Pinks a Plenty

I launched this morning about 7:00AM (park opens at 6AM) from the North end of Golden Gardens Park. Extremely low tide as I had an unusually long walk to the water.
When I started paddling out I could hear the slap of the fish jumping. Well, I could see them too and that helped a lot since I don't have a FF
If you paddle straight out North about 100yds and go East about another 200 yards you are in the thick of them (anywhere East of the green bouy). They appear to be following the shore to Golden Gardens but are not making the left turn (South towards the locks) close enough to shore for the shore fishers. They reported that the fish were not that close to shore. One even left to go get his kayak.
I tried trolling as everyone else was doing but that didn't work so I brought out the tried and true spinning rod and bright pink buzz bomb.
That did the trick as I brought at least 6 to the boat, (kept 2 about 3lbs ea and BTW limit is 4) I don't have a smoker yet so I didn't want to get carried away. Even catch and releasing these guys was fun enough.
I also tried trolling for coho but no action on this front yet.

Any recommendations on what brand of smoker I should get? Any secret recipes?

Good luck out there,

Kurt

I like my Luhr Jensen little chief smoker.  Has worked just fine for me!  As for a recipe...... I like to cut my fillets into small chunks and cover them with sugar and a pinch of salt.  Leave them overnight and then rinse thoroughly and throw them in the smoker.

Thanks for the advice YS!

I did a lot of extensive online research and bought the stainless Bradley at Outdoor Emporium. It was quite an adventure getting there from Ballard as I unknowingly drove by the schools of people on their journey to Hemp Fest. Talk about second hand smoke
Ran through the seasoning cycle on the Bradley without a hitch and cured the fillets overnight. I'll smoke em today and see how it goes.
All in all, it looks like a great weekend to smoke things

I'm headed out to Golden Gardens this afternoon about Noon to see if the fish are still as thick as yesterday. It seemed like it didn't matter when you fished cause the schools were constantly cruising through.

I'm sorry I missed the Picnic Point Pinkout sounds like a fun time even without the fish.