Trinidad - Late August Salmon Season Got Hot - Got All My Vids Up

bump! finally 

Is that keith's tailess thresher in that yak? Looks huge!


FYI, i bet page 6 broke because someone uploaded a pic via tapatalk.  if so, whoever posted it, try deleting that post and page 6 will magically appear.  until then, if you want to see page 6 view it on tapatalk.

Thanks for that good info, goodhi.   

And thank you, Tony, for getting this post to an accessible page 7!   

That IS Keith's tail-less thresher in the pic, and it was a fatty - maybe 60 to 70 pounds, Keith?

The guy in the red yak had a nice one on around 100 pounds, and Domenic and I got a look at his before it sliced his leader, and it may have been another hog 150 pounder or so!  They seem to have moved in with warmer water that just bumped to the low 60's in the past couple days with that weather that moved through. 

Salmon closes at Trinidad in a week, so while it's been slower for salmon they are still being caught (at least 3 yak-caught yesterday), so get on it if you can!   

There were lots of folks up early for the crack of dawn launch including a crew lead by Keith Lost Anchovy.  They all beat me on the water as I was struggling with battery connections and still waking up.  I got launched around 630 and saw bait right away in the harbor so I got my sabiki rod out and began picking off some nice chovies.  I trolled around awhile and saw that Kiet had a thresher on and notice Eric and Dominic following another yakker with a thresher too. I trolled around and stayed close to the other thresher hookup just to watch until it broke off.  I went in shallower and found some more bait and began jigging more chovies up.  I setup my rod for mooching and picked up a nice 10-12lb 28.5" salmon on a live chovy.  That would be my only salmon for the day though I did get another takedown in the late afternoon.  I only saw one other salmon caught by kayakers which was a trout sized 22"er when I went back to shore to ice down my salmon.  I relaunched and had some gear for thresher though my wire leader I got from Matt had somehow fell out of my kayak when I came to shore.  I decided to troll a big chovy in a Krippled anchovy which produced a screaming takedown by a thresher which immediately took off like a rocket and launched out of the water which I determined to be well over 8ft.  It did not hang on the bottom like other threshers that day, but instead raced at the surface and did laps around me and kept changing directions.  After 10 minutes or so of battle it sheered off the line at the hooks.  There were more thresher hookups than salmon hookups for kayakers yesterday.  Dominic battled one for a good while till it broke off and Ross had one on for awhile.  I decider to stay on the water and take a look outside of the head, but it was pretty bumpy with a large mixed swell.  I got on a hot rockfish bite and had fun catching big blacks on the mooch first on anchovies that needed to be used cause they weren't good enough for trollinhg.  After keeping a black I scored a couple lil shrimp from it belly when I gutted it and used it to catch another big black which had partially digested squid which I used to catch another good black until I got snagged and broke off.  I then put my 2oz Lazer minnow to work and hooked up a few more blacks then decided it was time to get out of this sketchy water and head in to see if I could get the devilfish or another thresher sleigh ride.  I got one good takedown that didn't stick and found a good bait ball that I trolled back and forth through as the wind began picking up.  I looked at the clock and didn't realize how fast time flew and that I was approaching another 12hr day so I went in to shore.  When I was at the beach I saw another thresher was landed and caught by pilot rock.  The guys who caught it said they had severe hookups with threshers that broke off.  It didn't look like a 100lber, but I'm sure it was fun and tasted great.  I did miss the cookout on the beach by Eric and Keith who grilled some thresher for folks at the beach.  It was a fun day though I wish I came in early.  I gifted to blacks to a guy that I hoped would go back in because he was out in shorts and considering going around the head in real sloppy conditions.  There wasn't anyone outside and I didn't want to babysit.  He also didn't have a radio either.  Luckily as he was starting to go outside I think the local charter Jumping Jack talked some sense into the late 40s guy and he went back in.  On the way home I gifted the other 3 blacks to a friend cause I was not looking forward to cleaning so many fish.

Damn it's wild up there

Trinidad

First, I want to Thank Eric (Loleta Eric) for posting up the HOT bite at Trinidad! He is a great ambassador to the north coast and is always looking to share with other the bounty of his knowledge and catch. Thanks buddy!!


Pre-Fishing
“DAMN it’s a long drive. I WANT SALMON! LET’S DO THIS!”

I have fished all season for Salmon and by far this last weekend has been the best bite thus far.  As many will attest, it has been a spotty season, with flurries of short lived bites up and down the coast filled with countless thresher battles rather than salmon fights.

Won, Me, Tim, Dan and Andrew decided last minute to make a trip up north (6 hours) for a shot at the Salmon in Tdad. The forecast called for mix swells, wind, and a small craft advisory. “BUT WE WANT SALMON!” and would not be deterred.

Let’s get it started!

We met up and drove all night through fog, and mid night showers to arrive at the fishing grounds at daybreak. Much to our surprise the coast was choppy, but fishable. We quickly set up and got OTW by 7:45 a.m.

We went straight out of the harbor and immediately spotted a HUGE anchovy bait ball in 40ft of water and started to mooch underneath them. Shortly around 8:15 a.m. I see the first signs of salmon life with a COHO caught and released by a fellow angler.

