2009
Jeff & I spent 3 nights
in Vancouver and 5 nights in Sandspit in British
Columbia for a nice relaxing vacation. I'll
be writing an article for Fish Taco Chronicles
for the Fall edition so I’m going to
keep the finer details for the magazine. We
took almost 200 pictures and video clips over
the course of the trip.
We started off in Vancouver and stayed at
the Corkscrew Inn B & B. Places we visited:
The Maritime Museum, Space Museum, Grandville
Island, Stone Grill Restaurant (You cook your
entrée on a 400 degree stone), the
Butchart Gardens in Victoria, and the Vancouver
Aquarium (Where they had a newborn beluga
whale calf.)
A quick flight from Vancouver to Sandspit
on June 13th began our Queen Charlotte Safaris
adventure. The lodge is looking better than
ever and Chef Joe Harben had appetizers waiting
for us when we arrived. I was FLOORED when
we found out we had the place to ourselves!
(Another group of 6-8 rescheduled for later
in the year and they didn't want to disrupt
our plans.)
We fished with Captain Richard Aiken on one
of the lodge’s Boston Whalers for three
days. The bait hadn’t moved in thick
yet so it was a bit of a scratch trip however
Jeff & I both landed King salmon
which is the primary reason why we chose to
take this vacation. Half our fish were “red”
kings and half were “white” including
my best fish; weighing 24.5 and putting up
a great fight. Jeff also caught a lingcod
and we had numerous yelloweye rockfish…
Not quite as big as the record I set there
back in 2006 but all of them were over 12
pounds. (A replica of my fish is displayed
at the lodge and it is just as beautiful as
the one I have hanging on my wall at home.)
Jeff also released a halibut
and I kept one. Coho and
pink salmon were also being
landed by other anglers fishing near us.
The weather was pretty decent and we only
had to wear rain gear now and then although
it was overcast most of the time on the fishing
grounds. We fished to the north and south
of Cartwright Sound and out to Marble Island.
On our final day on the island we rented
a car went over to Queen Charlotte City and
Skidegate. Everyone in the area that could
attend was at the annual fundraiser “Hospital
Days.” The Haida Gwaii Museum has been
incorporated as part of the Haida Heritage
Centre at Kaay Llnagaay and we had a great
tour there.
____________________________________________________________
May 30
Today I was part of Team Beaver
& Butthare (Harold, Mike and Mel) in the
Full Speed Fishing and we nailed our game
plan. The practice runs for this event paid
off with Mel catching a nice halibut
weighing 13.50 to take third place for our
team.
We fortified ourselves the night before on
great food and some tequila and beer. Before
catching a few Z's we watched a video of catching
our main target species and got an early start
this morning.
And I mean EARLY... The alarm clock went
off at 3:30 am. I protested a bit and pulled
my pillow over my head but I was finally coaxed
up and Harold had my bowl of oatmeal ready
and waiting. The team was locked and loaded
by the time we trailered Harold's Grady White
to Oyster Point and launched. Our battle grounds
were just to the south of Candlestick and
we plied the water trolling up fish on frozen
herring.
Mel popped up the first nice fish and it
shook hard when netted, dousing Mel in a saltwater
shower. Everyone caught at least one fish,
but Mel was our quarterback today and carried
the team with 3 halibut and 2 striped
bass. We had a total of 6 halibut
and 2 stripers in the box and 4 halibut released.
I had tried to convince the team to try Angel
Island but we had a pretty good day just "out
in front" and we fished hard and long.
I'm sure we were the highliners of the day
even if we only took third place. Our team
worked very well together and we can hardly
wait to see how we do with a tuna run this
year (my fingers are crossed.)
Back at the marina the Full Speed Fishing
Halibut Tournament of Champions party was
in full swing with the club's new BBQ being
well broken in. What can I say except this
club ROCKS!
____________________________________________________________
May 20
I took a chance on the weather
this morning and it blew up in my face...
Literally! Oh well I had a nice time seeing
some of the regulars on the Queen of Hearts.
The rough ocean combined with a fast drift
made it pretty tough to catch rockfish today.
I wound up with 3 gophers
and I only remember catching 2 of them. I
think someone dropped one in my bag by accident.
