I fished Sekiu last week with a couple of good freinds.

The coho fishing was abnormally slow and we couldn't even buy a fish when we resorted to bucktailing.

We did manage a few coho to our cast flies fished on sunk lines. But better yet, we found some big mackerel that tested our tackle and left us puzzled at what we had hooked into when the fish took off and made their initial runs (excellent, EXCELLENT sport on the bug rod).

btw-Any mack experts know what kind of mackerel these are? They seem too big to be Pacific mackerel, don't look like Jack mackerel and eventhough they look like Horse mackerel, horse mackerel are only found in the North Atlantic.

Looks like it was a spanish makeral, Was that Justin Crump with you?

We fished labor day weekend , and absolutelyey killed em' catching 20 to 40 fish a day to get our limits.. we had 5 people . but lots and lots of fish.excellent bite in the morning,

...but it's OK to hold a fish out of the water in the salt water and NOT in the fresh water?

WTF, Sparkey?

Than again, maybe they just kept and bonked everything they caught, including that native coho. I guess it's "OK" if you just kill everything. Just don't hold that fish out of water and let it go.

Ok, I'm starting to hurt my own brain.....

Nice Parker!!!! Ya beat me to it! Must of been a "little mistake"?

Nice "PARKER" Love it.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

P.S. What's up with Rhoades not returning call's lateley??????.

I was waiting for that comment. :p

But anyways, last time I checked, it is perfectly legal to remove a wild coho from the water in the Straights. And for the millionth time, I never said it was wrong to remove a fish from the water, I just thought it was best for the fish if we forced more restrictive handling regulations to create some awarence.

See now the story changes. We see how it goes.

Nice pics but rather hypocritical

Anyway keep posting pics they are what make a good story.

I caught a couple of those mackerel at Sekiu also. It was my impression that they indeed were Jack Mackerel, Trachurus Symmetricus. True Spanish Mackerel are a whole different fish and are only found in the Atlantic. Here in the Pacific we have the good old Sierra mackerel which is almost a dead ringer for the Spanish, yellow spots and all. Sierra, however, are not found much farther North than Baja as far as I know.
I released the mackerel I caught. I've since been told they smoke up pretty good ( not as good as coho I bet! ). Anyone out there ever eaten one of those?

Yeah, Spark we all know that mortality in salt is greater than freshwater. Is that Justin? Looks more like Steve Apple?

Same situation at Neah Bay about same time in Sept. 2001. Last couple of days there salmon fishing slowed quite a bit and we caught a couple macks. As I recall, water temp. came up a tad also. Not nearly as large as the ones in your photos but they fought pretty good. Pretty neat looking fish, though. Brother took them home for smoking but never heard how they turned out. Guys at the marina told us they were trash fish. Sounds like you had fun with the the fly rods and I can only imagine how much fun they would be on light spinning gear. "Trash fish?", no such thing in my opinion.

Thanks for the report.

Yes, that is Justin.

And yes, it is hypocrtitical for me to post a picture of a wild coho being held out of the water (eventhough it is legal) when I pushed for more progressive handling regulations on wild steelhead.

I expected this reaction. And I have no problem with anyone holding a fish out of the water for a quick photo where legal to do so if the fish is handled properly and back in the water immediately. Hell, I asked Justin to hold it up for a quick photo.

I don't know what these mackerel are but they are not Spanish mackerel....at least not the same as the Sierra that I catch at Cabo... which I thought were Spanish mackerel. These are also a great flyrod fish. Caught several last year on poppers that the fish struck going down out of the air after jumping. That's just too much fun! And then they fight like a summer steelhead. It's all you need on an 8 wt. They are really good to eat also....smoked, grilled or especially as ceviche.

They're jack macks, and Sparkey, it's Strait of Juan de Fuca, not "Straights." (It's a pet peeve).

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!

Hell, just grab a nine-pound hammer and give 'em a good smashin'. Then you won't have to worry about, "Oh no, did I hurt the little fishy? Is he going to swim away and be fine or will he slowly pass beyond the realm of existence?" Box his ears, and throw him in the smoker. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

MY uncle uses his Sekiu makeral as crab bait. It out did our pink salmon backbone/heads about 2 to one. Hi s pots would get 10-15 crabs in 30 min, ours would get 5-10. Not much of a difference but we think it's because they have lots of oil in the meat, might be why they are supposed to be good smoked.