Just got back form a few days up that way. Fished Friday afternoon, and Sat, Sun, Mon mornings.
Friday: just a quick trip to settle in and get the boy out. At two, he isn't coming on the early morning trips yet, but he loves getting out. Scratched up a ho (tossed back) a pink and one decent hali (nice chicken).
Sat: Fished the bluffs, which normally produce well for me. Not so this time. We couldn't get through the ho's to anything else. They were a plague. I think we whacked a pink. Moved down a ways, and dropped one down for halis. Two very small ones. One tossed, and we kept the second because it was badly hooked.
Sun: fished a little farther up. Found them too, had an easy limit by 8:30. One 25#, and the other a mix of teeners. My big one fought not at all. It had somehow wound all three points of the treble hook into it's eyeball (poor fish) and this seems to have turned it off pulling hard. Dropped it down for halis on the way home, nada. Snuck out in the afternoon with the boy and the missus. Just trolled the bay, and tossed a ho and a pink.
Mon: Hi hopes of anoher easy limit were soon dashed. The plague of hos set upon us again. For some reason, the hos turned off for us after a while, and we were just driving around in circles, watching everyone else toss hos all around us. Even though we didn't want them, it was a little disconsertingt that they didn't want us either. By 10:30, it was time to take drastic action. Like CPM, I often save the day with an army truck head. Not my favorite pattern, but it seems to work when nothing else will. I sent it down on an extra long leader (8'), and immediately nailed a nice 20#er. My partner promptly sent down an army truck head on a shorter leader on his side, and WHAM. The fish fought like a spring, and it was a good size, so we scooped it up. But it looked wrong in the net. We jumped to "monster ho", but then quickly realized it was a chum. kind of a wierd catch, but a gooder. 16#er. Dropped it (the gear, not the chum) on the way home for hali and picked up a decent chicken wihtout much effort. Best part was, we were within polishing distance of the only other boat in that spot, who was dilligently jigging away. They had a sense of humor about it. We took one more tack past them, but no further production. The boy wanted to go for a boat ride after his nap, so off we went. Great whale show (he tried to capture one with his minnow net). And I persuaded a beauty 15# ling to join us on-board.
Considering that these trips are only partly about fishing, and also about a family get-away, this was a great trip. Not the best fishing ever, but deffinitely goos enough to keep me smiling and dreaming obout next season--I won't be back up this year. Additional excitment ofr the boy included quad rides and driving an excavator. I was too shy to ask for a turn, but it sure did look like fun!
The weather was predictable: overcast, but not too foggy in the am, bright and blustery in the pm.