Cruising Under the Deception Pass Bridge

It’s been on my list for a long time to drive my boat through Deception Pass. I’ve also been asking my wife for a while if she’d go fishing with me – she’s been a couple of times, but it’s been a while. The season is ending soon, so we decided that now was the time for both those things. I had considered going crabbing, but I decided that a more fun and relaxing activity for Viktoria would be simple, relaxing bottom fishing for sand dabs.

We got a very late start, but there was no particular hurry for these fish. We launched at beautiful Cornet Bay around 9:30. It’s the best boat launch for miles around, and very close to Deception Pass. The water was exceptionally smooth and pleasant in the whole area. It was perfect timing for the pass, since it was near slack tide. I approached it with some trepidation, but it was just fine. Slow-moving boats like sailboats and trawler-style yachts need to worry about it a lot and time it just right, but a Whaler that can go 30 mph can overcome any current. Still, it would still be foolhardy to plow through the pass downcurrent during a strong tidal exchange. Even near slack tide, there were some very unusual and interesting eddies in the water, and though the sea was flat I could still feel the boat being jostled from side to side horizontally by the minor maelstrom.

I was surprised to see a whole fleet of fishing boats trolling the south bank just outside the pass. I had reviewed the fishing rules for the area the night before, but missed the fact that coho fishing there is still open until October 13th. I’ll have to try that next year after my local area closes. Back inside the pass, we looked for a place to drop our lines. The whole area east of Deception Pass was full of commercial crab pots. One of the boats came within 50 feet of us while we were fishing, to pull one of their pots. Now I know where a good crabbing place is – but I’d have to get there before it gets carpet bombed by the commercial guys.

We first started fishing near Skagit Island, but after 10 or 15 minutes we had caught nothing (which is unusual for sand dab fishing). Then we moved to Hope Island with no luck. Then we went back to Cornet Bay. We tried seven or eight different locations, all with no luck except for one tiny little guy which we threw back. Where did all the sand dabs go? I tried fishing for those in the autumn two years ago off Camano Head, and also noticed then that the abundant bottom fish all seemed to disappear in October.

Even though we didn’t catch anything, we both agreed that it was good quality time spent together. Fishing isn’t just about fish, it’s also about relationships, and about being in nature. I can’t think of a better way to spend a gorgeous fall day outside, or anyone better to spend it with. I also got to try a new boat launch, get some experience with Deception Pass, and learn about the fisheries in the area. Next time I’ll try for crab or salmon though, so that I can bring something home.