Friendly Phil picked me up at the Nisqually Refuge and we drove about another half hour North on I-5 to the Point Defiance ferry lot where there’s a large parking lot and boat launch. We were on the water around 11 am and the tide was dropping from high to low. Pinks were jumping everywhere. We motored North about six miles almost to Dash Point and Phil cut the engine near several schools of jumping fish. I made a short cast toward a school with a 1/4 oz jig and 2” hoochie and got a solid hookup the second it hit the water. A hard fighting pink eventually came to the boat and Phil netted it with a way too small trout net. I switched to the Loomis NRS+ 6 wt with an intermediate line and pink/silver fly and caught two more. The action quickly died as the tide changed and we resorted to chasing the few jumpers we could see. By 3 pm I has 5 pinks landed and two lost and Phil said he caught at least 4. It was grim heading back South. The JBLM traffic was getting out and it was stop and go for 20 miles. Back home by 8 pm.
