Garibaldi coho July 7th and 9th

Fished Garibaldi on Friday and Sunday, spent Saturday in Portland. On Friday, met my friend Rich at the dock at 5:30 a.m. We were stuck inside until about 11:40 a.m. The large tide had made the bar rough, and it was restricted to 32’ and under until then. We fished between the jetties, a little in the west channel, and made two passes in the Ghost Hole, not a bite. Went back to the dock, rested a bit, and headed back out and waited for the bar to open. We were the first ones out when the Coast Guard announced no restrictions. We headed north to about 185’ and trolled Southwest. We managed to land two hatchery coho, and released two native coho. The late start, plus a huge amount of bait in the water, seemed to make the coho somewhat indifferent.

On Sunday, went with my friend Todd, on his 19’ Arima, I caught six coho, all native, fun and frustrating at the same time, as you cannot retain wild coho. Todd did land one very nice hatchery coho, we fished until middle of the afternoon, I would rank the bite as slow and spread out. Next weekend forecast and tides are looking really good, hopefully some more hatchery fish arrive soon. Reports are bottom fishing is slow at Twin Rocks and Manzanita, but a better bite to the north.