Southcoast Hali report

Mello-Yello · 05-08-2003, 06:43 PM

2.75 hours to travel 22 miles, not bad eh? Seas started out pretty good out of Port Orford, then slowly detiorated till we were crawling.
Once we got there, it calmed down quite a bit though. 3 smallish chickens for 3 weary fishermen and one decent ling cod. Ride back wasn't as bad. Some huge long ocean swells though. A little over an hour return trip.

On the way in, the windwaves really died down, still some pretty big swells though. I think it'll be pretty nice tomorrow.

We're gonna try and be there a little earlier tomorrow. Hopefully around 0530.

More updates tomorrow p.m.

[ 05-08-2003, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Mello-Yello ]

SouthCoastStu · 05-08-2003, 08:17 PM

Good to hear you made it back, sounds like it was a nice ride (not!).

How was the drift (i.e. how much lead)?

Any tips for the sling?

See ya Saturday :smile:

Mello-Yello · 05-08-2003, 08:32 PM

The drift wasn't too bad. We were running 2#. Coulda run heavier though. I think tomorrow will be a dramatic improvement.

The sling was a breeze. Only three boats ahead of us. The guy running it did a great job, and made the extra effort to ensure the boat was on good. If there are boats in line ahead of you, you'll get to sit there and watch them go through the paces. By the time you're up, you'll have it down pat. There weren't many boats out today. We might have seen 6-8 boats total.

M-Y

reelmeister · 05-08-2003, 08:40 PM

Well, checking the forecast at 9:30 pm, it looks like there will be a 3 foot chop and five foot swells Saturday. Seems the forecast changes for the worse the closer we get to the weekend.
I am scheduled to go out with you guys Satuday, but I may back out if we're looking at 3 foot wind waves. The duckworth I'm borrowing rides rougher than he77 under anything over 1.5 feet.

Hope the forecast improves by tomorrow.

Al

Mello-Yello · 05-08-2003, 08:42 PM

My Mama alway said "NOAA weather predictions are like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get". And you know what, my Mama was right...

We had to kinda laugh at ourselves today. We were only 3 miles from "the hill" and still had seen no sign of any 'flotilla' of boats. My buddy says "hmmm, there is no sign of intelligent life". I think he was referring to us.

It was pretty much a matter of "how bad do you want it". We wanted it bad.

The seas weren't threatening, so long as you took it slow.

M-Y

[ 05-08-2003, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Mello-Yello ]

tailchaser · 05-09-2003, 07:13 PM

Well the final tally for us on day two are as follows:

5 - 'butts (51", 47", 43" and 2-38"'s)
10 - Lings for the boat in 30 min. of fishing for them.

Water was pretty good in the morning but the wind chop came up pretty good by early afternoon and it was time to quit filtering through the little ones. We found the last good legal we wanted and went home. Pretty long day though. One last shot tomorrow and hopefully the weather will cooperate even more. I guess there was a dramatic difference from yesterday to today and that tend stays true.

Man I'm tired. Time for bed.

tc

Mello-Yello · 05-09-2003, 09:28 PM

I haven't enough energy to be tired...

We limited on butts too. 30+# and 60+ and 14 nice ocean dungys. Yesterday's halibut carks did the trick. The pots are loaded up again and ready for tomorrows drop.

One more day, then rest. I wish my easy chair would quit moving.

Lepper · 05-10-2003, 01:45 PM

Enjoy your easy chair since you will be sitting in it all afternoon.. :smile:
dave

Mello-Yello · 05-10-2003, 04:42 PM

I wish! Spent all afternoon cleaning stuff. Now the work is done, and I am in my easy chair...and yes, it is still moving.

Don't know how things were up north, but south was not so good. The boat sling was backed up, long wait. DiamondBack made it to Halibut Hill, haven't heard a report yet. The rest of us got within mere miles and the sea turned over.
It's never an easy thing to pull back, but kudos to Tailchaser and Lepper for making the call.

I'm curious to see what ended up happening out there.

Lepper · 05-10-2003, 05:17 PM

you remember that boat tailchaser told you about? the one that was flaggin us down?? I guess there is a very interesting story behind that one.. I will email it to you when I get the details.. should be a good one... about a gun-ho guide.....

SouthCoastStu · 05-10-2003, 05:20 PM

We manged one 41"er (28lbs). The drift was brutal. We had 2lbs on, 3 would have been much better (all I had). My brother doesn't have a hali setup, so we used a heavy sturg rod with 300 yds and couldn't really get on bottom with it. It was so choppy I didn't feel real good about doing a lot of backing.

The guys at the cleaning station ahead of us fished all the days said this was the worst for both fish size and sea conditions.

FWIW, I think you guys made the right call. We got beat to a pulp....... [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

TC-
What color/type boat do you have?

Mello-Yello · 05-10-2003, 05:59 PM

TC and Lepper were right behind me at the dock. Black Fish-Rite (very nice boat!) I didn't know they were back there when you stopped by...d'OH!

We ended up using 48oz yesterday (550'). This allowed us to fish nearly vertical.

Glad you managed a halibut.

A bunch of us should get together sometime for some serious ling hunting out around the reef (when the wind isn't blowing 30mph).

