Salmon Fishing Area 9

With the opening of Marine Area 9 to the retention of hatchery king salmon this past Monday positive reports have been rolling in from a multitude of spots.  Without a doubt the number one spot has been Mid Channel bank with some outstanding fishing the past couple of days.  On Monday I spoke with one of the fish checkers and he had just got off the phone with his Port Townsend cohort and he said he had checked 37 boats as of that time with 80 Chinook!  Not a bad average with better than 2 fish per boat!  Other areas did not fair as well, but all have had respectable showings.  All of the normal spots have all been turning out fish.  Overall, I would have to say that we are seeing better fishing than what I would have thought with the preseason forecasts that we had.  The largest hatchery king that we have heard of pegged out at 35 pounds.  Most of the fish that we have seen are in the 8 - 13 pound range with a good number of upper teens and a few in the twenties.  We have some very good tides for both a good AM as well as PM fishing for the next few days.