Went fishing out of Shilshole in my trusty Arima with daughter Megan. Left after breakfast to accommodate her sleep pattern (grin). Tried in vain an experimental technique for catching sockeye in salt water. After an hour or so, decided to blast south for some Chinook or resident silvers.

Fished at Dolphin with a Fish Flash and a 5 inch Coyote on one side, a mini Hot Spot and Kingfisher spoon on the other. Fished mostly 50 to 65 with no luck. As Megan took a nap, I dropped the coyote to 80 to see what was deeper. At about 1:15, I got a good hit on the Coyote. I grabbed the pole and yelled for Megan. I put a fighting belt on her to give her leverage, and she did a great job getting the clipped, 8 pound hen blackmouth to the boat! As a bonus, we saw a submarine and a couple of tending ships mosey around off Blake Island.

When we got back to Shilshole, it was a minus 2.5 tide, and it was a zoo. The water was past the end of the ramp, and some folks were trying to take big heavy boats out with two-wheel drive trucks. One guy buried a dualie up to the bed into the mud/rocks. I took off my trailer and tried to pull him out, but my truck didn't weigh enough. He had to have a tow truck use it's cable and winch to get him out, when the water was up to the doors! Those of us with 4WD had no problem, especially on the middle, right lane, which seemed to have the deepest water. Megan had an ice cream cone and went beach combing while all this went on, but it took forever.

Hoping for sockeye in the lake soon!

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