Dodging Crab Pots in the Fog to Catch Coho

This was the last weekend of the year for salmon fishing in much of Puget Sound, so we had to take advantage of it on Saturday. It was also the tail end of the coho run, and it’s been a very good year – everybody was catching a lot. For a variety of reasons though, Dave and I missed much of it. We hadn’t been fishing locally since the beginning of the run a month ago.

When we agreed to meet at 6:00 a.m., we had forgotten that sunrise isn’t until after 7 now. Nevertheless, the Port of Everett boat launch was abuzz with activity at that dark hour. The docks were full, trucks with boats were lined up to launch, and many empty trailers already filled the parking lot. By then a fog had descended on us, and you couldn’t even see across the channel to Jetty Island. My little boat doesn’t have radar, but we decided to launch anyway. We would take it slow and not hurry. Right outside the boat ramps, we saw what we thought to be a swimming animal like a seal in the fog. We finally realized that it was actually a crab pot buoy making a wake in the current. In fact, the whole channel was practically blockaded with them. Some commercial crabbers had created a significant navigational hazard, especially in the fog. Near the Navy base, we saw the offending operator tending his pots. We were surprised they were allowed to do that.

After we ran the gauntlet of crab pots and got outside the channel, the sun started to appear and the fog thinned out. It was a cold morning to be cruising in an open boat, but we had both bundled up sufficiently. Off Mukilteo we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise. We traveled south to around Meadowdale Park and started fishing. We always take turns driving and fishing, and David was the first to drop his gear while I drove. When he was done I started setting up my gear, and suddenly he got a fish on. I dropped what I was doing to net his fish. It had taken him less than five minutes. His second fish came around 9:00, leaving me to grind it out all afternoon. The day was playing out very similarly to the last time we fished for coho. Dave has some mysterious magic for catching fish. In time, I got a fish on and lost it before it came to the surface. I finally brought my first one aboard around 11:00.

We stopped at Possession Beach Park for a short break and then headed out again. Two more hours of relentless trolling passed without a strike of any kind. I always thought the “morning bite” was a freshwater thing, but I can clearly see that coho tend to feed much more voraciously at sunrise. My patience and determination were being tested, but not Dave’s. He has plenty of both. Finally, I decided to give up. I told Dave to troll towards the Edmonds shipwreck, and when we got there we’d go home. I started putting gear away, and even retracted and stowed the net. As I worked Dave shouted, “Dude, you’ve got a fish!”. I grabbed my rod while he extended the net again. It was a heavy fighting fish and wore out my hands. Finally I brought it close to the boat and Dave netted it. I had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the second time in a row, and we could pack up with our limits of two salmon each.

At the fuel dock another boater asked us how we did, and was jealous that we had caught our limits while he had gotten one for the whole boat. When we returned to the boat ramp and the Fish and Wildlife counter approached us, we gleefully showed off our catch for her inspection. A young kayak fisherman saw is and asked us for tips. After a couple years of being underachievers, we suddenly felt like celebrities. All four fish were in the 6- to 7-pound range, and my two produced a mountain of fillets. To top it off, both of mine were females, so I had a huge amount of eggs for my wife to make caviar out of. I’m proud of her, because she stayed up late making caviar from all the coho eggs I brought her. Until we find a better way, she currently makes it by hand, patiently plucking each egg from the skein one by one. She wound up with a huge bowl of it – this much caviar would cost more than $100 at the local Russian market. It’s a great way for her to share in my fishing hobby (in addition to eating 50% of my catch this winter!).

In my freezer I now have Dungeness crab, razor clams, chinook, coho, sockeye, lingcod, and rockfish. Our plan is to make fish every weekend through the winter. Although salmon is closed in the Sound for the year, winter crabbing is about to open, and you can still fish salmon in rivers. Let’s see if I make it out again.