August 7, 2021: The WDFW forecast for the pink salmon return to the Puget Sound in 2021 was a decent 2.9 million fish. Below the 10 year average but enough to suggest even the moderately competent fishermen such as your correspondent might have a chance. I tried a couple salt attempts in the summer of 2015 but this was the year to get some pinks into the kitchen at peak awesomeness. The first try was a chilly evening visit to Carkeek Park, on the northwest corner of Seattle.
Ok, maybe it wasnt quite that cold, the above is a recent January visit to the same log as in my August pictures. Carkeek creek hosts a little coho return that you can watch later in the season but in August its just pinks passing by in search of rivers and maybe a few snacks closer in to shore. (Pro tip - if you wait for a minus tide you can walk across the 1.5 miles of tidal flats between Golden Gardens and Carkeek, what looks like pretty deep water in the top picture).
The first hour was more of the same, a lot of guys standing on the beach and looking at each other. Not impressed, the crew headed off to find our lunch the old fashioned way - taco truck. 
I, being more accustomed to the failure of a few hundred futile casts, continued to toss the standard pink buzz bomb. That is until the line started to tug back aggressively and I tried to remember what the procedure is for getting a fish onto the beach. Being so out of practice and with the drag too light, I was convinced a local king salmon had found me but eventually I got my first saltwater pink, complete with sea lice, onto the cobble!
With no film crew, there are no action shots but you can imagine it looked something like this (the 2nd fish for the beach):
And then within 20 minutes I saw a pink grab the lure right under my nose in the shallows. That was on to the beach in no time and I had my limit for the day (both males). Even better, those were the only three fish caught that morning, I was finally that guy!! I know well the feeling of watching someone stroll up late, grab his fish, and then saunter away but I never imagined getting that lucky (or how healthy it would be for the ego). And then the cherry on top - lunch arrived as I finished packing up.
I was joined by a couple fellow wishful thinkers but instead of catching salmon we watched the osprey put on a clinic. My catch for the day consisted of a lot of seaweed and one hapless sculpin who wasn't much bigger than the lure. 
August 9, 2021: The quest continued with an evening attempt at Lincoln Park, the southwestern Seattle option. Specifically, most folks were standing just to the north of Point Williams (which has to be one the best public swimming pool locations). It was promising to see so many people lined up to catch supper.
Yet, the pinks had other plans and everyone went home empty handed. That is unless you stayed for the sunset:
By 8:30, it was just me on shore and a paddle boarder armed with rod and 5 gallon bucket. Out a few hundred yards from the beach he was paddling when the first pinks of the evening finally surfaced. He dropped the paddle and went to work but couldn't find any takers. He came to shore to commiserate and then we headed home.
August 23, 2021: At this point, I haven't even a salmon hooked by anyone but I had a good feeling that switching to a mid-morning attempt with a lower tide would bring some action. I was so confident that I brought the camera crew back to Lincoln Park to capture the action.
August 27th 2021: Back to Lincoln Park for the third and final attempt on some salty pinks. This was another midday visit as some of the locals clued me in on to the fact that incoming tides are helpful. I took up my lucky spot.
It was a little tighter quarters and with my neighbor being out in front there was a need to bring my spastic casting under control. That started out ok and I hadnt clocked anybody but then there were a couple kids splashing in the shallows and my form fell apart... I kept flipping the bail too soon or snapping too hard and buzz bombs were breaking loose and flying to the horizon. I could see why their dad made them play in the water a good 50 yards away from his fishing slot.
I ended up hooking a small pink hen and when I cut the gills the kids bolted and peace was restored to my stretch of beach. Tragically, I only had a few more casts before it was time to head home for dinner. Still, it was the only fish caught during my three hours so my luck was holding.
Back at home, I couldn't bring myself to go through the hassle of curing such a tiny batch of eggs so I stepped way out of my comfort zone and tried making caviar. I don't know what real caviar tastes like but these were edible and salty so maybe that was a success?? Its an awful lot of work so next time I'm probably just going to cure them for bait in the hopes of catching more salmon.