Headed out to Sappho with my son Alex on Friday, and managed to pick a bunch of nice Chantrelles along the way. (Sci Guy) Bill and his two sons Cal (4) and Finn (7) showed up that evening and after getting the kiddos to bed, Bill and I set up the gear for the trip to Sekiu the next day. The alarm went off at 6 and we made a big breakfast, loaded up the car, hooked up Tartar Sauce, and made the short drive to the launch. After dumping the boat in the water I drove up and parked the rig next to a trailer that was selling derby tickets for the day. I pondered the thought of buying a couple, but decided it was more important to get back to Bill before he went crazy herding the munchkins around.
We pushed off from the dock and puttered out to the first rip. We deployed 4 rods in all, two on the down riggers (cut plug herring, and dodger/coho killer), and two surface flies on bug rods. It wasn’t ten minutes later that the cut plug rod (at 40’) went off and started peeling line like a seal! Bill took the rod as I got the boat out of gear and started clearing lines. I didn’t even get to a rod before Bill is pointing and yelling. I look to see what he’s all excited about, and see the other DR rod bouncing hard in the holder. I grab it and am fast into another big fish. Bill gets his in close and based on the size we are both thinking King. Bill was about to hand his rod off to one of the kids when the thing jumped right next to the boat. My heart skipped a beat as the biggest coho I’ve ever laid eyes on came out of the water, slapped down on its side, and dove for the bottom. At the same time my fish was tail walking away in a reel burning 50 yard run, hanging up on both the fly lines that were still dangling in the water. I reeled my fish in toward the boat, untangling the fly lines as they came to the rod. Bill’s fish was not near done, so I decided to take a shot at mine. After scooping him up in the net, I dumped the fresh fish (unmedicated) into the back of the boat with our youngest swabi Cal. Cal looked ready to pounce on the fish, but was unsure…
I took the net and went to the front of the boat where Alex and Finn were enjoying the action. The fish was about 6 feet below the surface and unfrigginbelievably HUGE. Bill applied pressure I slid it into the insufficient net…. Mission Accomplished!
For the next couple hours we cnr’d a bunch of shakers on poppers, which was great for the kids. We had one other fish on that was good sized, but never got a look.
Overall the fishing was slow. Had we purchased a darn derby ticket we would have taken both first and second prize….. Hind sight
On the scale at Olsen’s, the fish went 17 and 23#, both bled out….. The big one was the largest silver I have ever seen. A mutant of a fish…
Here are some photos. Enjoy.
Neal