I was so excited to finally get a chance to hit the salt that after getting home from my disappointing day on Lake WA, switched out all my gear for the 'big boys'! Had a cool looking ace hi-fly tied up with a glow dodger and the other rod set up with a bait bomb and a large Brad's cut plug to start out with. It was fun changing things up a bit and made sure I didn't forget anything which usually happens on the 1st trip of the season! All loaded I contacted Danny and Alycia and we chose a 5 am meeting time at the Pt. Defiance boat launch.

Had the coffee pot timer set for 3:45 am so when my alarm went off at 3:50 the house smelled like fresh brewed coffee which always makes it a little easier to get up that early!! Filled the thermos after a couple quick cups and went outside to be greeted with a most peaceful of mornings yet with no wind at all and already felt pretty warm.

Got to the launch a little early so went ahead and put the Tin Cup in the water and went up to the first parking area to drop off the truck and trailer when they were just parking so perfect timing so far! We got out of the marina and enjoyed a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier just as it was starting to get light. Low tide was at 6:38 so we chose to fish from Owen's beach to the clay banks and try and work through the slack tide. Started out in about 120 feet of water and put the lines down at 55 and 75 to start. Not much action so soon we were trolling back towards the ferry in a little deeper water and saw one boat land a nice king probably in the 150 to 160 depth area. It was getting lighter so changed out the brad's cut plug to a cooler looking new lure Jensen flash fly I had just picked up and headed it up with a red racer flasher. Dropped this one down close to the bottom and worked the area hard until about 8:30 with out seeing any other fish caught; even trolled through the jiggers at the clay banks but didn't see a single net fly. Next time though will bring some jigging gear as have heard it can be pretty good in this area. There was a ton of jelly fish that kept fouling up our gear so had to keep pulling up and cleaning it off. At 9:30 headed in for a potty break and stretch our legs a bit and come up with a plan for round 2!

We headed over to Dalco passage to work the area on the west side of Vashon island towards the girl scout camp with the incoming tide. Quite a few of the boats had made their way over there but as we passed each boat, got the same shrugs and empty arms meaning no fish! But as we were making out way south passed a boat going north that had just got 2 in a row about 16 and 18 lbs and said he got them right off the bottom. Alycia asked to help with the down riggers and soon was working them like a pro while Danny drove the boat so felt a little spoiled watching them do all the work while I enjoyed the scenery but was kind of nice! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day with sun shining and hardly a breeze in the air; what would really have made it perfect was a screaming reel but none so far for us today. She worked the gear near the bottom but still there was a lot of jellies over here too and was really making a mess of the line and gear. Saw a cool site as a couple porpoises were riding along a boat as he passed us and I got a cool video of it but a poor picture which I will try and upload later. Heard of a few more caught but definitely not hot fishing by any means for sure. Still was a great day to spend on the water with a couple of cool people and one thing about fishing with a foodie is you get to eat pretty good! I had made a couple of Ahi tuna sliders with wasabi sauce on sweet Hawaiin rolls and a southwest salmon burger with chipotle bbq sauce; so we enjoyed a nice lunch on the boat before packing up and heading back in.

Back at the launch the fish checker said 8 fish had been checked in and there weren't too many boats left out there so at least it wasn't just us! Still felt good to get some salt water back on the boat and look forward to some future success soon out here! Thanks to Danny and Alycia for hanging out with me today and helping with all the boat chores!

See you on the water!

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