Last trip of the season on the salt water for JoAnn and I, and our last fishing trip for the year as well. We started way back in April with a super successful trip to Lake Chelan for kokanee. Sad to say, we couldn’t bookend that trip with the same results today.

We launched from Edmonds and had lines in water at 7:15. Winds were light, HT was 8:20 today, temp 50ish. The reports hadn’t been great but people were still catching fish. Talked with a guy at the sling, Jason, who reported going out over the weekend and doing well on coho so I was hopeful.

We went out about a little ways off the marina and dropped our gear down, and began prospecting. I saw fish everywhere on the depthfinder, ranging from 30 to 120 feet deep. Edmonds was plugged with fish! We ran our usual gear, flashers and hoochies, with herring strips. Started with our old reliable colors.
Nothing.

After an hour I ran us two miles north of Shipwreck and started trolling with the outgoing tide, back toward Edmonds. I kept our speed at 3-3.5mph. There were more boats working this area, maybe a couple dozen compared to a dozen at Edmonds. Again, fish, fish everywhere and not a biter among them! I saw no nets and lots of shrugs as we passed by. Finally, at 11am a bite! 110 feet on the rigger, the rod popped off the release and… nothing. Fish came off.

Continued all the way back to Edmonds and called it a day at noon. Perhaps it was the weather that turned the fish off. Back at the sling I talked with guys in a couple boats and they had the same results we did. A disappointing end to the saltwater season for us but hey, I can’t complain too much. It was an amazing year on the water for JoAnn and me.

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