Tales From The Tyee Pool........2018

Tyee season 2018, what can we say about it??

Started off promising with the first July Tyee in a few years, but the promise was never fulfilled.

In fact, the season ended with a drought of nine days after the last Tyee was registered, and Bob hardly weighed anything after that of any size.

Personally, it was a very bad year with but four hook-ups, all with the same person, and zero fish in the boat.

I couldn't buy a strike for any of my long-time and faithful rod-holders, something that annoys me greatly I'll confess, particularly after upgrading every thing I could, from line to hooks to plugs.
One day...........................

On the positive side, my little rowboat, the Hazy Dawn, was recovered after being liberated from its normal spot and paddled across the estuary, where it was then chained and locked to a tree, ostensibly so it wouldn't be stolen one supposes. Weird one.

So here we are with but 18 total Tyee registered, 12 new members and six rookie rowers and many of the big names in the pool went without, despite decades of experience, proven gear and many hours of rowing.

The fish just weren't there in the numbers we expect, and I suspect the Blob of 2013 and 2014 followed by a big El Nino in 2015 did not do us any favours relative to salmon survival.

Other factors are at work of course, but ocean survival seems to be very low of late and the returning fish are really small.

The biggest this year mirrors the biggest of three years ago, 36 1/2 pounds, and once again we have youngsters dominating with 12 year old Landon Mackie becoming Tyee Man and I suspect his eight year old sister will be the top female winner, keeping it in the family as they were both rowed by Mike Mackie, their Dad and obviously the hot rower of late.

Well done to the Mackie crew from me for sure.


So, in with a bang and out with a whimper best describes this season methinks, but we'll get 'em next year for sure.

I hope.







Take care.
 
As usual, GREAT blog Dave. Like you said, some of the best rowers were shut out this year,but we take the good with the bad.
Thank-you for taking us along for the ride. Next year!
 
Can’t wait for next year. As always a great read and it’s almost like being there with your posts. As others have said already, thanks Dave for taking us all along as you peacefully row through the Tyee Pool awaiting the sudden pull on the rod. Here’s to next year.

Oly
 
Great read as always. Who is the 2018 Cabezon Champion?

Well, I hate to brag, but that pretender Bob Main has no proof he even caught one, being busy wasting his time catching a Tyee and all that, so here is the winning fish in all its glory.

Kudos to my rod-holder for fighting this monster until it submitted. It was a great fight. :D

As you can see, despite the poor photograph, our Cabezon was bigger, better looking and was released without my incurring any injuries, unlike Bob, who was all scarred up the day after he released his tiny little Sculpin.

I still think it bit him. :p

I shall treasure this win, and will hold on to the much coveted Cabezon Cup as long as I can.

It's my only claim to fame so far. LOL

photo 3.JPG




Take care.
 
Dave
Once again you have achieved another milestone - King of the Cabs!
I have again enjoyed your great “Tales From the Tyee Pool” and look forward to more in the future.
Adios Amigo
Stosh
 
Thanks for all the posts - very entertaining to read and well written. Can't wait until next year to read again. Cheers
 
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and comments and for putting up with my attempts at levity too.

Obviously this is always a fun time of year for me and all who chase the mighty Tyee, and despite my most embarrassing year ever, it was mostly fun again this year.

Thanks to all my rod-holders for surviving another year with nothing to show for it and props to those who succeeded this year in boats other than mine.

12 new members and six rookie rowers with many "big names" getting shut out means something is amiss somewhere along the line, and that's what really concerns me.

But I'm an angler and therefore have hope that next year will be better.

I pray it won't be worse.

All the best to all of you going forward, except the Mackie family of course. :D

They should all be banned from the pool. :p





Take care.
 
Are the Tyee catches reflective of a lower number of spawners in the river this year?

(the last two years were very good as I recall)

Thanks again for the updates from the pool.
 
Are the Tyee catches reflective of a lower number of spawners in the river this year?

(the last two years were very good as I recall)

Thanks again for the updates from the pool.

My apologies for not responding earlier. Don't know why I missed this.

Your question is a bit weird as the Tyee catches this year don't reflect anything about the number of spawners this year, but are reflective of survival rates from spawners of four or five years ago after enduring four or five years of poor ocean conditions.

The number of spawners in recent years has not been "very good" at all, it's more like we've become used to anything above a couple thousand as being acceptable.

Factor in that approximately six out of 10 Chinook produced from the Quinsam Hatchery are caught in the SE Alaska troll fishery before ever getting back into Canadian waters along with poor ocean survival and it's easy to account for what is happening.

Notwithstanding the odd good year we may enjoy looking forward, the long term prognosis is not promising at all.

Sad.




Take care.
 
Flipping the boat over tomorrow, adding the engine and related bits and will have her launched for the weekend.

I really need to do some rowing to get back into form, so to that end I plan on checking the bottom contours of the pool before the season opens by rowing a few different tacks with my depth sounder on.

It's interesting how the bar shifts from year to year, depending on how much flow there has been throughout the winter of course.

Was gifted another Hardy Longstone and just lined it with new line yesterday.

Now have three Richmake rods and three Hardy reels so I'm good to go with a backup.

Polishing plugs, shining spoons, sharpening hooks and checking lines will be carefully attended to this year.

Still embarrassed from last year's performance.

Anyway, see you all on Monday, and thanks for the encouragements.

I truly appreciate them.


Take care.
 
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