Wayne in BC
New member
After the first Halibut was boated another soon followed, then a couple got away. It was nearly 9 pm, darkening quickly and the wind was stronger, water getting rougher and we pulled our lines to head back to shelter. It took an hour and a half to cover the 12 miles to our Cove.
We had fresh Halibut on the stove in minutes, i was filleting our catch and icing it while Grant made supper. It was then that we discovered that a rod and reel had gone overboard and none of us had noticed! We were sorta bummed, that was 250 bucks gone
We finally got bedded down at midnight and i'm sure that Grant and i did not sleep more than 3 hours. Up at 4 am making coffee while the "kid", he is only 39, slept soundly. We were under way at 5 am and Chris woke up when we got out of the Cove and into the rough water. He was good and did not get seasick, nor did he complain, being very happy to catch fish and see Whales!
The weather channel said moderate southwesterlies until noon, then Gale warnings for the afternoon. It was quite miserable conditions but might be our last chance this year for Halibut so we pointed the nose towards Hawaii and ploughed on out. The swells were higher, topping 10 feet, the crosschop between them was the nasty stuff, jarring your spine as you came off the top and landed hard. It moderated when got out about 5 miles where the water was deeper, it is the shallows that causes a lot of rough water. The wind had dropped to a manageable 8 knots as we arrived at the spot at 6:30 am.
It was just barely fishable, most of the problem being that it was tough to stand up and fish while the boat pitched and rolled. We kept at it soon had racked up a dozen mud sharks and two pacific Cod, but no Halibut. It was nearly 9 am when the bite came on and we soon had 4 more Hallies, ranging from 15 to 40 lbs. The wind was now rising rapidly, nearly 20 knots and we scatted for shore! As we plunged and bucked our way back the Whales were all around, more than i had ever seen. They broached and stood on their tails in spectacular displays. How so many tons of creature can come clear out of the water is amazing. I wanted pictures but rain and a wildly rolling boat made me miss all but a couple longer distance shots.
Arriving back in calmer waters 2 hours later, we began to notice a vibration in the engine, so stopped and had a look. To our dismay, we saw that one blade of the prop was missing a piece an inch wide and 6 inches long down the side! We limped to an old dock on a small island and proceeded to cuss, and beat on the nut that secures the prop, it was seized on! We made coffee and lunch then got out the oil and cajoled the nut off, changed the prop and happily started out of the small Cove, only to hear a great bang! We had hit a rock, trashing the new prop
That damned Murphy was back!
We started up the little 9.9 kicker and put down Salmon lines for Chris while we decided how to get the 35 miles back to the launch point, other than at 6 mph on the kicker. We discovered then that one of the downriggers was broken! We talked about our limited options while fishing and Chris caught several small Salmon, his first ever. He kept one of about 10 lbs for fresh eating. After some discussion we decided to put the original prop back on, it was capable of 20 mph before vibrating noticeably. Remember i mentioned the clunk we felt and heard on the way out? That was Murphy telling us he was along for the trip! It was the first time we had ever damaged a prop in that area. Some places are much worse than others for debris in the water.
So, instead of 6 hours on the kicker we made it back to the truck in less than two hours. All of us bone tired and beat up on, but happy as only fishermen and idiots can be under such circumstances
Here are a few pics, some along the pretty islands and some just plain poor, you kinda had to be there
Have a good evening all
Wayner
We had fresh Halibut on the stove in minutes, i was filleting our catch and icing it while Grant made supper. It was then that we discovered that a rod and reel had gone overboard and none of us had noticed! We were sorta bummed, that was 250 bucks gone
We finally got bedded down at midnight and i'm sure that Grant and i did not sleep more than 3 hours. Up at 4 am making coffee while the "kid", he is only 39, slept soundly. We were under way at 5 am and Chris woke up when we got out of the Cove and into the rough water. He was good and did not get seasick, nor did he complain, being very happy to catch fish and see Whales!
The weather channel said moderate southwesterlies until noon, then Gale warnings for the afternoon. It was quite miserable conditions but might be our last chance this year for Halibut so we pointed the nose towards Hawaii and ploughed on out. The swells were higher, topping 10 feet, the crosschop between them was the nasty stuff, jarring your spine as you came off the top and landed hard. It moderated when got out about 5 miles where the water was deeper, it is the shallows that causes a lot of rough water. The wind had dropped to a manageable 8 knots as we arrived at the spot at 6:30 am.
It was just barely fishable, most of the problem being that it was tough to stand up and fish while the boat pitched and rolled. We kept at it soon had racked up a dozen mud sharks and two pacific Cod, but no Halibut. It was nearly 9 am when the bite came on and we soon had 4 more Hallies, ranging from 15 to 40 lbs. The wind was now rising rapidly, nearly 20 knots and we scatted for shore! As we plunged and bucked our way back the Whales were all around, more than i had ever seen. They broached and stood on their tails in spectacular displays. How so many tons of creature can come clear out of the water is amazing. I wanted pictures but rain and a wildly rolling boat made me miss all but a couple longer distance shots.
Arriving back in calmer waters 2 hours later, we began to notice a vibration in the engine, so stopped and had a look. To our dismay, we saw that one blade of the prop was missing a piece an inch wide and 6 inches long down the side! We limped to an old dock on a small island and proceeded to cuss, and beat on the nut that secures the prop, it was seized on! We made coffee and lunch then got out the oil and cajoled the nut off, changed the prop and happily started out of the small Cove, only to hear a great bang! We had hit a rock, trashing the new prop
That damned Murphy was back!We started up the little 9.9 kicker and put down Salmon lines for Chris while we decided how to get the 35 miles back to the launch point, other than at 6 mph on the kicker. We discovered then that one of the downriggers was broken! We talked about our limited options while fishing and Chris caught several small Salmon, his first ever. He kept one of about 10 lbs for fresh eating. After some discussion we decided to put the original prop back on, it was capable of 20 mph before vibrating noticeably. Remember i mentioned the clunk we felt and heard on the way out? That was Murphy telling us he was along for the trip! It was the first time we had ever damaged a prop in that area. Some places are much worse than others for debris in the water.
So, instead of 6 hours on the kicker we made it back to the truck in less than two hours. All of us bone tired and beat up on, but happy as only fishermen and idiots can be under such circumstances
Here are a few pics, some along the pretty islands and some just plain poor, you kinda had to be there Have a good evening all
Wayner
