Posts Tagged ‘lingcod’
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
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
Readers meet Mike…Mike meet the readers. OK, now that the introductions are done let me tell you about my buddy mike.
Mike came Tuna fishing with me this year. The first time we communicated about that he told me he could bring whatever gear I needed to fill the gaps in what I had. It is common that people want to bring their own gear so I told him what I tell everyone and that is you can bring if you want but we probably will just use what I have, But what do you have?
Mike responded with a list of top of the line gear for everything from trolling to live bait to “casting iron”. Needless to say I decided that we would use his and ended up leaving my stuff at home.
Mike is a gear guy. Mike has forgotten more about rods, reels and other gear than I have ever learned, which makes him a good guy to have around. In the day I had him on the boat and since he has taught me tons.
I was down at the Lamiglass factory outlet store with Mike last weekend. He was going to buy a pile of gear (pictured) and I went along to see the place and do research for the blog, post to follow. It was great to watch someone that knows so much pick through a place with such precision.
So I’ve asked Mike to write some gear stuff for the blog. You can look forward to some very detailed information coming soon.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
If your a regular reader you know this year I have been learning to fish Tuna.
So I get on line to the great offshore guys on Bloodydecks.com and learn from people that have been doing it for a while. 
One of the things I learned was that because it has been a fairly small market it is hard to find good tuna gear here. Until now.
Many Washington anglers will be familiar with Bo Palmer from Defiance Boats. Local Gig Harbor folks will know that Tiderunner Boats were once manufactured and sold here. And by a long and winding road Tiderunner is now part of the defiance boat family.
So I get on line and see that Bo has opened a new store out by the Bremerton National Airport in Port Orchard. Guys from Bloodydecks that had been there say he has everything I need for tuna. And they are the guys that know. The wife and I decide it’s a nice day for a road trip so we jump in the car and off we go. 
From Gig Harbor you can get there taking 16 to hwy3 through beautiful downtown Gorst (gateway to Belfair). but we decided to take back roads for fun. On the way, out in the middle of nowhere, We hit this road construction that turns out to be another perfectly good intersection our wonderful state of Washington is screwing into a roundy round (Pet Peeve).
We get there and The store is great!!
Bo himself helps me find the things I need and explains to me how to rig and use the gear. Now you know that when you go to a store asking what do I need for this fishery usually the salesman will grab a hand full of what ever costs the most and say you absolutely need this and a dozen of those etc. So I did a little homework ahead of time. I knew going in I needed x-wraps, clones and live bait hooks. Bo explained to me which hooks to buy, how to use weights to keep live bait underwater and even helped me find some purple x-wraps that were in the back. What he did not do was try to sell me a bunch of crap I didn’t need. I was also able to find some salmon stuff I had been looking for but was sold out in other places.
Bo even helped my wife pick out a kick ass birthday present for me. 
Overall the store was a bit of a hike. For me it is about the same distance as Sportco in Fife or Warehouse in Silverdale (but those places don’t carry much tuna gear). Prices were about what you would expect. The big difference for me is that this is a real fisherman’s store. 
It has all the stuff you really need without all the extraneous crap larger stores have to carry. I can see this becoming a regular stop for me when planning any type of fishing.
Thanks Bo
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
From the WDFW:
The Marine Area 2 recreational halibut fishery is projected to have taken the Pacific halibut quota set aside for the primary season. A separate quota set aside is sufficient to continue to allow halibut fishing seven days per week in the northern nearshore area. There is sufficient halibut quota remaining in Marine Areas 3 and 4 to re-open the recreational halibut fishery for two days. This rule conforms to federal action taken by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Anglers are encouraged to check the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website or hotline for information regarding re-openings.
I’m trying to work out trips both days. If your interested let me know.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Hey!!
Its opening day of lingcod season. I was so busy getting ready for LaPush I almost missed it. The good news is I have all my bottom fishing stuff out so I plan to go this afternoon to try to hit the late slack near the bridge. It is a good Idea to always fish this area at slack because any current at all can hang you up in the rip rap down there. The tides during the day today are awful so I’m hopping to have a better chance to stay on bottom around 7pm.
My friend area 10 Ben is going up near Blakely Rock so I look forward to hearing those reports as well as others from around the area. Remember the slot limit is 26″ to 36″.
Good Luck
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Wooo Hooo!!!
Great news for those of us that like to ride out on the ocean and catch big spring lings. WDFW has decided to open the season a week early for marine area 1-3, this means it will open March 12th to conform to federal rules. Seasons for area 4 remain unchanged.
There is a 22-inch minimum size limit and a two-fish daily catch limit for lingcod in Marine Areas 1-3. In Marine Area 4, there is a 24-inch minimum size limit and a two-fish daily limit for lingcod.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com