Tales From The Tyee Pool......2024

Well, it sure has been slow so far, with still only four Tyee on the board.

And it rained a bit yesterday, although the overnight rain must have been really heavy, given what I just pumped out of my boat.
Last night, at around 8:00 PM or so, I ventured out, hoping to take advantage of the brief respite from what had been a steady rain all day, heavy at times.
Before I made it from my place to the parking lot, the skies opened up and it started downpouring again. Really hard.

I sat for a bit before heading down to my boat and discovered an intrepid soul using the club pump and methodically pumping out all the floating boats and also some that were on deck.
He hailed me and told me to hang tough and he would come bail me out. I had my customized 12-volt bilge pump with me so carried it to my boat, intending to set it up for future use.
I think it was Peter Wipper who arrived with the club pump in hand and quickly made short work of the water in my boat.
That pump works a lot better than mine does and now that I know where to plug it in and how it works I'm stoked as can be.
So, shortly after 8:00 PM last night my boat was relatively empty.

A half hour ago I went down to have a look, unaware of the very heavy rain that must have fallen last night and was amazed to find my boat slightly tipped to one side and having more water in it than it did the night before. I am a sound sleeper and had not heard it at all, but it must have been really heavy to have put more water in my boat in a short time than a whole day of steady rain had done before.

Anyway, the club pump made short work of it and I'm all ready to get out tonight with my old next door neighbor from a dozen years ago.
Maybe I can get him a fish and break my dry spell.



It could happen. LOL





Take care.
It’s probably happening right now… good luck!
 
Just home and I think at least three boats hooked up tonight, but no sign of any weighing in or the peal of the bell, so I suspect we are without a Tyee for another night.
Ah well, it was a lovely night out with much less current than we had last night, plus when the Sun reaches a certain spot it reflects off some windows in houses on Quadra, so I took a few photos.
DSCN8186.JPG
DSCN8183.JPG

The peripheral enjoyments of the Tyee Pool remain constant, and this is one of them.
Missed the name but it's one of many that pass by, and often in the evening when we are out rowing.
RSCN8180.JPG

And so it goes.

I know there were a few hook-ups in the pool this evening but have not heard the bell nor been informed by my new on the scene live reporter of any significant weighing in, so I'm guessing no Tyee tonight.

Tomorrow beckons.





Take care.
 
Peter Wipper, what a great guy. I know him from Stuart Island and a mutual friend Todd. Please, if you can, tell him Gordon says hi.
 
A short Monday PM report.

It's raining and blowing from the SE, never a good sign.
Numerous boats out each night over the weekend but no new Tyee to report.

Last year we had 20 Tyee on this date, but this year only four.
Hard to stay enthused when it's like this, even with a 29 3/4 weighed this AM.

Word is that there are Chinook holding in what is called "downtown" by some or the "bowling alley to Anchor Inn" area, but nobody rowing there that I know of.

I'm thinking of taking up Pickleball.






Take care.
 
If i recall 2019 was also a slow year(13 tyee), a good portion of this return would come from that brood.

I know for the pool as you mentioned rain, how much water the dam is letting out ect all play a factor as well
 
A short Monday PM report.

It's raining and blowing from the SE, never a good sign.
Numerous boats out each night over the weekend but no new Tyee to report.

Last year we had 20 Tyee on this date, but this year only four.
Hard to stay enthused when it's like this, even with a 29 3/4 weighed this AM.

Word is that there are Chinook holding in what is called "downtown" by some or the "bowling alley to Anchor Inn" area, but nobody rowing there that I know of.

I'm thinking of taking up Pickleball.






Take care.
I think shuffleboard would be more in your wheelhouse.
 
Having explored the possibilities of both Pickleball and Shuffleboard, I decided to heed the advice of a couple of friends, so when Rob, the rod holder who hooked Leaping Lena back a few years presented himself to be rowed I decided to try the area I had been told about, so away we went.

Conditions were excellent, with a small ebb and no wind, so the only unknown for me was how many pulls should we fish.
With a very competent man on the rod, I knew we could experiment a bit as to depth, and after a few bottom taps and a slight adjustment we were off.

There was a live band playing outdoors in the plaza, so we got some musical entertainment as we worked our way south from the ferry terminal, with my trusty Rex Field Shovelnose pulsating like a good thing, but it wasn't until we cleared the dolphin structures and got into where there is a clear view of the downtown area that we got bit.

"FISH ON" cried Rob, and I instinctively pulled hard on the oars while looking out for a place to row outside before quickly realizing that wasn't required, as there was nobody around us at all.

I relaxed and Rob traded line with the fish, gaining some then losing some and we got a couple of brief looks when it thrashed on the surface.
Neither of us think it was a Tyee, but it was fun while it lasted.

The fish tired of goofing around with us so made good its escape before we could get it to the boat.
I blame Rob.

Anyway, no new Tyee as at this morning, so we are still at four.
Sad.


We'll be out again if conditions permit tonight and most likely downtown.




Take care.
 
Thursday evening found Rob and I heading downtown again, and this time we went straight to the area we'd hooked up the night before.
No other rowers in sight with just a couple of powerboats around, so we set up shop and started rowing, waiting for the Sun to dip below the horizon, or in this case, behind a few buildings.

Not long after 8:00 PM, during what's known as the "magic hour", we had a really good strike and were hooked up again.
The fish made an initial good run and then turned and charged back at us, Rob reeling as fast as humanly possible on a Longstone.
He tightened up as the fish neared the boat and then the fish thrashed violently on the surface before diving under the boat.

