Hobuck, August 13/14 2011

Had a lot of things go wrong on this trip, but there were FAR more things that went right.

Getting there was a bit of a pain, Friday traffic and a marine opening at the hood canal bridge.  grrr.  Finally arrived at hobuck around 9:45, and met up with Ravdakot.  Put down some Captain's Private Stock, set up the tent, and crashed out.

Saturday morning we hit the ocean and SLF went along as well.  Fishing started off slow, then things got HOT.  Special lady friend pulled no less than 6 lingcod out of the water, with most in the 21 inch range.  She got one 26 incher that I threw on the game clip with my two 18-20" cabbies and 16" greenling.  Next time I looked down though, the gameclip was gone.  One of the cabbies to flipped around enough to get the caribiner to unclip, and swam to the bottom with my game clip and his three new friends.






Pissed at how things went, but determined not to end the day on a bad note, we fished on.  I managed a ~25" Lingcod in that great blue/green color and then we headed in.  SLF joined the Huli club during the surf landing, but she had on my drysuit, so no problem.  Her paddle leash broke and one of the bungee clips on the Tarpon's seat snapped. 

Saturday night's table fare was corn battered fried greenling tacos with cabbage, avacado, cheese, and rice. 

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the beach at 6am.  We were met with even calmer conditions and fished up a few underlings and managed to lose Rav's stringer with two greenling, then I caught another nice Cabbie and punched the caribiner through it's lip... but that little #$@% managed to unclip himself... 

The fishing slowed a bit, and we drifted onto a new spot, then it was GAME ON!

The rockfish hookup was INSANE! 

I pulled this beast out of depths after it sounded 5 times.  I think it's a Vermillion, but we weren't sure what it was so we threw it back in case it was a protected species.





(is that a Vermillion?)


At the end of the day we had 20 bottomfish on this meatline of a stringer.





I definitely have a new favorite fishing spot!

That's a sweet Verm!!!

-Allen

Great report and pics.

That looks like a Vermilion Rockfish to me. I've never caught em (only seen em at the Newport Aquarium).

That's a sweet Verm!!!

-Allen

Looks like I missed out on a rockfish upgrade on AOTY.  Oh well!

   That's a nice bunch of fish.Well done....Could the unknown be a yellow-eye rockfish ?I'm not too familiar with vermillion's but have caught a lot of yellow-eye and this looks similar.
    Having not fished Hobuck--could anyone fill me in on where this place is ?Obliviously on the Olympic Peninsula somewhere I just don't know the specifics,so a little help please?

Damn nice Vermillion!  If you like Blacks, you'd LOVE verms.

Polepole showed me a quick way to confirm a Verm.  The jawline on vermillion is like sandpaper.  Rough jaw and you're good to go.

-Spot-

Having not fished Hobuck--could anyone fill me in on where this place is ?Obliviously on the Olympic Peninsula somewhere I just don't know the specifics,so a little help please?

Ocean side of Neah Bay.  On a map it shows up as Makah Bay.

What an amazing trip. Hands down the best ocean bottom fishing I've experienced since moving to WA. At one point I was catching underlings 2 at a time. One would attack my primary jig, and the next my dropper for 3 consecutive drops.

Way to put some points on the board Ravdakot!

That's an awesome day of fishing.  I guess you Washington guys aren't that limited in bottomfishing opportunities after all.   

-Spot-

Way to put some points on the board Ravdakot!

That's an awesome day of fishing.  I guess you Washington guys aren't that limited in bottomfishing opportunities after all.   

-Spot-

Thanks!! Looks like it will be a rat race to the finish this year for sure. The top 5 have been swapping paint for weeks.

Thanks!! Looks like it will be a rat race to the finish this year for sure. The top 5 have been swapping paint for weeks.

Not to hijack the thread but keep an eye on CBY.  He's #3 and still hasn't posted his 10th fish yet.....yet.

Now there is some Catching instead of just fishing!  Looks like a blast.

I can't believe I lived within 2 hours of Makah Bay for 4 years and never fished that area once.

I figure I have a little over 800 points of potential left in AOTY.  I am running out of time for the chums.   So with my current points, I have an outside shot at 1400...

       Thanks Lee,
    I appreciate the clarificaton.
    Don't feel bad kardinal_84,I have never fished there either.But it does look pretty good.I have fished Neah Bay,Seiku and around Port Angeles.Just never went to the edge out at Hobuk.Will have to give it a shot.

Dang! That sounds like a good trip!  After such a juicy report, its a lucky thing that place is at the end of the earth! I think its about 180 miles or so from my driveway, and I live at the beach.

That is an awesome stringer of fish! Nice Vermillion Lee.

Great reports