Murphy comes along to B10

[Bait O' Eggs]

Got a great idea about 7 PM last night to take the family to B10 since I havent fished in a few weeks. Threw everything together and headed out at 2:30 this morning. Good think I got an early start, the first problems showed their ugly head when I got caught in the middle of the hood to coast runners on hwy 30. There had to have been a couple 1000 runners and hundreds and hunderds of vans shuttling people. Vans parked in the middle of the road loading and unloading runners. It was a miserable trip to the coast. I should have just turned around and went home then.

Got to the boat ramp and realized I forgot my depth finders. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Left VHF radio on counter at home with GPS and binoculars [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

My wife has never seen B10 and I doubt I get her back again for a second look. The boat ramp went OK on the launch, and we motored out to the bridge with a few 1000 of my closest friends. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I dont know the area real well for depth and for fishing blind on depth I didnt have to many problems with getting into the bottom with the bait.

It was a pretty good bite from the start. I think I could alway see a fish on at all times somewhere within sight. About 15 minutes later we are into our first fish and lost it [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Not long later we have a good takedown and it doesnt hook up.

For the next 2 hours I watch the boat to each side with doubles, the boat ahead of me with fish, the boat behind me with fish, and we couldnt get into a fish. My little girl (1 year old) is crying and not happy to be tossed around with the boat wakes. She couldnt stand with the tossing and turning and needed held so she wouldnt crack her head on the side of the boat. This takes all of my wifes time tending to her, while I try to run the boat and tend to our 3 poles. My 4 year old boy wasnt much help with letting out his pole but he wanted to try and help. I get cut off by a boat and have to make a hard right turn to avoid contact and end up wrapping our lines into each other. After I get the poles untangled and back in the water, I reach for the trolling motor and just about get knocked on the deck when it shocked me [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Still not sure what is going on there.

About this time I am not real happy and emotions are showing. I cannot get into a fish on a hot bite, little things are not going smoothly and I decide to pick up and move above the bridge. I fire up the big motor and immediately suck up my bow line into the pump. Somehow it had been trailing along under the boat and not in the front of the boat like should be. I cannot get it unwrapped. It is nearly impossible to see into the pump to see how much rope I have wrapped up. I just about get leaned over the motor far enough to look and somebody comes by at 30 mph making a big wake that about knocks me out of the boat as I try to look.

I decide I dont like being on the columbia without my big motor and head for Hammond on the 10 hp motor. About an hour later I reach the harbor. Fight my way thru the crowd and leave Hammond for the last time of the year.

Only a few more little problems to deal with on the way home like trying to find a gas station that sells Diesel that I can get into with the boat trailing, and then their was the Dairy Queen I got into and parked only to find out they dont open till 11 AM.

It was a short day on the water and for good reason. I could not take to many hours of the joyious things I got to experience today. Got home went straight to bed and took a nap, just now starting my saturday over. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I did see Marty Peterson landing a nice silver, and somebody yelled hello at a distance, I think it was Bigstew but wasnt completely sure, I was busy with a ton of things going wrong.

Maybe it will be better on the next trip.

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: Bait O' Eggs ]

Glad you are all safe.

[Uncle Roman]

Man, what a disaster.I feel for you, there is nothing worse than a trip gone awry.....I admire your perserverance through that whole episode. Many days I have started off by simply leaving my coffee cup on the bumper, hearing it explode onto the pavement, and it tkes me so long to recover from that I'm usually tempted to bag the whole trip. I don't think I'll complain about that any more............ [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[Pete]

Well, guy, your family may never forgive you, but at least you'll be able to put the boat in the water again. My last trip to B10 left me with a crack in the hull ... and 3 weeks in dry dock. Fortunately there are big fish to be had near by and the feisty coho should be hitting the bulkhead within days ... now that could be a zoo!

