posted 8/30/06
Lee, WA8MSD and Vicki, KB8HUZ arrived at the Farley Flophouse North on Saturday evening, August 19th. We met Dave and Betty for a delightful Mexican dinner that evening. On Sunday morning Keith, WA8ZWJ played radios as usual and Lee and Vicki went to the landing at Frankfort to check out information that Keith had gotten regarding what the status of the Salmon fishing was on the big water. It turns out that the "big" bait this season was a lighted silver J-Plug with a bloody nose and a lighted green ladder backed J-Plug. These lighted baits have an LED inside that is activated when the lure goes into the water. "Hoochie Momma's" and spoons were also doing well. Over the past two years Lee had made quite a number of improvements to his fishing boat, the "Cast-A-Way" and when on Monday morning his first catch was landed and weighed in at 10 pounds, he figured that it cost him about $1600/pound. That way, all of the rest of the fish we would catch for the week would be free!
We used SSA Crusty Chuck's place to store the boat when it wasn't on the water. We were surprised to see this sign by Crusty's driveway when we went in Monday afternoon to pick up the boat on the way to the landing. (see top left photo below) Keith insisted that Lee also catch his first FREE fish before they began taking turns catching fish. (see top right photo below) There was a pretty big storm that passed us by and went to the north but because the water was so choppy, we elected to stay within the confines of the breakwater Monday evening. Below left you can see a picture of the sunset with the lighthouse in the foreground. Below right you can see Keith with his first catch of the season. We actually caught three King Salmon that evening, but only got pictures of two. Even inside the breakwater, it was kind of choppy at times.
Tuesday morning found us back at the landing bright - OK - dark and early. The 19 pound King that Keith has (top left) was his biggest catch of the week. The landing at Frankfort has a dandy fish cleaning station which we used to do our initial cleaning of the fish. Once we got them back to the cottage we prepared them for freezing with further and more detailed cleaning. Below bottom right you can see Lee's boat and the two new motors (150 horsepower and 9.9 horsepower) that were a major part of his improvement costs. The 9.9 made trolling the correct speed nice and easy!
Tuesday evening we were back out of the "Big Water". Below left you can see a sunset shot with a down rigger rod and boat marking light in the foreground. Vicki took her turn landing a King! Below bottom right you can see the fish cleaning station at the National Park at Platte River. Even though it is not nearly as large as the cleaning station at Frankfort, it is quite modern! A great place to clean fish!
Below left you see two fish in the bottom of the boat. This was our second "double" where we had two fish on at the same time! Dave, W8TVC, caught the first one and Keith caught the second one. Thursday morning Lee and Keith had their second "double". Below middle right you see offering a silent prayer as his fish strips out line on the "long line".
Two basic methods had been adopted by this time for our fishing techniques. First, we used down riggers to put the J-Plugs down - usually 20 to 30 feet down (this varied with temperature of the water) and the plugs were about 30 feet behind the "cannon ball" (a lead weight that is hung on a cable that takes the lure to the desired depth). The second method was the use of long lines using a "Dipsey Diver" which is a device that takes the lure down to a specified depth by using a chart that is provided as well as a reel that counts the number of feet of line you have out behind the boat. We typically set these long lines at 196 feet back.
Thursday evening provided us with our most exciting fishing of the week! It was Lee's turn to fight the fish. We got hooked up the "Hoochie Momma" that was out on the long line. This one stripped off line and then stripped off more line. The reel we use for the long lines has a counter on it. The fish had stripped off another 200' of line before Lee was finally able to start gaining some line back. We decided to bring in the other lines because we could not man the boat and fight the fish and land it with the wind we had to contend with. I worked on bringing in the other lines, dragging up the cannon balls and driving the boat. This one turned out to the Grandmother of all the trip being 23 pounds and over 37 inches long (and female)! Once we finally landed the fish we both collapsed into the seats totally exhausted! Once we got the fish in the cooler, we managed to set lines and were fishing again. It wasn't long and we had one hit the green striped glow in the dark J-Plug with rattler on the down rigger and it was my turn! Lee set to bringing the lines in again. Lee pulled the long line in on that side first. While he was doing this the wind took control of the boat unbeknown to us. The next thing I knew we had line tangled in the other downrigger, the long line on the other side the nets and the pole that was out of the water in the holder! It was truly our first major Charlie Foxtrot! Oh My! Lee worked to disentangle everything while I worked to keep tension on the line with the fish! Holy smoke! When finally untangled we still actually had the fish on the line! I was relieved! In the midst of all the confusion the fish had managed to cross the other down rigger line and cut it from the lure. Dang! We lost the lure! ARGH! As the "dust settled" Lee saw the lure floating in the distance flashing at him in the dark! So, instead of landing the fish right away, we went after the lure! After some maneuvering, Lee was able to net the lure and the cut line and hooks! We didn't lose a thing! After landing the fish and getting it into the cooler, Lee asked "What now?". I said "We have our personal limit of one each. Let's call it and head in." So, we secured the poles and all and headed to shore. We got to the landing about 9:30 and headed to the Platte River cleaning station as the local one there was quite busy again. We were exhausted! Spent. Done in. With a forecast for rain after midnight and through the morning, we decided that we would not got back out Friday morning. So, we were done Salmon fishing for this trip!
Above middle left you see Flat Kbob with is Flat Salmon that fought him for hours! It seems in the "heat" of fishing we had managed to forget to include it in earlier updates. Actually, it seems more appropriate to have saved it until the end! An excellent ending to an excellent week! Friday morning we visited Leland's "Early Bird" restaurant for a late brunch and then took in "Fishtown" which is like taking a step back in time.
Below are a series of pictures from Friday night's Mini-Gathering at "The South City Limits" in Traverse City. Dave had reserved a room for our group! It was a wonderful way to finish up a fantastic week of fishing and visiting. Below top left you see Dave, Bea (Betty's mom) and Betty. Below top right you see Lenore and Big Al. Below middle left you see John. Below middle right you see Mike and Kathy. Below bottom left you see Vicki and Lee. Below bottom right you see Lucielle (Dave's mom) and Keith.
In summary, we did a total of seven fishing trips and caught at least one fish every trip. We caught a total of 14 fish for an average of two per outing. We had 214 pounds and 2 ounces of fish caught before cleaning. Many many thanks to Cap'N Dave for all of his encouragement and insight which has helped our fishing for Salmon. Many thanks to Vicki for being so understanding and being a good sport for all the time and money Lee has invested in this hobby. Also, many thanks to the local fishermen who were willing to share their ideas with us to and to assist with suggested lures and techniques. By the end of the week we were exhausted from burning the candle at both ends but were quite satisfied with the results of our efforts!
Until the next time, TTFN & 73...
Respectfully submitted, Keith, WA8ZWJ
(BTW - I am still TARD!)
