Area 9 Opener

What a day!!! Started out early as usual, alone amongst the ratfish. Before the sun rises, the beach is still empty, save for one small spot just south of the point, where I now find myself surrounded by a nice older gentleman with a fly rod to my left, and the aforementioned man with the golden sun profile pic to my right. The flyologist appears, as does a mysterious man with an air of fishiness about him that led me to conclude that he was indeed the COHOZORD.

Lost my first solid fish of the day in an inch of water, and proceeded to lose another two sizable fish within the next 15 minutes, leading me to question whether using the same fly for three days straight was a solid choice. As slack approached, I took the opportunity to swap out the hook of my fly, and catch up on the MA9 opener thread…all good choices.

As the tide started to move, so too did I, finding some decent water a short distance from my selection for the outgoing. As I detail my lostfishitis woes to Happy Rob and his sardines, fortune strikes in the form of a 4ish pound coho, promptly bonked.
View attachment 24194
Not 5 minutes later, I’m into the hottest fish I’ve hooked in years. After immediately hammering my fly she was airborn. Not your average leap, but a full 3+ feet out of the water. Not once, not twice, but three times…to the point where I actually said “this HAS to be a wild fish, she’s going nuts.” Sure enough, she was, and after getting herself oriented, she was on her way home. After another 2 smallish wild fish, I called it quits to start the second leg of the days journey.

Back home, cleaned the fish and onto the yak to reload the crab pots with salmon carcs. Weather was nice, so on a whim decided to drift a bit and give the pots an hour to soak. Pull up the pots to find the carcs all but disappeared, but in their place, pots full of Dungees, and not a female among them. Sorted for the largest, and home to prepare the feast.View attachment 24190
All in all fantastic way to spend a Saturday.

P.S. @Bagman did we chat? I was that Spey guy.
Nice to fish with you Jon, and thanks for the comment. I believe I was the nice older gentleman on your left. Congrats on the fish. I must have left too early. Bob
 
Glad your ok Al and nice work getting into some fish. The first couple trips of the season I always get surprised by 1 or 2 tanker waves before I adapt. There is one part of that popular beach we all frequent where the contour of the shoreline really magnifies the waves. I had one crash over my waders last weekend too. Made for a chilly morning…
Thats the spot that Al found. Quite a memorable day of fishing for Al.
 
Glad your ok Al and nice work getting into some fish. The first couple trips of the season I always get surprised by 1 or 2 tanker waves before I adapt. There is one part of that popular beach we all frequent where the contour of the shoreline really magnifies the waves. I had one crash over my waders last weekend too. Made for a chilly morning…
This is not my first rodeo been down two other times. I saw the wave too late to get to the beach, and I did not want to go down backwards so I took the second wave in the back. Only damage was to my pride, but this ain’t the first for that, either.
 
Color me ignorant. Tanker waves that wash over the top of waders and knock a guy down? That's a MA-9 thing? Never thought about that. I've negotiated wake and waves from jet boats on rivers since forever, but I guess a jet boat is a tiny fraction of the size of an ocean tanker. So how deep are we wading that these waves can wash over the top of waders? In case I ever give this beach fishing another try. Then again, I'm in south Sound, so maybe no tanker worries?
 
Color me ignorant. Tanker waves that wash over the top of waders and knock a guy down? That's a MA-9 thing? Never thought about that. I've negotiated wake and waves from jet boats on rivers since forever, but I guess a jet boat is a tiny fraction of the size of an ocean tanker. So how deep are we wading that these waves can wash over the top of waders? In case I ever give this beach fishing another try. Then again, I'm in south Sound, so maybe no tanker worries?
It's pretty much only an MA9 thing where you have frequent tanker traffic. This beach has a deep drop off so all that wave energy gets pushed up into the shallow in a hurry. Mostly wading thigh to waist deep there.

One time I was fishing a MA9 beach Seattle side and a navy frigate or destroyer went by, it was not moving that fast but you should have seen the massive waves it produced.
 
Color me ignorant. Tanker waves that wash over the top of waders and knock a guy down? That's a MA-9 thing? Never thought about that. I've negotiated wake and waves from jet boats on rivers since forever, but I guess a jet boat is a tiny fraction of the size of an ocean tanker. So how deep are we wading that these waves can wash over the top of waders? In case I ever give this beach fishing another try. Then again, I'm in south Sound, so maybe no tanker worries?
I am generally not wading more than thigh to waste deep and the waves don’t generally get that big. But if you don’t pay attention, you can get surprised by one. The one that got me barely made it over my waders. I have not ever been knocked over by one but I could see it happening if you are off balance when hit.
 
