Not quite a Kokanee...

[BlueBack79]

well the trip up north to whidbey island was a blast! we caught more salmon that we knew what to do with. mostly humpy's, but we managed a few kings and silvers. plus i got to see family that i havent seen forever. glad to know they are fishing fanatics up there. i will for sure be heading up two or three times a year!! here are a couple pics. we came home with almost two 54 qt. coolers of filletsthumbsup

 

[kodiak1]

What a difference a year can make!! Last year was one of the worst years ever, but we headed back to Sekiu like we do every year, and certainly made up for last year. Caught (and released most) over 100 coho, pinks, blackmouth and kings in 4 days, and limited easily every day. We were back and shrinkwrapping fillets by 10:00 most mornings. With the pink run doubling in size every year for the past 8 years, I am curious to see what happens in two years when they return. We hammered 'em two years ago when 3 million came back to the Straits, so with 6 million this year, how could one lose. Glad you had a similar experience to ours. Mike

 

[BlueBack79]

thanks mike. glad you had a great experience also. i finally got to put some wear on my new revo reel. throwing buzz bombs on a fairly light steelhead set up made it even more fun. amazing how much fight those humpy's have in them!!

 

[kodiak1]

Boy, that's the truth. They fight much better than a king (blackmouth) the same size, but, of course, the coho has to be the greatest fighter of all!!
The only people I have ever heard complain about the fight of pinks are those who are fishing with some mega-sized Penn reel, attached to a pole that more closely resembles a broom handle! We, too, use light-weight steelhead-type gear, with rods in the 10-15# category. We were trolling with white dodgers and a pink mini-hootchie. The coho and kings were both smashing the pink hootchie. Wish we didn't have to wait two years for the next round of pinks, but we'll be back to Sekiu next Sept. chasing coho, which they are hammering over there right now. The Wash. F & W just released a report that stated the coho are gaining 1-2 pounds a week, and a 20 pounder was just boated at Sekiu. Now, that would be a fight! Mike

 

[BlueBack79]

where is sekiu? anywhere near whidbey? they hadnt really started running while we were there. i heard that the years that the pinks arent running, the silvers come in pretty thick.

 

[kodiak1]

Sekiu is on the Olympic Peninsula, about an hour's drive west of Port Angeles, and 21 miles east of Neah Bay, the northwestern most point of the continental US. It is famous for the salmon fishing, and is purely a fishing town. The beauty of Sekiu is it is 20 miles in the Straits of Juan de Fuca from the open ocean, so the water is typically much calmer. Small boats commonly fish here. Also, it is an area typically rich in bait fish, so the salmon hang in this area fattening up. The coho running better on off-pink years hasn't proven true the last two years. Last year, you couldn't hardly buy a coho, but this year, the coho are thick, and fishermen at Sekiu right now are hammering them. You should consider fishing there some time. Next year, without the pink run, the best fishing will be early in the summer for kings, and in September for coho. To see a record of creel counts throughout Washington, google Puget Sound Creel Reports. You can go back several years and see when the best fishing occured. Mike