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Awesome day on the beach at Fort Casey!!! Caught the 6:00 AM ferry out of Mukilteo, On the beach at 7:15. Tide was low at about 4:00 AM, so fishing the in-coming all morning long. Temp at 51 degrees, strong south wind gusting to 20mph. Heavy surf pounding the beach at the outset... knew the day was going to be a great adventure as I followed prints in the sand down the beach, made by what I am next to certain, a Bobcat. Wide paw prints, no claw marks at the end of the toes. Haven't seen such tracks since my Elk hunting days!
But I digress! Back to fishing... began by casting my "tried and true", a chartreuse Rotator with a pink hootchie and a mother-of-pearl twinkle insert. Third cast, Wham... fish on... bulldog runs. headshakes... but no aerial display... thought I must have foul-hooked a small Coho... strong tugs, not helped by the wind and pounding surf. Finally brought it to the beach... surprise, one of the largest Kelp-greenling I have ever seen... approximately 24". Did not have my WDFW regs, not sure if retention is legal... all rockfish are verboten, knew Lings have a specific season, so I let it go. Turns out I could have kept it... great eating fish, in my book, better than Ling. (Memo to self: when removing hook from Greenling, beware of very sharp teeth!) Got a nasty laceration removing the hook!
Okay, adrenalin pumping... five casts later... Wham, fish on... big Coho... leaped out of the water six times and headed for Port Townsend. With the wind getting stronger and the surf pounding, it was fifteen minutes before I worked the fish inside the kelp line out front... one more run and he was into a floating mass of kelp. Still managed to keep him under control and making headway, fish only thirty feet out now, when suddenly the head of a Harbor Seal pops up only ten feet behind my fish... I remember thinking, "this is not good"... five seconds later the line went slack. Don't know if it was the seal, the kelp, or just the wear and tear of the hook after such a long battle, but the fish was gone.
Okay, takes a little while to recuperate... pulled myself together and began making more casts... a couple of hits in the next hour, but no hook-ups... now 9:30... wind getting stronger, gusts up to 30mph... surf pounding, a real effort to keep my footing on the shoreline. One more cast, and Wham... fish on... when a fish hits the Rotator, it feels like you've snagged a freight train... this fish did not leap... just bulldog runs, violent headshakes... powerful fish...began to wonder if I had tied into another Greenling? Now the fish was in the surf and as soon as it's belly touched the gravel, there was an explosion of water and the fish was airborne... more runs and now several leaps out of the water... finally able to beach a beautiful wild buck, fat... weighed 7# 15oz on my digital scale, bled and de-gilled.
For the next couple of hours I tried casting herring under a float, but the surf would smash them into the sand at the end of the drift. Very difficult conditions. Had to dodge huge logs that the tide had picked up and was rolling them down the beach. Tide was high at 12:00, and I had figured that my best opportunity would come after the tide change. Began to rain quite heavily, and at 12:30 I began casting the Rotator again. Second cast and I felt a slight tug... sped up my retrieve, and half way in the Rotator was slammed... fish on... six or seven leaps and a long run along the beach, north bound... finally able to turn the fish in gusting wind and a pounding surf, beached a silver comet, a wild hen of 5# 14oz, bled and de-gilled. Had my limit and headed for home by 1:00.
Saw perhaps six or seven other fishermen on the beach. For most of the morning I was by myself. Saw no other fish caught. Something about being in the wind and rain and standing in the pounding surf that makes a person feel so alive. The huge, huge bonus is to be able to take home a couple exquisite Coho salmon! PTL!

downriggeral

10/15/2014 8:21:00 PM

Cool report Stan! Thanks for sharing - Alan

goodtimesfishing

10/15/2014 8:38:00 PM

Another great report!

Red beard

10/15/2014 8:41:00 PM

that's what we like to see, mid october and still chrome fish being caught

dutchman2858

10/15/2014 8:56:00 PM

Your "kelp greenling" appears to me to be a juvenile ling cod...good thing you released it!

Adam B.

10/15/2014 8:58:00 PM

That does look fun, fishing off the beach in the surf catching Coho. Also the picture of the greenling actually looks like a lingcod instead.

BentRod

10/15/2014 9:10:00 PM

Awesome day and sounds like you earned it!

FishingTenor

10/16/2014 1:39:00 AM

I enjoyed your descriptive report of a challenging, but fabulous day at the beach.
Darn seals. Nice fish! Happy fishing!

joechiro30

10/16/2014 9:21:00 AM

That fish is defiantly a lincod. Greenling have teeth like sand paper. But that is clearly a lincod. Good thing you let it go.

Stansjoy

10/16/2014 9:36:00 AM

dutchman, Adam, joechiro30,... thanks guys... When I posted the pic at night, I looked closer and I thought it may have been a Ling... been many years since I caught one, the greenish skin and the proximity to the kelp made me conclude it was the Greenling. Yeah, very sharp and large teeth and a bloody finger should have indicated the Ling. Again, thanks. I always release anything I am unsure of! PTL!

lidong6

10/16/2014 10:31:00 AM

nice report. thanks.

N E 1 FISSION

10/16/2014 3:42:00 PM

As usual, another great report, you could alomost use your previous pics (;-)) Nice going Stan!!

HULI_ISDA

10/16/2014 4:33:00 PM

Stan the man, job well done, nice report, good job on getting on fish

tyee4me

10/16/2014 6:10:00 PM

Great report and nice job sticking it out. If you don't mind what was that lure you used I never seen this? =)

Stansjoy

10/16/2014 7:43:00 PM

tyee4me... I use a Rotator (originally called a "Wanabee")... similar to a Buzz Bomb, but I find that it acts more like a spoon on the retrieve. It is smoother and flatter than the aforementioned BB. Have found chartreuse to be my favorite color, although I have caught Coho on pink, green and chrome. Above the hook I place a hootchie (usu pink), and this season went with a flashy insert (it worked well!). Can see a pic I posted on a previous trip to Fort Casey... 10/7 I think. Hope the info helps! PTL!

kokanee_slayer

10/17/2014 6:13:00 AM

Well Done!!

Dan

10/18/2014 10:29:00 PM

Stan, very cool; I'm little surprised you're still reeling in mid-Oct, isn't that a little unusual?

Glad others confirmed that your Greenling was in fact a baby ling. I catch those fairly often (think I gotten about 12 this fall) in from of our place on Keystone; usually in the evening. They seem to like Buzz Bombs & Rotators equally well
Until others noted confirmed my thought that it was a Ling, I was kicking myself for throwing back perfectly good eating "Greenlings"!

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