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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Satisfyingly Salted  (Read 2545 times)

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Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
We finally had good conditions tor a bit of saltwater fishing last Thursday - 171 days into 2018 in case anyone else is counting - everyone I know was out fishing, except me.  I had an appointment I couldn't change, not without a 48 hour advance notice, anyway - as if anyone living on the coast or Oregon knows the ocean will be fishable 48 hours in advance.

The appointment was a bust.  Everything was "normal".  How disappointing.  I consider myself to be much more than "normal" no matter what the science says about me, but there you have it.  Normal.  Bah!

I got out of there as fast as I could, and broke several long-standing land speed records for Driving South On US 101 on my way home.  I tossed my kayak in the back of the truck, changed clothes, grabbed my stuff, and headed for the beach to get in a bit of fishing before the afternoon winds made fishing impossible.

Dodging around a herd of 11 Pekinese yapping in the parking lot and skidding to a stop - someday I'll need to apologize for that maneuver around the Pekinese - I yanked my kayak out and started to rig it.  Where's the battery?  At home, still on the charger!  No big deal, I don't need the fish finder today.  Hey, this isn't the right paddle!  It worked, but I may need to tie a pink ribbon on my kid's paddle so I never again grab her short paddle.  No leader material?  I keep a spool under the seat, just in case, and I'll simply have to make do with two - or is it three - year old 10# fluorocarbon.

Folks, I didn't go crazy because I felt a need to get salty.  Not in the least.  I felt the need to get more tasty fish on the dwindling, almost nonexistent,  pile of fish in the freezer.  If I run out of fish, what use do I have for the big freezer out in the garage?  Not much, I reckon.

On any other day, I'd have been prepared to go fishing the night before.  Everything would have been loaded in the truck, and the printed checklist would have been checked twice.  I would never have rushed around like a wild man just to get in two-thirds of an hour's fishing.  It wouldn't have been more fun if I'd been fully prepared, but I also wouldn't have spent most of my time on the water wondering about my sanity instead of concentrating on catching fish.

And in fairness to me, everything I need to go river fishing is laid out, strategically, because all I've been doing all year has been catching smallmouth bass, which I don't eat and don't keep in the freezer.  I was grabbing saltwater paraphernalia with both hands, using an old and somewhat faded mental checklist, and even with everything I'd overlooked, I felt proud that I'd remembered to bring my fly rod.  And my lucky hat.

I launched and raised a rooster tail behind me as I paddled to the tip of the jetty, only to learn I'd grabbed the wrong box of flies!  But the Lords of Fishing smiled on me and I found two flies in the box that were marginally suitable for fishing in the ocean.  A bit smaller than I like, and definitely not lingcod flies, but maybe okay for rockfish - if the fish aren't big enough to straighten out the hooks, of course.

Under-equipped but happy to be fishing, I bobbed-around for about 40 minutes, until the wind made it dangerous to keep casting a fly rod, then paddled back to the beach, satisfied that I'd made it out in the ocean before the conditions closed it down.  The swell is building, even as I type this, the wind is again blowing hard, and the foreigners will start arriving any moment now, in town for the 4th of July holiday, and the cove will be packed full of Wal-Mart kayaks all week.  Next week, the firework display will be directly overhead of the best spot to find fish and it'll be at least two weeks before the town - and the fish - settle down again.  Who knows what the weather will be like then?

One fishes when fishing is possible, not simply when one wishes to fish.

Oh!  Just as the wind kicked up, I boated my fourth rockfish.  Should have mentioned that.  It was the whole point of making a mad dash to the saltwater, after all.  The freezer once again has a purpose.

There should be a moral to the tale, like "don't rush it" or something equally pithy, don't you think?  Me?  I'm leaning towards simply presenting it as proof that I don't always over-think everything I do, even when I should.

P.S.  Of course I know the Fourth is not this week, it's the week after this one which is now "next week" but wasn't "next week" when I wrote this.  I'm not living in the future, and I knew what I meant... I just forget the "The" in front of "Next week, the fireworks..." and you can stop laughing at me now, Source.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2018, 04:27:06 AM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


rogerdodger

  • Fish Retriever
  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • roger
  • Location: Florence OR
  • Date Registered: Dec 2012
  • Posts: 1490
Thursday was going to be my 5th salty day of 2018, 'was' being the key word as my day got 'twisted' before I launched.

