By John Owen

Salmon fishermen are a hearty breed, but I sometimes wonder about their intelligence.

To begin with, some of them have figured out that salmon eat breakfast at 6:02 a.m. Maybe so, maybe not. Who sez you have to take orders from a fish?

Suppose your parrot wants a cracker at 5:15 each morning. Are you going to set your alarm so he doesn't get irritated?

Yet fishermen think nothing of setting the alarm to feed herring to a salmon.

They pour down some scalding coffee and a couple of Dramamine tablets and go scurrying out past the breakwater to spend hours on a tilting deck and staring down at undulating green water, a pastime guaranteed to make Captain Ahab lose his lunch.

If the angler returns home later in the day with a salmon, he is liable to throw it at the cat and sink down in an easy chair with a second-hand chicken wing and a brownie.

Not in Edmonds, however. Because the owner and operator of All Seasons Charters for the last 35 years is Linda Jablinske who will make sure you have a proper breakfast before you putt, putt, putt out of Edmonds Marina.

Linda is not only the captain of the charter company she is also chief cook and bottle washer at the Waterfront Cafe which shares quarters with Salmon Central, just next to the fishing pier.

I've previously taken the position that Linda Jablinske turns out the best cheeseburgers in Edmonds. Her breakfasts have also been highly recommended.

If she has bacon on the grill or is otherwise employed Linda will turn the controls of her boat over to another expert skipper to take customers out on the sound.

Her son Michael owns and operates the familys other charter boat. Both are berthed in the marina.

"We operate year around," Linda explains. "This isn't the busiest time of the year, but local fishermen know that there is great blackmouth fishing from now through the end of December."

Wave at me when you return from your fishing trip. I'll be next to the coffee pot at the Waterfront Cafe, munching a cheeseburger. I'm also considering operating an alarm clock concession at the same site.