Top fishing destinations?

excuse me · 10-07-2002, 04:37 PM

Where's the best places you've been fortunate to have fished at? And the best places you still dream about getting to do sometime?

I wasn 't able to fish this weekend and besides the rain just isn't happening anyway.
Since the rivers are mostly still hanging in the sky somewhere until the jet stream changes patterns sometimes I get to really day dreaming about great fishing experiences and also places I want to try some day.

I've fished a few times in Alaska and British Columbia for salmon. It's awesome if your timing is lucky, as most of you know. But I haven't got to fish for those legendary giant steelhead they are probably catching right now up north. That's one of my dreams to do someday.

The other dream is to someday fish out of Mexico or Hawaii for giant tuna and marlin. Ive seen plenty of that on tv fishing shows but I bet it's 10 times more exciting that it looks. As great as huge chrome chinook is you don't need a fighting belt to hold you in the boat! For anyone who has done that how does that compare to the top places for salmon and steelhead up in the far north? Is there any way to do that in Mexico on a low budget trip?

What are your dream fishing places?

JeepMcMuddy · 10-07-2002, 04:52 PM

17 miles off the Kona coast.....
Beatiful day, first boat out of the harbor. We stopped at the first bouy and caught some bait (5-6 pound yellow fins!) Motored out as the sky slowly started to awaken....Thats when I started feeling sick....I have grown up around boats and have never gotten sick....I'd like to say it was a stormy windy day, but it was dead calm and flat so much for that excuse! Fortunately I never chummed for ralph like my buddy did! I was so excited by the thought of strapping into that fighting chair! Unfortunately for us we picked one of the "Dead" periods when one species of marlin head out (striped?) and the (Blacks?) move in. I gotta give it up to our skipper, he worked his bum off trying to get us into fish. The radio kept sqwacking about the "dead sea" and calls for "anyone? anything?" as the other skippers checked in.....
We were one of the last boats in for the night, having gotten skunked (except about 40 lbs of cleaned tuna bait I took home) We checked the boards and only a large mahi-mahi and a few small onos for the day.

It was still one of the best days I've ever had, sick or not! You could not beat the the whole experience!
Finished the night with dinner on the Lanai (deck) watched the last bit of the sun melt away....Cool drinks and a great meal capped off a near perfect day***...

Best BBQ Bait (Tuna) I ever had. :smile:

***Ok so hooking up a "grandie" could have made things a bit better!

Matt "JeepMcMuddy" Brown

[ 10-07-2002, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: JeepMcMuddy ]

excuse me · 10-07-2002, 05:06 PM

Good story and tude Jeep. Id take a day like that one anytime! Catching the monster is just the icing. Barbequed fresh tuna is great for the palatial experience for sure!
By the way what is an "ono". A fish? Or a hooked and lost fish? :smile:

Pete · 10-07-2002, 05:30 PM

Most memorable for me was the Tongariro river in New Zealand. It's an area popularized by writer Zane Gray. The accomodations, the scenery and the fishing were all excellent. My one day of river fishing for rainbows (steelhead stock that has a lake rather than the ocean to go to) produced 8 fish to my fly ranging from 3 1/2 pounds to 9 1/2 pounds. Not a bad morning's fly fishing. The only negative on the day was that my dad, fishing along side me, failed to hook even one fish. Since I started fly fishing first and brought him to the sport, I really was anxious for him to get into something. My big fish now adorns the wall of my office, reminding me often of that day among the giant tree ferns.

ripper · 10-07-2002, 07:42 PM

The best day I had was my first season in Orgon. My friend/guide decided to show me what fall Chinook season was about. Three of us headed out for the Wilson.

The two others in the boat gave me a quick refersher on methods and gear and off we went.

Around 10:00 a.m. the sky cleared a bit and I hooked into a sweet hog. Landed that @30lb Chinook and continued on. Within the next hour hooked a second.

Unfortunately my two fish were the only two of the day and the only two hits of the day. I hpoed every day out was like that.

It made for great pictures and I can safely say I have a soft spot for the Wilson. I still whip out that photo when I visit friends on the east coast.

Ripper

GutshotApe · 10-07-2002, 08:51 PM

One of the most memorable places I've fished and one I'd like to go back to is Alaska's Tangle River. You won't read about Tangle River in any of the fishing mags or see it in a movie of Alaska fishing highlights. But, to me, it is the essence of Alaska.

Tangle River is actually several short river segments connecting the maze of lakes called Tangle Lakes on the way to Mt McKinley Natl. Park. The surroundings are partly forested rolling hills with open tundra and grassy areas. Even though there was a road nearby and a campground on the river, back in 1963 it seemed like a "wilderness" experience. I was a young teenager and our family drove 2500 miles up the Alaska highway to get there.

My fishing outfit was a telescopic 9' fiberglass flyrod with 3 guides, an old HCH line & a black gnat wet fly. The river was about 70' across and 2 to 3 feet deep with gentle glides and a gravel bottom. There were grayling up to 16" and without a lot of difficulty, I caught enough for the whole family to eat for dinner.

Fresh caught, cleaned and open-fire pan fried, grayling are delicious! That trip was a long time ago but I still remember the many sights and events we experienced on what was the last major vacation my family took before brother, sister & I went our separate ways.

