Big Humpbacks and Dink Salmon at Moss 07/28/07

JTF and I got a super late 11am start to find Alex "alien" and Doug "marmite" near the mile bouy in calm conditions.  They had already been OTW for a few ours.  Marmite had one small king and there were a few other boats fishing the same area.

Several humpbacks treated us to an uncomfortably close whale show.  I'll let JTF tell you the exciting details.  Below are a couple pics of JTF and whales breaching nearby.

I scored one dink salmon off a watermelon Apex trolled at 100 pulls.

The conditions were nice until the haze cleared and the wind and swell picked up around 3pm.  All-in-all ... a fun day on the water.

Dink or not, congrats ChuckE on being the first to fill you AOTY card this year. 

Oh, I didn't even see the spyhopping the first time.  Great shot.

Dink or not, congrats ChuckE on being the first to fill you AOTY card this year. 

Thanks, Brian.  Any bonus points for that?
I need to start upgrading.

Yes!  A great day on the water although I didn't score the elusive sake sashimi fish.  As for the humpbacks, there were at least 3 couples swimming around out there, one of them decided to buzz me close enough for me to reach out and touch.  I had to freespool so that it wouldn't get hooked up.  As the day went on I had more than a few close encounters with these whales. WOW, pretty exciting....

Hey!
Good going, guys!

Those are the first kayak salmon from Moss by an NCKA member this year!
Congrats ChuckE and Marmite!!!

 

Nice job guys... I don't think that you spent enough money at Mel's today.

Freddie

congrats ChuckE on being the first to fill you AOTY card this year.

Ditto.  Congrats boys!!!

Hey ChuckE,

I'm starting to believe showing up later is the secret on catching fish

Im just going to add to this post of my day at the Moss.

It was a nice day to fish the Moss! Sorry for not posting a hookup but it was a last minute call.
 
Doug and I launched at the crack of down and headed out of the jaws. It was a minus tide, little overcast, no wind and the ocean was as calm as it gets. It was a short paddle out to where the small fleet of powerboats were trolling and mooching for Kings.

In addition, reports of some halibut and many sand dabs caught in shallower water near the beach on the north side of the jaws. Are target was king salmon so we did not fish for them.

The Moss was full of life! Bait balls were easy to find, mackerel seemed to be in every dept I fished down to 150ft. sea lions, sea otters, marine birds and the most majestic the humpback whales! People I spoke with said that they been here for over three weeks and are not shy. It was a very bad time to not a have a camera.

These whales were coming very close to us and going under are kayaks and some times releasing  these huge air bubble that Doug called, whale farts, as they passed by.  There were times where I  would hear one and  I would look back to see and one would come up for air just yard from me. It almost seemed that they were fallowing me. They were also very vocal making loud roaring noises. This went on for most of the time we were out there.

Back to fishing: Doug and I was the only kayak out there until Chuck and JTF showed up around 11 O‘clock. Good to see you and fishing with you again. Doug caught one, his first ever he say’s, I will let him give the details. As for me… you could call me the mackerel killer, because that is all I could catch these days! I did get a hit towards the end of the day while talking with JTF and Doug, which just started to peel line out of my reel and just kept going tell my line broke. We never will know what that was.

Overall, it was a very fun and exciting day with, Doug and Chuck catching salmon, “Congratulations” and JTF and I being visited by the humpback whales.

An experience that will last me a lifetime!

Alex

Thanks for the report and pictures. JTF's pictures with background are super cool and worth of showing off. ChuckE - Do you have similar pictures? Salmon is good catch.

You Guys need Frankfishing out there.....He would have kept the whales away from you.  They would have circle around him and follow him all day. 

Way to go Chuck!!!! It been so long I forgot what a salmon looks like.

Ken kickfish

Way to go Doug and Chuck. Chuck on the upgrade road,WOW! Doug your first? Need pictures.
Plus Whales flying and JTF smiling. Looks like a great day to me.

Hey!
Good going, guys!

Those are the first kayak salmon from Moss by an NCKA member this year!
Congrats ChuckE and Marmite!!!

 

I did get one earlier this year. my first ever landed, I hooked up on a good one the year
before but lost it. this year's was only 18" and of course I released it.  and no, I'm not
doing AOTY. maybe if they had a "C" or "D" flight I would enter,  .

congrats to you guys, I am nursing some pulled muscles and reading harry potter this weekend,
but hope to get out there again this year.

J

I had already told Alex and Ark before that I was passing on any fishing as I had to get some stuff prepared for Elk.  But Got a call late Friday from Alex that he'd heard there where salmon at Moss. I'd had to work and missed their first showing at Moss some weeks ago and I thought got to strike while the iron is hot.

Arrived in the dark, on the water at 6.  Was cold and misty--first time I've been chilly since getting my drysuit.  We joined the first few boats that clustered around the mile bouy.  I thought, man this is the first time I'm fishing in the same area the boats are.  The number of boats grew to be scores, but fortunately everyone was polite.  Alex and I only mooched for the first several hours but we got nothing.  As I began to paddle around I could see and hear more and more boats picking up salmon.  They almost all seemed to be trolling.   We didn't really have the right gear for trolling because we decided to go light, mainly with mooching rigs.  Getting a bit discouraged and with probably the best fishing time behind us, I decided to try trolling an FBR. At first I tried it off my Scotty trolling rig that I had along just in case, but I found letting it out to be too much of a hassle.  So I switched to a slider and put a release with the trolling weight on.  It was way too heavy for my rod but it was the only weight I had that was heavy enough to stay down when moving. I'd say within 15 minutes of making the change I had my hook up.  It the strangest hook up I'd ever had.  I was trolling north to south and my FF started going screwy  showing only surface haze and a depth 4 feet.  I'd had trouble with it at Monastary two trip before and was ticked about it.  Then suddenly my rod, which was heavily loaded from the weight, pops up straight.  My first thought was, Darn, I must have snagged the bottom and dropped the weight.  A quick glance at the FF showed 50 feet.  So I thought that's it, I drifted too shallow and snagged the weight.  So I'm winding up and it feel just like a broken off, free line.  I keep winding and winding, with absolutely no resistence, until suddenly it takes off.  I got a fish!  I played it for quite awhile, deathly afraid that I would loose it on this barbless hook, especially because several times I couldn't keep the tension on when he was running toward me.  Had trouble netting him because he'd run whenever he'd see the net.  Probably got him close five times. I was calling for Alex (but he was on the wrong channel).  Finally, I got him!  Mouth hooked. My first kayak salmon.

The rest of the day was uneventful, most of the boats had left now, and I'm assuming a fair number had their limits.  The whales were the main activity.  They were coming real close.  Sometime a pair would be coming right at me and then dive.  I was so afraid they'ed hang up my line and then flip me before I had to get the line cut.  They seemed to really like Alex.  One time I saw one surface close enough to him that I was concerned for his safety.

It was a great time and Alex was great company as usual. Here's my fish.  Unfortunately, there were water spots on my cameral lens.

Hi Yakers:

         A very nice National Geo. moment. and story.
                                                                   Ernie