Area 8-2 Sunday 4/17

[Nelly]

There was quite a bit of life just outside the Everett Harbor Sunday morning!
We marked a bunch of bait, released two small wild chinook and were treated to a gray whale sighting.
In fact, the Victoria Clipper was even running a whale watching trip as it joined the nine or ten other boats working the south Hat Island area.
I talked to other boats who reported a few keepers and larger, wild chinook released as well.
The last week and a half of April could get interesting around here!

[Jerm]

Thanks for the report.



Sucks the season is almost over. I only got out 7 times for bm with all the bad weather.



Hope u get a nice springer before it ends. Good luck.

[Nelly]

Me too!
I'm going to hit it Thursday & Friday. I'll let you know what I find!

[Nelly]

Tough day south of Hat for us today. We let a shaker go and had a nice pop off of a release but that was it! We made one drag across the "race track" or underwater ridge between Hat and Camano Islands but no takers, no shakers,..The grey whales put on a nice show though.
I'm hitting the San Juans tomorrow. I'll report back!

[Spud]

The FISHTALE 2 has been focusing on the steep slope at the East Side of Hat and will be out there again this weekend. 130-150 on the rigger in 300 feet of water where it drops deep. I agree with Nelly that everyday from now until the closure it will keep getting better. Lots of shrimp so match the hatch...

Spud

[Nelly]

Thanks Spud!
Reading between the lines on that post a bit.. The whales are not there for fun... They are feeding, no gorging themselves on small shrimp and krill.
Good thing that they are letting the salmon grind on the leftovers!