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It’s September so that means one thing in this household – JoAnn and I are coho fishing out of Edmonds!

This year as many know is tough with closures and reduced fishing opportunities for coho. That said, Area 10 is open for clipped coho. I admit certain reluctance to fish areas that have restrictions such as these because I know the odds are good that we’ll be catching unclipped coho and have to release these fish. My concern is mortality after the release, despite using best practices. Despite my misgivings JoAnn was very much up for some fishing so we decided to give it a try.

Before reporting further I need to give DJ Butler a big “High Five” Shout Out for some fishing recommendations he gave me. My fish finder is in the shop so I was fishing without this tool. DJ graciously gave me some depth tips to try based on his successful outing. I am not exaggerating when I say it made a significant difference in our success for the day, so Thanks DJ!

We arrived at 6:20am at the Edmonds Marina and were fourth in line, which was in itself a surprise. The parking lot though, was almost full. There must have been a lot of guys that moored up the day before.
We launched with three dogs in tow (watching a friend’s dog, Teddy, a cute little poodle).

There were lots of boats around Edmonds and the oil docks so we ran a bit farther down to Richmond Beach and we got to work. First rod was set to 35 feet deep with a 8” red flasher and a blue Arctic Fox Salmon Series trolling fly. The second rod was going to be set at 45 feet but a downrigger malfunction (snapped cable) caused us to change plans and run a deep six with a red green flasher and magnum splatter green hoochie. All gear had herring strips in tow.

Within ten minutes the downrigger rod popped and JoAnn landed our first fish of the morning at 7:30, a resident clipped coho of 2-3 pounds. Not a bad start to the morning!

The Deep Six rod saw the rest of the action until 8:30. JoAnn caught a nice unclipped coho of six pounds that was safely released. Then she played another fish to the boat only to have a sea lion rip it off the hooks and swim off with it, surfacing twenty yards away and flipping his tail off at us. A third fish, lost, and then another resident coho of 3 pounds came into the boat. Two fish in the boat, one release and two lost in the first 90 minutes – not a bad start to the morning!

After that things went quiet. The Deep Six rod was done for the day and so was I at 11:20, but JoAnn said “let’s fish until noon, we don’t have any other plans for the day”. OK, what the heck. A couple minutes later the downrigger rod released from 45 feet down. I had changed to an army Truck medium sized hoochie and a green flasher after seeing another boat land a coho on a green flasher. Good move and coho number three, another nice three pound resident was in the cooler.

Now I dared to think the magic “boat limits” goal. Sure enough, at 11:55 the downrigger rod again pops and this time it’s another bigger fish. I handed the rod to JoAnn and she skillfully worked the fish into my awaiting net. No fin! A beautiful six pound ocean coho was bleed and put in the cooler. Our first coho trip of the season was in the books with boat limits.

We didn’t see a ton of fish being caught but for the most part we avoided the crowds. We stuck in the general area of the oil docks and south, away from the crowds. Fish are scattered but in decent numbers that should only get much better in the next few weeks.

It’s Puget Sound Coho Time!

Cantgetenoughfishn

9/4/2017 8:08:41 PM

Nice photo and report. That sea lion took a 15# or so king from me during the chinook season. Now that is a definate mortality rate with that critter.

BARCHASER

9/5/2017 5:05:07 PM

Thank you for the report. Except for last year when 8, 9 and 10 were closed, I moored my boat at Everett for several years. This year with only 10 open, I don't want to make the run from Everett to 10. So I have an appointment tomorrow to set up stack moorage at Edmonds. I went over there today and it all looks good. But you have make an appointment to actually set up the moorage. They kinda do things by the numbers.

Side note I also got a Nook taken by a furbag in July at Possession. Thats about the fifth time in last 4-5 years that happened.

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