Well, Here is the story...
Tuesday about noon, I took off from work, and headed out toward Mecca (Sekiu). Dean (BorntoFish) was about an hour ahead of me, but he had an appointment in Hermiston (at a boat dealer) so I figured I'd have no problemas catching him. Pretty uneventful trip, dragging my boat. I caught up with Dean in Hood River, where we spent night 1.
Wednesday we saddled up, headed for G.I. Joe's in Vancouver WA, where we bought our "last minute supplies". From there we smoked up to Sekiu. It's really a pretty long drive from Boise, Idaho to paradise. We threw the boat in, parked the rigs, and went fishing. It was 4:30 in the afternoon, and the "evening bite" was reported to be pretty bad. Dean caught a pretty nice fish to start the festivities...
Shortly after this picture the salmon police came and arrested Dean for performing unnecessary carnage upon a salmonid :grin: . (check out the "rough ocean conditions) Dean had the lucky rod, and tagged his 2 silvers right off the bat. I kept catching fishies with the "extra fin". Tally...2 keepers for Dean, and 4 or 5 nates for me.
Thursday morning at about 0230 (that's 2:30am for you civilians... :grin: ) the Spokane contingent of Team Moose Drool arrived. They launched the Duckworth (Denali's Boat), set up camp quickly, and crashed. We hit the Straights of Juan De Fuca at 6:30. There was rain on the horizon everywhere you looked. Seas were reasonable, and the winds mild. Denali had Adam (Idahewes on ifish) and Randy (Deputy Dawg from now on...) in his boat, and Dean and I were in mine. We fished hard, and caught quite a few fish that morning, but Dean and I both tagged only one. The weather was getting progressivley worse. Swell rising from the west, wind and waves from the east, and rain getting stronger. By 11:00 we were wet, cold, and steering the boat was becoming progressively more difficult...so we ran in and had lunch at The Cove. Amazing what a bowl of hot clam chowder and a cup of java will do for your mental state. Denali's crew had just docked when we got back to the docks, and they had limited the boat. Their report was "the seas are calmer, and the fish are biting". Off we run...and procede to get into one of the hot bites of the trip. Dean was running the "Don't mess with Lambeau Field" spoon, and I was attempting to run a R.S.K/herring off the Downrigger. I say attempting, because Dean kept hooking fish that I either had to net or release in the water, and I never got my bait in the water. I decided the downrigger was too much trouble, and Dean was wacking them on spoons, so I threw out a spoon. We had doubles, we had fish hitting spoons hanging off the side of the boat, it was a "slaughter on the water". We finally figured we had experienced too much fun, and I bonked fish #4 for the day...a boat limit :cheers: . Here are my 2 fish (and a great looking boat off my right elbow)
We got in just in time for the Team Moose Drool revival, with a little Drool drinking, lots of stories, and we met the crew of the Blue Pearl. Ifisher Dusty Reel (Marty) and the gang on the Blue Pearl, were a bunch of great guys. I enjoyed meeting you all, and look forward to seeing you next year (by-the-way, thanks for the advice, it helped!). We had a great dinner of Dean's famous chilli, smoked cheese (wonderful!) and smoked sturgeon. What a feast! and then we hit the sack.
Friday dawned calm with a mild overcast that faded as the day passed. The fishing was hotter than a $2.00 pistol at first light. Here is a picture of Slip Point...
I made my biggest mistake of the trip, when I turned the second, third, and fourth keepers I brought to the boat loose. I had a nice 8 pounder in the fish box, and didn't want to have to quit too soon. About 11:00 someone flipped the switch and the bite stopped. Denali and the boys had limited their boat, and were headed west of the Sekiu River to bottom fish. Dean and I trolled for 6 hours without a keeper. Matter of fact we didn't catch anything but little guys (8"-13"). No one was getting anything, from the conversations I heard on the VHF. We showed up back at the dock with one a piece, just in time for "surf and turf". The Boys had caught a handful of bottomfish, and they were ceremoniously fried and served with a side of beef (large steak) for dinner. Denali is not only a great fisherman, he can cook as well. Saturday was the big Sekiu Derby. Everyone and their brother was arriving at Olsen's Resort. We watched the boat ramp follies, and laughed till we were about to wet our trousers. ("What is up with people putting hitches on the front of their trucks?" :laugh: ) The little hand was pointing at the 10, and I was getting blurry eyed, so off to bed we went.
Somewhere around 3:30 or 4:00am Saturday the "Sekiu Security" guy started the 4-wheeler races. His ripping around the lot woke us all up. Since we couldn't fish till 6:00, we prepped the boats, made a game plan. We were out at 6:05, and lines in at 6:15. We didn't hit a fish for 15 minutes. I was starting to doubt myself :hoboy: when I had a whopper of a takedown. It turned out to be a nice 9 pounder with no adipose, BONK...in the box. Now my plan was to fish till 10:00 or so, then drive as far as possible. Well the morning bite was great, and we caught a ton of fish, but they all had the extra fin. Finally I got my second "clipper" and tagged out. Dean was catching nates, and then he hooked a 4 or 5 pounder that was clipped. Dean was going to release it, but it was bleeding a bit, so BONK...in the box. Well the fog crept in, and I was getting antsy, so Dean jumped in Denali's boat, and I broke out the "Plastic Jesus" and ran to port. What I found crazy was all the little rental boats, out 5 miles, in the fog, with no instruments. I think it is irresponsible...no, CRAZY! I pulled the boat, broke camp, and headed home. Made it to Boardman Saturday, spent the night, and was home by noon Sunday.
WHAT A TRIP!!! Thanks to everyone that made it a possibility, especially Dean...who put a roof over my head, and put up with my neurotic behavior. Jim, Randy, and Adam...you guys are awesome. Can't wait to fish together again (soon). Marty, and the Blue Pearl Dudes...it was a pleasure! Keep in touch, we'll hit it again next September.
I'll leave the rest of the story for Dean and Jim to fill in. They fished 2 days longer than I did, and had some adventures to boot...
[ 09-24-2003, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: Mojo ]