Ok, I got lucky on numerous accounts; I had the day off, the wind was tolerable, I pulled the throttle back on top of a bunch of fish and I chose the right gear. My boss and I agreed to this week’s schedule and I had a couple days off. Being one that is a bit addicted to being on the water I figured that I was going fishing. Without a real plan I pulled out of the driveway around 5:00, hit Holiday for a 4-shot latté and headed towards Whidbey Island.

The wind forecast kept changing so I didn’t really know where I was headed. As I crossed over the Deception Pass bridge, I decided that I would continue on to Oak Harbor and launch at the Oak Harbor Marina ramp. To be honest I typically avoid the launch; the ramp is well maintained but the slope is very gradual and it is difficult to get the boat on and off the trailer without putting the truck wheels in the water. Boat splashed without incident and ramp jabber fest behind me I am motoring through the inner harbor by about 7:00-7:30. My recently hatched plan was to fish down Marine Area 8-1 until I found fish or ran out of daylight.

I set a course for Rocky Point and a few minutes later I was on station and preparing for battle. Being solo I would be limited to one rod and I knew that gear selection would need to be spot on. Initially I was marking a ton of bait and salmon and figured that I would start with an Olympic Tackle candlefish fly. Almost immediately the downrigger pops I was fish on. But wait, it was not acting like a salmon. My opponent had weight but didn’t really make any runs. In fact, it swam right to the boat, waited while I got the net out and then swam straight into the net. Very strange and unfortunately it had one too many fins. That first fish was 12-15 pounds and just the start of what would prove to be a crazy morning.

It seemed that I had shutdown on the mother-load, my meter was lit up with salmon marks. Thinking it would be a perfect time to deploy some flashers that I had recently modified I started cycling through gear. I don’t know maybe it wasn’t a fair test. I probably could have sent my keys down and got bit!

Over the next hour and a half, I released another wild fish in the 15-pound range, released three 23-24” chinook and ended up keeping a just shy of 25” fish. I hate using my limit on just legal fish but the last fish was bleeding so I bonked it and called it a day.

In the end most of the fish were caught on a green and red “Blinky” flasher and my Olympic Tackle candlefish fly tipped with a salted herring strip. My set back is around 20’ and the fly was running on 42” of Seaguar fluorocarbon. My trolling speed varied between 2.6-3.2 mph depending on the current. The fish seemed to be bunched up at around 100’ in water that was 110-200’ deep. Usually I am dragging the balls around in the mud when blackmouth fishing but this morning they were suspended and it was a meter mark show all the way.

What an incredible morning, dare I say like the “good old days”? I think that I spent more time cleaning the boat up or driving to Oak Harbor and back than I did actually fishing. But, during my brief fishing window it was pretty much nonstop action!

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