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| Kane caught the biggest Salmon of the day. |
Yesterday’s Deep Sea Salmon Fishing trip was one for the
ages. The weather was fantastic, the seas were calm and the fishing was
amazing.
Since we moved to the Pacific NW I’d been promising my Son
Kane Charlson a fishing trip. He’s only got one more year in Seattle in the
Coast Guard and he’ll be moving onto his next station in July of 2012 so time
was running out.
Along for the trip were our friends Ryan Taggart, his
Brother Trevor Taggart and our very dear friend Nancy Montgomery. Jenny and I
had experienced Deep Sea Salmon fishing but they were all first timers so I
knew they were in for an experience of a lifetime.
We left the Port of Astoria about 5 pm and it took almost an
hour for the boat to get out of mouth the Columbia River and into the ocean.
Once we threw the lines in the water Ryan caught the fish keeper of the day. He
was beaming and pretty proud of himself as he should have been.
Next up was Kane; his first fish of the day was a keeper and
as it turned out the biggest catch of the day. All the joy and excitement of
the moment was so awesome to see on Kane’s face when he brought in his first
fish. It’s one of those precious moments that will be a fixed in my memory
forever. I just don’t think there is any outdoor experience that matches
catching your very first fish and then getting the privilege to see a loved one
do the same.
I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for the trip
because this was all about Kane first and then our friends snagging Salmon and
hoping that they all had a good time.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
Not only did Kane catch the biggest Salmon, a 15 Pounder, he
was also the first to get his limit too. You’re only allowed to keep 2 Salmon
that are 24 inches or longer and non-native. Everybody on the boat got there
limit.
This throwing back natives is one of the craziest fishing
regulations they have out here. You’re only allowed to catch the farmed Salmon
that have back tagged and they’re indentified by having the top rear fins cut
off. I estimate we threw back at least 35 natives between the 6 of us and 3 of
them were big ones. Without this rule we’d of had our limit within an hour of
being on the boat. More on the “natives” issue later which I’ll post in the
comment section.
Some of the other great memories include:
It was fun goofing with Ryan; he’s a hoot and half. Between
lulls we were thinking up macho guy lines from movies to say to get some good
fishing mojo luck going.
Trevor catching at least 5 natives before he finally caught
a keeper.
“There will be Blood.” Nancy catching here first keeper and
after the Deckhand clubbed it he hadn’t quite killed it and it flopped out of
hands tossing fish blood on her face. I have the picture to prove it.
Trevor shaking the handle of Ryan’s fishing pole making him
think he had a bite when he really didn’t.
Watching Nancy dozing was cute because she only had 2 hours
of sleep the night before.
The “No-Ho”, “One-Ho”, “Two-Ho” and the “Three-Ho” fish
punching technique.
Jenny and I got to see our very first Humped Back Whale. It
surfaced about 75 yards in front of the boat. As it floated away I only got one
good picture of its tail right before it submerged and then we didn’t see it
again.
Lastly, the funny part of the whole keeper limit. By 10:30
am we only lacked getting one more keeper. It was Jenny’s fish to catch so
anytime one of the 6 poles got a bit we let Jenny reel it in. After catching 8
fish which were either native or too small to keep nearly an hour half had
pasted before the last keeper was caught. On the ninth attempt one got on my
pole I asked jenny if she wanted to reel it in and she asked me to bring it because
she was thinking she was hexed. So when I reeled it in "BAM" it was
the last keeper of the day and we finally got to head back to Port.
It was amazing day and it was so fun to see Kane, Nancy,
Ryan and Trevor catch their first Salmon. Next year we plan to go on a Tuna,
Halibut or Sturgeon Charter together since we all had so much fun.
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