Fished the canal early today. Was shocked to see at least 10 people fishing in this one relatively small section. And that was at 7:30am
Never saw that at that location before. Managed to get a spot on the far end...not a great but thought I'd give it a try. Wasn't long before a couple people had fish on...Cohos. About 30 minutes in, casting a #4 blue fox (orange), rod bends...fish on! Lots of splashing around, sign it may be a coho. Brought it to the edge and yep, decent sized hatchery Coho. Started to pick it up, and it slipped right through my hands into the water.
Oh well...continued fishing. Again a couple more anglers with fish on, again, Cohos. The fish were really biting. A few minutes later, rod bends again, a brief fight, I land the fish and see it's another hatchery coho...smaller one. I was about to write that I was more careful this time, and I was with the fish (kept it), but when I turned around I put some pressure on my rod and snap, it breaks
Sheesh! Well the trout rod was on it's last legs anyways. Decided to use my larger salmon drift rod, but it was not easy using the level wind with the type of fishiing I was doing (I was using little weight) and I had limited casting space. Again a few more fish caught by anglers, again more Coho (one Spring I believe also). Fished for another 1 1/2 hours, with a couple hits and one brief fight, (but the hook popped off). Decided to switch to a rooster tail (red), second cast, fish on! A fellow beside me helped me land it with his net. An absolute chrome hatchery Coho, 8-10lbs. Probably the one of the nicest fish I've ever caught. More time goes by, and I landed one more hatchery Coho. It was a great day out, despite my rod. I'd say at least a dozen Cohos were caught in the area I was fishing. In spite of the rather crowded conditions, everyone was friendly and didn't really get in anyone's way.