Alberni Outpost 2012 Kayak Fishing Derby

I will be there on Saturday on ayellow adventure island--see you guys there.
T2

Hey TX,

Great to hear another forum member is making the tourney. I spoke with the fish whisperer last night and he's also planning on it.

I've been casting flies for pinks so I'm not sure what gear people are using but spinners and spoons in smaller sizes in pinks and chartreuse would be similar to the flies I'm casting.  Your fly rod may also be of interest. I'll have some extra flies tied if you bring it along and need some.

Definitely meet up on the water and fish, I'll let you know what I know about the area if you aren't familiar. Im not against chasing Bass on Sunday if the Pink fishing is really slow. I really hope we are releasing fish as we can only keep 4 but as I intend to fish all weekend so if it's really slow I'll consider going where I know fish are biting. 

BB

Ill be there on a orange Wilderness Systems Ride. After a long day of driving im not sure that I'll be on the water at 6:00 but would like to be fishing by 7:30. Where will people be launching at and easiest way to get there?

I was also planning on doing some bass fishing. I have bought a license for Sunday and have fished one of the lakes there before and had a pretty good day. So I'm looking forward to that too. Also looking forward to meeting TSquared.

Aterwards I'm headed over to Tofino. If youll have any insight on that area I'd love to know as much as I can. You can PM if you like. see youll tomorrow

I've never launched there txpaddler so your guess is as good as mine. I'm not sure what time I'll get to  the water. Do you carry a vhf? If so, I'll stand by on 68 unless the organizers have a dedicated channel for the tournament.
T2

t2,
is this the same venue as the old Moutchalet Bay Salmon Derby?

WR--No--I was there today--it's kind of cappuccino fishing--right in the mouth of the Nanaimo River in downtown Nanaimo. (it's a smallish city but second largest after Victoria here on the island) Moutcha Bay is up in Nootka Sound which is a large inlet opening onto the west coast of the island. i was in a rush last night to get ready for the trip so i didn't take anything but trolling gear and not much of that--pinks how picky can they be?  (never fished those waters before)--big mistake. It was estuary fishing in a low tide so 2 or 3  feet of water was the productive depth. All you guys who fish the rivers all the time would have laughed at my inept efforts to TROLL something in that situation! Next time I will be better prepared with a casting rig, fly rig and an anchor. It was a great day--very calm protected waters. I met TXpaddler, BackroadsBaddler, fishWhisperer and some fellow Canadian guys from our board. Fishwhisperer was the guy who put on a clinic for me--I watched him play and catch a fish as he was anchored with his trolley so his stern faced the wind and casting into a little spot where the fish were holding.  After giving it a shot for a few hours in the morning and realizing I was hopelessly under geared, I paddled with a local across the harbour to the marine pub to console myself with a burger and a beer and then went and gave it another shot.
Great day!
T2

After lasts years catch results (0) and the run this year being a bit earlier than expected (arguably) there was discussion on forums that this event would be a no-catch event again.  Not so.  There were 40 anglers entered into the tourney and 38 fish weighed in.  There was one guy in a belly boat that weighed in 8 fish, 4 before 9:30 the first day and 4 before 7:30 the second day.  He also let every fouled hooked fish go, which unfortunately can’t be said about quite a few of the other fishermen.  FishWhisperer was the only guy (that I knew of) from NWKA that weighed in a legal fish as T2, TXPaddler and myself couldn’t get anything into our nets.  The only fish I legally hooked, I lost at the side of my yak.

The first day, I met FishWhisperer at the launch at 5:30 and got loaded up.  Wheeling my boat down the route and over uneven ground and over goes my boat.  Yardsale of my gear all over the trail.  Somehow my rods in the rod holders survived and aside from some missing pliers the only thing damaged was my ego.

We hit the water and got our lines wet.  We found most fish (and anglers) schooling near the mouth of the Millstone river so we got into the line of floating crafts and started making casts with our fly rods.  A couple bites but nothing real to show.  For someone who enjoys not seeing to many others when I’m fishing, the combat fishing style was getting to be a little much. So, being the local guy and all, I had the idea to paddle to another area where people have been fishing lately but I figured would be vacant.  It had been a while since I had made the trek and it was a bit longer than I remember and think had led FishWhisperer and TXPaddler to believe.  After a sun drenched breeze lacking hour paddle (with some dodging of Ferry traffic) we finally made it to Departure Bay.  It was vacant alright.  No fishermen and no fish.  We scoured but couldn’t see anything.  An hour later and we were back to where the fish were and FishWhisperer had one weighed in shortly.  NALT (Nanaimo Area Land Trust) fed us a great BBQ Salmon burger with all the fixings.  I headed for my truck around 6 the first day. 

Started the day around 5:30 again.  I hooked into three fish before 7.  2 foul hooked and released and one legally hooked and lost.  Put some bend into my 6wt.  Nothing else for me after that.  I fished right until the final weigh in time of 4 the second day.

There were 3 kayaks given away (2 by hidden weight prizes and 1 by random draw) and various other prizes.  Hobie had a booth set up showing their floating products as well as some trailer and camping ideas.  It was great exposure for the sport of kayak fishing, lots of models of kayaks (including FishWhisperer in the Cuda that got lots of looks especially when he was standing) were able to be seen and I must have spoken with over a dozen people that wanted to know all about my OK Caper. 

Even though the style of tournament and fishing isn’t what I typically like to do, it was a good experience great to be on the water with some other NWKA members and get a sense of the comradery that you guys in the PNW seem to have.  I definitely will be making a trip South to experience a tournament in the coming years.

Thanks to Alberni Outpost for hosting the tourney and to T2, FishWhisperer and TXPaddler for making the trip to my neck of the woods.

I enjoyed meeting you BB. Thanks for the pix.
T2