I decided it was a 'go day' on Tuesday and spent all day Wednesday preparing- got some herring brined and my nook rod rigged to troll for chinook.  got a plate of squid out and my lingcod rod rigged to bump bait on the bottom, my rockfish spinning rod rigged with a 2oz lancer 'waterdog'...both my crab pots ready to drop at the excellent spots I waypointed earlier this year...plan was to continue to Simpson Reef and put at least one ling on the yak, then troll north towards Baltimore Rock and see if I could stumble on my first ocean chinook, finish my ling/rockfish limits and then loop back to pick-up my limit of crab on the way in about noon.

I loaded everything but the bait in my rig the night before and was rolling at 4am, parked at Sunset Bay at 5:15am and started slowly getting the kayak loaded and ready to pull out of the SUV.  I was expecting 'bb2fish' and several others to possibly arrive and also launch early, so I was taking my time getting ready, no hurry as 6am to noon looked to be calm wind and light swells.

with my Oasis all loaded up but still hanging out of the SUV, I grabbed my Hobie wheels, leaned over to bring them up from below, reached over the top to secure them from above, twisted slightly and ZOINK, lower back pinched and I knew it was over.  Tried to walk it off, like you would after twisting an ankle, thought about leaving the crab pots and just fishing but within 5 minutes, there was only one safe decision- full abort.   

just about then, Barb, Chris and the other kayakers pulled in and I tried my best to not look like a human question mark. gave them what intel I could about finding fish out towards B.rock, passed my bait over to them also in the hope it might get them a ling or two, slowly loaded everything back up and was home at 8am.  Spent the whole rest of the day carefully unloading and putting all the gear away. 

moral to my day?  never stop evaluating conditions, including your physical ability, and regardless of how much promise the day held when you got up at 3:30am, if the right decision is to cancel or cut things short, make it and come back to fish another day.  good news for me is the freezer is loaded with ling, rocks, razors, and steelhead, which is part of why this trip was going to include my first attempt at ocean salmon fishing.

(I tweak my back like this every 5 years or so and it is always doing something silly, heck, I dug 90 razor clams in May-to-early June, no problems.  Then I twisted it a week ago pulling on a hiking boot while I had turned to the side to talk with my wife.  2 days out from the Sunset Bay tweak and it is much better, we are headed for the redwoods to camp and relax for 3 days.  lift and bend straight, lift and bend straight.  Fingers crossed and conditions permitting, 2 weeks from now, I should be netting my first ocean salmon.)

 

2019 Hobie Outback (Fish Retriever)



RoxnDox

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Native Propel
  • Location: Gig Harbor, WA
  • Date Registered: Sep 2013
  • Posts: 674
Well, here in Puget Sound it’s rarely the weather and waves that keeps us off the salt. More the ‘human’ issues.  But I finally got out again with Blake Merwin of GH Fly Shop, and a band of happy yakkers, off Point Defiance. Launched at Owens Beach, and started getting into the dogfish like crazy right away. Jigging for Kings 120-160 fsw, Point Wilson darts. Just off the bottom.  Drop the line, bounce bounce, dogfish. Repeat a few times. Then Zing!!! This was no dogfish!  I finally got him up within sight and oh it was a beautiful big old salmon, all shiny and still kickin’ For all it was worth.  Well, as it turned out, my medium sized net was not big enough, I got it under him a few time but not enough. One of the others came over and landed her in his net so I could get hold.  Ripped the gills and got King blood all over my boat (Hooray, at last!!!) and myself. This was my first king ever, and certainly my best fish on the kayak!

Measured out at 28 inches, don’t have a fish scale but guessing around 10 lbs.  I had two other solid hookups that I’m pretty sure were salmon that got away. Plus somewhere between 18 to 21 dogfish, one itty bitty flounder, and a couple of itty bitty rockfish, and one sculpin. My arms got way more workout than my normal trips!

