Coho Mania! At the Everett boat ramp maybe, on the water not so sure but you can decide. After prying 2, 13 year olds out of bed at 3:30 in the morning we arrived at the Everett boat launch at about 4:30. Although the ramp was already very busy and the parking lot more than ½ full we were only about 5 or 6 rigs back and were underway by 5:00. Rounding Mukilteo we see the flotilla but kept heading south towards shipwreck and Picnic Point. Gear down north of Shipwreck and heading south the wait begins. Well so we thought anyway, we instantly have a double going. Fish in the box and guest fish on board we settled into some fair action on coho to about 10 pounds. We had decided to C & R all but the bigger fish (a decision that was later rescinded) so I was busy keeping gear in the water, running my manual downriggers and acting as a fish fighting coach/cheerleader. We worked the area releasing many fish until about 9:00 and then decided to go look for larger fish.

We fished the general area of the Bait Box off the southeast corner of Whidbey Island and got into some fairly consistent coho action. After we had 3 larger coho in the box it was decided that we’ll just limit the boat and call it a wrap. The task was easier said than done because we ended up losing a serious string of fish, including a very nice fish that was well into the teens. The fishing was good but we couldn’t get that last fish in the box. It was like we were cursed, the fish would just disappear at the last minute. All was explained though, I later come to find out that we had dried BANNANA chips on-board and the mystery was solved… After we worked our way back towards Shipwreck and were headed north the curse ends with the final fish in the box and on ice.

To preserve my sanity and not wear out the “old guy” we only fished two rods. We ran many different depths, speeds, lure combinations and leader lengths; but there was a solid theme to the fish catching combination. The go to set-up was a green and red 11” flasher, 32” of leader, a pearl candlefish hoochie with either a pink or a green glow insert and a 1” herring strip (maybe coincidence but any longer and it wouldn’t get bit.). The preferred speed was 1050 RPM or about 2.9 mph for our rig. All our fish were at 60-115 feet of cable with 110 feet being the most productive.

The day was a blast and we went home with limits for 4. I am not sure how many fish we intentionally released or outright lost but we had a good day. Our big fish was just over 13#, we had 2 right at 10 and the balance were 5 or 6 maybe 7 pounds.

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