I went out for a couple hours today as a "shake down" cruise for my new gear. Or maybe I'm just calling it a shake down cruise because I only ended up with THREE shrimp!

I went to Blakely Rock. There were probably 20-30 pots out and 7-15 boats. I didn't get a good look but it looked like other boats were doing better than I did. One of my pots was almost 200' and the other about 135'.

I was using puss 'n boots mixed with dry little friskies plus a small bag of "ace of baits" in each pot. My pots were only down for two hours. The first pot had three legal shrimp. The second one felt much heavier... and had no shrimp but a large sun star. I guess that answers my question about how often to pull. I'm assuming that the starfish might keep shrimp out of the pot so it would be worth checking pots periodically.

The fish checker at Shilshole said that two guys had limited in the am after about four hours at Pier 91 in Elliott Bay. Two other boats with two people each also limited in the morning at Skiff Point off Bainbridge (one boat in four hours, the other in two).

I didn't get out until about noon, and most pots were gone by around three, so I'm thinking that earlier might be better.

I tried jigging for rock fish at Blalely Rock and the fish haven south of Alki. I marked plenty of fish but didn't have a bite.

I'm going out tomorrow and will try Edmonds. Look for 19' open bow "Striper" with a green awning.