Paul….you and me both my friend. It’s tiring and there’s no time to let your guard down. Normally we wouldn’t fish that but we were already out when the squall came through. It wasn’t terrible but it is uncomfortable and tiring beating the seas into submission and constantly losing.
This was the last multi day trip I took with my buddy before he got cancer and was called home. Bill was the greatest fishing partner I’ve ever had. He and I were on the exact same wavelength all the time. I miss him more than I ever thought I would…
That trip we were based out of Seiku but mostly fished Neah Bay and the ocean. The water conditions were really strange. There was an algae bloom that made the color of the water an ugly brownish green and it was everywhere. Fishing was not nearly as good in those conditions and while we caught a lot of Coho they were skinny, snakelike and obviously malnourished for that time of the year. I told Bill that we should try to find clean water so we steamed west for 5 miles or so. Just like someone drew an invisible line on the water, one side was nasty brown and the other side the usual clear greenish blue. On one side of the line we caught decent sized fish while on the other side of the line the fish were skinny and underfed.
After a week up at Seiku I went up to my place in Alaska for a few days to work on the property. I didn’t plan on fishing but one of the guys that I know offered us the use of his skiff. My buddy and I cobbled together the basic gear…mooching leader, crescent weight and herring. We caught BEAUTIFUL big Coho ….Coho that looked like Coho not the things we were catching a week before. In a couple of hours we’d caught enough silvers to satisfy our bloodlust and as a bonus I caught a decent king about 20# too. I realized then that there’s little point in me spending much time anymore down here chasing fewer and smaller fish while fighting bigger and bigger crowds, I need to be up north.
Sometimes I wish Rick had kept the like button. I read your post and enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoy most of your posts.
