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We went out coho fishing this morning mostly because my brothers heard a glowing report on one of the Saturday morning radio talk shows about how hot the coho fishing was along the Gig Harbor shore line in very shallow water. On top of that they heard that long lining behind the boat with a herring and sinker was the hot ticket - no downriggers, no divers, no flashers. Just a herring and sinker.

I keep up with creel reports and reports on here and in other places, so I had a few small doubts. However, the "experts" had spoken and we didnt need no stinkin downriggers or divers on our boat! The fish would be jumping in all on their own chasing those herring.

I caught all kinds of grief for expressing some modest doubts and for suggesting we at least take the downriggers and some divers as a back-up. My brothers made an emergency run to Sportco last night to replenish 6oz banana weights and get some frozen herring. We wanted to be fishing before first light and didnt want to risk a hi-speed run all the way to the Defiance Marina for fresh herring in the pitch dark and fog at 5AM. I reminded them that these hi tides had left a lot of debris in the water including some full size trees.

Well.......

We got up at 430 and were on the water by 5:45 at the Gig Harbor ramp in the pitch dark. We had a little excitement at the launch when the boat that went in right in front of us started to sink! We had to scramble a bit to get our boat out of the way and help the solo fisherman get his boat into the shallows so he could put his plug in. Luckily, he managed to get the plug in ok before too much water got inside. We took off as soon as he was safe so I dont know if he actually went out after his bilge pump emptied the boat or not.

Any way, we trolled all up and down the Gig Harbor shore from a couple of miles north of the harbor and south down to Pt Evans, along Pt Dalco to the ferry terminal, across to Pt Defiance, in front of the Defiance Marina and Olsons Beach and several times around the Gig Harbor entrance.

I managed to catch several very very small shakers using spoons behind a sinker with some bloody tuna scent along with a few Irish Lords and one skulpin and one large herring - which we should have kept for bait! My brothers caught nada trolling those "herring".

Turns out they had picked up packs of frozen anchovies by mistake. I have no idea if anchovies are better or worse for salmon fishing but that was just one more small item adding to todays "fish story"! Needless to say we had to troll pretty slowly to keep our gear even a few inches under the surface - no where near normal coho speeds.

The one very cool aspect of the trip was right after dawn just outside Gig Harbor. The Pacific White-sided Dolphin thats been hanging out just outside the harbor decided to come play with us two different times. That was very cool! He was in a playful mood and spent several minutes going all around and under the boat while we were trolling. He even spent a few seconds up-side down right along the side of the boat just inches away and just under the surface. All three of us about fell in the water several times trying to get cell phone shots of him with little success. I finally got some short half decent video clips before he took off. One interesting thing which I hope isnt a bad indicator. Twice he ducked under the bow of the boat and gave it a light tap as he went under. I have no idea of he was just playing or asking us to have sex or trying to chase us away. My impression was he was having fun but who knows. Dolphins always look like they are having fun.

cobrar543

10/1/2015 8:20:00 AM

OUT standing report. I know that brother, He is mine too. LOL

scraig1962

10/1/2015 11:16:00 AM

I see the problem already. Banana boat... no bananas on the boat. Also heard reports of them being caught in shallows around pilot point and pnp.

Billm

10/1/2015 9:27:00 PM

I too heard the fishing reports on the radio, but as a pod cast this week. We were out there as well on Saturday, but went over to Pt. Robinson. Nothing, not even a bite. We saw only one small one taken. When we got back in, we spoke with the fish checker at the Gig Harbor ramp, and they had not checked in a fish all day. And this was about 2:00pm. The way the radio sounded, the fish should have been jumpin in the boat. I have learned to take that show with a gain of salt, and their recommended tackle (got to remember they have sponsors.)

Larry3215

10/1/2015 10:05:00 PM

We talked to two other guys at the Gig Harbor ramp who did about at well as we did - zip. When we stopped at the Pt Defiance Marina for a potty break, I talked to several people. Only one guy said he had any luck and the one fish he kept was only about a two pounder. I suppose its possible that there was good action at some point in the week prior to the radio show, but by the time we got out there it was dead. Ive learned to take pretty much ALL fishing reports with a grain of salt if the person making the report has any commercial interest in fishing - that includes guides, owners of resorts and radio talk show hosts :)

sterlingdriver

10/7/2015 8:02:00 AM

I heard that same fishing report and I felt like my fishing buddy must have called into that radio station and gave away our secrets. I limited out 4 times last week using the same method. Stay on the inside of the kelp. 5 to 10 ft of water. I use less than a 1/2 oz of weight.

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