NSIA Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge

birdhunter · 08-25-2001, 06:34 AM

Took Friday off of work and headed out to Astoria w/ Ayefsh and Coot22 to take part in the Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge. Ended up placing 14th out of 75 teams. Not too bad for our first tournament. I was just happy to get some fish and know we had beaten many of the guides. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Launched at Warrenton around 6:00 and were out fishing in front of the church within a few minutes. Divers, lead, rotary killers, and fresh herring...we had it all, but the catching didn't start to happen until around 7:30. It was phenomenal! In about an hours time we landed 8 fish and released probably another 6.

Ayefsh was the first to start us off w/ a 25 lb chinook. Tule hen that was loaded w/ great eggs. Coot22 landed the next fish, a coho pushing 12. A few minutes later when Ayefsh hooked into another coho, I started to reel in my line and was slammed right next to the boat by a huge chinook. What a freight train! Fish took off, taking with it about 100 yards of line. We had to follow the fish in reverse, while I was thumbing the spool and slowly tightening the drag. Just made that one big run, and then it came back into the boat - 35 lb tule buck. Not the prettiest fish, but they sure are fun to catch.

A couple more coho from each of us and we were only one fish away from limiting out at 8:45. Coot22 got another 8 lb coho to the boat but decided that he wanted our last fish to be something big, as we thought we had a good shot at winning the tournament and the bite had been so good. Much to my chagrin and very vocal dissagreement, he let the hatchery fish go and we went searching for another clipped coho.

Never found it. Fished the whole rest of the day from the bridge to Buoy 10 and only touched one finned coho. That fish by the way took two sets of pliars w/ it when we tried to release it. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Murphy's law I guess. I we hand't have been greedy and had kept that coho, we would have wound up 5th overall. Oh well, lessons learned for next time.

Got stuck, and I mean stuck, around Woodland, WA for about 2 hrs driving back that night. Doing paving or something. Anyways, took two hours to travel about 7 miles on I-5 S. Made for a very late night. Left Astoria at 8:45 and didn't roll into Clackamas until 1:00 am. Uggh!

All in all good trip. Hopefully we'll get some pics up here in a little while. Met some great people and saw some beautiful fish. Great fishing, great friends, great time, what more do you need?

Snapshot · 08-25-2001, 06:56 AM

Bridhunter, nice write up for a fisherman. We are not supposed to be so literate according to the sports jockies. Will be on the water this afternoon with the late tide. Hope to help a young man catch his first fish. His dad was always to busy to take him fishing so I have stepped up and hope to show him the excitement of the game. If fishing is a sport does that make us atheletes? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Smily · 08-25-2001, 09:58 PM

Hey Birdhunter,
Great going!! We spent the day out there today and got 3 limits ourselves. Took all day though. When the afternoon bite started at Buoy 10, I couldn't believe what a War Zone. Combat Fishing at it's Finest. At one point we nearly collided with a guide boat. We were just inches away from impact. I hit the deck for fear of falling out. I'm glad my buddy Was driving. I woudn't have known what to do. None the less it was a blast out there and the fishing was Fantastic! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] My buddy lost what looked about a 25 lb Chinook and I had the net ready but he took another run and spit the hook out. Well that's the big one that got away. We did manage to get 8 Coho's and one nice Chinook. A good day was had by all!!! There was 3 of us in the Boat of course for that many fish.

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Smily [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: Smily ]

aye fsh · 08-27-2001, 06:55 AM

Aaah, what a glorious morning, eh? Had a blast there for a couple of hours. The afternoon and especially the evening crawl home left a great deal to be desired. This was the first time I'd been into a hot bite there, fish on as far as the eye can see!
Had a great time guys, ready for more!

Here's a pic of the 3 amigos with their pair of boots and some nice coho. Don't think I'll be keeping any more of those tule kings!
[img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

birdhunter · 08-27-2001, 03:46 PM

Nice pic. Free plug for the charter. I swear we caught those fish on our own. It was just near the cleaning station...yes, that's it. I also like how Cody is holding his coho straight out. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I guess those of us that get the really big fish don't need to resort to photo tricks. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] My Tule actually wasn't in too bad of shape. The tail end was pale, but around the head was nice and red. Cheek meat was good too. I'm still smoking it. All except that adipose that is. I could have eaten that thing for a steak!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Hope the Rogue treats you well. See you up here again for Clack coho or Upriver brights?