Today I drove south to Purdy Spit near Gig Harbor for a day of chasing resident Coho and searun cutthroat trout. Despite morning fog, the day turned out to be a beautful, but chilly, post-Thanksgiving day.
Last night I drew the tidal chart (below) on my right hand so that I could remember. High tide today is 2:39 and the sun sets around 4:30. I fished from noon to sunset -- so incoming and outgoing.
I strung up my 9-foot, 6-weight with one of Leyland Miyawaki's poppers. To be honest, I've never caught a fish on one of his famous poppers, but I have used it successfully as a search pattern. In other words, it has helped me to find fish but never to catch one.
Out at Purdy, there was already 5-6 flyfishers -- part of what looked like a group. They were friendly but didn't seem to be hooking up.
Fifteen minutes after my first cast, I noticed a small swirl just behind my popper, which I worked just about like a top-water lure for bass. I stopped for a split second and then resumed. Slam! Fish on. It was just about 30 feet from me and so I saw the take pretty well. I stipped him in and used the net to keep the fish in the water. This fish was about 13 inches, relatively small but an enthusiastic fighter.
I believe this was my first resident Coho and it was defintely my first saltwater fish on a popper. Sorry the photos (below) aren't better.
A few minutes later I had another, bigger swirl, but no cigar.
Meanwhile, dark old Chum were splashing and jumping all around. I tried a few times but they are not very interested in feeding at this stage of their lives.
I had several more takes during the day on a beach fly and a scud of some sort. But alas, my first would be my last.
Later this week I plan to fish with my dad in Oklahoma. The weather looks pretty good.
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