Posts Tagged ‘Gig Harbor Fishing’
I think every father that loves the outdoors dreams of one day sharing that love with their kids. For me that dream became a reality Saturday when I was able to take my twin daughters Kristina and Jessica offshore for the La Push Halibut opener.
Taking children fishing has its challenges and with daughters it is a little different because I didn’t want to put any pressure on them to be tom-boyish or tough just to impress me. Beyond that Kristina is diabetic so that raised challenges of it’s own.
On the drive up to La Push we talked about safety issues, diabetes issues and how things were going to work. We stopped at Fat Smitty’s because everyone should experience that at least once. I also got to share with my children some of the most beautiful scenery in the State of Washington if not the country. When we got to Lake Crescent they were awestruck. And they loved the Olympic National Forest. But nothing could prepare them for the drive into La Push. When you come around the corner and see Smith Island with the sun setting behind it. Even Kristina was rendered speechless, and that is no small feat.
We took a sampling of all of our diabetic supplies. Being six to eight hours away from a hospital means we had to be prepared for any contingency. Thankfully, the only issue we had was when her Blood sugar got a little low and her tummy was a little upset so she couldn’t eat. she was able to choke down a little juice to bring the blood sugar up and later, after she caught the first fish on the trip, the queasiness went away and she was able to eat.
We chose to have both kids wear the scopalamine patch. This was their first 
ocean trip and we wanted to do everything we could to make it as pleasant as possible. When we left La Push the kids were very excited by the first few waves and seemed to really enjoy the ride out. After sitting at the corner for a few minutes both kids got a little queasy, Jessica got a little upset about this which made it worse. Once she settled down and was able to eat a little and take a nap she felt better. Toward the end of the day we were able to have a nice talk on the bow, sitting in the sun and giggling a bit.
Kristina caught the first fish, She said it was easier than arm wrestling Tristan. I don’t know who Tristan is but he must be pretty strong. Jessica caught the last after she got over a little bout of seasickness. Patti, my terrific wife, caught one about 40 pounds and hooked up two others. The weather was perfect and the ocean conditions were as good as they could be. It was sunny and 70 degrees. Patti caught the big one in a bikini (I Win).
I had the best crew on the planet. My friends Kevin and Jeff agreed before we went that this day was about the kids and they both made sacrifices and were very helpful to them.
Jeff pulled up several lings and was getting a little frustrated by the end that he couldn’t hook a halibut. It was funny to watch him cuss about catching a 20 pound ling.
We got all our halibut. We decided not to go out to our ling hole as this would be harder on the kids but we did catch a few in the halibut spot. The kids each got to real in a few and Patti was a halibut machine. we even caught about a 15 pound Chinook Salmon that we successfully revived and released.
Final count was 6 Halibut, 8 Ling Cod, 1 Chinook Salmon, a pipe jig, a spreader rig and about 800 feet of spectra line we snagged off the bottom. Oh, and a sea cucumber, I think. 2 kids completely worn out, 1 happy wife and the proudest father ever.
MY FAMILY ROCK!!!!!!!!!
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Well it’s been a long cold winter but spring has sprung and it’s time to get ready for LaPush Halibut.
I took a trip up recently to fish lings and rockfish just to get back out on the big ocean. It was a great day. Got our lings and a couple seabass, had great ocean conditions and even saw some transient Orca whales. I am including the video link, even though it is crappy, because these big guys were running and you don’t see that all the time.
I spent the winter upgrading the boat, pics to follow, and taking classes for my OUPV (captain) license. Exams were successful and I am now officially Captain Kerry W Allen. I am a Navy veteran, I have worked for the federal government for 25 years and I finally have a marketable skill. The jury is still out as to whether I will start chartering this year or next. Oh, and no I can’t marry people.
The new regs are out. Area 11 will be closed for Salmon during May but Lings will be open May 1st through June 15th. 26 to 36 inches.
We are planning several Ocean trips this year for Halibut, Tuna and maybe even a Salmon trip or two out of Westport. I will start sending the newsletter again soon to keep everyone up to date on what’s Happening.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
WDFW sent me a note today with this years Halibut Openers. For LaPush, where I usually fish, it will be just as we suspected. May 10, 12, 17 and 19th these are Thursday, Saturday. If there is quota left there will be an open on May 31 or June 2. If there is still Quota left after that there will be periodic openers Thursdays and/or Saturdays till the quota is filled.
For the rest of the coastal Marine areas and the Puget Sound you can check the press release here.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
We are a little ahead of schedule.
It turns out the decision to rent a garage for the project was a good one. I have been able to dry out some old holes and patch them. Got rid of some old hardware and filled the holes from that also. I have learned to apply gel coat and fiberglass, both of which will be useful skills in the future.
