Shelter Cove - 9/19/20

September 19th @ w/ Silas and Emily

What a blast we had on a beautiful ocean at the Cove yesterday!  Emily got things going quickly with two stout coho to the yak for no-net releases.  Having grown up in Alaska, she quickly earned the title of "Ringer"!

{Wiktionary:  (sports) A person highly proficient at a skill or sport who is brought in, often fraudulently, to supplement a team.
Synonym: hustler}

We hoped a Chinook would show up too, but the program was about doing the full tour and helping my guests discover the adventure of kayak fishing offshore - soon we were off to the Whistle to sample the cloud for some bottom dwellers.  A mild NW breeze combined with the current out there and resulted in a great workout, as we paddled hard to get on the spot.  A couple hours in Silas hadn't pulled up a fish yet, and I was reciting a common theme from my guide playbook:  "you're building your mojo and will likely catch the biggest fish of the day."

Boom!  Silas pulls up a hog of a copper.  He's on the board and has earned his own title:  "Sandbagger"!  We went on to build nice stringers, with seven species landed and my guests enjoying the fruits and the freedoms of the sport.  We were loving the glassy water on the paddle in - the breeze had died, but the current was ripping.  I had my people paddling hard to get back to the inside, and they were all about being part of one of my guide service mottos:  "no gym membership needed".

We topped off our tour with a pass and a half through the hali zone - Sandbagger brought up the first flatty, but it was just short.  Ringer then cemented her place at the top of the day's hierarchy with a keeper in the bag!

All teasing and poking fun aside, getting to know these two and helping them to fully experience a well-rounded trip on the open ocean was my pleasure for sure. 

Thank you, Silas and Emily, for bringing readiness, enthusiasm and an authentic joy to our trip.  You made my job feel easy, and your energy and fulfillment had me smiling myself to sleep after another 18 hour day.

It's been an amazing Covid Summer.

Also saw some of NCKA's finest out there.

Fiver and his oldest boy were slaying several species on the AI, and Krusty had perma-grin after landing a PB Cali that went 39".  Inn Keeper had LilRiverMan out on his powerboat.  It was a really nice day and great to see you guys.   

Looks like you guys and gals had a blast.

Sounds like a good day at work! Thanks for the write up. Good photos as always too, the shot of the silvers flank is a cool one.

I always look forward to your reports... thanks for sharing! 

Also saw some of NCKA's finest out there.

Fiver and his oldest boy were slaying several species on the AI, and Krusty had perma-grin after landing a PB Cali that went 39".  Inn Keeper had LilRiverMan out on his powerboat.  It was a really nice day and great to see you guys.   

Kept telling Krusty it was too big to be a Cali and therefore must be a Pac Hali -- and I was going to have to confiscate his out of season catch.
for some reason he just wasn't buying my line of reasoning.

Thanks for sharing your SC guided trip and pictures Eric.