Where: Puget Sound
When: Saturday
Conditions: Overcast, slightly breezy
Flies used: Pink over white clouser
Species caught: Pink Salmon

Song of the day: "The Remedy," Jason Mraz

I nagged them all morning.

"You're breaking your wrist again."

"Get that rod tip low."

"Remember to drive to a hard stop."

"Don't look at your equipment, look at the water!"

I hated to do it, but as Anil and I shared with them the night before, success in the salt is based on efficiency.

No wasted casts, no opportunities lost.

Hard at work. ;)

Thankfully, they understood and Frank, Pam and Bill applied each reminder more frequently as the hours passed.

Class quickly transformed into fishing.

And catching.

Looks like we found them...

"Rod to the side, Bill!"

He had hooked his first pink in the salt and it was going ballistic.

"Just let him run for a little bit!"

Seconds later, Pam chimed in.

"I think I've got a fish...Oh, I think it might be weeds. No wait, it's moving!"

A double. In that moment, you could have put Pam and Bill next to veteran saltchuckers and, from the beach, not known the difference.

Did I mention this was their first salmon in the salt?

"All right, now put some side pressure on it..."

As Bill's pink flopped out of his hands, I couldn't help but laugh. His expression, along with Pam's, was utterly priceless.

Breaking in the new reel. Congrats, Pam! :)

The right word for them? Joy.

The right word for me? Satisfaction. :)

Soon after Pam landed hers, Bill was into another one.

This time we got a picture! :) Nice one, Bill!

Three fish in five minutes.

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Bill, Frank and I shook hands before I shuffled off.

Minutes later, Pam handed the extra stripping basket to me, waved goodbye and got in her car.

As the metal studs clicked along the sidewalk and the gear folks threw curious glances (that'll never stop), my body reminded me that it had been up since 3:30.

The stiffness in my neck returned and my eyelids grew heavy.

Bill summed it up perfectly during the rush:

"I was getting tired and cold but all that went away when I felt the fish."

That made me smile.

The Sound is a beautiful place.

And today, a generous one, as well. ;)

Thanks to the entire class and again to Frank, Pam and Bill for putting up with my nagging so early in the day. Your hard work will pay off even more if you stick with it.

Don't forget to e-mail me at ohimo@hotmail.com. There's WAY more saltwater fishing to do!

Talk to you all soon. :)

Where: Puget Sound
When: Sunday
Conditions: Rainy, slightly breezy
Flies used: Pink over white clouser
Species caught: Pink Salmon

Song of the day: "Send the Pain Below," Chevelle

I clenched my teeth, half in pain, half in frustration.

The 200-poundish TV dug into my hands, forcing me to focus.

We decided to move it in stages. One flight of stairs, rest; another flight, rest.

During the breaks, my mind wandered to the Sound.

"I know they're slaying them right now..."

Knowing that killed me.

How stupid of me to schedule a move in the middle of pink season. :(

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Despite exhaustion from the day's prior labor, I managed to wake up before the alarm. The only problem was that my body wouldn't respond.

Dang...

Thirty minutes and several groans later, I was out the door.

Drizzle licked my face.

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"Nice boat, Steve,"

Rohrbach thanked me for the kind words as I handed him my gear.

"This is going to be good."

And it was:

Bottom line: There are still lots of pinks out there, folks.

And this is only the halfway point!

If you haven't been out, GO. Now.

But don't forget:

1) Your 6 weight
2) Your stripping basket
3) Your Outbound
4) Your pink flies

Don't know what I'm talking about? Learn more about saltwater fly fishing and how to catch pinks (among other things) this Friday at Puget Sound Fly Co.

Give the shop a call at 253-839-4119--I believe there are a couple of spots left...

Where: Puget Sound
When: Saturday
Conditions: Calm, sunny
Flies used: Pink shock & awe, pink over white clouser
Species caught: Pink Salmon

Song of the day: "Gin and Juice," Snoop Dogg, performed by The Gourds

"Welcome to Pinks 2007."

Don and I had been there since 4:30 and watched the lot flood with cars.

And, of course, the anglers that came in them! :)

"What do you want to do?"

"We have to wait for the class to get here."

"So..." He left the question hanging in the air. The answer was obvious enough, though.

Too bad we didn't bring our chairs this time! :)

As the Nicaraguan burned, people showed up and I directed them down the beach. Each student looked somewhat disturbed by the growing circus forming on the beach and pier.

"Don't worry, we'll make our own picket."

Minutes later, lines were in the water and waders were wet.

It was only 6:30.

When you take people fishing for the first time, you're overwhelmed by a sense of pressure. Although you can't make the fish eat you still feel responsible if they don't catch anything.

After a painfully long twenty minutes, I was already feeling it.

And then it was on.

"There we go, guys," I said, my rod bent over.

Our first catch of the day!

Well, now that we know they're here...

...let's catch another one! Nice fish, Steve. Congratulations on your first pink!

Soon, others hooked up.

This is Neil's first. Photo: Don

And Bob fighting his first one. Photo: Don

Good. People were hooking fish.

But as with most pink fishing, things come in waves.

Rather than wait for the next wave, I motioned to a group of students.

"Let's work down--I'm sure we'll find more."

At first they hesitated, but when they saw jumpers a hundred yards down, their doubts melted away.

