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Hit the pier with a friend and the kids Sunday morning. It was packed in St. Joe... and the fishing was beyond on fire. Lots of limits caught in 30 mins or less. 

We were planning on running a bunch of rods but I don't think we ever even got 5 in the water simultaneously. You couldn't even set a rod in the holder before it got bit. Must have been thousands and thousands of coho by the pier. 

These were among the biggest March coho I've seen - most were 18-20 inches, and a couple were pushing 23 inches and very fat. Looks like they have been eating well. Prey surveys documented a decent alewife yearclass in 2021, which is very directly tied to coho size the following year. Good early indications for the year!


Boats were catching fish too, but not as well as the pier guys

Way to go Ben. Thanks for the report 

Good report - and good to hear about the Coho at St Joe too. I cut my teeth pier fishing and haven't done any since I became a boater. Maybe it's time to bust out the old 12 foot silver kings and head to the piers.

Nice job Ben! Way to get the kids involved that is awesome. Good to hear about the ales too. A 23" coho in march is a very good sign, maybe by July we could see a 10lb ave coho offshore! That is if they stay around like they have done the past few summers.

Thanks for the report. It’s great to hear that the coho are fat and healthy. That’s good news and bodes well for the fishery.