Hatches as most people consider them don't really occur in the the local saltwater of Puget Sound but for those of us dedicated to this fishery, the arrival of the first salmon fry on the beach is akin to the arrival of the first BWO or Caddis of the season on a river.
When these baby anadromous fish hit the beach it marks the time when Sea Run Cutthroat should be revisiting the Sound as well, back from a winter and early spring in the rivers and streams.
This is the beginning of some of the most exciting times on the beach we have all year, when anglers have the opportunity to experience nature at its best; baitballs being crashed under their rod tips by voracious SRC's, assaulting flies both subsurface and on top.
Curious anglers can literally watch as these fry leave the freshwater of small tributaries and enter the salt for their first time and almost immediately be marauded by cruising trout.
They have arrived, I am pumped!