An amazing morning of fishing at Shilshole on Sunday, September 6.

Since it's near the end of crabbing season, I decided to go Sunday and use up my freezer burned fish and unused kokanee scented corn along with some herring entrails as bait.

When I saw the boat trailers lined up on the street about a mile or so back from the launch around 8 AM I questioned my plan but decided to stay the course. The ramp was open and right after launching my 12' dinghy with my 6 hp motor, a boat and trailer pulled out of the launch parking lot so I pulled right in. Nice start.

I headed north and saw some eel grass. I dropped my pots and headed out deeper to let out my fishing line. I started to lower my 10 pound weight on my manual Scotty down-rigger but unfortunately it's set for 4-6 pound balls since I have only used it for trout and kokanee fishing. Zing! Cable wire everywhere jamming up my DR. I spend the next 45 minutes taking apart my DR and untangling the mess. &*%$.

I finally fixed it and set back my OAL12R hoochie with an #312 Ace Hi fly insert and herring strip and carefully lowered the line to 45' and tied it off with a rope. My fishing buddy, Randy Rauscher, has educated me on cable angle and speed so off I went. In less than 15 minutes - BLAM! A hard strike. I get a 12 pound silver in the boat and bust out laughing. I am sure I looked like a nut job or a fisherman who found his bliss. I didn't even mind that I could not close my Yeti lid. I then lower my line to 60 feet and within 5 minutes, BANG, the fights on. I get a nice 7 pound silver to the boat about three times and it's pretty worn out. On the fourth time to the boat, it wraps around my DR wire so I drop my pole, lift the DR arm with my right hand, and net the fish with my left! Bingo - limit! The only downside was my hoochies went flying off into the Sound when the line snapped. Seemed like a fair trade.

At this point I think it's a bit early to check the crab pots but I may as well. I pull them up and I have a dozen nice sized legal Dungeness crabs. I guess they like kokanee scented orange corn! I pick out the 5 largest and release the rest.

I get back to the launch and load up. The checker said that was the largest coho he had seen so far that day but it was only about 11:15 AM. I finally got out my coffee and lunch and headed home from an epic day of fishing. Perfect.

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