Large ship waves are definitely the #1 MA9 hazard, but there are always new ones to discover. Even if you arrive before sunrise, someone may have already limited out on the TP in one of bathrooms at the more popular beaches. Luckily the encounter quota had not been next door. Also, dispensing an unexpectedly liberal amount of alcohol sanitizer on coho hands during a gas station ice stop is unpleasant, but there is also a safety benefit as it really perks you up for the drive or ferry ride home.
 
It's pretty much only an MA9 thing where you have frequent tanker traffic. This beach has a deep drop off so all that wave energy gets pushed up into the shallow in a hurry. Mostly wading thigh to waist deep there.

One time I was fishing a MA9 beach Seattle side and a navy frigate or destroyer went by, it was not moving that fast but you should have seen the massive waves it produced.

Oh….it happens in MA 10 as well.
You should see if when multiple cruise ships leave port one right after the other. ;)

When I first started doing beach fishing many years ago, I was at a popular salmon beach.
There was an older fellow there fishing wearing hip boots. He had some mobility issues and could barely walk.
Anyway, he was waded out to near the top of his boots as some big freighter waves rolled in. Both myself and the guy fishing on the other side of him told him to get out of the water. He couldn’t move fast enough and the first wave hit him at shoulder height and drove him face first into the sandy beach. As the wave retreated he started floating and getting carried out towards the near shore rip as another wave shot him back up the beach. Myself and the other angler grabbed him by his jacket and drug him up on the beach. He was pretty shook up and we walked him up to his rig.
I honestly think if there weren’t folks around that guy might have died if he ended up out in the current rip.
SF
 
Last edited:
Oh….it happens in MA 10 as well.
You should see if when multiple cruise ships leave port one right after the other. ;)

When I first started doing beach fishing many years ago, I was at a popular salmon beach.
There was an older fellow there fishing wearing hip boots. He had some mobility issues and could barely walk.
Anyway, he was waded out to near the top of his boots as some big freighter waves rolled in. Both myself and the guy fishing on the other side of home told him to get out of the water. He couldn’t move fast enough and the first wave hit him at shoulder height and drove him face first into the sandy beach. As the wave retreated he started floating and getting carried out towards the near shore rip as another wave shot him back up the beach. Myself and the other angler grabbed him by his jacket and drug him up on the beach. He was pretty shook up and we walked him up to his rig.
I honestly think if there weren’t folks around that guy might have died if he ended up out in the current rip.
SF

Those compounded waves can nasty. Nearest I have ever come to having my boat flipped was a situation like that.
 
Coho teeth bite wounds infected with nasty bacteria similar to a komodo dragon's.
I had to chase a squirrel on this one. Fun fact: “Komodo dragons are actually very clean animals,”

Rockfish spines...those are the ones that get me good. I also don't recommend dropping a dogfish on your foot. IMG_1236.JPGBonus tip I found out after this pic...Ice is apparently the worst thing to do for a dogfish spine...
 
FYI, I’m going to catch the first ferry over tomorrow. My boat has been out of commission so time to hit the beach again.
 
Well, that was fun.

I stepped in next to @mtskibum16 on a beach early and one cast poached a nice keeper, I met @jasmillo for the first time, was loud enough with my laugh for @Kfish to recognize me, worked an inside rip where I caught 5 fish in 3 casts, broke the tip on my beloved FethaStyx 8wt Switch on one of those doubles, broke it down to the new top eye and kept fishing, cast off that section and hooked my last keeper!

2D5E9C89-B6EB-432E-A8AE-51710CACCFCE.jpeg
 
Well, that was fun.

I stepped in next to @mtskibum16 on a beach early and one cast poached a nice keeper, I met @jasmillo for the first time, was loud enough with my laugh for @Kfish to recognize me, worked an inside rip where I caught 5 fish in 3 casts, broke the tip on my beloved FethaStyx 8wt Switch on one of those doubles, broke it down to the new top eye and kept fishing, cast off that section and hooked my last keeper!

View attachment 25261
Way to hit it Ira that one is a hog🐖
 
There are people like Ira, Mtskibum and Jasmilo who are so fishy it's a reminder of how unfair life could be :)

Speaking of tanker waves I got hosed really well today, not once but twice. Think it was the 2.5hrs of sleep that clouded my judgement and reaction time, got water inside wader before I could get a cast out. That made it super uncomfortable for the rest of the morning.
Second incident really put serious water inside, my legs look like the Michelin man. I had to go lay down on a log and put my legs up to drain the water out :)

Encountered many near keeper sized fish but today was not my day:)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top