Fished by myself on Saturday. I have a cold so hadn't planned to go, but the forecast was for flat water, so I figured I should try. Launched at Shilshole and only about 5 trailers there. Flat water and not foggy. I was able to blast to Point No Point. Had my little Arima going over 30mph without full throttle.

Not big tides today, so bait seemed spread out. Lots of bait at Point No Point but didn't mark fish, get a bite or see any action from others. Tried both a Yellowtail Coyote and a UV Green Kingfisher, both behind Hot Spots, on the bottom. Only caught about a 10 inch cod, which I let go. There were a couple of seals patrolling.

Switched to Useless Bay during the incoming tide. Again, no real bait balls. Marked a couple of fish. I tried to stop trolling and jig a bit where I saw bait or marked a fish, but no luck on that either.

Tried one pass along the West side of Possession on my way home. I put a mini Hot Spot with an e-chip and the UV Kingfisher back on. Trolled from North to South. About 15 minutes into the pass, I got a strike that pulled off the downrigger and the fight was on. It felt like a pretty nice fish. Right before it got to the surface, the dreaded seal showed up. It got the salmon by the tail but it looks like it pulled out of it's mouth only taking a chunk out of the tail and separating some of the rays of the tail fin. I literally skied the fish across the surface trying to keep it from the seal. I had already gotten the net ready before the fish got to the top, so I skied it up and swooped the net around it and lifted it into the boat without checking for a fin or anything. The seal came within 2 feet of the boat easy. Fortunately, it was a clipped 7.5 pound female. The only bite I had all day!

Headed back to Shilshole in the sunshine feeling pretty fortunate to have landed my fish.

---