____________________________________________________________
May 15
I met Harold and Mel at Oyster
Point at 6:30 this morning to put Harold's
boat "Seahare" in the water. We
were hoping to get Fishbelly to join us for
a practice run for a halibut tournament we're
entered in May 30th but he had to work. The
bay was nice most of the morning and we managed
to net a white with black trim, boat bumper/fender
to start the day.
Mel got the first line rip and released a
striped bass around the five pound mark. Things
were pretty quiet as we waited for the tide
change occurring around noon. We all took
turns at the wheel as we hit several spots
in the bay from the airport to the rock wall
in Alameda, back to Candlestick and down in
front of Oyster Point.
Sure enough as the tide started to come in
Mel had another takedown and this time it
was what we were looking for. Halibut
number one hit the box. The wind began to
pick up and we could see the fog rolling in
over the coastal range to the West of us.
A little while later Harold's rod goes off
and we box the second fish. I tried hoochies
and bait both but the wind really started
to screw with us so we headed for the barn.
I finally reeled up about 50 yards from the
launch ramp. What the hell, we had a great
time and the guys gave me their fish. I'm
going to fire up the smoker tomorrow and treat
them to some killer smoked halibut.
____________________________________________________________
May 2
After catching a whole 5 1/2
hours of sleep I trudged out of the house
at 4:45 am to drive down to Monterey and deck
aboard Alibi II for the Monterey Bay Veterans,
Inc. "Sports Rehab Center" 22nd
Annual Wheelchair Big Fish Derby (dedicated
in memory of Vicki L. O'Neal.) I have been
a member of the American Legion Auxiliary
for a long time and I only became aware of
this event recently and it was an honor to
be asked to be a part of team Alibi who had
donated their time and vessel today.
Under a fog-shrouded dawn Capt.
Dave, Cheryl and I had the pleasure of catering
to four disabled veterans as we anticipated
a day of hunting rockfish. Our group eagerly
headed South to Point Sur, a place I had not
fished before.
The weather cooperated and the
guys had a blast landing olive,
blue, starry,
black and yellow and China
rockfish. They also had a flurry
of sand dabs and a couple
of mackerel including a "big
mack" at the end of the day.
After cleaning the fish outside
the harbor we dropped the guys off and berthed
the boat before driving over to local post
#591 for the awards banquet. I was amazed
at the turnout and support for this derby
and I hope to help again next year!
____________________________________________________________
May 1
Last year I missed the rockfish
opener due to a spill off a horse that resulted
in major shoulder surgery, so I was really
looking forward to this year.
22 anglers, including me and
my new friend Natalie, ran down below Pigeon
Point and had a great time boating about 6
or 7 cabezon, a grass
cod, some big seatrout
and assorted quality rockfish.
I had a little buck fever and it took me almost
half the day to get back in my groove, however
Nat scored the only keeper lingcod
(her first), and it won the jackpot weighing
in at 8 pounds. We were "bow babes"
and toughed it out even in the light rain.
We had roughly 3/4 limits for the boat.
And guess who's back to work decking for
Bob... Heather!
____________________________________________________________
April 8
Having discovered Chooka
rain boots lately I am contemplating giving
Imelda Marcos a run for her money in the "boot"
division. Wearing my new Koi Tattoo "fishing
boots" and armed with my rain gear just
in case the weather turned bad, I hopped aboard
the Velocity
in Santa Cruz. Capt. Ken and deckhand DJ were
happy to see me again... It had definitely
been awhile and I was glad to be back on this
nice boat.
We went out in search of non
bilaterally symmetrical-eyed fish. We were
not to be disappointed either! From the moment
my squid-tipped hooks settled on the bottom
200 feet below it was a wide open bite on
sand dabs! Every now and
then a hard hitting Tom cod
also jumped on my gangion. The sun was shining
brightly when we headed back in around noon
and I had the rest of the day to relax and
enjoy some time off work.
Before rockfish season opens
I hope to get back out for another 1/2 day
sand dab trip. Maybe I'll have a new pair
of boots by then to break in.
____________________________________________________________
March 18
Managing to get my chores done
by late morning, I looked up at my calendar
and noticed the incoming tide would be starting
in a couple of hours so I rounded up my gear
and hit the beach.
This time I wanted to look for
new places to try for surfperch so I made
several stops North of Santa Cruz to make
cliff top observations or hike down to the
ocean. I settled on a beach across the highway
from Bonny Dune Road.
At the South end of the beach
I found mussels and below my feet I also grabbed
up some sandcrabs. After baiting up I leisurely
worked the center strand for an hour or two
and released a couple of barred surfperch.
