Bobbing Like A Cork In A Washing Machine

Yesterday my son Doug and I fished for Coho salmon in my recently acquired Arima boat. The story of the day, however, was weather-related, not fish-related.

After launching around 7am at slack tide, we headed some 10 miles from the ramp to Point-No-Point (PNP) at the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula.

The massive amount of sea water that flows into the entire Puget Sound with each incoming tide passes through the channel between the PNP lighthouse and Possession Bar at the south tip of Whidbey Island some four miles to the northeast.

Of course that’s the spot we chose to fish. When the ocean grown salmon come into the Sound from which they make their upriver spawning runs, they have to come through here. Right? Right, IF they are coming. Unfortunately, they’re not migrating quite yet.

But back to the non-fish story. The day started great – fairly calm, not much wind and a slight cloud cover. Nothing out of the ordinary was forecasted.

By 9:30 or so, however, the tide was moving in at close to 10 knots, and a 20 mph wind had come up directly contrary to the tide. When this happens, mother nature is not smiling.

Combine the aforementioned with the incredible rip tides that occur in the area along with the rolling wakes of ocean freighters, and you’ve got liquid mountains of swelling, roiling chop.

It takes every nautical skill you have to man the boat, the downriggers and your lines when the vessel is tossed about like a cork in a washing machine.

In spite of it all, Doug managed to hook an apparently large Chinook that stubbornly stayed down and eventually broke his leader. We took solace in the fact that, had it been a Chinook, we would have had to return it to the water (Kings are not in season there). And he got one dog fish (small pesky shark). We both threw back several shakers (juvenile Chinook).

The boat performed wonderfully, even in the tumultuous waters, despite the fact that it’s only 16-feet long. We never felt unsafe – just a bit queasy at times.

When it finally calmed down in mid-afternoon, I snapped the above photo of Doug with my cell phone (and then made a phone call on my fish-finder :-). We’ll get the Coho next time.