Pair of Kings!

[Pilar]

Sorry I missed you B.O.E. I guess leaving my boat in the moorage made me hard to find. Thanks for stopping by Newbie, glad to meet you.

Fishing report ............. Da Da Da Da Di Da Da Da ............

Saturday . Garibaldi . Set up camp and splash crab pots in Tillamook bay. Checked once at midnight (GPS is good!) and got 18 crabs, about 1/2 hard and all big.

Sunday . Woke at oh my GOD and discovered 2 things. The marina store is out of fishing licenses and the Coast Guard is sitting on the bar corking it up tight. Went to the gas station/ tackle shop for the paperwork. Then out to play with crab pots and to wait for the dang bar light to quit flashing. The Bar was minimal with some breaking out 1/2 mile or so off the tips. The Ocean looked OK but there was a steady N wind at about 15kts. At 10 am the bar light went out and we went looking for shiny fishes. Crabbed by Twin rocks and got about 20 nice ones. Only 2 finless silvers and several went back for 4 hours of trolling. They were caught on a downrigger at 100 ft. Let several with too many fins go away and released on 23 1/2" King. Found out later that 20" is Ok at Garibaldi. We left when the wind came on big at 2 pm.

Monday . Oh my GOD again! The bar was open and flat. The fog slammed down on the bay as we departed. GPS is good! Crabbed again at Twin Rocks. Soupy all day and rocking and rolling trolling had by all hands. Tried 180ft to the NW of Twin Rocks for an hour with only one hookup on the surface. Hauled all the gear up and went further out to 250 ft at 0800. Still did not see any birds sitting or feeding. They flew by to the north by the hundreds towards the water off Neahkahnie Mt. Gave up on finding a school and resigned to trolling downwind, back to Garibaldi.

Dropped the first rig, trolling weight, Abe and AL and a herring. While checking the spin a Silver with evil intent darted in from the side and slammed it. What a rush, I got to see the strike! He peeled off a hundred feet and tail walked several times. Surprise! It was a hatchery fish. Bonk, into the box. Rebaited and let it out again. At about 10 pulls the tip went to the water and the line began to burn off the reel. I saw a purple and gold flash and my heart began to race. Mr. Spotty Tail! After 10 minutes we had a 15 lb King laying in the boat.

We kept going and hit several more fish. What we learned was that the fish were deep after 0900. All were hit 100 ft down on a downrigger. At 1100 the wind began to howl so we started to clean up. We were down past Bay Ocean by then. Krystalflash called out feeeeeesh! as his rod went down. It never stopped running. I scrambled to clear our gear out of the water and spun the boat into the wind to give chase. You could see the spool on the reel when we finally caught up. This fish fought much harder than mine. After a bit the second King hit the deck. A twin of the first one. A pair of Kings!

We beat our way into the wind and hauled our crab pots. 21 crabs and a couple of huge ones. We went back to Barview and broke camp.

Sorry I missed you that were looking to stop and visit. Next time I'll fly my flag over the camp. We were in Q-6.

Lesson learned is go deep (80 to 120Ft)after 0900 with the biggest flasher you have and a whole herring. Let the rig trail the downrigger by at least 100 ft. You'll find Kings and Silvers there. The bite on the surface is strictly a first and last light thing.

[Bait O' Eggs]

Nice report John, I have a question for you about the 2 flashing yellow lights on the tower at Garibaldi. You know the ones that say rough bar between them. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Does the flashing lights mean the bar is closed, or just rough? I know when the CG closes the bar they usuall park crosswise on the bar and make sure nobody goes out.

We went out sunday real early (4:30 AM), the lights we flashing, I called for a bar report and got CG jibberish talk that made no sense to me. Went something like

Coast Guard California 245G67tm89tle4598Tbvi394 Coast guard out. (I made those letters and numbers up since I dont remember exactly what they said)

Since I didnt hear "closed" in there anywhere we went fishing.

BTW- the yellow lights were correct the bar was rough. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

The hot pole in our boat Sunday was using a large chrome Abe and Al also. Seemed to have move movement than the triangle spinning type or the other dodgers we were using.

[Pilar]

Hey Bait of Eggs. Seems to me that the flashing light is telling you that the bar is 'restricted'. This means different things on different days. On Sunday it was restricted to all sport boats over 25' long and all commercial traffic. So the 13' whaler would have been a no go. The Coast Guard gives every boat a looking at as they approach and turns the restrictoids back. Generally if the light is flashing I just play in the bay.

BTW the bar was much worse on Monday and the Coast Guard was no where to be found. Maybe the OIC on weekend duty was just being a grump. I remember weekend duty was not my favorite thing either way back when on usta fish.

[ 07-10-2001: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[WaterDog]

I guess 18' is smaller than 26 too huh? oops! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[AngleThis]

Good report John, and good bag! The Barge Pilar never fails you, does she? Sounds like the ocean is the place to be, and that is where I'll be heading whenever calm enough this summer. And you're right; GPS is good!

[KrystalFlash]

Once again we had a great day on BIG BLUE.
Once again Luck prevails.
It seems like the harder we try, the luckier we get!

I thank my bud for another great day of rocking and trolling. We always have a great time when Pilar and I fish together. If any of you ever get the chance to fish with John a.k.a. Pilar, I HIGHLY recommend it. He is quite an accomplished sportsman and seaman, and I am honored to call him my friend. The experience is one that you'll not soon forget.
As you've already read, we bagged a couple of kings and 5 silvers in two days and boated several with too many fins which we promptly and delicately released. It was a great time as always. I look forward to continued fishing adventures with my friend Pilar. To all of you who are looking for Mr. Spotty Tail: He is lurking around 100ft at Garibaldi. Ford fender(Large) flashers are helpful. Although, Pilar did entice one to the surface with a tastee treat of rolling Herring and Special Sauce.
Fish on fellow Chasers of Mr. Spotty Tail!

Thanks Pilar!!!
May your rod always be buckled double!
Better lucky than good!
KrystalFlash

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: KrystalFlash ]

[Mr. Fisherman]

KF,

I agree with you.

John is one hell of a fishing buddy.

We were hauling back to port one day and he just stopped the boat. At that time I had more fish in the box than he did and I thought he was going to tell me to swim the rest [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img].

Anyway, he whips out his rod and plays out the downrigger while he starts the kicker and starts lecturing me. "What do you see?... Do ya smell it..." Not 20 seconds later, FISH ON! Nice nate king [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img].

I have learned more fron John in the few times out than I have the last five years I jhave fished here. He's not just salty, he's CRUSTY! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Thanks for everything John. Hope I'm still welcome on the Pilar.

Mr. F.

[Pilar]

I finally got a photo editor that I can figure out. This stuff is 2 weekends old but the memories still shine like Mike's King did.

Fishing, Ocean, friends, full fish box .... what would you change?


Mikes king


John's king


Pair


[ 07-24-2001: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Pilar]

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