Crappy cell phone picture after our trek back to the beach against the currents. All in all, best trip ever.
Junk Jigs "BEST USE OF ACTUAL JUNK" category - "That tape should have been a prized possession and not junk. That will be a collectors item in 30 years!” & “There sure is a lot of junk in there.”


rogerdodger

  • Fish Retriever
  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • roger
  • Location: Florence OR
  • Date Registered: Dec 2012
  • Posts: 1490
Well, here in Puget Sound it’s rarely the weather and waves that keeps us off the salt. More the ‘human’ issues.  But I finally got out again with Blake Merwin of GH Fly Shop, and a band of happy yakkers, off Point Defiance. Launched at Owens Beach, and started getting into the dogfish like crazy right away. Jigging for Kings 120-160 fsw, Point Wilson darts. Just off the bottom.  Drop the line, bounce bounce, dogfish. Repeat a few times. Then Zing!!! This was no dogfish!  I finally got him up within sight and oh it was a beautiful big old salmon, all shiny and still kickin’ For all it was worth.  Well, as it turned out, my medium sized net was not big enough, I got it under him a few time but not enough. One of the others came over and landed her in his net so I could get hold.  Ripped the gills and got King blood all over my boat (Hooray, at last!!!) and myself. This was my first king ever, and certainly my best fish on the kayak!

Measured out at 28 inches, don’t have a fish scale but guessing around 10 lbs.  I had two other solid hookups that I’m pretty sure were salmon that got away. Plus somewhere between 18 to 21 dogfish, one itty bitty flounder, and a couple of itty bitty rockfish, and one sculpin. My arms got way more workout than my normal trips!

Crappy cell phone picture after our trek back to the beach against the currents. All in all, best trip ever.

right on, that picture looks real good to me!  congrats.
2019 Hobie Outback (Fish Retriever)



Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Thursday was going to be my 5th salty day of 2018, 'was' being the key word as my day got 'twisted' before I launched.

I must have just missed seeing you, roger.  And wow!  I saw their vehicles, but C_Run and bb2fish were nowhere in sight when I arrived.  From what I hear, everyone who went out had a really tough time finding fish around Sunset last Thursday.

I've felt your pain.  Zowie!  I recommend bourbon - by the bottle (just leave the glasses in the cupboard).   >:D  Hope it passes quickly and you're not pretzeled-up for very long.

Crappy cell phone picture after our trek back to the beach against the currents. All in all, best trip ever.

Not a thing wrong with that picture!  Nice job by everyone, including the Samaritan with the bigger net.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


rogerdodger

  • Fish Retriever
  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • roger
  • Location: Florence OR
  • Date Registered: Dec 2012
  • Posts: 1490

I've felt your pain.  Zowie!  I recommend bourbon - by the bottle (just leave the glasses in the cupboard).   >:D  Hope it passes quickly and you're not pretzeled-up for very long.


back is already much better, my collection of Highland Park has not slowed my recovery... ;D
2019 Hobie Outback (Fish Retriever)



bb2fish

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Oregon
  • Date Registered: Feb 2013
  • Posts: 1499
We had a great trip to the salt on Thursday.  Thanks for the bait and all the intel from RogerDodger at the Sunset Bay launch.  Met up with surf12foot on the water and had a successful launch and return to the beach!!  Always helpful to think things through with Tinker in advance of a salt trip to his home "surf".  Everyone caught fish and renewed the joys of saltwater kayaking.  Looking forward to doing it again soon!


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
We had a great trip to the salt on Thursday.  Thanks for the bait and all the intel from RogerDodger at the Sunset Bay launch.  Met up with surf12foot on the water and had a successful launch and return to the beach!!  Always helpful to think things through with Tinker in advance of a salt trip to his home "surf".  Everyone caught fish and renewed the joys of saltwater kayaking.  Looking forward to doing it again soon!

Well, that's the Reader's Digest Condensed version of the Tale of a Great Trip, Ms. fish.  I heard from some fly-flinging fellow that your crew had a very good day, indeed, and definitely worthy of a longer story, so tell us more.  Enquiring minds want to know!
« Last Edit: June 24, 2018, 04:31:53 AM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
back is already much better, my collection of Highland Park has not slowed my recovery... ;D

Nothing beats a single malt.  I'd almost be willing to tweak my back...  Nah!  What was I thinking?  Have a fast recovery, roger.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...