Chinook on last day of salt water season (with pics)

[Okanagan]

18 lb. Chinook/king salmon.  That is a BIG salmon net.

Two days before the salt water season ended here I fished most of the day with a cousin.  We started at 5:15 and had one bite and no fish till after 1:00 pm.  Then we got into fish in about 30 feet of water and for some reason they liked my jig.  I played and got the fight out of 12 fish, including one Coho about 6 lbs. and not counting some small ones under 5 lbs and a few pink salmon.

We did well in a shallow bay well off the mouth of the Elwha River, near Angeles Point west of Port Angeles, WA.  Olympic Mountains south of us.



Lost some at the net, had to release some fish without a clipped fin and we still took home a boat limit.  My cousin caught a bunch also and he kept releasing legal but relatively small fish, hoping to finish with a big one, and we headed in still short one fish for a limit.  He had picked me up off shore at Freshwater Bay at the first hint of daylight that morning but due to low tide he had launched the boat at Port Angeles.  So he had to run about 8 or ten miles back to where his car and boat trailer were parked. 

Three minutes after he dropped me, he ran by a big ball of bait fish (herring or candlefish) with lots of birds working it.  He decided to drop in and try for one of the salmon almost certainly working the school of bait from below.  5 seconds, BAM!  He hooked and landed the 18 lb. king pictured at the top.  I hadn't even driven back to the highway when I got a text from him with the pic above of his 18 lb. king.  YES!  He finished the day with a dandy.

Then the last afternoon of the last day of season, we had our poorest fishing of the season and an hour before we quit we thought that we were going to be skunked.  An hour later we took a pic of our fish box, below, on our way to the dock.



That's three kings and a pink that was bleeding so we kept it as part of our limit.  Lots of pinks around and quite a few Coho.  I took a trout rod and we fished a school of pink salmon for about four minutes.  We caught and released 3 and went back after kings.  Sure wish I could have gotten my grandkids into the pink salmon with light gear.  These are about 4-5 lbs. and tons of fun on light gear. 

[FinsnFur]

Oh boy those are going to be delicious.
Get the cedar planks a soaking

[Hawks Feather]

Those do look delicious. But more than that, thanks for the pictures and the story that goes along with them.

[msmith]

Good eatin'!