I spun the boat off the line as Rob deftly moved around to keep the fish away from the boat, but the darn thing seemed to be seeking refuge under us, as it wouldn't go away.

It was one of those short line technical close-in battles that are never popular as so much can go wrong in a short time with a short tight line.
Twice we thought the fish might be weakening, but both times it showed that it was still very strong and not ready to surrender at all.
We had a couple of looks at it and it seemed a fat fish, but we were unable to get a good look at its length so not sure if it would have made it or not.
We both agreed that we couldn't claim it as a Tyee but it sure would be close.

That was rendered moot, as the fish made a sharp turn and then dove straight down, right beside the boat.
Rob had a good bend in the rod and all looked good until the rod suddenly straightened out as he exclaimed the fish as being gone.
"Feels like something broke," he said.

I cringed at those words as I had just tied the plug on before we started and I'm pretty fastidious about taking care with my knot tying, so hoped he was wrong, and my line hadn't broken.

The plug surfaced close by so I netted it and asked Rob to reel in. As he did, I noticed the rubber bumper and the swivel that had been attached to the hook were still there and the line hadn't broken, but the hook was gone.
I still cannot fathom how everything lined up so this could happen, but there was a small gap left from when I had pinched the hook-eye closed when I attached the swivel to the hook, and even though I always give a good hard pull of the swivel at whatever tiny gap is left if the pinch doesn't completely close up against the hook shank, somehow it had lined up so when the fish made its hard dive it was strong enough to pull the hook away from the swivel through that small gap.
I still can't imagine how it got at that angle, but it obviously did, causing a one in a million situation that allowed the fish to escape.

Still shocked and annoyed here and I vow that will never happen again.
I have re-pinched the couple of set-ups I still have plus plan on using a slightly larger swivel, so it won't be easy to pull through any gap left after the pinch in the future.

So, two trips downtown, two hookups but no fish in the boat.

I'm jinxed.


Took my two favorite ladies down there last night but the ebb current was much stronger than the previous two nights and it was harder to fish the area I wanted with the result we hooked nothing.

I heard a big fish was lost in the pool last night so I might give that a whirl tonight, as downtown seems out of the picture right now.

One of these days.....................................................sigh.




Take care.
 
A bit off topic, but somewhat related.

Earlier this evening, I had a strong memory surface about where I was and what I was doing exactly 58 years ago.

I was in the backseat of a '55 or '56 customized Chevrolet with a young American woman originally from Yakima named Myrna Iverson.
We were at a drive-in theatre outside of Sacramento and the movie was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
My buddy John was in the front seat with his date, and we were both sailors from HMCS Sussexvale, an old Canadian WWII Frigate I sailed on for a year.

No actual sex occurred, but a pretty torrid make-out session was enjoyed by all.
I've often wondered if Myrna is still alive and if she ever remembers the tall skinny Canadian sailor she met that weekend, and the session in the backseat of that car.
I remember her.

For some reason she crossed my mind this evening as I sat in the yard of the Tyee Clubhouse, watching 30 or so rowboats plying the Tyee Pool hoping for a strike.

I'm getting nostalgic in my old age, I guess.



Take care.
 
Earlier today I received a phone call from one of my sisters who berated me for not keeping up-to-date in this thread.
She's right and I apologize, but in truth there has been nothing to report on since my time with Sharon and Diane last Friday, which was a whole lot of rowing for a not very effective or productive outing.
My scheduled rod holder for Saturday cancelled so I became a beach rat for Saturday evening and watched from the clubhouse, a tactic which has usually resulted in a busy night in the pool with several hook-ups and in some cases even a Tyee or two.
But that's the past and now is now, so nothing happened at all, other than one of my other faithful rod holders was there so I invited him to go out with me Sunday night, even though I had him scheduled for Thursday, i.e. today.

Suffice it to say that Sunday night was fruitless for fishing, and other than a few misadventures both going out and coming back in coupled with a near dunking at the dock, the evening was uneventful and shall remain undocumented.

One bit of info has me and others wondering about it, and that is made clear in the following.
On Monday, the 26th. of August, the DFO swim count in the Campbell revealed some 900 Chinook in the area they are counted in.
This number would be larger if they swam the whole river one can assume.

The day before yesterday, Tuesday the 3rd. of September, the count was 1780 Chinook, an increase of more than 800.
So, we rowers in the Tyee Pool and adjoining areas are wondering how more than 800 Chinook managed to go from wherever they were, i.e. "downtown" and elsewhere, into the river, without stopping and holding in the pool? I mean WTF?
The lower number of rowboats out recently reflects the lack of enthusiasm based on lack of results, but still, with the years of experience, the proven plugs and spoons and all that still plying the pool with zero results yet knowing that a large number of fish have passed through in but a week, one can understand why some of us are severely perplexed.

I dunno............



Still only four Tyee registered to date.

Take care.
 
Have I ever shared the story of when I used my little sister as a rod holder at Jump Off Joe Lake in Washington State back in 1960?

It's a better story than what I can share about Tyee fishing this year, for sure. LOL

Still only four Tyee and not much of anything else to report I'm afraid.

I was thinking of trying out a new lure shortly, called a Knobby Wobbler, but it invoked too many memories of another incident in my life where that name was applied to something other than a fishing lure.

And yes, it was an unkind name for an important body part she was seeing for the first time.

But, I digress.....................................





Take care.
 
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