ibn
08-18-2005, 12:12 AM
I spent M/T/W out at Neah Bay, the weather was terrible except for this morning, foggy, raining, windy. The salmon fishing was pretty slow for neah bay standards - we only landed 4 fish and lost a few others. It seems like a lot of the fish have moved out or moved on. These same dates last year I had the single best day of fishing I've ever had in my life out there, what a change a year can make.
The good news is that it seems some of the rockfish seem to become more aggressive and spread out when the salmon aren't around to eat a lot of the bait, well that's my guess at least. I was catching them right on the surface (stripping for salmon) and a couple out in the middle of the straits while trolling, which was very odd and unusual. I wont complain though, caught a lot of them, and a lot of very big ones, 2 6pounders, and a few 5pounders. Just odd.
I took my dad and an aunt and uncle with me, they couldn't handle the typical 10 hours of fishing till your fingers bleed and your thumb is hamburger, so I spent about half the time fishing alone, a first for me out there. I really enjoyed it, was the first time in a while I had fished totally alone without anyone in my visual range. For some reason the fish I caught while I was alone seemed a lot more meaningful to me then when I have other people in the boat.
Also saw a pod of killer whales right off tatoosh, was able to witness them harvesting a small seal. Quite a sight to see in person, I didn't understand what was going on at first, there was a seal sitting realllly close to the boat, at one point I thought it was trying to get in, then we saw the whales and I figgured out what was up, I fired up my kicker and putted out of the way and watched them circle in and take the seal, it was an intense event to see. I have some pictures on my Aunt's camera, hopefully she will email them soon so I can post.
The good news is that it seems some of the rockfish seem to become more aggressive and spread out when the salmon aren't around to eat a lot of the bait, well that's my guess at least. I was catching them right on the surface (stripping for salmon) and a couple out in the middle of the straits while trolling, which was very odd and unusual. I wont complain though, caught a lot of them, and a lot of very big ones, 2 6pounders, and a few 5pounders. Just odd.
I took my dad and an aunt and uncle with me, they couldn't handle the typical 10 hours of fishing till your fingers bleed and your thumb is hamburger, so I spent about half the time fishing alone, a first for me out there. I really enjoyed it, was the first time in a while I had fished totally alone without anyone in my visual range. For some reason the fish I caught while I was alone seemed a lot more meaningful to me then when I have other people in the boat.
Also saw a pod of killer whales right off tatoosh, was able to witness them harvesting a small seal. Quite a sight to see in person, I didn't understand what was going on at first, there was a seal sitting realllly close to the boat, at one point I thought it was trying to get in, then we saw the whales and I figgured out what was up, I fired up my kicker and putted out of the way and watched them circle in and take the seal, it was an intense event to see. I have some pictures on my Aunt's camera, hopefully she will email them soon so I can post.