9/3 Emeryville, Army vs Navy non yak Quick posting! Yet even more PICS added

Non yak attack on the New Huck Finn for salmon, bite was slow. Army (GF and me) won two salmon to one for team Navy (aunt and Uncle).  A battle royal with a furbag almost cost Navy their lone fish, GF scored her first salmon ever, and we have have a pair of matching his and hers matching salmon (well close enough the fish are very close in size and weight side by side).  Both Jan and I caught one 12 pounder each to remove the cursed skunk off of us.  More to follow (with pics and story) going out for dinner!

Hey way to go! Enjoy the fresh salmon!

Left ou tof Emeryville on the New Huck Finn at 0600. 16 of us trying to get our limit.  We would get back in at 5:00 PM with  6 fish.  We get past the Golden Gate and head North. and started troling trolling, right off the bat, the guy next  me hooks up with a legal 8 pounder. good start right?  I thought so, I get a hit, let it go for a momment than let the boat set the hook as in structed, started to be bring the rod up from the rod holder and she was gone a moment later. 

Okay no problem, it seems like a good day, right...wrong. I would not see redemption for almost 8 hours.  We head off to Duxbury, and start trolling out there, one guy hooks into the biggest salmon I have seen so far in CA a nice fat 19 pounder.   Nice fish, now back back to boredom for a while.  My Aunt and my GF are chatting away, and I am half falling asleep when the skippers dog starts barking the deck hands yels at my aunt, she has something.  Fish on, we are in business now.  The fight gets gets going when a silent hunter makes his move.

A Seal decides my aunts fish looks better than whats availble and attacks it before it  gets netted.  This has now turned into a episode of game on, with the seal using his size and speed to his advantage.  Dave the deck hand quickly takes control of the rod and calls to the skipper where the beast is and where he is going.

The big beast is of course straining the drag and diving and trying to run away, but the skipper and hand are all over this slobbering fish stealing furbag.   The seal has the tail section in his mouth and the salmon, is none to fond of being thre either.  with a 50 boat manuevering against him and not being able to get away the big beast finally releases the salmon and it is netted to the boat to the cheers of of the onlookers! Score Army 0, Navy 1

Our furry friend is not done yet and has one more game to play. He follows us for a while and pops his head up from time to time for the next 30 minutes, and when Jan's rod (I should say mine as she borroweed mine, as she didn't like the 500/Newell HS setup), pops ,  Bam she has one on and is bringing it in, she thinks she has lost it , the deck hand thinks she has lost it, but the reality is her salmon is being chased at high speed by the giant furbag.  I watch the netting process closely to see its size, when I see the furbag trying to make a swipe run just as the fish gets in the net. Another second and her salmon would of been lost.

I am really happy for my baby as she has just scored her PB fish of all time, and her first ever salmon! A nice healthy looking 12 pounder!  Her beaming smile will say it all!  Score Army 1, Navy 1

Right now the ladies have the guys beat, and my uncle reminds me of this.  I am still trying to be vigillent, but it has been almost 8 hours since my first strike, and it has been a slow day.  4 fish so far have been boated.  We are making a turn to the north when I get a hit, I let it sit for while and watch it dance for a moment, I see the rod tip straighten out and feel the rod, and the beast .  I pull out of the rod holder and and start to slowly crank, I don't want to lose this one.  The guy next to me says you got this one.  ANd the fight begins, I do the dance over and under lines to get to the Port side and reel my beast in.  I can feel it trying to shake free, the Deck hand is telling me to keep the tip low and to the side and rell it slow, don't pull it free.  I can feel the fight in this fish.  The old Penn with braid is doing its job well.  I give a little drag, just a smidge and fish is trying to run for the barn, I cna hear the clicker going to town, I tighten er up and start to bring in the fish and work her in.  The deckhand is to my left in the ready 5 position, talking me through this.  "bring the release all the way to your tip  then bring the rod up so it closer to the boat."  My Uncle is at the stern watching everything. 

The room is tight tight, and everyone makes way for the one with the fish.  My little surfmaster 100 is doing a great job and getting er done.  I finally see the chrome of the fish and nice size fish and team Army goes up 2 to 1 when the Dave pulls up another 12 pounder almost identical to Jan's.  After the beast gets a wooden bath, its picture time,and my Aunts and Jan take a few.  I wash todays skunk off with a smile. 

I am happy I got to share fishing with Jan today, more so as she boated a nice fish, and we got some quality time with my Aunt and Uncle. Any fishing adventure where you get the better of a furbag not once but twice is a good day!  Next fishing adventure is coming up soon when we head up to the Lassen area for vacation. 

When we get back in to the dock we do some His and Hers photo's  not often you can pics like that.  I will post pics when they become availble.

Okay I got Pics from My phone now up loaded.  Jan and I x2, one of me, and one of Jan and her awesome fish!

Of all the gear out there, I saw an overwhelming amount of Penn reels.  Granted about 1/4 were rental units so I toss them out.  I saw one Avet, One Diawa 250.  The rest were Penns. My 500/Newell combo, my Surfmaster 100,  a 525 mag were the smallest reels out there. at least eight 4/0's, a 6/0 (and you thought the 4/0's were over kill).  Out of all the gear out there, only one rod had braid, and only one rod had two fish to its credit, and should of had a third, which was it...the Surfmaster with the braid set up on a tiger lite ugly stick, coincidence?  I would like think not.  I watched the angle of lines being trolled, more than one person commented on how my line seemed to trail flatter than the rest, I chalked it up to less drag due to smaller diameter to its mono cousins.  Did it make a difference, well i didn't get the biggest fish, nor technically did I catch the most, but it was the only Rod to catch two fish, but as Jan the scientist would say 2 would hardly be a good test result. Had I hooked into something really large I might have been in trouble, but those beef sticks had the sensitivity of a 2x4.  Granted a tiger lite is no Shimano Trevela, but it is hell of a lot better than some of the things I saw out there.

Right on Kevin! Looked like a good day otw also

Hi

army beat navy on a boat?  whats the world coming to 

Congrats on the fine catches.  Thanks for the great report and pictures Kevin.