Fishing stories

[Baia]

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday and what she wanted to do was catch a salmon.

It was a very warm day, so we headed out to a known fishing spot a distance from home--just far enough away to get away--where we had previously seen fish being caught from the beach in the afternoon. We had lunch at a market salad bar, packed the leftovers in the ice chest and headed for the ferry. We were traveling light, but she had her salmon rod and reel and tackle box and I had my Alaska Moose ball cap, camp chair and book.   She was there for the fishing.  I was there for her.

Hansville, Washington is past its prime as a destination salmon-fishing resort area, but the Sound and the mountain views are still the same and the beach around the historic light house was scattered with families and individuals enjoying the record-breaking good weather even as the yellow school buses lumbered by delivering the children back home after their first week of the school year. As I said, the weather was great and the breeze off the Sound was refreshing.  The sand was warm and soft enough to sit on with my back against a driftwood log and my book in the shade.  My daughter found a space on the shore and proceeded with the business of her day. 

There were all sorts of folks fishing from the beach at Point No Point: Three guys in waders, a young woman casting flies, but most just casting from the beach in the usual way.  One guy (Dave from Lake Kitsap) hauled in two Coho in an hour and was very happy to share his tips with my daughter:  Fresh herring bait, double and figure 8 hooks, a particular way of cutting the bait.  That was pretty much it.  Oh, and the wind direction.  He had found what worked for him.  He had come from just about as far away as we had although he hadn't used the ferry.  His friends couldn't understand why he went so far to catch a salmon when they were all around us, but he enjoyed the whole process including the beach where we all were.

After a couple of hours, the breeze started to cool and I needed to pull up my hood.  We decided to pack it in with our major catch being a variety of seaweed and a lot of wisdom.  The sun, silence and sea air had worked out our physical and spiritual kinks.  Surprisingly, I was able to haul myself back to the parking lot without a lot of effort and we headed back to town, stopping at my little condo by the ferry for a couple of potty breaks and to wash off the salt and sand.  One more stop for ice cream and we drove right into the ferry lot just as the next boat was unloading its cargo of weekend refugees. On the other side, traffic was light as we headed for home and a couple of anxious cats who were three hours past their usual dinner hour.

This morning, my daughter is researching salmon fishing on the internet.  She has found a listing for "Ballard Bait and Tackle" noted for "herring, latte and jazz."  Haunted by the spirit of the owner's mother, it sounds like a place to go to pick up a few fishing tips and maybe even meet a fisherman or two.

That's my fishing story, for what it's worth.  Although I was raised in a fishing community, I've never fished myself and now my daughter is skipping a generation to take up the activity that my mother, a child of Puget Sound, enjoyed on her own before her marriage to my dad, a child of the mountain creeks.

Do you fish?  Do you have a fishing story?  Or any tips?

These guys aren't buried in the sand!  The beach just slopes steeply right there.  The guy in red is Dave who caught the fish.  The cruise ship is heading for Alaska.  Friday evening is a regular parade of ships from Seattle North to Alaska!  In a couple of weeks, I'll be on one of them heading for Japan.

[Slim]

I'm not too crazy about fish, so never had much interest in catching them.  That ice-cream sounds good though!

It's nice that your daughter is taking an interest in a family tradition.

[TeeBubbaDee]

I fished a little in my early 20's, but it pretty much consisted of sitting in a boat with a pole in one hand and a beer in the other. Catching a buzz seemed to override catching a fish.