Hey Red;
It's nice to be back home but can't wait for the next trip this July!!!.
Got up there late Sunday and didn't get fishing until Tuesday. Scraped ALL my humps and bumps for two days and got nothing - except a very large fuel bill (lol). On Thursday we started the circle over again, starting out at Pine Island, only to find several long liners setting up. Frustrated, I set the bow for Cape Caution and held 28 knots. 45 minutes later we were in area 10 exploring virgin territory. Stumbled onto a mother of a Snapper hole and had our limit of them in an hour (six). Hooked one on each pass, smallest being 12lbs and two breaking 20. WOW!!.
Friday we ventured out to the 'Bar' and we hooked our limit of Hali's. One on the flood and three on the ebb, all chickens, with the largest @ 35lbs. Back at the dock we ran into a guy from Alberta that we met last year at I V's. He was set up on Pine and loaded up as well (six fish) two big ones, 65 and 77. All of his came in on the ebb.
Saturday morning we pulled out the Salmon gear and started out fish'n at Duval. Got tired after about 40 minutes of continuously getting fouled up - weeded in something BAD, and headed for Castle. Nailed a NICE 32lbr right off of the start (boated) and caught several other 'decent' 12lbr's and released them. At slack the bite came on. Hooked and lost another
Tyee ten feet from the net, boated a 15 and a Stanley sized Coho. From all of the catch and release that was going on (anything under 15 goes back) we ran out of bait and the later fish came in on hardware.
It was a hard call, but we still had two more Hali to get for our possession limits, so in the middle of all this FANTASTIC fishing we opted to leave and headed back over to Pine.
We set up and the Mrs. hooked into a REAL nice fish on the first pass. I got to see it as it came up (65-80??) but unfortunately as fast as it appeared, it just swam away without so much as a tap on the rod, giving her the 'middle fin' as it went back home. She was PO'd. - the Tyee lost at Castle was also on her line. Better luck next time, Dear!!. Hung on for another hour w/ Alberta drifting nearby. Without any more luck for either boat we headed for Hardy in order to break camp. Met up w/ them as we were pulling out the boat and he reported to us that things came on just as we got on plane. They quoted out w/ three more over the next two hours w/ the big one in at 102. Good for them!!. GOOD GUY. He and his wife will be up there for our next trip as well.
Someone had a 135 hanging on the scale also. We were in rush mode and didn't chat him up as to where it came from. After a phone call Sunday, the fish are still coming in by the boat loads. EVERYONE is hauling them in!!. Looking like another great Spring fishery this year also.
To sum it up, things started off slow but ended VERY NICELY. It was a different time of year for us and I think I learned a few things from the experience. Nice to visit with our friends and get better acquainted with past acquaintances. I'd rate the trip as an 8 out of 10 - only due to the slow start but still managed to fill two of my coolers. Other than the Monday, weather was awesome. Go anywhere you want kind of stuff. The only time I needed the rain gear was to dress out fish!!.
Maybe it's time to get together for a seafood feast or explore some of the local scene on the water together???.
Btw, the ones we released, we did tag them with your name. All you got to do is get up there and whistle them in.
Some like it rough...
Others just puke!.
Mr. Dean
