Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Well gang, I did something I said I would never do....I moved out of Alaska. I can't believe it myself. With the chores of a new job, I haven't fished at all for the past 6 months. Now I am back again thanks to my buddy Ryo who visited from Japan to get me kicked started again.

I now live in Grays Harbor County in Western Washington State. The fishing opportunities are tremendous here. Almost as good as Alaska. You can still visit my website at www.Alaskafishinglogs.com but I am going to try this format for a while to see how it works.

My first fishing was actually several months ago when I took a charter out of Westport to try my hand at some bottom fishing. We hammered black rockfish and ling cod all day long. Unfortunately we were using halibut rods, mono, fishing 150 feet down catching mainly 2 pound rockfish. While the hits were fun, it was cranking up dead weight as far as the fishing part went.

Thanks to my buddy Ryo from Japan visiting for the past week, I managed to catch a variety of new species. This time of year is relatively dead for fishing. But we still manageed to try a few different things.

First we head out and try our luck at the Quinault River. Summer Steelhead and cutthroat were the targets. We only saw one steelhead that followed the lure but didn't strike. We did manage to catch several dozen cutthroat trout. While they weren't big at around 12 inches, after 30 years of fishing I was still able to catch a new species so it made my day.

Over the next week we hit several different locations. We fished Duck Lake out of a canoe on several days. The best we could manage was a pound and a half large mouth bass. We also caught crappies and perch. While nothing was huge, they were new species for me and Ryo so it was worth the trip. We caught them on assorted rapala, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and top water poppers.

The best fishing was at Roosevelt Beach for redtail surfperch. The first day out, we managed 20 surfperch with the biggest going 2 pounds. Another new species! We caught them surfcasting using clam necks for bait. We also caught a ton of undersized dungeness crabs. All of them on a single hook and clams for bait. Makes you wonder how many of them are out there when we catch more crabs than perch.

The final fishing trip was on the Westport Jetty where Ryo caught a 17 inch cabezon and I caught several small black rockfish and one small greenling. The most amazing sight were the massive schools of small baitfish (someone said anchovies) and the seal and porposes they attracted. The rockfish were caught on small single tail white plastic grubs and Ryo's cabezon came on a small lead jigging spoon. I may have to head back with a few sabiki rigs to see if I can't jig up a few of the anchovies if the schools are still there.

Well let's see if I can't do a bit more fishing now. The big fish don't start until late August but that's just around the corner. The fishing looks like it could be as every bit as good as Alaska. I'd say this area of the state is more rural than most of Alaska on the road system. I can't wait!!!!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rudy,

Freeze those fish and send them North. We could use them to catch bigger fish!?!?!?!?!

Bait,

Big John

Unknown said...

Big John! You are funny...looking! Did Ya hammer the Big'uns with the Sean-meister on the Kenai? Please tell me you didn't go back to Iraq.

Anonymous said...

Back in Iraq... Slayed the kings and a bunch of halibut. Cruised around in your yacht and got the nickname the 'Bad Boat Boys...'

Guides in their new Willies with clients and Sean and I are pushing through their holes with fish on.

Good times were had.

Nice looking site. Am thinkin of whether I want to post evidence of our shenanigans.

Big J

Anonymous said...

We were known as the "Bent Boat Boys" and man did we slay them. Everyone knew us and hated us. "Not again!" was the mantra spoken harshly by all other boat captains as we consistantly made them look bad by being so damn good.

Anonymous said...

Hello Rudy,

I don't know if you remeber me or not? I have never met you in person, but we chatted with email about ice fishing stuff about 3 years ago. I just retired from the Army and moved back to North Pole, AK. I was looking up your web site and see if you were going ice fishing this season and found out ya moved to Washington State! I never got a chance to go fishing with you! Hope all is well down south with you and your family. I started a web site of my own along with a couple soldiers that chronicles our fishing experiences in Alaska. Check it out when you can and sign the guestbook www.salmonslayers.com I will be sure to let you know how I do fishing up here!! That 000 dodger tip you gave me for vertical jigging works great!! You can also reach me by email dennis@salmonslayers.com when you make a trip up to AK again would be great to meet you and maybe go fishing with you!! Fish ON!! I just completed my IGFA Royal Salmon Slam and am working on my Royal Trout Slam so maybe I will look you up when I get down there! Take Care and good Luck to you and your family with the move, I guess there will be a couple more spots open on ship creek now!!

Dennis Musgraves

Anonymous said...

I needed a distraction from my normal duties and your blog has provided that for me.

Thank You
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Anonymous said...

Many thanks for the interesting read, I'm glad I happened across yours.

Thank You,
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Anonymous said...

Great blog!

I have a Surf Fishing site. It pretty much covers surf fishing and
fishing in general.

Check it out if you get a chance ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Rudy,
This is Ty and you use to work with my wife(former) Michelle at AEDC.

Just got back from a couple of days on the Kenai (53 lbs King) I spent one of the days on Johnson Lake with my 9 year old daughter trout fishing. Funny how an 8 inch trout is equally to a 50 lbs King in a little girls eyes.

Headed up north for the weekend and wanted to knockout some Pike, any suggestions for mid-summer Pike fishing around Nancy Lake?

Take care and hope to see you back in Alaska soon,

Ty

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alice said...

The fish looks so delicious.

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