Back to the saltwater

It had been sometime since I had fished the saltwater, so when my friend Blake called me up wanting to go out to a couple of our favorite spots there was no way that I was going to turn him down. October is prime time for salmon, which are returning to spawn in streams throughout the Puget Sound area and as such our first spot to hit was a local estuary, which receives a healthy run of Coho and Chum Salmon. We arrived at the estuary a couple of hours after the tide began to flood and started fishing. The thing that I have always loved about this place is that it has been left in a fairly natural state, and even though it is close to home it gives the feeling of a wilderness experience.

 

The estuary at high tide

When we first started fishing the water had poor visibility, but we found a school of Coho almost right away and each got several good takes, but no solid hook ups. However, as the tide began to rise the water cleared and fish showed less and less interest in our offerings. Even so, as I was working a school of fish I heard Blake yell that he needed the net, so I ran upstream to find him tied into a heavy fish. When he finally brought the fish to the net, it wasn't a salmon but instead one of the biggest Coastal Cutthroat that I have seen. This stream certainly has the potential to produce some large Cutthroat and this fish was a prime example, measuring right around 20" and weighing over 3lbs.

Blake's big Cutthroat

Another shot of the big Coastal Cutthroat

After Blake got his big Cutthroat the fishing for salmon didn't show any signs of improvement and so we gave it another hour before deciding to move on to our second spot. The next beach is located within close proximity to several estuaries, and usually holds good numbers of staging salmon this time of the year. We got there at slack tide and fishing started out slow with a few fish jumping, but not much biting. However, once the tide started moving again the fish started biting and the fishing improved. Most the fish here were Chum Salmon averaging 8 to 12lbs, but there were also some Coho hanging around as well. Numbers were not the problem either, instead the difficult part was finding the right fly and retrieve that might entice the lock jawed salmon to bite. Once we figured that out though and found some willing fish we started hooking up with fish every few casts. These fish were no push overs either and thought nothing of taking us well into our backing and putting our gear to the edge of its limits. When all was said and done, Blake and I caught and released about five salmon apiece, including several chrome Chum, before the weather finally gave out on us and we were blown off the water.

Me hooked up with a big Chum Salmon

A bright female chum salmon just beginning to show its spawning colors

Blake with a big male Chum Salmon in its spawning colors