Salmon Fishing- Garibaldi

I was invited to fish with Johnny Bowles out of Garibaldi for spring chinook and possibly some inshore halibut or rockfish. I headed across the hill with Dylan and hopped aboard with Johnny B. We set out across the bar, checked crab pots, and continued on...



FULL VIDEO LINK HERE

and here's more of the story...

Ran up to drift a couple areas for halibut, or maybe a rockfish.

We only fished for halibut for an hour or so and wanted to come back in to hit the tides right.

Checked the pots and ran in to pick up Johnny's Daughter

and she brought us good luck!!

FISH ON! We tell Captain JB to take the fish (he never gets to,... always handing 'em off!).

Abby (sp?) was on the camera filming the second half of this video and did an amazing job keeping the camera still, focusing on the fish, and just plain balancing herself?! Great Job Abby!

We released a nice 28-30lb fat boy and were happy to do so! Was a great day on the water, just wish the sun would've come out a little earlier! The company couldn't have been much better. We even picked up a live sand dollar, that we decided needed to go back to the water and live a little longer, til we could pick up it's shell later.

Thanks again for a great trip, Johnny! Next time the sun will cooperate with us a little more! Your 1st Mate is a Great Good Luck Charm!

Tillamook Bay Spring Chinook

Saturday was looking great...Sunny weather and warm temps.   I got to play 'Guide' and took Gary and Dwight over to Tillamook Bay to try for some Spring Chinook action.

Great ride over, saw some local Tillamook golfers smackin the ball around.

sun beaming on the Cheese factory...

Getting ready to back the boat down the ramp, we noticed some cones on the ramp guarding a small seal pup that was emaciated, or just napping.  It would look around, then go back to sleep...ON THE RAMP!   I should've got a couple picture

Once we hit the bay, most of the morning was slow.  We didn't see a net go up in any boat.  We did see some familiar faces out there, including Bud, Dick, Johhny, etc.

Saw Johnny Bowles fly by a couple times to head out on the pond to check some crab pots...

The incoming tide had about another hour or so left as we were trolling with the tide.  We ran along the Coast Guard tower,

and made our way back toward Crab Harbor and 'Shit Rock'.    Gary decided he wanted a slower roll on his herring, so He reeled up, re-baited and dropped it back down.

No more than 5 seconds later,  WHAMMM!!!   His rod buries.  He jumped up, set the hook and it was on!  I grabbed the camera and started filming his fight. 

Tillamook Bay Spring Chinook Salmon Fishing from Sublime on Vimeo.

This fish was HOT, and made some amazing runs!  You could hear Gary's clicker screeeeeaaaming as that fish took off.  It did NOT want to be near our boat.   Eventually the fish got close enough and Dwight netted that fish so fast as if he's done it before! (which he has, about 1000 times in the past!) 

First and only fish in the boat!!   26lbs of blinding Chrome!

Twas a good day on the bay!

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.

Santiam Scouting for Springers

Santiam River Spring Chinook Scouting Trip from Sublime on Vimeo.

High Water, But Still got a Spring Chinook

Decided to run up and hit the river with a Mike, his dog Wiley, and Alex yesterday evening around 4. The river was still running high and fast, but had good color, so we decided to give it a try.

We ran up to a couple runs and holes and decided to bring out the diver and eggs and start dredging.

Had a few squawfish take our baits, and a few bites that we swore were chinook, but missed those. Mike's rod started getting nibbled on..waited....waited.....waited.....waited.. for like a minute.. and finally he set the hook and BAM! FISH ON!
The video is from a still cam, so it's pretty shaky, but you get the idea!



Wasn't a large fish, but HEY!, it was a high water springer, so we were happy! We were the only boat on the river. Apparently nobody else thought the river was fishable.  

Too bad we only had a couple hours on the river.  The fish are all over, just have to find them!

Albacore Fishing on A Greasy-Flat Ocean

I put together some footage of an albacore trip we took in July, 2007.   We only had to go out 19 miles to find blue water and tuna!  Was an amazing day with many fish caught trolling clones on spreader bars.   My brother even got a couple fish while casting fish traps.  We couldn't have asked for a calmer day out there!

Willamette Springers, Steelhead, and Sea Lions

Went out on the Willamette yesterday with a buddy to try for springers. We headed up at first light with a great shot of Mt. Hood on the way up.

Once we dropped the boat in, we decided to sit on anchor for a while, since there were a few fish caught in the area.  We rigged up some prawn spinners, and other ideas and got to it.  If you look closely, you can see the guy right above us has a nice fish on.

Not more than an hour in, Gary gets a nice springer.   An hour later, my rod goes off.  I leap up, get ready to set the hook and......its off!...still hasn't committed yet..  i wait....and wait..hands just an inch from the rod and reel, just waiting to snag it and set the hook.  the rod tip throbs down and back up again...  2 more tugs later he has it and running.  I grab my rod, set the hook and its on. Felt small, but then realized it was only a steelhead.  However, it was missing a fin so we netted and bonked it.

There was one BIG drawback fishing up there.. Okay, maybe about  5 - 10 big drawbacks.. SEA LIONS!   Those bastardly lions were at it.  Once they saw you stand up in the boat, or saw a net being waved around, they'd cruise toward the ruckus and eventually nab people's fish as they were fighting them.  Luckily we never encountered them during our 'hauls of bounty'  But I KNOW there were others that had their catch swiped away.

This lion was floating downstream, tossing a BRIGHT CHROME salmon around and taunting the fishermen.

Talk about heartbreaking!?!  I've lost a fish to a lion before and it really sucks!  If you can get them in as fast as possible, you can usually beat the lions.

One thing I couldn't believe is how many boats out there had slingshots, and 50-cal shot, and rocks.. Each time a lion would surface you'd see a couple holes puncture the water right near it.   I saw one good shot a guy took, hit the lion and that thing didn't surface again til 200yds downstream.. Guess he hit it!  good for him!!     But for the record, its a federal offense to harass them (which is rediculous), so I do not condone the activity.. BUT I DO APPLAUD IT!! 

Earlier in the day it was

Lions:           4 fish
Fisherman:   1 fish

but by the end of the afternoon, the lion must've been full, because the odds definitely jumped back into the fishermens' favor.  We probably saw 20-30 fish caught around us.. The warming water and sunny temps really helped.   We packed it up later that afternoon and headed back to Salem.

 
Not a bad 45 min. run to the river!   Hoping to get out again soon!

Steelhead Fishing -Underwater Footage

Took a trip to the coast with Dylan and met up with Drake, a fishing guide in the area. We hiked up a local river and caught some nice fish. This gave us a chance to play with the underwater housing for the camera. The footage is a bit shaky, but not a bad experimental try.

Ka-Boom! Au revoir, Gophers!

Took some time away from fishing yesterday to watch the guys out on the golf course. They were using a method I hadn't seen before, to get rid of the pesky ground squirrels and gophers/moles. I heard the booms before I even got there. I set up the tripod and had a blast... pardon the pun!

I couldn't HELP thinking of Caddyshack while this was going on...
Can you see why?

Overnight and Offshore

We took a scouting trip in early Spring, looking for longfins,  fishing overnight, and back to port the next day.   We were hoping to catch the first sport-caught tuna in Oregon that year. 

Offshore and Overnight from Sublime on Vimeo.