Marine Area 9 Opener Report!

[Nelly]

Possession Bar was a good bet today as the winds of Monday has kept all but the large boats off the water and the drastic change in the weather pretty much put the fish off the bite.

Matt Wicks and Jim Johnson of Jet Chevrolet have a "long arm" competition with these two kings

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Lots of dogfish around this morning had us dragging the Tomic and Silver Horde around in the dirt to get our strikes!

[Nelly]

We were off to a fairly fast start this morning, boating our first three chinook, then things started to get tough as the next three strikes were swings and misses... Well, there was a seal that took a fish and

Pastor Dan Espy and UW Equipment Manager Bart Fulmer with the ones that didn't get away! Dan's fish were 24 and 21 pounds and Bart got on the board with a chunky 15 pounder.

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Our fish hit a variety of terminal gear but the Luhr Jensen Coyote Flasher has been a connsistent producer this season.

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There's probably only a few days left of this fishery so here's hoping you can get out there!

[kurtmiller]

Great day on the water. Well done, unfortunately my fishing partner had to go back to work so no one to fish with. It's a bitch when all your fishing buds still work and you're retired... wifie doesn't want me out there alone

[Sandlance]

Fantastic Pictures and Many Happy Faces. The irony is that certain "wild fish" groups, and to some degree, regulatory agencies don't count these as "real fish". From the pictures, the fish look very real to me!!!!!!!!!!

[Chef Patrick]

This morning started out slow, all quiet on the western bar. That is unless you count dozens of dogfish for all. I released a 10 lb nate, but that was it.
Moved around a bit in search of a bite. Eventually hit PNP. Picked up a small keeper king, a humpy, and then this happened.


22lbs, my personal best keeper king. That made my season, and is making some great dinners.

[Nelly]

That is a slab Patrick!
I bet it was even better on the table than it was on the end of the line!

[Nelly]

One of the aspects of this fishery that has surprised me is the tremendous amount of herring in the Sound right now and the chinook salmon's response to it. When we mark bait we're nearly always seeing chinook crashing the school and that's often followed by a vicious strike!

Here's what I mean on the Simrad screen! Look between the 100 and 110 scale on the side and you'll see a line extending into the bait ball. That, my friends is a chinook with his face in the feed!

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Immediately after I saw this on the screen, the plug rod just got blasted and Bob Maschmedt holds 25 pounds of Puget Sound hatchery chinook

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Another bait ball and another pack of hungry chinook right behind them!

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Jeff Lalone of Bayside Marine with one of those hungry chinook that couldn't resist biting!

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Daiwa's Bob Maschmedt and Jeff Lalone with a fine pair of chinook that I would be proud to bring to the dock anywhere, any place, any time!

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One day left of this fishery which is a shame but I'll be out there and I hope you are too!