Regarding the mackerel, I caught several last weekend on my fly rod. The first didn't fight very well, but the last few gave a fair account of themselves. We bonked one to eat.

The WDFW guys, when they checked our boat out at Sekiu last weekend, said there are two mackerel out there right now; spanish and jack. I can't remember which is which, but one has a bluish back and one the brownish back. (These aren't sierras, as far as I can tell, for you guys speculating that they might). We were told that one of the macks is good eating and the other is fishing and can be a little "intense".

We ate one night before last, deep fried outside (after hearing that they can smell pretty fishy when cooked). If you have ever eaten striped bass, often there is, for a lacka of a better term, a 'blood' line along the dmide of the fillet. Cut out that dark hunk of meat on stripers, and they are good chow cooked. Ditto for the mackerel. They brown meat/blood line portion was NOT good, but the balance of the fillet was very good.

REGARDING LINGS AND SEKIU: guys, it is closed to ling fishing, period. IT doesn't matter how big or little the fish is, it's just flat closed. I was there on Monday and some knuckleheads near us were bonking some small lings, and ended up getting some tickets for the efforts. And, the limit on black bass is 3, not 10 like Neah Bay.

REGARDING RYAN'S COHO PIC: Ryan, no problem with you (actually you buddy, I understand) holding up the fish to take a picture, either. Done with wet hands holding the fish, barely out of the water, and well-supported. Heck, the fishing is losing about as much air as he would when he jumps a couple of times.

Like you, whether it's a steelhead, wild coho, or hatchery coho, if the fish is planned to be released I have issues with guys who milk every last bit of fight out of the fish, who then net the fish, drop it in the boat, rassle around with it to grab it, hold it for two minutes to get the right pic, and then just toss it in the water expecting the fish to recover.

I've been beach fishing many times where the fisherman will do the classic 'back up' the bank after hooking a fish, drag it up on shore in the sand, kneel on the fish to hold it still while unhooking it, and then tossing the fish back in the water expecting it to go on its merry way like nothing happened. Grrrrrrrrr!