08/21/2009

Tides: Low tide is at 8:00 a.m. and high tide is at 2:30 and a second low tide at 8:30 p.m.

Crew for the day: Tim, Paul, Gerry and Steve.

Starting Time: 9:00 a.m.

What We Caught

We made it out to sea for some very good fishing!  We released 14+ wild Coho, lost 9+ and put 7 very nice hatchery Coho in the box, one of them pushing 18lbs.

Where We Fished

We shot out to buoy #10 and saw boats trickling out to sea.  I put power to it and was able to make 25 MPH out to the CR buoy.  The ocean conditions were exceptional!  Much smoother than at buoy #10 and just an occasional whisper of wind.  We trolled there in a few different spots for about 1 hour but it was very slow, only a few boats picking anything up.  We were in 45ft - 75ft of water and noticed most of the fish begin boated were on the small side.  The chatter on channel 68 kept talking about 350ft of water, 4 miles west of CR.  Around 11:30 I put the power on and we went west until we found 300ft of water and a few other boats.  Dropped 3 lines and within 20 minutes we were on the fish.  We were at it until 2:00 when we decided to stay on the safe side and go back in to finish out the day around buoy #27.  In hindsight, we should have stuck around until 3:00 and finished out our limit.

How We Fished

The fish were hitting between 14 and 20 pulls.  Some of the fish we lost were huge, one slammed the pole, stripped about 100ft of line in about 1 second and snapped off.  Another came out of the water behind the boat with a triple back flip and shot straight at the boat so fast it completely looped the line making it impossible to reel up to get tension back.  He was gone in 5 seconds!

What We Saw and Learned

Before we headed out, we got info regarding additional safety gear required.  We picked up signal flares and we already had 250ft of tow rope.  The ocean fishing is the most exciting type of fishing by far.  My boat had performed better on the open sea than it did at buoy #10, probably because the river produces weird rip currents and the wind chop adds to the dicey conditions.  However, I have no illusions about how dangerous that bar can get and how bumpy the ocean can be.  I will always error on the side of caution when decided whether or not to go out.