I went out to Dash Point -- a pink salmon magnet every other year -- last night, and I saw very few fish and hooked even fewer.
Actually, the only fish I hooked on my pink comet flies were sculpin. I did see a couple of small schools breeze by, but the evening was more about casting and thinking about pink salmon than catching pink salmon.
The tide was high and starting to fall when I arrived, and there was quite a bit of salad -- seaweed -- in a few spots.
I think it's still early days in the Big Pink Run of 2009 -- about 5 million pinks are expected to return to Puget Sound this year -- and we'll see the big, aggressive schools of saltwater pinks any day now.
I hope so, anyway. I hooked and released a couple of pinks up near Hoodsport in Hood Canal late last week, but I try to stay away from that busy spot most of the time.
I keep telling myself to be patient, but it's difficult, as I remember the wonderful fishing of 2007, when about 3 million pinks rumbled into Puget Sound. Pinks return to Puget Sound every other year.
I guess I'll keep going out to the beaches and hope to be there when a big, snappy school rolls in. It's going to happen soon. I hope so, anyway.
Dehlan sent in a photo of a Callibaetis mayfly spinner for the current photo contest, which is supposed to be of solo fish. I'm trying to decide whether it belongs in the judging -- there isn't a fish in sight -- but I'm posting it anyway, as it is a cool shot.
Callibaetis spinners fall to the surface of lakes -- and some slower streams -- by the millions on summer mornings and evenings to lay eggs and die, and I'm addicted to those times. Trout porpoise on the flies, which flop around on the surface film or lay motionless.
What do you all think? Should we bend the rules for Dehlan, or save the shot for a bug photo contest, which could start after Labor Day?
Remember, this FISH photo contest runs through Labor Day, and anyone can send ONE photo of a fish to [email protected]. First prize is one dozen prime Deschutes River trout flies. Second place wins 6 Deschutes flies and third place takes three hot flies to the Northwest's best trout stream.
