Bait O' Eggs
07-04-2001, 09:57 PM
My family went to Tillamook on Friday afternoon last week and camped on the spit near crab harbor till today. We dropped 17 crab pots in the bay and had over 100 crabs by Sunday. We only pulled and baited the crab pots one time a day after that because we couldnt eat them, or give them away fast enough. From what I could tell the bay was better crabbing than the ocean from talking to some people out in the ocean crabbing. I would estimate we harvested around 150 to 175 crabs in 5 days. I would say most of them were hard, but probably 30 to 40% were on the soft side. Tonight when I got home, I put a big cooler of crabs on my hand truck and went up and down the street giving my neighbors a treat for watching my house while I as gone. images/icons/smile.gif
Saturday I talked Dad into going silver fishing with me. We got across the bar around 6:30am and around 10am we were headed back with our 4 silvers. We had about 15 hits, with about 10 hookups to land our 4. Sunday we went back out and got our 4 silvers by 9am. We had about 10 hits with about 6 hookups to land our 4. Monday my older brother rode along with us and we had 6 silvers in the boat in 70 minutes. We had 9 hits and 7 hookups to get our 6 fish. When I would remember to gun the trolling motor when we got a hit, our percentage went way up. Those barbless hooks dont stick very well when you are trying to get the pole out of the holder and the boat is not moving. All fish were caught on hoochies behind a large flasher with a 4 ounce banana weight ahead of the flasher. All fish were caught in 150 to 200 feet of water. Saturday we did best in 150 to 160 feet of water, Sunday it was 160 to 180 feet of water, and Monday it was 170 to 190 feet of water. We were never more than 5 miles from the bar, with most of the fishing between 3 and 4 miles. We were slightly north of the jetty out from twin rocks. Monday after we boated out 6 fish we came back in and got my Mom and my 9 year old neice and went to Lysters and got tags and license's. We went back out in the ocean and about 20 minutes later my niece got sick and we took her back to camp, and went back out with Moms tag. It was getting to be around noon by this time and the bite was really slowing down. We had 2 hits and neither of them stuck. After a couple hours of nothing we put on a diver and went out 35 pulls to find the 2 fish that did hit. The fish were definately deeper later in the day. Tuesday morning we tried to go back out and the water was just to rough. We made it about 1 mile out and all voted to return to camp. The waves breaking over the bow and filling the open bow up was not a comfortable feeling. The one wave over the top of the window kind of made our mind up for us images/icons/rolleyes.gif Several boats went out only to turn around and come right back in.
After the first day we moved our launch time up to 4:45 am. The fish bit best right after light.
The wind blew hard around noon and didnt quit until around 7 in the afternoon every day. The chop on the bay was miserable all afternoon.
I brined up a couple of the silvers and smoked them in a make shift smoke house made from a blue tarp. There is not a lot of choice in wood except drift wood on the beach. I found lots of alder limbs and the fish turned out really quite well, even though the wind kept flapping the sides of my smoke house. images/icons/rolleyes.gif
It was a great vacation, and the time fishing with Dad will be some treasured memories. images/icons/smile.gif images/icons/smile.gif
Saturday I talked Dad into going silver fishing with me. We got across the bar around 6:30am and around 10am we were headed back with our 4 silvers. We had about 15 hits, with about 10 hookups to land our 4. Sunday we went back out and got our 4 silvers by 9am. We had about 10 hits with about 6 hookups to land our 4. Monday my older brother rode along with us and we had 6 silvers in the boat in 70 minutes. We had 9 hits and 7 hookups to get our 6 fish. When I would remember to gun the trolling motor when we got a hit, our percentage went way up. Those barbless hooks dont stick very well when you are trying to get the pole out of the holder and the boat is not moving. All fish were caught on hoochies behind a large flasher with a 4 ounce banana weight ahead of the flasher. All fish were caught in 150 to 200 feet of water. Saturday we did best in 150 to 160 feet of water, Sunday it was 160 to 180 feet of water, and Monday it was 170 to 190 feet of water. We were never more than 5 miles from the bar, with most of the fishing between 3 and 4 miles. We were slightly north of the jetty out from twin rocks. Monday after we boated out 6 fish we came back in and got my Mom and my 9 year old neice and went to Lysters and got tags and license's. We went back out in the ocean and about 20 minutes later my niece got sick and we took her back to camp, and went back out with Moms tag. It was getting to be around noon by this time and the bite was really slowing down. We had 2 hits and neither of them stuck. After a couple hours of nothing we put on a diver and went out 35 pulls to find the 2 fish that did hit. The fish were definately deeper later in the day. Tuesday morning we tried to go back out and the water was just to rough. We made it about 1 mile out and all voted to return to camp. The waves breaking over the bow and filling the open bow up was not a comfortable feeling. The one wave over the top of the window kind of made our mind up for us images/icons/rolleyes.gif Several boats went out only to turn around and come right back in.
After the first day we moved our launch time up to 4:45 am. The fish bit best right after light.
The wind blew hard around noon and didnt quit until around 7 in the afternoon every day. The chop on the bay was miserable all afternoon.
I brined up a couple of the silvers and smoked them in a make shift smoke house made from a blue tarp. There is not a lot of choice in wood except drift wood on the beach. I found lots of alder limbs and the fish turned out really quite well, even though the wind kept flapping the sides of my smoke house. images/icons/rolleyes.gif
It was a great vacation, and the time fishing with Dad will be some treasured memories. images/icons/smile.gif images/icons/smile.gif