Fish Princess was itching to go crabbing so I developed a plan around the slack current around 0945.

Launched at Pt Defiance ramp about 0515 and headed out to give the salmon a shot while we waited for closer to slack current. Made the run to clay banks and saw one caught along the way. GOt to clay banks and started to get rods and riggers set-up and saw another fish caught and kept. so now I'm thinking this is going to be good...bite's on. By the time we got our gear down and dialed in the trolling program (around 0600) I think we missed the best of the first light bite. Gobs of jellies today and I was cleaning tentacles off of everything just about every time I checked the gear. Did manage one dogfish on a cookies and cream spoon smeared with UV herring Smelly Jelly. This gave the Fish Princess something to do and was also her very first shark. Released unharmed to abuse other baits...

Around 0730 we headed for the cove between Dalco Point and Neil Point off the south end of Vashon (not far from the Talequah ferry landing) to set crab pots. Started out with one pot west of the ferry in about 45' of water and one pot plus a ring east of the ferry dock in about 50' and 40' respectively. Let these soak and headed back across the bay for a potty break. Spent some more time trolling along Ownes Beach and clay bank area with no takers. Trolled primarily the cookies and cream e-chip flasher paired with the cookies and cream spoon with the black hoochie on the hook and a UV purple prism flasher with UV purple haze squid on top of with UV purple Ace Hi Fly. Tipped the squid rig with a strip of squid and hit the flasher and spoon on the other rig with herring smelly jelly. Ran these at varying depths form 40' all the way down to 120'.

At 1000 we zipped back across to the Vashon side and pulled pots for the first time. Pot west of ferry dock had two mammoth sun stars and only one red rock crab, on the small side, but a keeper. Decided to leave the pot on deck and reset near our other pots east of the ferry landing. Launched this pot as we approached our second pot then retrieved the second pot. Better luck on the second pot with 2 keeper red rocks and one too small. Reset this pot too then pulled the ring and it was blank. Reset the ring closer to our pots and spent an hour or so trolling along the Dalco point area. Used a red racer flasher and irish flag coho killer off the rigger and also fished a 6 ounce banana sinker with a plug cut green label herring. Marked lots of fish but no takers on either rig.

On the second pull, around 1130, we had better results on crab. Pulled the first pot and had 2 keepers and one too small. The ring actually had 4 crab in it on the second pull. Three were keepers with one throw back. Was really excited when I started pulling the last pot as it was heavier than the others we had pulled. Alas, we had a big pile of kelp lumped atop the pot and one smallish keeper red rock inside.

Crab tally for the day was 8 keeper red rock crab and another 3 or 4 that were too small.

At the conclusion of our crabbing I talked the Fish Princess into a little more salmon fishing on the way back to the boat ramp. We headed across the bay and east toward the condos and lighthouse. Started a west bound troll with the UV purple set-up at about 85' and an Irish cream e-chip flasher and chartreuse Ace Hi Fly with chartreuse smile blade at about 100' on the riggers. Purple stuff tipped with squid strip and ace hi fly tipped with herring tail strip. Started out in about 175' of water and as we approached Point Defiance I had to take a tack straight toward shore to avoid a clueless oncoming cabin cruiser so I decided to give shallower water a shot. as I got into about 150' of water I swung around parallel to shore and as I finished the turn the ace hi fly popped off the rigger. Reeled up the slack and it was GAME ON! Passed the rod to the Fish Princess and got busy hauling in all the other gear. By the time I finished this and got back to helping the Fish Princess I noticed she was not gaining any on the fish. Initially it had taken a few healthy runs and had a bit of line out. A boat full of curious onlookers had strayed too close on tangled the fish in their downriggers. At this point we figured the salmon was lost and were just working on getting our gear back. I took over on the rod and the Fish Princess took over at the helm. I pointed out a direction to go and she dutifully navigated the boat in that direction. It took some doing but we managed to get back on the far side of the other boat and they had also begun retrieving their gear from the water. Finally, my gear was clear and I began taking up line to see if my flasher and terminal tackle was still there. Not only was the terminal tackle there, the fish was still on too. As he approached the boat I could see that it was a healthy sized king. I had the Fish Princess put the motor in neutral and grab the net. It took to swings as the fish came to the side of the boat but we finally landed him. A quick spot check revealed what I suspected...it was a beautiful high teens or low 20's native Chinook. I popped the hook out of his jaw and tailed him as we slipped him back out of the net. After about 30 seconds of reviving he swam away.

Pretty crazy battle with an awesome fish. In retrospect, I think the circle hooks I was using with the Ace Hi Fly rig contributed to the fish staying on through all the mayhem. Also, wish we had the camera out to get a picture before the release, however it was buried in the dry bag and first priority was releasing the fish unharmed.

All-in a fine way to spend a day off from work! The Fish Princess and I have another great fish story to add to our growing repertoire. Crab for dinner was a great way to close out the day!

Good luck and tight lines out there!!

Fish Dawg

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