Big River Report 8_29

4:00AM   I turn off the alarm and decide to skip my bonus fishing day.  "I need to catch up on sleep" I tell myself.  No argument about that.  My pillow is soft and cool, the comforter is like a womb cradling me.  Ahhhh sleeeeeeeeeeep..........

5:00AM  For the last hour I've started a million dreams but they're all the same.  I'm watching my rod tip bend and dance against a backdrop of fog.  Fish On!  And, I'm suddenly wide awake.

6:00AM  Sitting on the step in front of my house nursing a strong cup of tea.  What am I forgetting?  This scene repeats itself 'till I've managed to peice together everything I'll need for a salmon chase.

7:00AM  The coast range flies past and against the foggy backdrop I can see my rod tip bend and dance.

8:00AM  I'm pushing off into powerboat rush hour.  Litterally hundreds of boats lay out before me like some abstract stippling on a canvas of fog. 

9:00AM  To the accompaniment of a Bell Buoy I sing. 
"Farewell and adue to ye fair spanish ladies"
Ding Ding.....Ding Ding
"Farewell and adue ye ladies of Spain"
Fog shrouds all but the closest objects and I watch my rod tip bend and dance.  I watch my....  I watch my.....  Holy Crap!  FISH ON!!!!!

10:00AM  Nearly back to my launch.  In the crate are a small Chinook and large Coho.  Sleep would come easily now.

Great report Mark!
...and some purrdy pheeshes too!!

Nice fishes......

That's a friggin huge coho btw! Nice!

Did you measure the Chinook?

Beautiful! Congrats!

The chinooks up here in the Gorge are all black and stinky. Yours looks a lot fresher; the coho looks good.
Sounds like fishing for albacore or any other schooling fish. You want to be alone, but you might as well go where the fish are; just look for the flotilla.

Wow, what a morning! And you were fishing with ...?

Thanks Guys (and gal)!  
You've gotta love it when the fish cooperate.

Did you measure the Chinook?

The Nook was 27".  I wish I'd thrown it back and waited for an URB or another Coho.  That was a clipped Tule and though it looked pretty good in the net, by the time I hit the sand, it was dark, slimy and stunk to high hell.    It wasn't any better after removing the skin.  The meat was opalescent white and smelled as bad as the slime.  

Wow, what a morning! And you were fishing with ...?

I was fishing with 1000 of my bestest powerboatin' buddies.  I offered to hook up with our own bsteves but he was busy nesting......  

You want to be alone, but you might as well go where the fish are; just look for the flotilla.

That's pretty true.  I pulled the Coho out of a bumper to bumper flotilla but the nook was picked up at the edge of Desdemona sands with only one boat within 500yds.

Friggin' stud Spottie and great report as usual. Buoy 10 conditiond sound insane!!

Z

Nice job Mark, How did that Tule taste?

Nice job Mark, How did that Tule taste?

I'd prefer to not talk about the table quality of that Tule.      Let's just say that I look forward to a very robust garden next year.....  I do take some comfort in the knowlege that it was a hatchery fish.....

The Coho on the other hand was Mmmmm Mmmmm Good!  Gotta love ocean fresh Coho!!!

Nice dude. Wish I would've gone now. Trip was aborted do to summer flu