Hey, that was you Roy. Shane, Don Larson, and I were out in Jerry Shipe's 'Motion Marine' today. Maybe Stew yelled at you while I was helping Don untangle his lines with Jerry's, while he was untangling the mainline from his kicker prop. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] This cost Don his biggest fish of the day. He only got a couple more but they were natives (sturgeon fisher's luck [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ). The rest of us got our feesh. On an interesting note; Don switched from herring to using a spinner with pink worm rig to troll and had a lot of hookups on it. Lost some of them and the 2 were nates. I finally got out a 1/2 oz. jighead and wired it with a pink worm and casted and jigged it, landing a nice hatchery buck on it. The worm could be a good egg saver while fishing for them up into the rivers. The biggest coho was a nice 17 pounder caught by Jerry's dad. The good high tide bite, up by the bridge early, slowly disipated on out toward bouy 10. We had to leave before the incoming tide brought good numbers of fish back in during the afternoon. I also got lucky and got a big hen chinook, but my best catch of the day was picking up an extra 10 pounds of good eggs at a cleaning station, to add to my 2 skeins. Beautiful day out there. ... Roy, next time you will have the opposite kind of day. Don't quit that season yet - lots of fish yet to come.

RT

[SteelieSteve]

What a horrible day Roy. Glad you made it home safe. Somedays it just isn't worth gettting out of bed.

[Smily]

Hi BOE's,
Sorry things didn't go your way. We all have days like that and unfortunetaly it was supposed to be a good day of fun. Be thankful you made it home to write about it.

We witnessed a terrible head on collision coming home on Hwy 30 right at Big Creek turn off. Somebody was just covered up with a blanket and a couple of other people were getting help. It was a tragedy to see this clsoe up as we did. It still never settles right in my stomach having to see that. Were are here for a short time on this earth and we always try to make the best of it.

On a brighter note we had an excellant day out there. We all got into fish and was out there a good part of the day. IT was a mad house at the noon bite at Buoy 10. We nearly collided with a guide boat and dodging people this way and that.

RT,
Were you in the Motion Marine Boat that when you got back to port you were soaked, Or was that another Motiong marine boat?

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

Smily, probably (if you were at Chinook) - 3 of the 5 of us were soaked! Stew and Don up front were pretty much spared. Jerry really dropped the hammer on the throttle thru the waves to get back quickly so he'd be in time getting to a concert in the evening. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Snapshot]

Bait o Eggs, tough day but at least you tried to include your family in it. That in itself will win favors for you in some circles. We all have days when we wish we had stayed in bed and I can see that you made the best of it by getting a nap. Next time you will be rewarded.
Keep your hiiks in the water.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Roy,

As bad as it was it was better than working [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img].

Sounds a little like our last crabbing adventure.

Don't give up yet. Get back out there and take a lil' revenge on those fish. Oh yea, and remember the 5 "P"s

Besides if ya give up the wife will use it as amunition to get ya to do yard work and honey-do's and that will really cut into your fishing time! Don't ask me how I know that [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img].

Hang in there Roy [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[Uncle Bob]

Yep, I was going to say the same thing. You could have been home doing yard work. In fact, that's what I usally tell 'em when they ask me "how's the fishing" Nope not today, we're just out here avoiding yard work. UB

Glad you made it in allright Roy sounds like one of those days. You looked a little perplexed when we went by you. I figured you were confused about how on earth Bush could have spent the surplus so quickly [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Stew

[Smily]

RT
We seen you then. We also took out of Chinook that day. We were in an Aluminum Harborcraft. We had a good laugh when we seen you guys stand up. I wish I would have known it was you on that boat so we could of said Hi at least.

[fishchaser]

BOE Thank goodness you are OK. Last week was the week we were there and I tell you what I won't do B-10 again. We caught more fish around sand Island, between Illwaco and Chinook openings. We brought to the boat at least 30 fish and was able to keep a few of those, and we didn't have to fight the crazies at the bouy. STZII did though and he did catch 9 fish for his boat but it almost got him killed twice. NOT FOR ME.
I have had just as many landings as launches and I want to keep it that way.
Don't give up. Just give it another try, in a different location. Let the crazies have the buoy.
[img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Gooseman]

Roy,
Glad to hear all are safe. That sounds like my last sturgeon trip to Astoria. Haven't recovered fully from that yet.....