Bald Eagles = Good Luck Charms

I got the call to fish the halibut opener this past weekend but was blown off the water the first two days. However, Dylan and I had a Plan B. We brought our waders and salmon gear to go hiking up some NW rivers. The temperature was perfect; the bright greens of the moss and foliage, the deep blues of the sky, the sun glimmering off the water. We knew we could find some fish! We made our way to the river, and began our trek.

At the first hole we came to, Dylan hooked a Nice fish.  The fight played out and as the fish came to the bank, it came unbuttoned.   So we knew they were there...
We hiked our way through steep canyons, LARGE boulders, and 100yr-old trees.  Beautiful area!Some pools were tough to navigate, but we would eventually find a path up to the next hole. 

Unfortunately, still no fish were taking our offerings.   We fished bobber/eggs most of the day through the deeper holes.  Couldn't BELIEVE we didn't hook any fish holding in this hole.   It seems like the perfect hole for fish to plug up in.  We made our way up around these boulders, larger than cars, to the next run.  You can see Dylan in the upper left-hand corner of the next picture.  This shows how small we can feel sometimes.

 
While wading across one tailout, a large shadow cruises across the ground.   We look up to see a HUGE bald eagle flying up the canyon. 

We've seen it there before, and know there are others in the family.  This one in particular stood out due to its larger size.

We continued up the river until I found a nice deep slot that ran along the far bank, and into a deeper hole.  I pitched my bobber upstream, let it float its way down into the hole.   As it entered the slow water it sunk...

FISH ON!!     After a great fight, we realize it was a hatchery fish!   So, up the bank it came. 
BONK!  Time to stock the freezer.

It seems like every time we see a bald eagle we hook up with a fish.   So, we've concluded that they're our fishing good luck charms.   The next morning, before heading out for Halibut, we spotted another nice bald eagle perched out on the tips of the jetty.   We limited that day by noon.

Italian Tuna, Turbulance, and Taters!

On 9/8/09,
Dylan and I ventured our way over the hill Tuesday evening, to the Mediterranean of the NW in hopes of stinging some bluewater bullets.


When we got over there, we learned of some unfortunate news that put a hault on a Wed. run to tuna town. He and I had the next couple days off, so we decided we'd stick around and check out the sights and sounds of the harbor.



While walking down the dock we saw Johnny Bowles, back from a trip, unloading a few coho and a nice amount of crab!
Crabbing looks pretty good over there.



We made our way around some other docks to look at some of the vessels. This is when I found my namesake boat! ... The Stoney! I had to get a picture with it~



We meandered over to Tillamook Bay Boathouse just in time to see this Crusty Ole' Salt hoisting a load of crab out of the boiler. Some larger crabs than I've seen lately.



I noticed this planter that they had there as well. A tribute of respect to those that lost their lives.



By now, boats were arriving back to port. Many of which didn't make it out to the grounds due to the lumpy conditions. One of which was Chris (id. painter). We ran into him a couple weeks ago while over there.
He was out Wed. but turned around about 12 miles out due to the conditions. However, he managed a nice coho out of the day!

We listened to the forcast that evening, and noticed it was trending down, along with the wind. The decision was made to go for tuna on Thurs!

Next morning, we made our way out. Wasn't a bad run, and even nicer than we thought.


After finding some warmer water, we dropped in. About an hour later, the first rod starts singing. We made sure Chris took the first fish! It was a good one too!



Dylan put the sting on this albie...right in the head! First fish, in the boat!


The Captain was glad to see the skunk off the boat.



A little later I get my chance to fight. This one is a PIG! Took some great runs, until eventually surrendering itself to the gaff. This is my biggest fish to date! 35 lbs. You can definitely tell the difference between a 25 and a 35 lb fish!


Still only had two fish by the afternoon. With each hook-up, we tried casting iron and swimbaits to create multiple hook-ups, but to no avail. Run and gunning to jumpers was out of the question due to the swells and the wind (sheep).

A while later and Dylan gets his chance to scrap. We only had 30 lb line, so we couldn't exactly horse the fish in. He had a good fight with a nice grade of fish also.



While he was fighting this fish, I noticed something about a 100yds behind the boat, moving across the stern. The deep blue water turned milky white, like the color of an iceburg just below the surface. You can see it just below the long white cap at the top of the picture.


A pod of pilot whales (?) surfaced to breathe. Was an awesome sight.


The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and as much as we all wanted to stay out and enjoy it, we knew we should probably head back to the barn.


We made our way past the tips and towards the harbor.



We had a couple watchful onlookers overseeing our return.



Was a great day with some great people! I enjoyed fishing with you, Chris, and hope to again soon! just gotta keep that boat of yours out here.. no need to trailor it back to ID!

Took a few pictures as the sun set, and before heading back over the hill to the valley.



Any day that you are alive, and out on the water, is a great day, fish or no fish. Chris, I love your perspective on life. I hope some of it rubs off on me. Thanks again!

