Super salmon fishing

[Kodiak1]

I had posted earlier this year a Wash. Dept. of Fisheries prediction that 3.3 million pink salmon were expected to be travelling through the Straits of Juan de Fuca this summer. "Lunddude", aka Mike, became interested and decided to join my wife Kali, my daughter Jennifer, and myself at Sekiu this past week. He was joined by his brother and a friend. Great guys all. We spent several days bobbing around in the ocean, and met with some remarkable fishing. The limit is 4 salmon a day, and all of us limited out with regularity. When the bite was on, and it usually was, you could expect a fish within a 5-minute period of time. You could be back on the docks by 8:30-9:00 with your limits. Most fish were nice-sized pinks, with some coho and kings mixed in. We caught--and released--two kings weighing in at 20 lbs. each. Mike picked up over 15 kings in one short evening trip!! This was Mike's first experience with saltwater, and boy was he a fast study. Good fishermen can adapt quickly! We had a great time with these three fellow "BigFishers" and hope to join them for more terrific salmon fishing in coming years. If you beat tracks over there, you can still get in on a massive run of salmon. Well, back to smoking salmon filets! Mike
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[JoyRide]

Where are the pics? Love that salt water fishing.
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[Kodiak1]

Sorry, JoyRide, we aren't much for picture taking. We are going out to Sekiu again in early Sept., and if we get into any of those nice hook-nosed cohos, we promise to snap a few.The Washington F & G
just reported that the cohos have so much to feed on in the ocean right now, with huge populations of candlefish, herring, and shrimp, that they are growing at a much faster rate than the usual 1 pound a week they normally put on in Aug. and Sept. They might be averaging as much as 11-12 pounds when they head up the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Mike
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[Lunddude]

Hi Mike: Thanks for those kind words, it was great meeting you and your family also. That was by far some of the best fishing I have ever seen. That was "Catching" not fishing LOL!!! We finished up Thursday night with our 3 Kings between 6-8 pounds which gave us our limit for the day. We had a ball that evening catching those Kings out in front of the Caves,talk about a beautiful sunset WOW!! We fished Friday morning for 1 1/2 hours trying to catch one of those 20+ pound Kings, but only caught some small ones. We then headed out to "Humpy Haven" (350+ FT.) and caught our limit in 1 1/2 hours with the biggest one at 8 1/2 pounds. We were back at the docks by 10:30 a.m. with our 12 fish, so we had time to clean, filet, and vacuum seal before our 12:00 check out. By the time we got the boat washed down and cleaned up it was 5:00 before we left Sekiu. To tell you the truth I don't think any of us really wanted to leave.

Thank you my friend for sharing a very special place with us. It was a trip that we will all remember the rest of our lives. We are already planning next years trip!!

Mike []
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[Wyobraz]

[font "Tempus Sans ITC"][#808000][size 3]Wow, now that looks like it was a good time! Congrats on the trip and thanks for sharing.[/size][/#808000][/font]
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[BrianID]

Thanks for the reports and pictures. Sounds like you guys had a great time.
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[Riverrunner16]

WOW...sounds like great fun...did you guys just take your boats from here? (16' to 18'ers)...how big were the "seas" ?...I fished up there like 20 years ago, but on a guided trip thing (big boat).

Thanks,
Scott

Riverrunner16
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[Lunddude]

Hi Scott: Yes we took our boats up and stayed at Van Ripers Resort. My boat is a 1996 1890 (19 footer) Pro V LE. I run a Merc 150 EFI Saltwater Edition and a Yamaha T8 4 stroke kicker. I also have 2 Cannon Downriggers, that are a must for the 80 foot depth we were fishing for the Kings. Monday the 6th was the worst we saw for rough seas, we had swells 6-8 foot , and my buddy got real sea sick. We had to bring him back to the dock by 9:30 that morning, and he spent most of the day in bed. A really nice gent we met at the resort gave him a pacth to put on behind his ear that night before he went to bed, and he was fine the rest of the trip. The sea did calm down and that also helped alot. For the most part you are only fishing 2-3 miles off shore, so the runs are short. They rent 16 foot boats at the resort with 15 HP motors, but a 18-20 foot boat is the ticket up there, I saw smaller ones on the water, but bigger is better in my book. One thing you will not want to be without is a good GPS, it does get foggy in August. In fact they call August, "Fogust". I had just purchased a new Garmin 60CSx before I left on the trip, and I used it dailey, I also back it up with a good compass on my boat. If you get a chance to go, do it you will have the time of your life. I am already thinking about spending my summers up there when I get ready to hang it up. [cool]

Mike
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[Kodiak1]

Hi Scott,
My boat is a 16' Hewescraft Sportsman with a 75 Yamaha and an 8 Yamaha kicker. I fished Sekiu previously (for 25 years!) with a 16' Gregor center console with a 48 Evinrude. (However, both boats are pretty "beefy". The Gregor is built just for this kind of water.) I would not go out in a shallower 16'er, as Lunddude points out.Both boats were satisfactory, as long as you have the good sense to realize that you can't always go out. A healthy respect for the ocean never hurts!! Sekiu is certainly much calmer than the open ocean in Neah Bay to the west, but is somewhat rougher than the waters of Port Angeles to the east. Typically the mornings are calm, and the winds pick up in the afternoon. Lunddude gives you great advice regarding GPS's and compasses. The fog is more often a problem than the weather. If you are interested in going over there, remember that the pinks are heading east. Port Angeles should be great fishing in the next two weeks. Then Port Townsend, etc. Hope this helps. Mike
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