Sunday, July 25, 2021

   Here's a Saturday report from Branden Mendoza: "Hey willy. Ran south today to McClure's and caught a nice 25lb salmon. Lost 3 more. This one and 2 others came on crippled anchovy at 40 on the wire the other came on a hochie at 45 feet on the wire. We were fishing in about 60-80 feet most of the day." That's a nice fish, Branden, and you've got the right-sized model to stand next to it for proper scale. The fish have been kinda hot and I've heard quite a few tales of lost fish. They're also running kinda largish, too. For the record, I am unopposed to stopping the boat and chasing fish. It may not be manly, but it seems to put larger fish in the box when they may have gotten away otherwise. When I hook a fish (it does happen every once in a while) I am devoted to landing that fish. It usually works. I've had people yell at me for not dragging my fish in, but I've had ducks quack at me before, too, and it causes me the same concern. 
Brandon Hodson says there's some good ones out there: "Hi There again! 

I think that sending you an email is my favorite thing to do, as it means someone got a good one:)
Thanks for all the info and keeping the derelicts like me informed!

Noah caught this fish that weighed out at 28.3 on a naked herring, in 115’ of water with 60’ OTW…  it was a redemption fish after losing one that looked like it had 5 or 6 pounds on it at the net… The person on the net only seems to get the credit when something goes wrong, but this time it went right.  Proof that little boats might not shine like the big guys but can bring in some fish if the occupants don’t mind riding in a teacup…
Thanks again!!" So here's a maybe tip, depending on how you feel about gaffing. Big salmon are very (physically and legally) gaffable and doing so can put a fish in the box that you may have not successfully netted. My fish last night was gaffed, as a gaff can be wielded much easier one-handed than a net. A good person would wait until the fish was played out and belly up, but I stuck him. That's a nice fish, Brandon, but I'm betting that you remember the lost ones even longer than the caught ones. The ones that got away will always haunt you. 
   So it seems that Eddie Kim is not the only catcher n the family. His brother, Peter, and his family, caught these fish this morning. The Eddie Kim caught his solo limit today (22 and 27 pounds. Very well done, sir) but Peter's 29 pounder was the largest. That's a heck of a fish.


    Remember those squid that the salmon were eating? Well, the squid boats have arrived to vacuum them up so that you don't have to worry about salmon choking on too many squid. I worry about that constantly. Thank God for these guys. Squid-be-gone. Also, the salmon bit late tonight. This one came at 7:30.
    The Shrimp Boat sent me this picture at 8:25 this evening. It appears that there's an evening bite. A few minutes later they lost a second fish.


 







 

4 comments:

  1. We will be out tomorrow. Fire up the tractor!!

    Outlaw

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  2. i got a good laugh about chasing the big salmon down... Yesterday off bird at 7am in 60' of water, downrigger is at 33. Pole goes off I am next to it, its my friends pole, i grab the pole, announce fish, hand the rod too him. He starts saying snag, snag. I am like you sure and he says oh yeah, looked like a snag i guess so turn boat around and slowly start going at it. I keep saying keep that line tight just incase. We get over the top of the snag and he starts yelling fish!. Its a couple minute struggle at the boat and I netted the biggest salmon I had ever seen on my boat. Scale was broken. When we got home it weighted 24 pounds gutted. Also got two 17 pounders after gutted. Headed in before noon. Not tons of nets dropping but when they do its a big one.

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  3. Right on!
    Those are some beautiful fish.

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