Finally got a chance to take my dad out to cast for some Pink salmon. Something he's never done. Got to our beach location about 10:30 expecting it to be packed....but it wasn't. (??) One guy fishing and a group of scuba divers. There were about a dozen boats trolling out beyond the anchor bouys. The lone fisherman said that it was packed yesterday and that his girlfriend had caught a 7# salmon. It was his first time fishing for salmon. He'd been there for an hour with no hits. Now I'm thinking there is something everyone else knows that I don't. Saw the boats hooking up though, so we tied on our buzz bombs. After an hour there had been no hits. A couple other fisherman had showed up and set up shop. The original guy left about then and shortly after one of the new guys hooks and lands one. It was about noon. The boats started thinning out. A few more fishermen showed up and then I hooked and landed one closer to 1pm. Yea, we're not going home empty handed! From 1pm to 3pm hits were fairly consistent, but not on fire. Saw about 13 landed between about 7 other fisherman and at least that many hooked and lost. My dad and I brought home 3 and lost more than twice that many. Frustrating when they get right to the beach before coming unbuttoned. Saw one guy take his limit home. All our fish were about 4 lbs and all jacks. Bummer as I had hoped to bring home some roe to cure. The biggest was about 4.5#. Quit at 3:30 as we needed to get home, but the bite was still going pretty good when we left. Actually it was probably the best it'd been all day about then.
A dad had brought down a group of kids. Two of the boys, about 10 years old, had moved up next to me as they guy next to me and I were getting regular hook ups. One kid hooks one and he and his friend are really excited. He's working hard and walking back up the beach. I can hear his reel screeming because the drag isn't tight enough. His dad (at least I think it was his dad) kept trying to get the rod to tighten the drag, but the kid wouldn't give it up due to the excitement. Thought he was going to get spooled, but finally the dad won out and got the drag set. Then the kid was able to get it to the beach and land it. They were all pretty stoked. Funny to watch, but cool to see that excitement. All in all a good day if not stellar fishing. It was nice not to have to deal with the crowds I expected.

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