New to the Board

[whaleraddict]

I have been reading the salty dog discussion board for almost a year and decided to join up and add my 2 cents when appropriate (actually I joined about a month ago). My friend and fishing partner Royalfish informed me that I should post some information myself and relate a fishing story or two to introduce myself. So here it goes.

I have been fishing out of Ilwaco for over twenty years and have no plans to change that habit. We own 3 boats; a 23 foot Boston Whaler (our fishing platform), a 27 foot Bayliner (our beach house), and a 12 foot Del Quay (our kids toy). My wife and I fish virtually every weekend from April (when the sturgeon start showing up) through November. Over the last four years we have averaged 250 Tagged Salmon on board. For those of you that fish the ocean out of the Columbia you will understand the amount of money we spend on fresh bait. We moor the Bayliner and Whaler next to each other so when we wake up on the Bayliner we simply step over to the Whaler and off we go. As you can tell by my Member name I am addicted to Boston Whalers. They are an incredible foul weather boat and has kept me safe in waters I shouldn’t have been in (as Royalfish can attest to). Well enough about me and on to a story.

For those that know me (our handle is Price’s Whaler although many times we are hailed as Norma’s Whaler) you are used to seeing us cruising around with a cute little blond head sticking out of the canvas (my wife). She is even more of an avid fisherman than me and she doesn’t mind being called a fisherman instead of a fisherperson. We are not into this political correctness nonsense. About five years ago (we were newlyweds) we had planned to go to Ilwaco for the weekend crabbing. I ended up having to fly to New York on the spur of the moment and the only flight I could get was on Saturday at noon. So we left Friday for Ilwaco. We got up the next morning and I departed for PDX. While Norma was getting the traps ready Royalfish showed up and invited her to go sturgeon fishing with him and Brad. She replied “I think I will pass, all you guys do is go out there and drink beer and don’t catch anything. I think I will go set the traps and wait for my sister (identical twin) to show up”. It was a beautiful day and after setting the traps around “A” jetty she hailed Royalfish. He said come on down to the bridge. So off she went. My wife is a very competent skipper and has taken the Whaler over the bar more than 100 times (not alone mind you). As she pulled up to Royalfish he hopped on board and helped her set anchor a little downstream from him so she could pull up to him if need be while still anchored. After securing the anchor she pulled the boat back up to Royalfish he handed her a pole and several sturgeon setups. She was planning on sitting in the sun and paying bills and Royalfish said you might as well fish. Shortly after setting her line she began getting a nibble. Crap, a Sculpin. She re baits and sets the line for another try. After a few minutes another nibble and then bang, down goes the pole and the line starts peeling out. After about a 20 minute fight she gets the fish to the boat and realizes she’s going to have to net this monster by herself (Panic). She hollers to Royalfish for advice. He calmly tells her “Put the pole in the pole holder and grab the net”. Of course after she does this the first time the fish sees the net zing off it goes. After about five attempts she finally wears the fish out (and herself she only weights 100 lbs) and gets it in the net. She is so tired that she can’t lift it into the boat. She finally heaves with all her might and falls backward into the boat along with the fish. The whole river erupts in cheers. All the boats had been watching her much to her surprise. This is her first sturgeon. She pulls anchor and pulls up to Royalfish and gives him back the gear. She runs up to Ilwaco and picks up her sister. They run out and pull traps and have 24 keepers. Not a bad day.

I hope I wasn’t too long winded. Needless to say we sturgeon fish every chance we get. We are planning on chasing Tuna this year and it is great to read all the info on this board.

[WP]

Welcome aboard! Great story. Nice to have another family aboard!
Dave

[Deepslayer]

Good story whaler. Fish stories are never too long winded! :grin: Welcome aboard!
,Ed

[whaleraddict]

One other thing. I was trying to add some pictures but couldn't make it happen. Can anyone advise me on how to do this. You can view some of our fishing pictures at www.johnandnorma.com.

[OregonSportsman]

here is how to put up pics.....you have to have a host for your pics. go to www.photobucket.com sign up here and put the pictures that are on ur computer into ur photo album, then copy and paste the URL into your post after clicking the image icon, if you have any trouble just say so and ill try to make it clearer, BTW your link didnt work for me

[Bendman]

welcome

[whaleraddict]

Thanks Oregonsportsman. I will try your suggestion. I noticed that my link brought me to my hosting site instead of our site. I have an email into to them to try and determine whats up. You can simply go to johnandnorma.com from your browser. That seems to work. They website is new to us so we are still learning.

Thanks,

[whaleraddict]

OK, lets try this http://img36.photobucket.com/albums/v108/johnhprice

[wak'm&stak'm]

Real nice...welcome...

[Silver Eagle]

Welcome and this site can be additicting...Ray

[corrirod]

Welcome aboard!

[Salty Walty]

Welcome aboard, Nice to have another whaler owner on the board.