it was another great day on the water today, as the hatchery coho were on the bite!

it was another fantastic day on the water today, with overcast skies, a falling barometer, and fish jumping everywhere. we started our day just 2 minutes out of the launch, but after about 20 minutes of a blank screen and not a lot of hope, we made the decision to pull up and make a location change. instead of targeting trout, we switched up tactics and went for hatchery coho, which would have some trout mixed in usually in their schools. after the switch, we immediately hit fish and had 3 in the box within 30 minutes. the bite was constant on them and the fish would hit naked lures no problem. for 3 hours we caught and released a ton of coho, and ended up keeping one limit for the frying pan. we also caught a fantastic 18-20 inch chinook, along with some cutthroat, and a few smaller kings. it was certainly awesome to watch a nice chinook rip drag off the reel like it was nothing. the fish was kept in the water in a rubberized knot-less net until the hooks could get out of him, than he swam off strong as ever.

remember, when fishing the coho they have to have a clipped adipose fin. and MAKE SURE THE FISH IS THE PROPER SPECIES. we caught kokanee, kings, coho, and trout, so it is important to know the differences in your fish species before you keep something. IF YOURE UNSURE, DONT KEEP IT! IT COULD LAND YOU WITH FINES, YOUR VESSEL AND GEAR BEING TAKEN, AND POTENTIALLY JAIL TIME.


one other thing to note is the the potential predation on Kokanee and other salmon by the coho. as coho reach maturity, they eat small fish. with the cutthroat already putting a noticeable dent in the kokanee population and in the salmon runs, having coho around may add to the problem. the good news is that this is a special fishery that wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, so it may not be a recurring problem after these salmon spawn. this fishery is an opportunity that wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, so it is fantastic that we get to take advantage of it.

if you want to hop on sone resident coho (cohokanee), give fast action a call! (425)-753-5772.

Tight lines!
Paul Lewis

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