Well I have to say that it was most definetly an exciting day. We are just starting out learning how to salmon fish in salt water. I've fished it a few years ago, but asside from reading countless articles, forums, reports, etc. I am basically new to this. I've been very successful in freshwater, but have been wanting to up my game and learn saltwater fishing. So my girlfriend (Jennifer), daughter (Sierra), and I set out yesturday to catch some crab and hopefully a coho or two.

I know setting out at 1 pm is not the idea time, but we were hoping to fish into the evening plus there was a large tide shift. We've been battling problems with the motor, trolling motor, and fishfinder for months. After having the motor rebuilt, trouble shooting the trolling motor for days, and now finally having a fishfinder that works (broke down and bought a new one weeks ago and ofcourse it didn't work. So had to FedEx it back to Hummingbird and just got it back) at least Sunday proved everything is finally in working order. All I had to do is make sure there was enough gas in the tank to get us back. OOOOPPPPPPSSSSS!!!!! My bad. Its amazing how painfully slow a boat goes with only a trolling motor. Well after limping into Des Moines dock truly thankful that they did have gas there, we set out to enjoy the rest of the day.

The second half of the day was far more enjoyable then the first half. Besides the gas issue, we had a very terrifying
experience that I would like to know if anyone else has experienced. While trolling with a multitude of other boats, one of those VERY large container ships came through. Now I've experienced them before with nothing more then a roller coaster ride for a couple of swells. This one was WAY different. We ended up literally jumping 6'-7' swells. Luckly I was able to put the boat at a 90 degree heading into them. I literally had to try and jump across one wave to the other otherwise we would have been swamped at the bottom of the swell. The boat a couple times was actually out of the water. I can't believe this is a common occurence that everyone deals with when fishing near the ship lanes. I don't know what happen to the other boats out there because we headed straight for Des Moines docks at that point, but we were already heading that way and weren't trolling. We were paying attention. Is this normal? I think the ship was traveling way to fast. About 15 minutes later another cargo ship came through and the swells from that one were only a couple feet. I would appreciate input on this. I only have a 16' bayliner and if this is normal then I am going drive further to stay away from the shipping lanes.

Anyway, despite what the fishing gods threw at us, we still had a fun time during the second half of the day (although my daughter may never go on the sound again). We did get two nice crabs that were deliciouse, but no coho... Still dialing it in. Jennifer and I don't give in. We are having fun trying to figure it out (she is a real fishing trooper). Hope everyone had a great weekend. I know we did.