Moutcha Bay Derby 2009 Report

Hi,

I was able to escape the family for a few days and headed up to the Moutcha Kayak Fishing Derby.  I drove up Friday and arrived at Moutcha Bay in the late afternoon.  I was beat from the long drive so I did not fish but other Yakers were out and about and did well.  On Saturday I had a leisurely breakfast and headed out on the water at around 8:00 long after the rest were already on the water.  I recently set up my kayak with a Scotty downrigger which I deployed with a 3.5 lb ball.  I was fishing with a green flasher and my favorite green and white Salmon fly.  I started paddling out to where most people were fishing and before I new it I had a nice fish on.  After an initial long run the fish made a dive and to my horror my line had wrapped around the rod tip.  My line was about to snap so I stuck my rod in the water in the direction of the fish and thankfully the fish changed direction and the line slacked up.  I got the line unwrapped and played the fish for 15 min.  I brought the tired fish along side my kayak and attempted to net it with my wimpy little net.  The fish did not fit in the net and one of my hooks snagged the net.  So I have a partially netted fish flopping around with line and hooks all tangled up, ah the joys of yak fishing!  Fortunately I had a large stainless steel stringer connected to the boat with a leash which I was able to get through the fish’s gills and mouth to secure it.  After a couple of whacks with my fist (forgot my fish club) I had a 20 lb King on the boat.  After dropping the fish off at the officiating boat  and started trolling with the rest of the boats and yaks near the mouth of the river.  I caught and landed a fish in the 12 lb range but let it go in hopes of catching a bigger fish.  Soon after I hooked into another nice fish which made a number of long runs.  I got pulled around a bit and spun is circles but finally landed the fish using the stringer instead of my lame net.  I dropped the fish off which weighed in at 22 lbs.  Having got my limit I headed back to shore at 11:00 AM and spent the rest of the day drinking beer.  Fished Sunday and Monday and hooked and lost a couple of fish.  Although the fish were around and jumping they definitely where off the bite and far fewer fish were landed compared to Friday and Saturday.  There where few nights with a bright moon which could have turned the fish off and there was a large Sea lion which definitely did not help the fishing.  All and all I had a great time with good weather, some good fishing and a met a number of really nice American and Canadian Yak fishers.  I will definitely make it back next year!

Cheers,
Tomas

Wow---next year, fer sure.  Nice story and pix, thnks!