Shelter Cove - 7/6/21

Tuesday at Shelter Cove with Mark and Dave.  Originally planned as a father-son trip, but work issues for Mark's son had it looking like a one on one.  With a nice forecast and decent potential for a big salmon though, I called one of my best regular clients, Dave, to join in.  The three of us met up near dawn at the launch, assembled our gear and got on the water along with a few powerboats - a big contrast to the large crowds of this past weekend.  Hopes were high for finding a salmon, but 5 hours of hard trolling in the zone didn't produce any of the right bites for us, and the powerboaters struck out too - no salmon that I heard of for anyone.  There will be plenty more chances in the coming weeks.

Just after noon we moved inshore to enjoy a more kicked back second half to what turned into a long day.  Since both of my guests get plenty of rockfish and lingcod in their regular fishing pursuits, we hadn't retained anything other than one black rockfish that had exhibited some barotrauma coming up on the salmon gear.  I was starting to consider what our end-of-day photo would look like if we didn't find a halibut bite after striking out on the salmon.  I didn't have to wonder for long though, as a strong bite developed for us.  Over the course of an hour and a half or so (hours go by like minutes out there!), we hooked and fought a bunch of flatties.  We were having a ball, and I was kept so busy netting and bleeding fish and setting up new baits that I didn't get my own line down for long at a time - it's an ideal for a guide!  Mark ended up with his first halibut limit from the yak, and David kept two - we decided not to net another one that looked legal but barely.

At one point during our hot bite, Mark called out, "Fish on!", and I sprinted toward him from 30 yards or so away.  In this situation I'll usually get several swift paddle strokes down and then pull my line in as I glide toward my guest - this allows me to clear my line and focus on netting and retaining fish that are squarely in our target zone for taking home.  As I glided toward Mark, I could see his fish at the surface after it had made a couple of runs, so I left my line hanging on the opposite side of my boat from where I'd net his catch.  I scooped to my right and had his now thrashing halibut in the big salmon net, and I see my rod doing a dance to my left - surely I'd hooked a hali too!  With lots of gear and bait on my deck and a live one in the net, I kept my hands off my rod while I subdued Mark's fish, removed the hooks, ripped the gills and got it on the stringer.  With all that done, Mark's hooks baited up again and my net put away, I reached for my setup that was now idle, with line limp - was my fish gone?  Not a problem if so, but it wasn't!  I started working what felt like a heavy fish up, and I was getting pretty excited, hoping to see a door mat come up.  Turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous lingcod with bronze skin and a stout body - 15 pounder.  I did play a short hali on our way in a bit later, but the fact that my guys loaded up and had such success was the best thing that could've happened on what had been a challenging day.  My guys were stoked, the Tailgate Fillet Station would be fully engaged, the end-of-day photo would be a hot one, and I was overjoyed to be facilitating another adventure where we'd burned 1000's of calories, given it our best and been rewarded with some of the finest of what is the bounty of the Cove.

Cold brews were paired with contented smiles while processing the fillets and ultimately wrapping up our time together.  On the drive home, once again, I found myself feeling very satisfied with what we'd accomplished for the day and, more, I felt thankful for the opportunity and the ability to show and to share the places and the things that lead to outcomes like we'd experienced. 
In my guiding I am very focused on showing people various techniques for catching all the species - those skills go right along with other vital aspects of the sport like reading forecasts, proper safety gear, fitness and outfitting.  The true nature of this pursuit though, for me, lies in how I try to draw out qualities in my guests that don't just develop and reside in their minds.  I am looking to help my people tap into and fully realize their own readiness for challenge and adventure, and I work hard to engage on a positive level for what can end up being - like yesterday - 12 hours together.  I like to think that my guide service is different than most if not all others - I hope to access through the heart instead of just the mind. 

Can you feel it?

...

        
Nice work!

Just a beautiful report, too bad about the pink, but having flatties on the chomp like that is just as good imho.  Thanks for sharing another epic adventure Eric! 

Great catching report, Eric.  Good variety for sure.

Lets go flatties!!!! What an awesome twist to the day looks like so much fun.

It was a blast!  It always is.  And now I will add a few pictures from the same adventure just to augment Eric's great narrative.  This was that golden lingcod 

And a few more pictures including the singing lingcod named "Engelbert Humperdinck"

Great report from the cove. Thanks for sharing the adventure, The bronze colored ling looks very cool.

Wow what an adventure. I attended one of Eric’s clinics the day before one of the Gimme Shelter events, and had been planning a full on trip when my son got out of the military. My son wasn’t able to attend but I decided to go for it anyway. Eric’s guided fishing trips should really be called catching trips. I can’t remember ever catching so many fish. Even though we were after salmon the rockfish, and lings weren’t having anything to do with the plan. Monster lings, blacks, and others kept us busy catching, and releasing. Pretty cool getting my first halibut limit from a kayak.

I have my chart plotter set to show distance covered-11.5 miles. Dave peddling, Eric paddling, and me with Torqeedo.

I’m totally capable of doing everything myself but it’s pretty fun just yelling out baits gone, another rockfish to be released, or a leader changeout, and have Eric zip over and take care of it fast.

Thank you Eric for a wonderful time. We will do another catching trip, or an Ell River trip when my son is available.

Totally rewarded for grinding it out to the end.

Thanks for the report and motivation to get up to the cove this year.

Alex

We will do another catching trip

Sounds good, Mark - had a great time with you and Dave.   

Thanks for sharing another guided trip and great pictures Eric.

that's quite nice.
that black looks regal.
that cereal looks grubbin.
w2g!!!

Mark, so great to meet you and fish with you yesterday.  11.5 miles, I think I felt it today (next day)!     I totally get the part about the guide handling things, especially the fish cleaning!!!  On this trip I came with my own set-ups, leaders, and even, for the most part, bait, but I can always count on Eric's help and even comments when I do something that is ... "uninformed."      I do learn something every trip, even if I don't always remember it to the next one.

Since we spent a lot of calories yesterday I decided on some calorie replacement therapy this evening, fresh fried California Halibut and native blackberry pie à la mode.