saturday moss

short story: welll, I'm stilll a big fat salmon fisherman failure,  .

 

conditions were okay, but
two squalls came through that dampened my enthusiasm for paddling way out there with the fleet.

I arrived @ 6:15, launched @ 6:45. when I was out two wave-ski guys told me a guy
named alex was out there, but I never saw another kayak fisherman. tried the radio, but no luck.
thought I heard one transmission but I was going out the jaws and didn't want to stop
and reply.

so once again I was on my ownsome.

I tried trolling a dodger and fly, nothing got tangled, drag wasn't too bad, but I didn't catch anything or even
have the planer tripped. I don't think i was out far enough. I turned downwind when the first squall
hit and that put me in even further, but I stowed the trolling stuff and tossed out the drift sock and
I mooched and trooched 100-200 feet of line out as I got blown back to the harbour. Had two good hits, but
could not get the rod to load up. Miight have been salmon. But as I got closer, I got hits that were
almost certainly kingfish and one time the choviie was chomped halibut style in about 120 feet of
water. So I'm less confident that my first two hits were salmon.  If they were, then I'm getting
closer, if they weren't, well, I'd rather not think about that!

ride back in was with the wind and tide. thank goodness for small mercies. landed around 12:45?

Hope the other salmon newbs learn faster than me!  If it goes WFO, hopefully this practice will
help me to not bungle that opportunity when it comes.

Best,

J

it was like a hootchie, but made of bucktail and feathers.

I think they troll them up north:

http://www.tyeetackle.com/bucktail.htm

I wanted an artificial lure to put behind the dodger. something that
I would not have to check and replace a lot. something lightweight
and low drag like a hootchie, that would not kill the action of the dodger.
but I didn't have a hootchie. I had the fly, so that's what I tried.

I'm not saying it was a good choice. live and learn.

my other choice was a pro-troll version of apex but I would have
had to re-rig it, and I wasn't sure if it had too much drag for the dodger.

after a while, I put an anchovy on the fly, figuring if it fell off,
I'd still have the fly.  since the hook was in the middle of the fly,
it was kind of like the feather and bait they troll in warm water on
the east coast. It looked okay. the dodger dodged, the lure/bait
moved okay. I thought it had as good a chance as anything else.
but I am an ignorant newb, so maybe it would never work, hard to say.

there were a lot of birds today, but they were all over and scattered mostly.
my hardest trooching hit came as I went by birds. that bait was ripped off the
hook, it was not threaded. I mooch-threaded them after that, but still could not
get anything to stick.

J

Thanks, I'll stick to bait for a while, it's hard tho, as lures capture my attention.

I also have been using the planer for trolling
rather than the ball, mainly because it seems easier to let out line without tangles.
I may change that when I hook a fiish and can't land it due to the planer. we'll see.

it occurred to me that the sinker release with the spring acts as a trolling snubber,
which would cushion the spectra line from shocks. hidden advantage there maybe.

I did at least rig up the dodger and fly with the right length line. with the planer,
it's hard to tell if one is going the right speed. have to guess at that one.

I have a package of the FBR's and some krippled herring heads and a few
rotary salmon killer type things, I'll give those a go with bait. I did rig a double
hook rig the other day, just haven't tried it yet.

What I am noticing is the real limiter on these tough fishing days
is my comfort level on the boat for long periods. you and the savage really fish
hard when you need to.

I get uptight  way out there knowing I'm going to have a long paddle in later.  right
now, that's one of my biggest weaknesses, so getting comfortable on the boat is the most
important thing. it's hard not being able to get up and walk around.
hopefully I'll be ready when the better fishing gets here.

best,

J

John-

Sorry to hear that you got zipped out today. That sucks big time. But, at least you got out there and tried. I'm with Blue opting for bait rather than lures. You'll figure out what works best for you in time. Salmon fishing is tough sometimes... hopefully, it'll turn on and it won't matter what you throw out there... you'll hook up. Being comfortable on the yak is huge. I like to fish as long as it takes. Try to make the effort worth while. There'll be days when you are all by yourself out there and you'll be thinking... "this sucks." Then BAM... you hook up. As long as you have a VHF... you'll always have somebody to get you. Just don't pull any "I shouldn't be alive" shit and everything will be fine. I'm hoping for some decent conditions next weekend... I don't have much going and hopefully, we can hook up.

Freddie

I also have been using the planer for trolling
rather than the ball, mainly because it seems easier to let out line without tangles.

Last year I started using balls and I found that the only way I could get my rotary or FBR rig out without tangling was to let it out while paddling, same as I do with a deep six.

There is the advantage of a Hobie Mirage Kayak, you can be moving along and slowly let out your line to prevent tangles.

Nice work on the solo effort, John--you'll get 'em. 

I too like the bait better than the lures--more natural, and salmon seem to be kind of finicky...  and it may be true that once the bite is on fish'll come easier on any given offering, but I feel that bait is always better with salmon--probably just because that's how we've been doing it in my family forever...  The hoochie is a great thing to have--my dad had his quick hook-ups running the double hook chovie and a hoochie--he says, "at least you're still fishing if you lose your chovie..." and it's a good point.  After he hooked up so quickly and then bailed to shore I became somewhat uptight about my bait presentation, trolling speed, direction of troll...etc.!  Once I got a fish in the bag I was feeling much more confident.  Again, I feel really lucky to have been able to fish at 20 pulls--checking your bait and other self-checks would really suck when you're fishing deep...

If we get a real period of nice water anytime soon you can call me for a Cove trip!   

abking, I hope I get a chance to make it to shelter cove again someday! I love your photos
and reports. I have a camera like mooch now, but I'm never quite comfortable enough to
paddle, fish, and photograph all at the same time, don't know how you guys do it.

freddie, hope everything works out and everybody can fish and catch next weekend!