[ 05-10-2003, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: Mello-Yello ]

Lepper · 05-10-2003, 07:24 PM

WHAT!? when the wind isn't blowing?? You mean actually get the jig to the bottom? has possabilities.

Mello-Yello · 05-10-2003, 10:06 PM

You know, when we were off that reef today, we came very close to pullin out our hali rigs and running 2# weights, but keeping them about 10' off the bottom. If we weren't so lazy, we would have done it...If one can catch big lings w/this gear at 500+ feet, I oughta work at 70, right?

[ 05-11-2003, 08:11 AM: Message edited by: Mello-Yello ]

tailchaser · 05-11-2003, 09:39 AM

Yeah it was quite an interesting day to say the least. I'm very glad we turned around when we did. I was already nervous enough about the bad weather that early in the morning and then to have a friggn whale sail about 30' out of the water in front of the boat just about killed my eagerness. I just thought, now I have to watch out for flying whales too?? Jeez.

Here's the story about the other boat we ran into. He's a guide down here (won't mention the name) but both my father and I know him pretty well. Last year he took out some clients for halibut and got into some really nasty weather (like saturday) and flipped out. He took some water over the bow and lost it mentally. So he floored it and the people on board litterally needed a lot of dental work and chiropractor visits when they made it back. Not to mention were scared out of thier minds. One guy on board said they litterally jumped from wave tops on 10-11' swells. So there's the background. His solution to that mistake was get a bigger boat. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

This boat was somewhat following my tack on the way back in as we were headed towards the reef to fish a little. I'm not too keen on giving away my ling hole so I wasn't going real fast and giving him ample time to go his merry way. Well he comes closer and there's people in the back waving a red flag and shining a light at me with thier chicken suites on? So I go over within shouting distance and they tell me thier radio channel. I hailed them and they said thier electronics were not working and needed directions to get back. I almost asked them where they launched from because PO reef is the first thing you see out of PO. I was curious to what idiot was driving. For those who don't know the area it's like going over a bridge on the outskirts of town and asking how to get back. So anyhow, I give them the bearing by compass to take them back in. Well he starts cruising through the middle of the reef (which is occassionally breaking waves) and I hail him and say not to attempt that if you've never been in there. So he finally turns and heads home. Back at the dock we're waiting to get in the sling and they were still there? They finally load up by pushing their boat into the sling which is weird to not power it in and backwards no less. But when it's being raised Lepper points out he doesn't think it has windshields?? We couldn't quite tell but looked odd. Well when lepper was getting the truck he went by them and there was a lot of cussing going on [img]graemlins/icon_argue.gif[/img] and checks being written back to people. Turns out he was going hell bent again and knocked out two of his windshieds and took out his electronics on the dash. Completely flipped out the clients once again and everyone is getting a good chuckle about it here. To say the least he didn't do a very good job of keeping them safe. But a good chuckle since everyone turned out ok. I guess they even hailed the coast guard and the helicopter was on the way when I talked to him on the ocean. Craziness I tell ya.

tc

Mello-Yello · 05-11-2003, 10:00 AM

As much as we hate to meddle, this guy needs his guide's license revoked before he kills someone (assuming he even has one). I'm not sure what steps have to be taken, but think the authorities should know of these occurences.

Common sense compensates for a lot of shortcomings...sounds like this guy has none.

We were tailing behind TC and overheard the conversations. TC gave him clear and simple directions on how to 'go around' the reef and the bearing to get him home. He said, "OK, thanks!" and proceeded to head right into the reef.

I saw the thankful hand gestures from the people in the back. It was obvious they felt TC just saved their lives. He may very well have done just that.

M-Y

Lepper · 05-11-2003, 03:20 PM

Hey I talked to one of the guys "friends" today filling up at the gas station and have a little different story....

Basically, He was crawling and the banging knocked out the windows. And salt water came in and ruined his electronics.... Also spoke withanother guy out there on the high spot and he said the 47fter from Bandon was actually escorting him home. So he must have said that he knew the rest of the way home and the coast gaurd left him?? Anyway.. I know who NOT to go fishing with. I agree with you Mellow, HE SHOULD have his guide license revoked. Putting people at unnessecary risk ain't right!!!
dave

fishwhenican · 05-11-2003, 06:40 PM

Tailchaser: Thanks for the info on Port Orford Halibut. I didn't get to meet you but saw you in line at the Sling on Friday and Saturday. We camped at Humbug Mt. State park. Sure would have been nice to have both slings working. We limited all three days, nothing real big but nice fish anyway, biggest was 48"

I can't believe how little fuel I burned, less than 35 gallons for all 3 days. :smile:

tailchaser · 05-11-2003, 08:44 PM

No problem. Sounds like you did a lot better than most. I'm going to post some pics here tomorrow on the fish we got. One really nice one, and I know mellow-yellow got one that topped 60" also. I did get to meet Northriver1 I believe though and he said he was camping by you guys. Hopefully we'll get another shot here soon at them. Unfortunately, I'm out of consideration next weekend but my dad might be going in my place. Gotta hate it when a buddy gets married on a fishing day! Anyhow, glad to see some people down there to make it worth the while. I talked to the guys at the port and the other sling should be working by next weekend also.

tc