Gold Coast Salmon Tournament

I hadn't been out in a while and all I heard was that the fishing was slow and the meat rigs were working well. Mark and I went out for team practice Friday morning to find out where the fish were and what they were biting on. We fished from 7-10am from 60 to 210 FOW. The fish were all stacked up in 100 to 120 but we didn't get any to bite. We continued West and picked one up in 145 and missed another in 160. We were fishing with the usual set up and concluded we should get some meat for the tournament.

The Saturday Tournament, the Team of Mark, Ken, John and I got things going pretty well off the start with 3 fish in the first hour or so fishing in 100 - 115 FOW. Then, fishing stalled on our boat. We had several hits that didn't stay on and I also missed a nice 15 lb with the net after it went around the downrigger cable. We ended 5 of 9. Early on, the 2 Dipsy Fly Set ups were hot going 3 of 4. Then as the day went on, most of the action came on our meat rig behind a big white paddle, 100 down on the rigger, going 2 of 4. Our J-plug meet rig down on another rigger did not get any action. We only had one hit on a spoon and it seemed we were washing our lead lines for the entire morning. We ended with 50 lbs of fish, all kings.

Congratulations to all the fishermen out there! There were a lot that weighed all 9 fish.

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Report from Capt. Jim

Tried to fish on Thursday and Friday last week but Mother Nature did not
cooperate. Finally got out on the water Saturday and went 6 for 9 in the AM and
1 for 3 in the PM. All Kings. Water very warm with temperatures close to 70
degrees all the way down to 70 feet. Caught all fish in 180 to 212 FOW on 450
or 300 copper and deep diving dipseys. Ran flies, plugs, bait rigs and spoons
and patterns of green, white blue and chrome with some glow worked best. No
takers on spoons, all hits came on bait, flies and plugs. Hope light east wind
will bring some cold water in down deep! Capt. Jim - The Fishing Poles

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Few, no Skunk

It was slow fishing last night as I road along on the Fishing Poles. Reports sent us out deep to 200 FOW, but we didn't have any quick luck so we pointed the boat back to shore. We finally got a double at 135 FOW, but we only landed one. It was on a green fly. We fished from 7 to 9:15 and ended 1 for 2.

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Wednesday Night

I took Efren and his family (all from Mexico) fishing Wednesday night before they have to head back South of the Border. It was a windy, wavy night so we just fished 6 poles (2 lead, 2 dipsys, 2 down). There was no action on the dipsy fly combos and everything came on spoons. The sames ones were were working. But I've also have thrown a small pro-king, black, dark green, and a dark pink/red ladder back into the mix which has done well. We ended 4 for 9, with one steelhead and 3 kings.

Fishing conditions were a bit challenging for several reasons: Wind and waves, rookie fisherman, sea-sickness, and NO NET. Yep, we left the dock without the net. The 4 fish we brought in were between 5 and 12 lbs. To get the big ones in the boat, they needed to be subdued with a gentle tap on the head, then I just grab them by the gills and bring 'em in. Unfortunately, we did lose a 15 pounder because it shook the hook after my first attempt.

We lost a huge one that on 1.5 core lead that fought for 20 minutes. We also had a double where one fish from the downrigger got hung up in the fish on the lead. We barely got the first fish in because it was dragging the other one (I thought we had tow fish on the downrigger because we were running a slider too). Once in, I had to cut the lead line to get rid of the twisted sections, re-tie it to the backing/reel and then we brought the second fish in. Not bad for a real mess.

Mostly in 100-110 FOW fishing North and South.

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Fish'n down deep - from the Corner Office

Set out tonight (Monday) with low expectations not knowing if the SW wind would lay down or it would be an evening of bump and grind and pull lines early. Planed out to 180 FOW but I had
to admire the guy in the 16’ boat behind me trying to get out deep as well. He worked for every foot of water he put under the boat. Dropped two downriggers with 15’ balls at 90’ and 100’ where there was 46 degree water and nothing else. Followed the current in east to take a break from the pounding and hooked up with two small kings up to 150 FOW on a killer yellow Stinger 90’ down on a rigger and got a nice 12 lb-ish king at 135 FOW on a killer blue Stinger SW-rig total of 100’ down. Then it got quite for at least an hour. I kept with the Keating program of fish deep,
less is more and kept the two riggers pinned low in the water. I decided to follow the cold bottom water in shallow and hit a 14 lb king on the SW set up in about 110 FOW, released that and hit another immediately a little shallower about the same size on the same rigger. Put a dark blue J on the opposite rigger and it took about a 8 lb king quickly. SW fired again in 95 FOW about 5’ off the bottom with a laker that was promptly released. As soon as SW was put down in 91 FOW it roared to life with a slow tip down followed by a 10 pass run, a pause and then another pair of 4-6 pass runs, a stalemate in the water and then the excitement ended with the dreaded tip up and fish no more. Figures the best run of the night never made it to the back of the boat. For the evening, went 7 for 8 with two rods. All fish were released successfully except one, which felt really bad about. I did a bad job of dropping it back in the water. I have a program going where if you can get the fish in quickly, you can either unhook it at the back of the boat or if I have to net the fish, I get the hook out quickly and the drop back into the water is the key step. If you can achieve a gentle nose down plunge into the water, these fish can make it. I have let a half dozen 14 lb fish go like this and they take off to fight another day. The smaller fish have no problem at all.

Capt. Dick, Corner Office

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Solo Trip from Capt. Stec of the Corner Office

Set out today (Wed. Night) for 120+ FOW and found fish biting in 165 FOW. SWR with Killer Blue spoon 80’ down total took 3 kings, two on an outside turn and both of these were in the 14 lb neighborhood. The other was about 10 lbs and all three were released successfully. I have caught enough 14 lb kings this year to measure them up well. The other rigger, 88’ down, with a similar spoon but so old who knows what it is called took two kings around 10 lbs. All fish hit between 160 to 170 FOW. One hit came on a wire diver, 3 set with a ring 190’ back but the white spinny and fly were lost. Some times the fish just have the upper hand. Not all that bad for a 6:00pm to 9:30pm outing. -Rich

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Little Sable, Big Fish

We took a quick trip North for a couple of nights on the boat. As usual, I couldn't pass up fishing near Little Sable Point. Sinse this is a family vacation, I left the down riggers at home. We dropped 5 lines (2 dipsys and 3 lead), 10 miles South of Little Sable and fished North in 80-110 FOW. We fished Sunday afternoon from 1-3 (obviously not prime fishing time) and had are hands full. We ended 3 for 5, 2 kings and 1 fat Coho. Ryan caught one king that was really long but not too fat - however it boasted 17lbs on the scale. The other king was about 13 lbs.

We were down to fishing only 2 poles for a while as fish were biting and we snagged onto somebodies wire line and planer board that was adrift. We had to slow and even stop the boat to get this mess in, which in turn caused our own mess.

We'll be heading south tomorrow and hit the same spot again. I Can't Wait!

The Big Red Classic Tournament is this weekend. They are still accepting entries. Just Do It!

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