Back to the good.
We had to call off the scout boat trip to an island cabin because the weather is just too marginal, so we’re going to camp at a local camp ground. And we’re gonna get wet. Again. Real wet.
There was a lull between lows and I already had the boat hooked up to the truck from when I drove out the road today to check on the weather, so I ran down the road to the boat launch and headed to a spot in sight of the ramp. I caught a small coho in the first 15 minutes and thought – I’m in to them. Then the wind slowly rebounded as forecast, and I didn’t get another strike for an hour. Porpoises were slashing around me. They didn’t look like Dall’s porpoise, but were the color of harbor porpoises. Only they looked a little big for harbor porpoises, so not sure what they were. I pulled up the line once and the flasher and hootchie were gone and I wondered if one of the porpoises cut it.
I put on new gear as the wind continued to increase. I got a larger bright coho on this time. When I got it to the surface there were other big coho with it. I thought. Now I’m really into them. When I conked the fish with the gaff, I knocked it off the leader. As it floated away, I gaffed it right in the middle of the body and brought it aboard. I staggered in the chop to got more new gear on, but thought- I can’t fish too well in this wind, so I turned toward the dock and fished into the cove til I was out of the wind. Then I cleaned the fish and pulled my gear in. Fish for dinner tonight, and some for the freezer. Felt good to be fishing. Like it almost always does.