I had the day off from whale watching. I went to the channel at low tide to snag for cohos after Andrew told me he’d got four the day before. There were no fish there today, but it was a good long walk. I did a few chores at the house, cleaning the woodstove stack and hosing the moss off the roof.
The day was so nice I decided to go fishing on the boat at high tide. I ran down the channel south of town and got there just after high tide at about 4 pm. There were a few boats at Salisbury Point and one was boating a fish as I stopped, started the trolling motor, and put out a flasher and green king candy.
I fished for about an hour, trying different depths, and switched from king candy to a hootchie. I choked up the downrigger to about 25 feet. Finally, I got one on. And another. And another. I caught four, lost one, and released two undersized king salmon, fishing in a circle off the point over the next couple hours. All the coho were hooked nose males, and all nice sized. In between catching fish, I cleaned each fish after letting it bleed on a stringer over the side. I got back to the launch right at dark. I stopped on the way home and put more ice on the fish so I could butcher them in the morning.
I filleted, portioned and vac packed the four fish the next morning before work. These I’d send to Carl and Bonnie in Michigan, along with some crab.