Fishin"--Day 4

Today we ventured out to the outer banks, 20 plus miles off shore. The weather was finally cooperating and we couldn't wait to get out to where the fish were really bitin'. It took nearly an hour to cruise out to the South Bank. These banks are areas of fairly shallow water (still 200-300 feet) where in this case the fishing is great. Here Coho nearly jump into your boat. We would have Coho on our lines before we could get the line down to the depth we wanted. Then we would have to reel them in and determine whether they were keepers. The rule in the area was that if the Coho had no adipose fin, it meant the fish was "marked" and threfore could be kept. The adipose fin is located between the caudal (tail) and dorsal (the one on top) fins. It is sort of like the appendix in a human. It has no purpose but it is still there. The adipose is removed at the fish hatchery before the fish is released into the wild. The adipose fin can be seen on the fish at the right just in front of the tail on the top of the fish.

The water was flat calm all day and the temperature in the 70's. Perfect day for fishing and boy were the fish eager to please. Here we were in a 21 foot boat sitting on top of 250 feet of Pacific Ocean, 22 miles from the nearest land. Extraordinary! The Coho and Kings were all biting today. We wound up with nearly our limit of fish. In the afternoon we jigged for halibut (photo at right), a technique in which you place a lure on your line and send it to the bottom. Then you jerk or jig your line off the bottom every few seconds and allow it to drop back to the bottom. The halibut sees the lure rising and falling, rises from its resting place on the bottom and eats the lure. Now the steady and tedious reeling begins to get the halibut the 200 plus feet to the surface. It wears you out getting the fish up but then you have to get the fish in the boat and the fish doesn't like that idea. Rick uses a gaff, a stick with a sharp metal hook on the end to stick into the fish as soon as he can reach it. Then he pulls it up over the rail and into the boat. Whew! I could not get the idea apparently as I never did actually catch and reel one in on my own. Rick caught them all. On one he knew what he had and then handed me the rod. I reeled it in and landed my first halibut--a fish about 15-20 pounds.

We headed in after an incredible day of catching, keeping, and releasing Coho, King and halibut. The long cruise back to port was uneventful and pleasant due to the warm weather and calm seas, a day that would not be repeated the last day of fishing.