Why wait for them to come to you? Photo: Don

We had found the fish and Don and I were doubled up.

So how do you take a picture of that when you're waist deep in the water?

Like this? No.

You do it like this. Photo: Don

And this. :)

This was right after the double.

A pretty nice pink that ate 20 feet away. Photo: Don

And another... Photo: Don

And another! :) Photo: Don

Wait, theeeere's more! :) Photo: Don

"Have you lost count already?" Bob asked.

"I'm not counting--you just stop when your arms won't work anymore."

He smiled in a way that let me know he was having fun. Fish were everywhere. The sun was shining and we had the beach all to ourselves.

What more could you ask for?

"I don't think I could ever get tired of this," I thought.

This was our third day and other Steve and I were heading out to complete our original mission from yesterday.

We motored toward San Bruno in the hopes of locating some Toros (Jack Crevalle) as well as a few more cabrilla and pargo.

This is what we found!

For the better part of the morning, I couldn't keep roosters off. Thinking the day would be epic, I decided to leave the camera in the bag and really do some fishing.

But just like the dorado on the first day, my judgment would be off.

The rest of day resulted in a ho-hum series of runs here and there and as the sun beat down, my thoughts wandered to our two friends.

"I bet they found what they were looking for," I said to other Steve.

"I hope so."

Oh, I forgot to mention what Steve R. and Anil went fishing for, didn't I?

Marlin! This was Steve's first. Congratulations, Steve! Photo courtesy of Anil and washingtonflyfishing.com

Steve wasn't the only one to score. I believe this is Anil's first, as well. Nice work! Photo courtesy of Anil and washingtonflyfishing.com

Needless to say, a round of margaritas and a good dinner were in order.

And let's not forget the pool! :)

After trading fish stories over tacos and fajitas, we all quickly realized that the next day would be it.

No more Baja.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do, huh, Steve?"

"Yes, there is..."

"Well, we know this spot..."

Next: Baja Day Four: Por Final!

Where: Puget Sound
When: Wednesday
Conditions: Windy, balmy
Flies used: Bozo shock & awe
Species caught: Pink Salmon

Song of the day: "Catch the Wind," Donovan

"C'mon dude, pick UP!"

"Hello?"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Guess what I'm thinking."

"Dinner?"

"No."

"Casting practice?"

"No."

"Cigar?"

"Uh, no."

"What?"

"Just grab your stuff."

Forty-five minutes and a 180 degree turn later, I balled my hands into fists.

"Stupid bridge! Let's GO!"

It had been three days since we'd fished for pinks.

Three days too long.

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"All right, dude, it's fairly straight forward: set your anchor like this, unwind as if you were peeling line off the water and fire it off."

Given the high tide, I thought it'd be fun to try some spey in the salt.

This was Don's first time handling a double-hander and as the single-hander had been fairly intuitive for him, so was this rod.

"Okay, just slow it down a bit."

I left him alone to concentrate on my own form and maybe hook a fish.

While my buddy was new to spey, this was my first time using a new spey rod. At twelve feet and rated for a 5 weight spey line, I judged it to be perfectly matched to this kind of fishing.

Let's see if I'm right... Photo: Don

Hmmmm...maybe not. ;) Photo: Don

And that's how you catch a salty pink with a spey rod! :) Photo: Don

Salt + Spey + Fishing at Sunset + Salmon = Mid-week relief! :)

As we rolled into the McDonald's, Don shook his head.

"That was so much fun!"

"Totally. I guess that means we're using speys again on Saturday, huh?"

He nodded. "I'll have a Number 1 and 2 cherry pies..."

Until Saturday! :)

Where: Puget Sound
When: Saturday
Conditions: Balmy, calm
Flies used: Bozo and pink over white shock & awe, pink over white clouser
Species caught: Pink Salmon

Song of the day: "Red Alert," Basement Jaxx

"Spider Pig, Spider Pig..."

It was 3:45 in the morning and we tried to keep ourselves awake.

"It's SO early."

"Yeah, but at least we have a spot."

At the crack of dawn, others showed up and our lamenting soon turned to smiles.

Not long after, Bryan arrived. Then Steve.

And before we knew it, we were into our first pinks of the year.

Like so. This was Don's first ever. Congrats! :)

And this was Steve's first of 2007.

This is Steve's second. :) Photo credit: Don

But wait, it gets better!

Here's our first double.

Very niiice!

After four losses, I finally landed one! Photo credit: Don

Jeez, this one's kind of thick... Photo credit: Don

"Get over here!!!" Photo credit: Don

And here's how a double... Photo credit: Don

Turns into a triple! Photo credit: Don

Another one for Don!

I didn't know they liked pink and white, too...

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I think you folks get the picture. :) So here's what you need to do:

Grab your rod and your stripping basket...and don't forget your Outbound!

This kind of basket works, too. ;)

And your humpy flies...

This one works particularly well. :)

And go fishing! (Cigar optional) :)

If you're new to the salt, no worries! I'll be teaching another saltwater class this Friday at Puget Sound Fly Co. in Kent. I'll cover all the basics on Friday night and then we'll all go fishing in the morning. If you're interested, give Clark or Anil a call at 253-839-4119.

P.S. Scott, nice meeting you on the water Saturday. Otto, nice seeing you again.