NORTH COAST 2024–PART IV—-THE FISH

[Sharphooks]

Of course the best part of the trip was seeing my daughter catch her first salmon. The general Bella Bella area was on the slow side for us in mid July. Lots of long faces at the normal coho producing spots…. Ivory, Idol etc. But on multiple occasions my daughter pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Both my daughters think that downrigger fishing is “cheating” and they’ll only mooch so that’s how I set her up

Nice to see all those rabbits come out of the hat on mooching gear!

After dropping her off in Bella Bella for her flight to Vancouver I pointed the bow at Genville Channel

Last year I stumbled into almost silly numbers of low to mid teen springs in North Coast. It didn’t matter where you were, you just tossed a small spoon into 60 - 90 feet of water and it was take down after take down

This year, no stupid spring fishing like last year but I had several tide changes with 3-5 springs per tide, all low to mid 20’s. Some of you guys scoff at anything under tyee… for me, I was absolutely thrilled. Those days were put together with gorgeous weather, dramatic scenery, and last but not least …..no other boats in sight. For me, that recipe is the Holy Grail of 24 carat gold memory making, especially the no other boats part.

The only fly in the ointment: Deer flies (lots of them this year) …….and….. Braid! I mentioned earlier…, braid is great stuff…. Until it ain’t

The ain’t part is when you realize how a few wraps around your propellers could lead very quickly to a bad outcome

Here’s my boat:

That inflatable stays in that position for the full trip. The wheelhouse roof is now off limits because of the solar panels. Meanwhile I have a dog who needs to do a beach run 3 times a day

So every fish has to be hooked, fought and released on the starboard side . But the fish this year were not only on the large side, they were supremely HOT fish. They all took Stunning amounts of line ( hey all you flasher guys… take off the flasher one day and see what these fish will do without a big chunk of plastic in their face… ha ha)

But taking crazy amounts of line can turn into sweaty palms and heavy breathing…. Especially when you’re running braid

One day I hooked what I knew was a slab. The wind was blowing, I was in a dish of rocks and that’s where the wind was pushing me in a boat with lots of sail. I’d been chasing this fish for well over 30 minutes when it went around the bow onto my port side. It would have been too sketchy doing a walk around and dealing with the inflatable so I tried to use the kicker to spin the boat. I thought I’d made the right move but when I reeled down on the fish the rod tip headed straight for the keel and then… dead weight… somehow the braid had hooked into the through-hull transducer—- not a flush mount but a side-scan with lots of snaggy edges. Not only that, I knew there was at least 50 meters or more of braid out behind the snag… loose in the water, and maybe a big spring still attached

I headed for a bay, fingers crossed that the braid wouldn’t end up in my propellers

I stuck the rod in a holder with loose drag. I dropped the anchor then nudged the Suzuki's into reverse to set the anchor… instantly I heard the scream of the ratchet in my reel…I’d spun braid onto the drive shafts of one or both my Suzukis

I got the inflatable in the water and immediately saw huge blossoms of braid in the water… big flower petals of the stuff surrounded my boat

I got the braid off the drive shaft, then proceeded to pick it off both trim tabs, all three of my transom mounted transducers and finally, broke it free from my thru hull transducer

I realized I’d just dodged a HUGE silver bullet!




Lesson learned….have scissors handy at all times. Don’t let that stuff near a spinning propeller….or switch back to mono

One thing of note: I hooked multiple hatchery fish this trip (adipose clipped). One was low 20’s and had that yellowish tinge I associate with Rivers fish (Wannock ?) I’m guessing that’s where it came from. A guy in Shearwater told me the Wannock program is now going great guns. I’m a bit conflicted about that. What’s driven me to the north country for multiple decades is seeing adipose fins on the fish I catch….where I normally fish, it’s all clipped fin fish…….it seems were not in Kansas anymore, guys.

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

What a great read! I’m getting sweaty palms reading about the braid incident. Good rhjng you have tons of experience and smarts to get through it all.

Question about mooching with your daughter. Were you guys anchored and using live herring with the double treble setup (or similar) and a small weight? Did you jig up herring and keep them in a bait tank?

As always what a fun read!

 

[Sharphooks]

Mooching—-lots of wind blowing so 3 oz banana weight, plug-cut herring, and a tandem hook set-up on a 2 meter leader and let the wind blow the boat….then motor back up to the top of the drift and do it again. The herring were stored in a brine solution….they last 30 days like that but I kept them refrigerated

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

Mooching—-lots of wind blowing so 3 oz banana weight, plug-cut herring, and a tandem hook set-up on a 2 meter leader and let the wind blow the boat….then motor back up to the top of the drift and do it again. The herring were stored in a brine solution….they last 30 days like that but I kept them refrigerated

Ok so almost like a cut plug setup but just drifting and a lighter weight. How many pulls were you doing?
Was there an issue with dogfish? Or any other annoying bycatch?