GSA

garyk · 10-07-2002, 10:20 PM

It's all good. Each piece of water is its own paradise. Whether it's seeing a N.Fk.Nehalem silver actually creating a wake as it rushes eight-feet from the log concealing it to intercept my bait under a tiny bobber.

Or fishing the rushing lower Metolius, backed up against the brush and doing a weirdly contorted steeple flycast in order to fire a cast to mid-river where a hoggy redside is slashing duns.

Or being somewheres on Tillamook Bay and after falling into a trolling induced trance, finally feeling that electrifying TAP-TAP-TAP of a chinook knocking on the rod tip.

Or evening on the Madison River, nearly dark, and stalking a trophy Brown, drifting a delicate Iwamasa dun down to him, the take, and then literally feeling the fine-wire hook scraping over his boney jaw and teeth. (So it's not only the ones you catch, but those you don't too!)

For an exotic trip that won't break the bank consider Baja MX, Sea of Cortez. It's a remarkable place. The power of the fish is amazing. Even the little Bonita tuna (considered a trash fish) of about eight pounds would pull the scales right off any size chinook if tied together in a tog-o-war.

fishisabonus · 10-07-2002, 10:33 PM

Out of Petersburg Alaska, Halibut fishing with my folks. I was around 4 months pregnant with my daughter. I

wasn't my best. We barely got there and were heading out to the cove where they throw anchor and stay.

My Dad hadn't been fishing yet, so he was jonesing to put a line in. As the rest of the crew were. We did and the halibut bite was HOT. Then it happend. I hooked a fish almost as big as me. It would have been as big as me if I hadn't recently put on 20 lbs. But it was a fight. I guess I needed the extra 20 so I could hold my own.

My dad's buddy on the boat that made the journey from Ilwaco to Petersburg was fishing along side of us. He hooked a monster about the same time. We were both working up a sweat at the same time!

The funny thing was my folks had picked up a new septic tank for their buddy Allen, who owned the lodge that we anchored by. So on the deck is this big sh** tank. We are trying to fish around it. Not an easy task.

My stupid X kept trying to take my pole away from me. Not a smart thing to do. My Mom was filming the entire battle from the flying bridge and telling us to "not hurt baby sister". Then my Dad told him to leave me alone.. grrrr

My X suddenly backed off... I think my Dad had the gun out to shoot the halibut.

I landed the beauty. Then we had to stop fishing. Our coolers to ship home were already full and we had 5 more days to fish.

crabbait · 10-07-2002, 11:03 PM

Fishing out of Cabo a couple Septembers ago with two friends and a 42' Pacifica Sportfishing boat on the tail end of a hurricane. The ocean was very choppy with whitecaps everywhere and a pretty good swell to boot.

We were fishing downwind toward Gordo banks for Marlin. My buddies are both veterans at this but both were succumbing to the blue water blues when the deckhand started rattling spanish at a million miles an hour and one of the small rods doubled over and started the drag song. I was elected to fight this fish by default as I was the one still functioning.

Mostly I remember the skipper yelling REEL! KEEP A TIGHT LINE! I thought it was tight until I saw the fish skipping across the surface in a series of jumps abeam the boat while my rod was still pointed out the back. Marlin can put a big belly in your line in a hurry! By really reefing on the line I was able to finally catch up to the fish. Then the boat started to "back down" to him and every time we ran into those large swells the water would shoot straight up twenty or thirty feet above the stern and shower down on me. This was stand-up fishing with rod in hand, no chair, and a fighting belt trying to creep to my knees. Saltwater and sunblock do wonders for the vision. I fought the fish blind for about another twenty minutes only occasionally able to see anything until he was alongside the boat.

We estimated him to be a 175lb Striped Marlin. Gorgeous fish. The ride back into those seas was three hours of hell. We had water splashing clear over the tuna tower and you could not sit or stand comfortably anywhere. It was worse for my partners who were very sick.

We ended up with a Marlin apiece for four days fishing with the last day spent catching nothing but Dorado at our insistence (no Marlin, DODOs!). The weather was in the 90s (cool, they tell me) and the ocean was the most beautiful blue. It was much calmer after the first day.

Days were hot, nights were warm. Drinks were large and cold, bikinis were small and hot. Folks were friendly. Go if you get the chance.

jcarufo · 10-07-2002, 11:28 PM

I agree with Garyk. Every place has ist's own magic. We've been lucky to flyfish in Yellowstone, fish Salmon and Halibut in June, July, and August on Vancouver Island, and Cabo in November and January for the last ten years with a side trip to Zihuatanejo the last two. Zihua is by far the best value in Mexico we've experienced with very nice 1 bedroom family run hotels $30-$70 per day and a 23-25 foot Super Panga including bait and drinks $125.00 per day. The fishing is fantastic and just outside the harbor with 6-8 sailfish per day common with Yellowfin, Dorado, Wahoo, and Roosterfish thrown in.

Another possibility we want to try are the Mother Ship opperations out of San Felipe in Baja that go to the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez. You sail and live on a large mother ship with about twelve people I think, that tows Pangas behind. You fish from the Pangas as much as you want for 5 days all inclusive for about $750.00. $250 air to San Diego and a $20.00 bus ride to San Felipe makes for a pretty economical week of fishing for all the yellowtail, yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, and bottom fish you can stand.

Anyway...it's where ever your head is. Last Friday on the Nestuc in Woods was pretty magical too. Have a Great Day!

jean