We installed a new satellite ready am/fm radio and speakers, a new Garmin 400c fish finder for the cockpit (this will use the existing p66 transducer from the old Furuno), a through hull (B60) transducer with a 12 degree tilt. This last required me to drill a 2 3/8 inch hole in the bottom of my boat. SCARRY!!! The big brain behind all this is a Garmin 740S touch screen GPS/Fishfinder combo unit. All this stuff is ready t plug in turn on and go. I am still awaiting a fuel flow sensor and an adapter for the 400c so it will talk to the transducer.
As soon as the fiberglass patch on the top is complete (outer layer on the bottom)
we can mount the 10 hole rocket launcher and the led deck light. Patch should be done Tuesday and the rocket launcher will go on this weekend. Then it’s wash and wax and let go fishing!!!!!!!
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
We have been working on the boat getting it ready for Spring Halibut, Summer Salmon and Fall Tuna. We are adding 10 rocket launchers, Upgrading the electronics to add a Garmin 740S which will replace the old Furuno ls4000 fish finder and an old Garmin 210 GPS, replacing the plugs on my Scotty Downriggers, patching some holes and cleaning out a bunch of old wires. We are also adding a b60 tilted element thru hull transducer, it is scary drilling a 2 3/8 hole in the bottom of the boat.
While I was down yesterday laying out some stuff and cleaning out my wiring area my friend Ringo (Bob) was down to help me. Ringo is an old gill netter from back in the day and we were swapping stories, I was mostly listening. When I finally poked my head out of the cabin I saw what Ringo had been working on. He made this beautiful series of knots on my starboard grab rail and started on the port one as well. 
These are beautiful but I told him when people ask me at the dock if I did that myself I was going to have to tell them I did. He just laughed. I also learned that he had never been halibut fishing off the coast here. So Ringo has promised to do more of his magic to my boat and I am going to make it a priority to get Ringo Halibut fishing this year. It’s a win win. I get more cool stuff for the boat, and I get to go fishing with Ringo. It kicks ass being me.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
My plan was to take the kids out of school early Friday to go to the coast and dig razor clams. Unfortunately with all the nasty weather we decided to bag it and hope for the next opener. The good news is, since the weather kept a lot of people away we should get some good opens later this winter.
I also got some great snow pictures of the harbor this weekend. These can be seen on the Facebook.
I am looking forward to the Boat Show starting this weekend. especially looking forward to seeing the new Defiance San Juan 25. It’s a beautiful boat. When you go by tell them you saw it on gigharborfishing.com
I will be live tweeting from the show so if your not following on twitter do it before Friday. I don’t follow twitter all the time but it’s good for stuff like this.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
One of the cool things about having a blog is it gives me a way to check in and forces me to get things done. So here is the update for this week:
Replaced brakes and bearings on the trailer. I had to run new brake lines for the axles and still need to bleed them. I may put new leaf springs in too. Haven’t decided yet.
Rocket launchers are on order and I am waiting till the boat show to purchase electronics. I purchased a new troll housing for the go-pro this year. That should make for some great tuna video. My friend John picked up a couple Tica Rod and reel combos (Chinese but for 60 bucks they are disposable). I still plan to purchase some new Avets for bait fishing but that is also waiting for the shows.
The overall theme in all this is to clear the deck and cabin of clutter so we can cover it in blood.
I will be interested to see what others are working on this winter. Please drop a comment with your projects and pictures. I know my friend Steve is replacing the deck on his boat and Tom is always working on something.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
WDFW gave us a little Christmas gift and opened crabbing in area 11. It will remain open until the end of December. In the last couple weeks we have caught good numbers of fat, hard shelled dungeness. The bodies on these winter crab are are jammed full of meat where in the summer a lot of them are soft and in the molting process. 
This is a good time to use those Tuna scraps you have left over from the summer. If you don’t have that Turkey legs, Salmon carcasses or heads will work and in a pinch you could even use good old Puss in Boots cat food.
Oh and Sportco has a great deal on crab pots at $15 for a nice box whith an opening top. Crabbing in Quartermaster Harbor has been a great time for the kids and I. We’ve even gotten some of our friends in on the fun.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Here’s a fun thing I found on-line:
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I don’t know if others experience this but I seem to have a lot of smarty pants type people around me. I was supposed to go crabbing with my friend YT (pronounced whitee) on Sunday but I worked a little overtime so I didn’t get the boat back in the water. We were going to drop some pots at Quartermaster Harbor and troll around for a couple hours get some fat winter crab and go home.
Today is monday and I see YT and he says “we only got three crab” in that “ask me what else happened” kinda voice. So I say “but they were big fat nice ones, yes?”. He couldn’t hold it any more and told me he caught a nice 23lb Blackmouth while soaking the pots. Needless to say it didn’t take much prompting to get the rest of the story. 
He was fishing on the west side of Point Dalco, in about 100 feet of water. he was running a hot spot on the downrigger ball, with about a 4 foot leader, and a coyote spoon about three feet behind that off the release. I will try to post a pic of this rig in the future.
Good Job YT
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com