A late 2-day report, I have a rare unaccounted-for afternoon and ribs in the smoker so some spare time. This report is for Sunday July 18th and Monday the 19th. Using the 10th Street launch in Everett as a base we fished the northern end of MA 9 both days. Each day my boat left the dock at 2:00 and we would arrive at our spot at first light.

The first day my friend Jeff was fishing with me and we started just north of Morrowstone Point. My plan was to troll north with the last hour or so of the ebb tide then move on from there. Shortly after gear down we are into our first fish and Jeff was up to bat. We slid the net under the fish and were posing for pictures before the sun was even up. From that point we released a few smaller fish and missed a couple opportunities but no more fish love. I didn’t like the tides where we were, so maybe 10:00 or so I said let’s pick up the gear and move. We headed to the Bush Point area with the intent to target migrating fish up in the shallower water.

Gear stowed we were on the move and enjoyed the smooth run south. We arrived in the area I thought there may be some fish holding, ran the gear down and went to work. Back at the helm I see a meter mark and made the call that we’re going to get bit; 5, 4, 3, 2… and whamo. The rigger pops and we were fish on. I kind of put the screws to the fish and 10 minutes later it was in the net. We were way excited, on station 15 minutes and the go home fish was in the box.

Fast forward to 2:00 am the next day. Same drill but dam it was dark. My friend Andy and his dad were joining me for the day. Yapping it up as we cruised, I summarized the previous trip and laid out our plan for the day. I had decided to start in the Bush Point area but based on the tide I had a different plan than the day before. Arriving just before sun-up we got to work.

My first troll wasn’t really cooperating with the tide so we picked up the gear and moved about ½ mile. Gear back in the water things looked promising. Just as we were discussing meter marks, I realize that a fish seemed to be tracking us. Not sure exactly what happened but the fish must have dropped back and slammed our spoon. Andy’s Dad was into the first fish of the day but we ended up losing it.

With Andy’s dad up to bat for the next hour or so we cycled through a number of nice fish but it wasn’t in the cards. Eventually the hot bite died and we moved up to the MCB area. With a flood tide I would normally fish the east side of Morrowstone but decided to concentrate on fresh fish coming around Point Wilson with the flood tide.

Focusing on suspended meter marks we got busy. Wasn’t long before a clip pops and we were fish-on. This time Andy takes the rod and a very spunky first fish of the day finds it’s way into the net. From the skipper’s point of view, I was relieved… From that point more lost fish, a number of drive-bys but it wasn’t meant to be. A long day for the gang we decided to make a day of it and head for the barn. The ride back to Everett was a bit lumpy but we made good progress and Red was back on the trailer sometime around 4:00.

Generally, we were doing my usual chinook drill. 11” flasher 42” of 30# fluorocarbon and a 3.0 or 3.5” Goldstar Kingfisher Lite Spoon. We also ran an occasional Coho Killer spoon and an Olympic Tackle fly with a really crappy herring strip. The Kingfisher Lite spoons definitely had the edge this weekend but the fly/herring strip caught a keeper both days.

The hot lure of the weekend was a glow/UV White Lightning spoon slathered up with anchovy goo. The gear was running 20’ behind the clip and our trolling speed varied between 3.0 and 3.5 MPH. that said the cable angle is more important than actual trolling speed. When fishing for chinook I try to maintain the downrigger cable at approximately 45 degrees going into the water. The recent addition of an iTroll unit on my boat is a game changer. I have precision control of my kicker speed and the speed does not change as I steer the boat. Although the first fish of the weekend was hooked after bouncing the downrigger ball off the bottom all of our fish were hooked off of suspended meter marks in 40 to about 300’ of water.

Pretty grueling but a great weekend on the water. Hooked and played with a lot of fish, good company and decent weather made for a fun weekend.

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