Killin Tuna and other fish out on Lake Pacific

I had some time to put together some of the trips I've taken out on the Pacific Ocean. Most trips were out of Newport, OR, or Garibaldi, OR. We have seen some amazing things out there, but never have the camera for all of it. The quality isn't very good, sorry about that. But hope you enjoy it anyway!

NEW FISHING INFO LINK!

just created this other page with some great links!

Use it as your main links page! Whether you need to see pass cams, river levels, wind, waves, or just want to see the fish passing through the Bonneville Dam fish cam.

Bookmark this one!

Buy Your Decals Now~!!

Here are some pictures of the White Decals. These are best for Windows, trucks, cars, canopies, etc...

Tillamook Tales!

Went over the hill to Garibaldi for the weekend. We didn't go out fishing til around 10, so we watched the zoo at the ramp. I'd call it 'controlled chaos'.
Many weekend warriors, excited clients, and others dreaming of coastal chrome!


It was still a bit windy in the morning, even in the harbor.



I was impressed with how quickly and smoothly it went! Glad I wasn't a part of it, and was only documenting it!



Walked over to the Tillamook Bay Boathouse and got a few more shots before it got light.


Mmmmm...


Big Tuna Marine at First Light


We eventually made our way out to Barview to watch the fleet start harvesting chrome.


Glad to have these guys watching over us!


Was a pretty calm bar, with most of the boats venturing outside the tips. Look close, two boats have fish on!


Looking North, the sky began to get light...


We headed back to Big Tuna to get the crab pots rigged and lines ready.

Trying to get out between the salmon boats was like a corn maze out there!
Looking back at them, once we were out, they looked like you could literally walk across them!




Saw Captain Johnny Bowles out there puttin a hurt on the feesh, while we slid out past the Chrome-seekers.



Ended up with some large ocean crab as well as a pile of rockfish.



Great day on the water... Could be the last nice one for a long time, looking at the weather forecast!

____________

Killer Whales off Rockaway

While attempting some inshore drifts for halibut, we came across a female orca and her calf off our port. This is the only good picture I got of the mother. They were already past us by the time I could snap any pictures of the smaller calf. Was AMAZING to see those magnificent creatures so close and in the wild!

Humbolt Squid Caught While Rockfishing

Just like Forrest Gump once said, "Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what you're gonna get". Lake Pacific has provided me, once again, with this fascination. Saturday was no exception. . .

I had the invite from Brad (GreenButtSkunk), to go fish for some rockfish and maybe in-shore halibut. I jumped at the opportunity! My friend Dylan (ZodiakFisherman), and I cruised over to Little Italy early Saturday morning to join Brad and Dan (74 CJ5). It was so cold Saturday morning, that the walk ramp going down to Big Tuna Marine was iced over. Sliding down with rods, bags, food, etc, we clumsily made our way to the boat, like deer on ice. Once it began to get light, we made our way out of the marina.



We found our depth, shut down the boat and dropped the baits. We were in search of in-shore halibut.
Not more than 5 minutes later, a loud PFFFFSSHHHHHHHH sound came up RIGHT where I was staring! A baby humpback whale peeked its head up, took a breath, and I swear it was staring right at us, curious as we were. Brad looks and says, "I wonder where Mama is..." A few seconds later, here comes Big Mama, swimming behind her calf. Such a massive and beautiful creature! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at the time...only a rod and reel...
Once we found our halibut spot, we made a few drifts at different depths. Unfortunately, they didn't produce. What we did notice, is TONS of jellyfish floating below us. You could see them at all depths.


We decided to run up to a reef he knew of and tried a few drifts there. A few drifts brought numorous rockfish, quillbacks, and lingcod. Here's Dylan with one of the smaller Lings.


Dan also got into a nice ling on the same drift.


We picked up lines and ran back up for another drift and Dylan hooks into a pretty large fish... or so we thought. He said he couldn't feel any real headshakes...just long pulls. but fought him good. Line would peel off the reel at times. He finally got it up to color and we noticed it was a HUMBOLDT SQUID!




We honestly didn't know what we should do with it. I grabbed the underwater video camera and started filming. It was amazing the way this thing would shoot down 20ft, but get pulled right back up. What looks like its mouth, is really a vent...for the mouth is really the beak in the middle~



I actually got some pretty good video! Had great clarity in the water!
We decided not to keep the squid, and it eventually popped off the line so we didn't have to deal with it!

That reef produced all kinds of 'creatures from the deep'.
Another fish pulled up this weekend was this Ratfish we caught, while fishing for some inshore halibut.






This was another first for me, aside from the Squid and the Humpbacks.

We didn't have a lot of time to fish, and we wanted to be back inside before the bar started standing up. Although we didn't get our halibut, we still had a great time, a few firsts, and a few Lings for the dinner table.

Hope its not the last run of 2008!
Had to end the day with an Ice cold Fat Tire.

Thanks again, Brad!