FINALLY.

I have been itching to get out and see what luck has in store this year for fishing. When I saw the Duwamish River open up I was anxious to get out there and check it out. As a fairly new angler to the Washington-Seattle area I have a less than desirable knowledge of good spots to fish at so I spent some time on Saturday checking out a couple of new, well known, spots that I've read about online.

Threw a line in by the transformer from the bank on high tide with some fish rolling for 30 minutes before it got dark. Didn't matter if I didn't get anything - it felt great to be alone and have the line whir out of my reel and crash onto the water. I felt this area had some good spots to fish from when it was lower in tide and saw a number of boats trolling the deeper area in the middle of the river. Felt good about this spot until I came back on Sunday morning at about 1030 and saw the nets. Everywhere. Forgot to check the netting schedule.

So I went down river a bit to another extremely well known spot that had maybe 20 anglers up and down the banks near Cecil. The gear I brought with me was nothing glamourous. Just the inventory of a newbie learning his way. 8'6" Ugly Stik, Abu C4 bait caster loaded w/ 25lb power pro braid, and 10lb, 12"-18" Maxima leaders to spinners and jigs. Found an open spot and after a handful of casts and a couple of lost spinners and spoons the snaggy rocks on the bottom got the best of me and I went further towards the footbridge to try my luck there. No wonder no one was fishing that spot!

This time I opted to use a 3/4 oz sinker and a home-made marabou feather jig (purple, pink, black with some flash & a size 2 barbless hook) scented up and rigged with a rainbow trout color corky on about 18" of 10lb leader. After an hour of doing this quasi-plunking method (slack tide had little to no water movement) and casting in different reaches of the stretch of river I was fishing I decided to call it quits.

About 3 hours in and no one on the banks were catching much due to the rising waters and maybe over fishing the hole.

As a newbie to the area it's always fun to get out and explore areas and try to find good spots to throw a line in. I've caught a lot of fish in different areas but after the 3rd year I have yet to catch anything on the Duwamish/Green system. Not sure if it's the areas I'm fishing, the time I'm fishing at, or what I'm throwing at these fish that have the bites shut off. If anyone has an inclination to fish with a partner and show a new angler to the area the ropes on the Duwamish I'd be all ears and willing to tag along!

As a wise man once said - "Tight lines."

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