Finally - Area 6

I finally landed a salmon from a kayak this morning.  It's been much tougher than I expected, but the toughness has made the fishing much more interesting.

Launched this morning right before sunup.  Paddled out to the spot I had hooked some fish a couple days previously.  Saw a few signs on the surface and there were birds and signs of bait.  I started fishing with a clear intermediate shooting head and immediately hooked up.  The pink salmon came quickly towards the boat before taking the fight straight down.  All signs were for this to be my first landed salmon in the kayak but all of a sudden the hook pulled loose.  A good start.

I continued fishing and switched to a heavier sinking head.  Still nothing as the flood current pushed me east.  I eventually switched to my deepest dredging line and started casting into the tide rips forming a couple hundred yards offshore.  Second cast in the rip and I came tight to a fish.  This one never came to the surface but stayed deep and made a few runs.  It was interesting watching the kayak get pulled around a little bit by a five or six pound salmon.  The pink salmon was landed and released back into the water.  I was able to make one more good drift on the rip and landed an eighteen inch chinook as it started to rain.  I did not land any other fish but had a few other grabs before the current and wind pushed me off the water. 

Here's a picture of the sunrise before the wind and rain swept in from the west.

That's it.  You've tasted the sweet nectar of succes.  You're doomed.   

Congratulations!

-Spot-

Good job on the first yak Salmon. Need persistance for those buggers..

If pinks got to be 25#, you'd never land one----they are real beasts, size for size the best fighters in the salmonids--kinda like Urijah Faber.