GS8 - Only one brief capsizing reported - WTG, Everybody!

Oh, and this guy was even there!

I fished jigs with barbless hooks and caught all kinds of stuff. I caught this weird rubbery thing. I asked a lot of people what it was and finally Andy (FM1) identified it as a sea cucumber. He also said they were good eating.  Yeah, drink a lot of beer and throw it in the fryer and it tastes like chicken.

I can't believe the nice water you had up there. Guess we took all your wind old gale was a blowin down here.   

MattSwayze and I arrived at the Cove Wednesday afternoon.  That gave us a couple days of "pre-fishing" before tourney day.  Even though both of us brought salmon gear to try, we ended up having too much fun playing with the bottomfeeders  .  Rockfishing gives the middle finger to subtlety, and after fishing for months with nothing heavier than 6 pound test, it feels real good to put the muscle on some fish and say "Nope, you ain't goin' nowhere!"

The fishing was awesome all three days.  Mondo rockfish, loads of lings, whales, the scenery...it's Shelter Cove  .  We were stoked to repeat 1st in teams, and we even TIED each other for points despite having caught different sizes of fish!  What the hell are the odds of us both getting 674??  Had a blast at camp hanging with old and new faces, having the A-Hulls right next door (that had its pros and cons  ), and being among the most generous and amazing group of anglers.  Like most everyone else, I'm already counting down the days to GS9!

Damn!!!!!! what a good time !!!!!! My 1st GS Tourney and it will not be my last. First off I would like to Thank Eric and his Family, I know this is a lot of work and strain on life, but worth every minute to you I hope. I know it is to all of us!!!! Second I would like to thank Brandi for helping make my wife feel like she fits in, she only knew my buddy Kevin before this weekend, and said what a great bunch of people everyone was. She said NCKA isn't like a club, it seemed more like a family, and that is how I always describe it. To say this was one of my all time favorite fishing trips is a understatement, only out done by the time I took my two boys on their first ocean fishing trip when they were little guys. Now I know why this place is so special for Eric, and he wants to share it with us. I don't know if it was the place, the weather, the fishing, the food, or the People that made it such a special time, yes I do know, it's all of the above !!!!! During the tourney I caught my PB Lingcod 30" plus I got to take Cabezon off my bucket list, I caught four Cabs. As for the tourney I think I got 15th or 16th, and I am very proud to be in the top 20 with the caliber of fishermen in NCKA. Also team North Valley Slayers took 2nd, very respectfully, It's hard to beat the Amazing Brothers !!!!!! Congrats on another first place in the team part. Congratulations to Racing Rob for winning the whole thing, Now I now how, CPR and a Salmon !!!!!! I can't wait until next year, hopefully I will also have both my boys with me next year

Great pics, everybody - keep 'em coming.   

I neglected to thank Jack and crew for the great job with the taco shack - GS wouldn't be the same without it. 

I'll try to get results and stats up here by tomorrow at this time.  Just got home this afternoon and am fried but smiling.   

Can't say enough thank yous to everyone who helped out and the entire NCKA family.  We should all be proud of ourselves.

Here is a few lings I was lucky enough to catch. All were released to fight another day. 

~ Mike

Nice lings, Mike!

Also forgot to thank Derrick Palk for the grips.   

I had a great time, special thank you to those who sponsored kids gyotaku shirts and Daniel who gifted my daughter a fish to print as I went CPR tourney day except for a ling I had filleted before she could get at it. Gentlemanly acts which helped my family have as much fun as I did. Congratulations to Racin Rob on the win, I am happy for him. Thank you Eric and the NCKA family, Amos

What a strange trip it's been….

  But all Good…        I knew my wife was not going to make it due to a family graduation, but had the kids… as the date drew close, physics and chemistry, finals, Jazz gigs on Sunday and Auditions on Tuesday for the next years jazz program…

still, we were working it, come up Friday, fish Saturday, and back late that night or early Sunday to make the gig at 11am… were on it,  Family event last weekend, lots of colds from all over the US, and everyone in the house gets sick, except me… 

Still, my wife and myself are leaving, so are all of the local family, and were leaving our 17 year old teenagers alone for a few days….. 

Hell,  give me a few hour when I was that age and I would have a house party,  but that was not really the concern here…

what will they invent….   

