Memorial Weekend Fishfest

First off, I want to thank my buddies Pisco & Fishin-t for a blast of a trip. By Monday you probably never saw or smelled  3 such pathetic souls. Found a great camp spot in Area5 that was a private assoc. area. Met a gal who was a member Fri eve and asked if we could pitch a tent at the far end away from all the Rv's. She said no problem. So up went our tent. Pisco and I launched for Halibut very early Sat am and fished from
100'-200' over a mainly sandy bottom. Water was glassy/perfecto mundo. About an hour into our drifts I felt a bite so I freespooled a bit to let the bait(Horse Herring with a big white Hootchie) be taken. Then I set the hook and WHAMMO, Halibut on. Very strong fish and played him(or he played me) for I'm not sure how long. It's work bringing these fish up from 150'. Pisco came over to add the assist/laugh and take pics. When I got
the fish to the surface, i loosened ny drag as Bill tried to gaff the fish. Harder said then done. Missed a couple of times and Mr. Fishy didn't take kindly to it so he splattered me with a slap of the tail and dived down probably about 3/4 the way to the bottom before I could retighten my drag. Worked to bring him up again and this time Bill was able to gaff and net him, apply the coup de grace with his knife and pass him over to me. Thanks a ton Bill. 35Lb Halibut tied off to my anchor cleat. drifted around with bill for an hour or so hoping I could be on the other end of a butt landing to no avail. Went in to fish a spot on my gps for Lings
and 1st drift over structure, 27"Ling. Day 1 over for me. More to come....Bill fished till around 6:00pm with no success. We ate a fresh ling Fry dinner and Tom showed up around 7:30pm just as two wild and crazy guys were going out for 1 last shot at Lings.

That is a beautiful 'but!   Those are some great photos, as well.

I think I saw you guys fishing the edges of a Kelp bed on Monday around noon, just off of Hwy 112. I was out at the coast all weekend and the wind and swell kicked up most of the time. Took the boat out to play in some big swell and had a huli of epic proportions! Great weather .... fun weekend.

I think we saw you driving by Bill. Should have stopped and fished. I'll report on part2 of a soon to come post. It was fun.

Nice job fishnut. That's a good size Hali. I'll bet that tasted good.

Silver Outback two yellow OK's and a surfboard on top ...
I was exhausted at that point. The Jameson flowed freely this weekend!
Nice Butt .... Second largest I have seen caught out of a kayak in Washington this season.

Very nice!  I want one of those!!!!!  Settle for little one now but putting in the time! 

I can't even imagine after boating a few 10 to 15 pounders what a fish like that is going to do!  Motivation!!! Thanks!

Part2.... Bill and I fished till dark and got skunked. A bit to windy and hightailed it back to camp guided by Tom flashing his headlights. Another bonfire with a few cold one's :spittake:and great conversation. Hit the sack at midnight and got up around 5:00am to hit Halibut again. We launched & headed out to 200' and then tom came out and dropped his shrimp pot at around 100' and joined us. The wind started kicking up &
soon whitecaps everywhere and close together wind waves and chop. Getting nasty. Time to head in. Pisco went to help Tom with his pot, all of us back in safely. Naps were in order until I was rudely awakened by the Assoc. property owner(aka "The Sheriff" ). In no uncertain terms he told us we were tresspassing despite the assoc member giving us "permission". Could have been worse. He let us stay that nite but told us to be out of Dodge by tomorrow. Tom left to go home in the early am and Pisco and I drove to Area4,found a good launch by some kelp beds and went out. I never had fished the kelp and Bill was my Sensai(me being Grasshopper). He cleaned up with a limit of Blacks, Greenling & a Ling. Me, another cluster but did manage 3 nice Copper Rockfish(c&r). I now have dubbed us with new aka's: KelpMan & ButtHead.
All in all a great getaway with some great guys. Had a blast but am now wiped.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. 

That is impressive! You are my new hero!

I'm hoping to have days like that soon. I went out on Sunday and only kept 3 Starry Flounders.

A most excellent report and impressive fish to match.  Thanks for posting.  What a weekend all around.

Awesome score! 

You're doing something right.  Way to backup the big fish creds you earned with the sturgeon.  Time to buy a bigger freezer yet?   

-Spot-

Fishnut!!!!  You have the big fish mojo going for you.  You absolutely need to make ORC now.

-Allen

Nice flattie!

Thanks guys. My weekend is still going in the cleanup phase. Just got done cleaning/washing down the yak and all equip. Set aside a big Butt steak with cheeks for an alder plank BBQ tonite and vacum sealed the rest. Pisco scored a bunch of Butt for helping me land him(need I say it again...mind out of the gutter)
All of our hands are trashed from salt,rope,braid and the circle hook I buried in my finger. Well worth it.Time for a cold one.