Posts Tagged ‘offshore’
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
My original plan was to go to the Sportsmans Show in Puyallup on Saturday but on Thursday I couldn’t take it any more. I’ve been talking to guys about reels, shopping for parts for the boat, working on the trailer and studying everything I could on electronics.
I need to get back out on the water so bad I can taste it.
So I left work early, called a buddy of mine and off we went to the show.
We stopped to look at the chainsaw carvings on the way in. This guy does some great work. We watched some dock dog practice and got some info for the wife for next year. Patti plans to enter Grace in the competition next year.
We finally entered from the boat side and worked our way through. There were the Defiance boats first then some bass boats and drift boats. Outside the tent area we found the River Hawk Boats. These are the big Aluminum boats you see at Cabelas. These are good boats made in Medford, Oregon.
Next we checked out the camp cooking tent. It smelled yummy but since we were so early there was nothing going on yet.
We entered the main hall and walked through the myriad of outfitters, guides and lodges. Spoke to a few. Spent a little extra time at the Women in Waders booth.
We came to the Wooldridge section and could see the big offshore they had there. Next to that was the something I had till now thought was impossible. The new Wooldridge 20′ Sport Pilot House. Not a typo, a 20′ Pilot house boat. I include a link to the video but this little rig ROCKS!!!
This is a great boat for the Pacific Northwest. Whether winter blackmouth fishing or offshore for halibut this is a great boat for two or three fishermen and with a 75 gallon fuel capacity it has the range to run for tuna with the big rigs. This little rig has everything right where it needs to be from locking rod storage to and enclosed head. They even hid a sink under one of the seats. All this at a weight of 2540 lbs. means you can tow it behind just about anything and launch and retrieve it by yourself, which happens more often than you might think.
After that we went buy to see what was happening at the Stealhead pond and watched Tom Nelson catch and release a couple stealhead. Walked by the archery area as some kids were learning to shoot. and back out into the maelstrom.
We went by some RivTech drift boats and picked up some “Wiked Lures”. I’ll let you know how the Wiked Lures work out but they look killer for Blackmouth. Stopped at the XRodz booth and chatted up Jim Mercier. He had some great deals on some beautiful rods. Not only do these rods not suck, each one is a work of art.
And lastly we went by the Sportco booth to see what was happening there. 
They had some great deals on gear including this one on Lamiglass Rods.
I learned some new things about Lamiglass production that we will be discussing later. Overall it was a good show. I spent too much money but enjoyed some great people, made some new friends and learned a few things.
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
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com