) which flipped off the hook, onto the beach and wriggled back into the water before I could corral it. As the tide continued in, we were joined by several other fishermen, and we saw perhaps six or seven other juvenile cohos caught and returned. About noon, Boni had another hit and reeled in another juvenile, an 11" fish which, regrettably had swallowed the herring and was hooked in the gills and was bleeding profusely. I dispatched it quickly and put it on ice. A half hour later, Boni reeled in her third juvenile Coho of the day... this was a 16" native buck, so back into the Sound it went. I don't know what stink I had on my rig, but all I could catch was about a dozen Staghorn Sculpins, as my bait neared the beach. As the tide neared the high-water mark, we began to notice a few adult Coho jumping out front. Hopes rose! About 1:30, as I had just replaced my bait, I saw a good Coho jump within casting distance. I immediately cast in the vicinity of the leaping fish... about ten seconds after my float hit the water, it was yanked under the surface... FISH ON! The fish took to the air once, then headed for Edmonds... then my line went slack and I figured the fish was gone... then I saw a silver streak headed straight for the beach, right at me... I reeled like crazy, taking up the slack. The fish came within five feet of the beach, took a right turn and headed north... just as abruptly, it changed direction and headed south... by now I had the fish back on controllable line, and quickly brought it to the beach. A beautiful hatchery hen of 4# 5oz on my digital scale, after bleeding. Boni and I fished until 3:00 and then headed home. Saw no other adult Coho caught before we left.
This was my fifth trip to Whidbey this season, twice to Possession and three times to Fort Casey. Today was the only day either of us landed a fish. Have not seen an adult Coho caught besides mine today. Not one Pink have I seen caught. Have heard reports that the Pinks have already entered the rivers, numbers way down because of poor spawning conditions in 2015. I am certainly no expert, but I think the Coho are still a ways out. The only question is, will they show up in any numbers before September 4th closure?
Always a joy the spend the day on the beach. Very proud of the great fisher lady I am married to! PTL!

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