My big Cabbie/ Simpson reef/ crane prairie report

I finally have some free time, so I figured i would write a quick report of some recent fishing. This might end up not being so quick.

Last Sunday was the salmon derby in Coos Bay. I noticed the surf forecast was good, so I decided to avoid the crowded river and head down to Simpson reef. I held my own little aotd tourny and being the only contestant, I easily placed first with 5 different species. My first cast with sandshrimp on a crappie rig brought me a double hookup of surf perch, one being my personal best of 14 inches. I then switched to lancer jigs and got my biggest ever Black along with a 28 inch ling and a 22 inch cabbie. I hooked into a monster fish that I fought for a few minutes before it got under a rock and broke my line. It was the heaviest fish i have ever felt on a fishing rod. If i had a heavier rod, I may have had a chance of landing it.
 Here are my fine specimens for the day. I got a few greenling also, but released them.



After a few days, I couldnt stop thinking about the big fish that got away. Thursday I had a few hours to spare after work before i had to go to dinner with my girlfriends parents. I pedaled down to simpson as quick as i could and within a few minutes i was hooked into a nice cabbie. I landed it and measured a nice fat 23 inches. I knew there were bigger fish out there, so I threw it over the side and dropped my jig back down. Not 3 minutes later i hooked into something huge! I got the fish a few yards off the bottom before it made its first run. I was still using the too light ugly stick, but for fear of losing another fish to the rocks, I tightened down my drag and started lifting as hard as i could. The rod must have been near the breaking point but it held up. The rest of the way up was pretty much dead weight other than some head shakes. When his fat head broke the surface, I gripped his lips on the first try and pulled the beast over the side. A few whacks with the iron bark club and he was posing for pictures on my lap.







I could feel something big inside the fishes stomach and i couldnt wait to see what it was. Turned out to be an almost legal size crab! It barely fit in the cabbies mouth!



Im not sure how big cabezon get, but the one I lost the other day fought similar to this one, but felt much bigger. Im going to go find him when the ocean calms down.


I figured i would throw in a quick report from my Crane Prairie trip also. I went camping over the weekend with my girlfriend (Charlotte) and the weather ended up not cooperating. We were only able to fish a couple hours during the weekend but we both landed a couple rainbows in the 18 inch range. We gave up on tuesday and decided to head home. On the way out, the wind had died down a little so I pulled into the quinn river campground to check things out. We saw some fish jumping at the mouth of the river so I decided to give it a try for a while. After gathering an assortment of bugs, I paddled out and immediately started getting bites. I've heard it a lot before, but bugs really are the best for crane prairie. I lost a couple fish, probably due to the tiny hooks i was using. Then I finally hooked into a nice 18.5 inch kokanee. When i got it to the boat I realized i didnt have my camera so i paddled to shore with the fish swimming in the net in the water. Charlotte grabbed the camera and snapped some pics before the fish swam away.



I was pretty happy that i finally caught a kokanee. I was ready to leave but decided to fish for a few more minutes since the weather was nice, and i had a couple bugs left. I paddled out and quickly hooked another kokanee but lost it. I got a few more bites and used all my bugs, so i put on a worm i had leftover from the weekend. I cast out with no bobber and started slowly dragging it accross the bottom when i felt the line come tight so I set the hook. I was surprised to see the biggest trout I have ever caught on the line. It was bigger then 2 of the salmon i have caught this year! I didnt want to yard this fish in because of my tiny hook and light leader, so the fight went on for a couple minutes before i got it into the net. I then realized my hawg trough was too small! I yelled to Charlotte to grab the tape measure from the car and when I got to the shore she had it waiting. We snapped a couple pics and the fish swam away happy.



It was an amazing 30 minutes of fishing. Overall I had an amazing week of fishing and I will remember these fish for a long time.
-Evan

Now, That's some fishin!
Way to take advantage of the waning days of summer.

-Spot-

Wow, that is a tank cab... Congrats, awesome fish and report!

Way to rocket into second place for AOTY .... It is going to be a fight to the finish this year!

Sent from my Motorola Flip phone.

That is one hell of a trip.  Congrats.

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That is one hell of a run! Did you weigh that cabbie?

Great job all around, and especially the Cabbie. I had to release one there last year that was 26 inches, so I know there are some big ones out there! I would also like to try Crane Prairie some time, maybe next year!

That's a pretty awesome weekend of fishing!

Thanks guys. I didnt get to weigh the cabbie. I caught one at ORC that was 25 inches and exactly 10 lbs. i would guess this guy was around 15 pounds with the half pound of crab inside it.

Wow! That Cabbie's a beast! Congratulations on a couple really nice fish...I haven't fished in weeks but plan to fix that very soon.

Dat cabbie! God, what a pig!

That's some goooood fishin' right there!  Nice work!

Great report!  What did you catch that cabbie on?

Great report!  What did you catch that cabbie on?

I'm a believer

that is awesome dude!