Shelter Cove - 6/29 and 6/30/21

Salmon opener at the Cove with John and Joe.  These guys have been good friends of mine and supporters of my business for a long time, and we've had some amazing adventures from past salmon and rockfish trips to ten inch abs on remote hikes.  I can't say enough about how much I appreciate my returning clients and how I try to build on our experiences together, always looking to enhance our sessions with new and timely information and trying to achieve greater levels of proficiency and enjoyment in our time together. 

People had been waiting to fish the opener, so there were more boats and yaks out than the previous few weeks.  Early on, the radio was super quiet when anyone asked about chrome showing up anywhere.  We made our way toward the Bell Buoy as the wind turned on early and combined with a NW to SE current to make for a tough slog back toward the point.  The rockfish were biting well, but every hookup meant we drifted back down the hill a few hundred yards at about 1.5 MPH.  Good friend and skilled angler Chris (fishloomis) was on the hunt for Chinook too.  He scored a fish - maybe the first in the fleet - mid morning and about 1/2 mile up current from us and called me up on the radio to get us on the bite, but we'd had enough, having paddled against that brutal rip for a couple of hours bagging blacks and lings.  We cruised to the inside where the wind was manageable and the current wasn't really a factor.  With bait all over the place in there we were hoping for a halibut or nearshore salmon, but apparently there was a congregation of big soup fin sharks in there - we hooked 5 and had some amazing fights before they cut our leaders in typical shark fashion.  A couple of them that we saw on the surface were stout - probably 25 to 30 pounds and 4 to 5 feet long!  Chris ended up getting his salmon limit and then calling the Inn Keeper in on the bite, and he got his limit too - hot action for the top guns in the fleet today.  Inn Keeper even came in and bagged a halibut right where we'd just hooked all those sharks!  That's fishing - take a number, and hope the stars align.

We hit the beach as the wind turned up a few more notches at noon - not the longest session, but we bagged some nice fish and definitely got our workout.  The Tailgate Fillet Station in full sun with lots of people playing along the beach was a nice summer scene to be a part of.  A cold brew, some smoked salmon from last summer and a nice visit with good friends capped off our day in a good way.

Tie new leaders and bring your big net - the Cove's getting hot!   

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John and I got back out at the Cove on Wednesday - two day trip for him.  The fog was thick at dawn and stayed that way for most of the day.  We navigated choppy seas and got to the scene of yesterday's salmon catches by fellow kayakers, but, as often happens, the fish had basically moved on.  We worked the area for a couple of hours along with a few powerboats and Jake Mitchell's charter.  We caught and released piles of black rockfish and had one good hookup on a "pumper" (salmon shake their whole body and make your rod pump), but it shook the barbless hooks and that was that.  The fleet was largely skunked for kings again.  By late morning we headed to the inside for a more leisurely halibut search to finish our session - got one legal flatty and also retained a couple of rockfish and a lingcod that took the salmon gear.

The Chinook season has started out tough, but more opportunities will come soon.  We've caught halibut on the last five trips though, and the Tailgate Fillet Station has seen a plethora of bottom fish since the season began.  Sending my guests home with sorted Ziplocs full of boneless fillets is a super fulfilling aspect of my trips.  If this sounds good to you, come and get it!  I've got several dates left in August that will fill in soon once I meet my spirit fish in person (code for "I am going to start feeling desperate to catch a salmon soon!" - it's an addiction for sure...). 

Fishing - full of 'first world problems'.   

6/30 pics:

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Nice one guys! Good score out there

Great job Eric as always. Counting down the days til out trip