Sorry for the tardiness of this report. Went to Neah Bay with Dad and brother in law to target Coho salmon for a few days. In 4 days we brought 40 fish to the boat and retained 19. Kept 3 kings, 6 pinks, 9 silvers, and 1 ling. Fishing was slow compared to what I have seen over there in the past, I am used to 40-50 fish per day but still great fun. Saw whales, eagles, what I think were porpoises and a lot of sunshine!
Have never seen such great weather for the Straits so many days in a row! Beautiful, maybe needed some crummy weather to turn on the fish. We used Coho Killers, green splatterback squid, cutplug herring, and Brad's superbaits. Best producers were the squid and herring behind a green Protroll flasher anywhere from 35 to 120 feet down, depending on time of day. Trolling speed was 2.6 to 3.3mph, either crosscurrent or with the tide. Had one big Chinook on briefly, about 15 seconds. Popped off the rigger and screamed away, broke water about 120 yards behind the boat, and proceeded to snap the line and steal my gear. I can only guess it's weight to be around 30lbs.
One afternoon wanted to try bottomfishing so pulled in by some rocks in about 40 feet of water and dropped a scampi-tail jig smeared with UV shrimp scent. Five minutes in, I get a heavy thump! Set the hook and the fish starts to leave the county! Peeled about 50 yards off and snap the 20 pound line goes. I have another rod setup with 25lb test and decide to try that one. Same thing again, thump, peel, put thumb on spool and burn thumb, peel more, snap! Would like to know what those were because they felt very heavy and strong, maybe big lings? Never had them peel line like that though.
Switched to herring and promptly caught a keeper ling, about 28 inches. Then brother in law catches one about 21 inches, back he goes. Got quiet except for 2 Irish Lords, crazy looking fish! Attempted to go out to the big water, mistake. 3-6 foot chop from two directions and big sea-rollers. Motored for a bit headed south but to rough for my taste, especially after my spleen fell out on the floor from getting pounded. Back to the Straits and try for some more salmon. All in all, a good trip, except for the Elk standing in the middle of the road, that took 2 years off my life! Hope everyone is catching, now time to hit the Hanford Reach for the URB's.