Well folks, today was not a guided trip, but it was certainly a blast. I took a break from freshwater today to venture off into the salt with my good friend Rmrauscher in search of some elusive blackmouth salmon. I tell you what, it was a career day out on the salt. Rmrauscher is as salty as they come, and I have a good amount of blackmouth experience under my belt, but nothing in either of our blackmouth pasts have compared to what we experienced today.

after a 4:30 wakeup call, I headed up to Everett to meet Randy and head to the launch. we were launched at 6:40 and fishing by 7:30 after the boat ride out and equipping the gear. Both using an Old Goat OG2, we had our first fish on in less than a minute on Rmrauscher's rod. After a good fight, we netted a gorgeous 26 incher. Sadly, he had a fin so we couldn't bring him on board. Randy and I use rubberized knotless nets when blackmouth fishing, so the fish was released unharmed with minimal scale loss. 5 minutes later, my rod get slammed. BIG FISH. A long fight shows a gorgeous 12 pound fish. He was a misclip, meaning he was meant to be clipped, but had a little bit of adipose left. to be safe, he was released to create the next generation, but man what a fight! soon thereafter, a seal shows up and trolls with us. Fishing was still hot for us and the seal, as he stole 4 good sized (easy keepers) off our lines leaving heads to show twice and stealing lures twice.

After we were tired of being picked off by the seal, we moved out to Elger bay and trolled around there. Pass one caught 2, one keeper sized wild and one shaker. Pass two we caught another nice wild fish and 3 more shakers. Elger calmed down after those passes and we decided to make a move to Greenbank. we dropped down in 130FOW and within 5 minutes I had shaker on. then Rmrauscher's rod get lit up! doubles! too fun. I took care of my fish fast, then grabbed the net to help. This fish had some Attitude! Rmrauscher played this fish for a very long time before he flashed us his side about 30 feet behind the boat. INSANE FISH. HATCH 11 LB. PRESSURE ON BABY! He takes some more huge runs and eventually we see his fish in the net. ON THE BOARD YAHOOO! what beauty. After 20 minutes of celebrating and taking photos, we decide to go fishing again. 2 minutes into the troll, SLAMMED! IM ON! bingo bango 27" 7 lber in the boat. WE ARE DONE.

lines in at 7:30, lines out at 12:30. over 15 fish hooked, personally I got 4 wild, one keeper and a few shakers, then lost one to the seal.

Poor Rmrauscher lost 3 to the seal, got a few shakers, then caught an 11 lb keeper. 2 keeps off greenbank to end the day. TOO MUCH FUN. there were a few more shakers mixed in for both of us than what is in the report, the fish were biting.

huge thank you to Flasyfish Lures and Old Goat lures. both keeps came on flasyfish, but the big fish of the day came on a herring OG2. caught 13 fish on Old goats. only trolled flashyfish for under 10 minutes and limited.

blackmouth fishing is sure a special deal. just one good fish is an incredible day, but to have a 15+ hookup day when many are over 22" (6 seen), 2 double digit fish, and limits is unreal. today alone certainly make all the skunk trips well worth it. Cant wait to get back out there.

In addition, to this report, I wanted to take a minute to highlight a free service that is part of Fast Action. Every month, you can receive a fishing report filled with tips and tactics of hot local fisheries in the Western Washington area, as well as Eastern Washington reports. to view the February edition, copy this link into the browser: http://mailchi.mp/e0d997e239b0/fast-action-fishing-newsletter-hot-fishing-action-in-the-middle-of-winter ---- keep your eye out for discounts on guided trips and fishing gear! to add your email to the list, go to fastactionfishingseattle.com and enter your email under the newsletter prompt on the home tab.


Thank you reading, tight lines, and I hope see you on the water soon!

~Captain Paul Lewis
fastactionfishingseattle.com

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