A
alm21
Went out for some bay fishing again this week. I love the ground and pound experience on the tribs but when it comes to putting fish on the table, absolutely nothing better than getting them fresh out of the salt. For this trip, we met at 4a and made our way to the coast. Once we dropped in over the mountains, we were surprised to see the temp at 30*. Yikes, I was prepared for low 40’s but not this. Oh well! Then the fog…. At some points driving in, we only had about 100yds of visibility. However, as we got closer to the bay, the fog was behind us and we knew it was game on!
After quickly dropping the pots inside, we saw that the bar was in good shape so we wasted no time heading out into the ocean. Plenty of boats at the mouth but we decided to break away from the pack. Around 8:30a, I picked up this nice clipped Chinook on my “lucky rig” from the previous weekend. Didn’t put it to the scale but guessing around 11-12lbs.
The day went on…and on.. and on… nada. Went back in midafternoon and worked the pots. Conditions were awesome, no afternoon winds ripping through so we headed back outside of the bay. Many boats had called it quits for the day at this point. We began to fish around a buoy that within this last year, my buddy had laid the ashes of his best friend, Harry, to rest. Something about the ring from the bell on the buoy that afternoon… With nothing going on, I started asking Harry to give us a hand and to that end, the rod goes off. I get on it and the bait is gone with the fish. Then just as soon as I’m lifting the gear out, my rod hammers. I get on it and can feel some head shakes and then it felt like the fish was making a run at the boat. Reeling in as fast as I could, eventually my gear came up with nothing but a few moments of excitement. That’s barbless fishing. I was pretty annoyed with myself at this point having missed that opportunity on two rods and figuring that was it. But we didn’t go out there to quit. I got the gear back out as fast as I could and we went back over the area. This time I was asking Harry for an opportunity for redemption. With my back turned to my rod, my brother spots my rod bouncing. I turned and jumped on it and this time, it’s feeling real good. A solid set on the fish and it’s game on. This fish was HOT!!! After many runs as the fish got to the boat, it went airborne twice, what an awesome fight on the early evening sunshine. Ended up boating this nice 18lb wild Chinook. Once it, I saw that the front hook was perfectly hooked in the very front of the lower jaw and the trailing hook was deep inside. She inhaled my purple herring and wasn’t coming off unless I screwed up. Wish I could say I got her on my “lucky rig” but I had lost it to the weeds that afternoon. But, I tried something different and it is now my new “lucky rig”.
(A wad of sea lice on that sweet a**)
Two fish and 40 crab for the day, thanks Harry!!!
After quickly dropping the pots inside, we saw that the bar was in good shape so we wasted no time heading out into the ocean. Plenty of boats at the mouth but we decided to break away from the pack. Around 8:30a, I picked up this nice clipped Chinook on my “lucky rig” from the previous weekend. Didn’t put it to the scale but guessing around 11-12lbs.
The day went on…and on.. and on… nada. Went back in midafternoon and worked the pots. Conditions were awesome, no afternoon winds ripping through so we headed back outside of the bay. Many boats had called it quits for the day at this point. We began to fish around a buoy that within this last year, my buddy had laid the ashes of his best friend, Harry, to rest. Something about the ring from the bell on the buoy that afternoon… With nothing going on, I started asking Harry to give us a hand and to that end, the rod goes off. I get on it and the bait is gone with the fish. Then just as soon as I’m lifting the gear out, my rod hammers. I get on it and can feel some head shakes and then it felt like the fish was making a run at the boat. Reeling in as fast as I could, eventually my gear came up with nothing but a few moments of excitement. That’s barbless fishing. I was pretty annoyed with myself at this point having missed that opportunity on two rods and figuring that was it. But we didn’t go out there to quit. I got the gear back out as fast as I could and we went back over the area. This time I was asking Harry for an opportunity for redemption. With my back turned to my rod, my brother spots my rod bouncing. I turned and jumped on it and this time, it’s feeling real good. A solid set on the fish and it’s game on. This fish was HOT!!! After many runs as the fish got to the boat, it went airborne twice, what an awesome fight on the early evening sunshine. Ended up boating this nice 18lb wild Chinook. Once it, I saw that the front hook was perfectly hooked in the very front of the lower jaw and the trailing hook was deep inside. She inhaled my purple herring and wasn’t coming off unless I screwed up. Wish I could say I got her on my “lucky rig” but I had lost it to the weeds that afternoon. But, I tried something different and it is now my new “lucky rig”.
(A wad of sea lice on that sweet a**)
Two fish and 40 crab for the day, thanks Harry!!!