It was not looking good for a long stay if at all, thank goodness for my neighbor …  volunteered to look in on them, help them get to the jazz gigs and had my trailer rigged with their yaks if they felt better and they all wanted to make the gig @ GS8…

I would have put a long shot no them making it, but I thought on Thursday morning they were coming, but alas…  in the end I was on my own…


and what a most incredible peaceful time hanging with all of you just chill in …

  Thursday morning watching the fog lift and counting around 13 yaks on the water,   Awesome..

Wish I got more fishing in,  but I kind of tweak my knee, and not in a good way,  one of those deep, "Oh shit, thats' something new…"…. 


 Still manage to keep the family in fish tacos for while…

Like said,  counting the days till next year

Ciao!

Best ncka event to date for me. Awesome weather,excellent fishing,great food and fun people. All
right there in shelter cove aka poor man's Alaska.Thanks to Eric and all the people who helped him put this event on and make it great!! Another big thanks to DG, INSAYN and my older brother Adam for making the tacoshack happen. It was my brother's first time kayaking and first time fishing in the salt. He did really well on the water. Way better than my first time. He was blown away at how cool and diverse a group we are. I agree. Thanks also to guitarzan for painting up the taco-assembly trays.We managed to pump out over five hundred fish tacos in a few hours.
Bigjim blew my mind on saturday. It was getting close to check-in time when jim paddled up to chat. I told him all i had was 15 inch black. He leaned over,looked me in the eye and said,"you need another fish" and then put his hand on my yak. At that instant my rod went bendo and i caught fat 27inch ling. I was speechless as he paddled off. I think that dude has some serious good mojo flowing through his veins. Thanks for the fish Jim.

Wait a minute, I think i got that wrong. I think i already had the ling. That might of ended up being a snag. But the timing was cool and i did get my junk back. 

Bigjim blew my mind on saturday. It was getting close to check-in time when jim paddled up to chat. I told him all i had was 15 inch black. He leaned over,looked me in the eye and said,"you need another fish" and then put his hand on my yak. At that instant my rod went bendo and i caught fat 27inch ling. I was speechless as he paddled off. I think that dude has some serious good mojo flowing through his veins. Thanks for the fish Jim.

LMAO!!!!

That's not exactly how it happened but I like the way it sounds!!   

My recollection is I paddled up to you and Guitarzan, you reached behind you and gave me a delicious bottle of cold Pliny The Elder.

As soon as I Broped up and opened the Pliny and took a swig your rod went bendo and it was that badazz Buffalo Sculpin.

We took some pics and released it.

I took another swig of the Pliny and your rod went bendo again and it was that nice Ling.

I think you brought good mojo on yourself by giving me the Pliny, and I was just lucky to be there at the right time.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Bigjim blew my mind on saturday. It was getting close to check-in time when jim paddled up to chat. I told him all i had was 15 inch black. He leaned over,looked me in the eye and said,"you need another fish" and then put his hand on my yak. At that instant my rod went bendo and i caught fat 27inch ling. I was speechless as he paddled off. I think that dude has some serious good mojo flowing through his veins. Thanks for the fish Jim.

LMAO!!!!

That's not exactly how it happened but I like the way it sounds!!   

My recollection is I paddled up to you and Guitarzan, you reached behind you and gave me a delicious bottle of cold Pliny The Elder.

As soon as I Broped up and opened the Pliny and took a swig your rod went bendo and it was that badazz Buffalo Sculpin.

We took some pics and released it.

I took another swig of the Pliny and your rod went bendo again and it was that nice Ling.

I think you brought good mojo on yourself by giving me the Pliny, and I was just lucky to be there at the right time.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I like both versions of the story! Great job guys!

Wish I was there.

-Eliot

Thank you Eric for all your hard work!! My Dad won longest Ling and a new T140 !!! This trip was by far the best yet we couldn't have asked for better weather!!! All the great food that was passed around, meeting new friends I had a blast!! Dave Harada (Tak2)took home $ 620 big ones from the squidbilly side bet! I caught my personal best ling this trip it was 34.75 inches was a pig of a fish!!! Thanks to everyone who put a in extra hard work to make this all happen! Can't wait for GS9 !!!