LOOKING GOOD!!

As the morning passed we started marking fish under the bait. Smokeonthewater comes outside and radios me that he just got his bait SLAMED and stripped. By now we all started to move with a bit of urgency “feeling” the bite was starting pick up.

A short time later A. Julian, gets hooked up on a Salmon. I see from a distance the net coming out and a BIG WOOOHH!!! As I he draws first blood for the crew!! (one on the boat)

THE BAIT BALL of Salmon Death

With the early morning bite coming to a close it was clear the bait and fish had moved on.  We decided it was best to move on from our spot to more productive grounds. We started to move south towards camel rock when Krusty calls on the radio… “GUYS, I’M ON TOP OF A HUGE BALL”.


Looking down into the massive ball of bait we saw flashes of Chrome bombarding the bait and scattering them leading to big holes.  It was clear we were witnessing a huge “FEEDING FENZY” underway. Some of us trolled while others trooched and mooched, but we all got multiple hits….

except COWMAN. 

As I trooched my herring around the bait I immediately get striped. I quickly placed another herring on the hooks and repeated the process.  That’s when I see my pole go “TICK TICK TICK”. I grab the pole and reel in to set the hook and my pole goes

BENDO!!  --- SALMON!!!

From under the bait ball I see the Chrome rise to the surface, head shaking and trying to spit my hook. It takes multiple blistering runs that would make any seasoned salmon veteran heart race but eventually succumbs to the fight and gets netted with ease (Game over)

For the next 45 minutes the same scenario gets played out among the group. Krusty had the hot hand with multiple hook ups and eventually lands a nice chrome of his own. The bait eventually scatters and the bite slowed down so we called it a day.

Day 1 summary

A Julian: 33.5 inch, and 16.5 lbs – (1) released COHO
Lost Anchovy: 28 inch and about 12-13 lbs
Krusty: 25incher and 5-6 lbs.

Smokeonthewater- Released COHO
Cowman - Skunked

THRESHER DAY

By all accounts, day 1 was a success compared to the rest of the season. We were stoked and hope the action would continue on Sunday. We arrived back at the launch before daybreak and launched in total darkness. We meet up with multiple kayakers and Mr. Salmon himself (LoletaEric) shows up for a cameo.

As the sun rose and gave way to blue light we got on a feeding frenzy early in 40ft. Signs looked great!! but not much action under the bait.

As the bait scattered, I worked an area under a kelp bed that had stacks of bait.  As I  passed the bait, immediately my pole gets SLAMMED big time!! And goes Bendo directly into the water. My reel peels off about 75 ft of line erratically before I could stop it. It was evident the fish was BIG and from experience, most likely a Thresher shark.

After 30 minutes of towing, I see the outline of my friend Mr. Thresher.  I call over the radio for some assistance and after 20 minutes of maneuvering we dispatched of it and secured it on my yak.

The remainder of the morning was slow and cold. We got rained on multiple times but by 10 a.m. the bite started to pick up again.  As the bait started to cluster the bites started coming on pretty fast.

TIM, Won, and multiple other kayakers get thresher hits, but all broke off to fight another day. Multiple COHO’s were released and a few kings were caught.  We ended the day getting rained on but overall pretty satisfied with an eventful weekend. We had some BBQ thresher fillets, ManDogs and Chicken wings on the grill to end it all off.

Life is Good – Keith.


STAY TUNED: Next episode Blue Fin, Yellowfin and Yellowtail in La Jolla San Diego!!

Fun times as always!  No king for me this weekend, but that coho gave me the salmon fix I've been looking for...I'm sure all you addicts know what I'm talking about.   

And that thresher...wow.         First time hooking up on a thresher and I now know what the whole craze is about.  It was fun for the 10 minutes that it lasted before busting me off at the surface with its tail I think. 

Another great trip with the crew...can't wait for SD trip this week!!!  See you dudes Friday.

What a great weekend! Thanks guys for a wonderful weekend! San Diego here we come!

T-DAD

Yeah!!!    

Great report, Keith - WTG on that thresher and a nice king.  You've got the mojo, my brutha.   

Awesome fatty salmon, Andrew!   

I was so glad you guys got on a bite Saturday morning when a small craft advisory threatened to shut you out.  Sunday was actually slower for salmon, but I had a great time hanging with the crew and chasing along as a couple of friends had big threshers on.  The BBQ in the parking lot afterward was NCKA at its finest, but I'm still butt-hurt!  (inside joke for my HA bros   )

Good luck down south, guys.  You're a killer crew to hang with, and the whole group should get the credit for the fish you caught.   

Didn't hookup on a king this weekend but did land a small coho. Unfortunately I hooked him with both circle hooks, but he was able to swim away after cutting the line.

What a weekend with the boys! looking forward to this weekends trip down the coast.

I won't get skunked this time 

Think it'll be good this labor day weekend?

Think it'll be good this labor day weekend?

My crystal ball says you'll never know if you don't try...

Knowing the criteria of "good" is the first step.   

Oh my lawd