May 10, 2007
Ahoy there one and all!
Salmon season has started slowly this year with many days lost due to high winds and heavy seas and water temperatures being very cold (48 degrees) – the whole coast has experienced a slow start. We actually had one day with so much life everywhere it was amazing. We had (and still do have) acres and acres of krill shrimp, anchovies and sardines! We also saw 45 Humpback whales and at one point had 15 of them surrounding the boat. I had to take the boat out of gear as I did not want to give the whale some new "BLING" with my hooks!
The salmon finally began to make an appearance! We were out fishing on Wednesday and were enjoying some really great weather. We had steady action all day and to be honest we lost more fish than we landed! There were some really nice pigs there and being fed on both Krill and anchovies these fish were really full of spunk!! Fighting wildly while jumping and cavorting all over the place, with some of the customers just stopping and gasping at the size of these fish! Which as you know with our barbless hooks the fish takes the slack line and spits the hook back at you and swims away.
Not only are there whales and dolphins everywhere but there is also a whole new batch of the scourge of the sea out there too!! The darn sea lions have had a MAJOR breeding season. So there are pup sea lions everywhere. And you guessed it - the adults are teaching the little-ones how to steal fish. But Old Capt. Smitty had a good tussle with one where the fish was too big for the pup to swallow and I kept wrestling it away from the pup and eventually got it to the boat (my first salmon of the year!). Needless to say the customers got all the other fish and I got the tooth filled one! Not that I am complaining!!
Darn nice to get a fish! Especially the krill fed bright red fleshed salmon for my dinner!!
Now I just have to learn how to make a Roasted red pepper sauce to try over this beautiful fish!!
Tight Lines!
Capt. Smitty
www.riptide.net
415-469-8433