Next time out I plan to try Davenport or Pescadero,
especially now that I've found my waders which
had been buried in the garage.
____________________________________________________________
February 28
The annual Santa Cruz Sand Crab Classic Perch
Tournament was held today. I didn't want to
miss out this year (unlike last year), so
I had registered for this popular event within
days of it being announced.
Mike Baxter and Alan Bushnell headed up the
check-in where the 100 contestants picked
up a T-shirt, fueled up on coffee and pastries
and talked up a storm... Actually we had been
anticipating stormy weather but the system
stalled long enough to provide a very pleasant
day to be surf fishing.
This year I just wanted to make a brief showing
so I figured I'd stay relatively close and
hopefully catch a nice perch. Meandering to
the South I found some parking down by the
Capitola Wharf and rigged up my Master 9'
1" rod with an Abu Garcia spinning reel.
I chose to use a technique Hippo Lau likes,
only I used Ande 8# test as my leader. To
make traveling up and down the beach easy
I loaded up my Albackore
Waist Pack with all the tackle I'd need;
egg sinkers, hooks, swivels, line, several
bags of assorted grubs and Gulp baits. I clipped
on a small hand towel and I was ready for
action.
A small rocky outcropping provided me with
fresh bait; black mussels. To help keep the
bait on and spice things up a bit I also snipped
off a narrow strip of Berkley's Gulp cut bait
and threaded it on over a size 8 hook, applied
some mussel and then put the hook through
the strip of Gulp again. This makes it harder
for the fish to steal your bait as well as
adding to the overall appeal.
I had a few nibbles off the rocks but there
was a lot of sea grass fouling my line on
the retrieve so I moved up the beach to where
the Soquel River flows in. A few casts later
I had a nice strike that produced a decent
barred surf perch. I snapped
a quick picture, deposited my catch in a plastic
bag in a small cooler back at my car and decided
to run back up to Santa Cruz.
I spent about another hour or two trying
my luck at the far end of the beach South
of the harbor but only had a couple of smaller
perch that I released.
Over at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club my fish
taped out at 11inches and before the 2pm tournament
cut off two other gals had brought in 11 inch
fish. Just when a three-way weigh off looked
imminent a final gal won the ladies division
with a 12" perch.
While I had to leave early I did see some
nice 14 and 15 inch class pile perch,
rainbow perch and more barred
perch weighed in for the junior and senior
divisions. Before next year I plan to get
in some more practice on surf fishing!
(Just as I was going to post this my friend
Cheryl, who had also been at the event, called
to let me know that I won 2nd place in the
ladies division with the heaviest perch of
the three 11" entries. She stepped in
to act on my behalf and donated my prize back
as I would have done if I'd been there.)
____________________________________________________________
January 10
There are a lot of reasons to run out and
get your fishing license to be ready for the
new year. Case and point? I tried lobster
hooping for the first time while
I was down in Ventura for a Full Speed Fishing
group meeting up for a party called Lobsterfest.
As luck would have it I got to pair up with
a bug pro assassin by the name of Mike Doering
who trailed his 18' Sea Sport Custom down
from Santa Barbara. Mike and I prepped for
the night ahead by throwing a quick game of
darts (301) and then eating some of the great
food at the party; grilled yellowfin tuna
and yellowtail, lobster fettuccine, lobster
bisque, etc..
At 4:30 we hopped into Mike's awesome Dodge
truck and headed for Channel Islands Harbor.
Ten ringed hoops were made ready by baiting
and checking light sticks. While chemical
light sticks are common, Mike had some battery
operated ones similar to the ones I've used
halibut fishing in Alaska. Soon under the
light of a full moon we started deploying
the hoops on the inside of the breakwall at
intervals. We were in the company of a few
others seeking spiney lobsters operating from
skiffs, rowboats or kayaks. It was nice that
the wind had died down and the weather was
fairly warm, so warm in fact that I was fine
in just light clothing and my Grunden's.
Mike maneuvered the boat and I retrieved
and reset the hoops for most of the night,
however we did switch off once and awhile
when a net got hung up or I needed to learn
a pull technique. We wound up having a great
time and had close to limits of bugs. I hope
to start fishing for lobsters every year now
that I'm hooked on hooping!
Link
to my 2008 Fishing Diary
Link
to my 2007 Fishing Diary
