Final Tally

Our trip ended with our having caught our limits of King, Coho and Halibut. The fish on the right in this photo are the Kings which averaged a little over 20 pounds with the largest coming in at 26 pounds and my biggest fish about 23 pounds. Our catch of halibut averaged about 20 pounds and the Coho were about 12 to 14 pounds. The Coho catch are in the photo on the left. We also caught a couple of Redsnapper (below right) and a Ling Cod which met keeper status.

Besides the fun of catching my first ever salmon and catching my limit, there was the sheer beauty of the place. Being 22 miles off-shore, in a rolling sea with little possibility of being saved should anything go wrong was exhililarating. Surrounded by wild sealife, whales breaching, porpoise swimming in groups chasing bait fish and jumping out of the water the way you only see them do when at Sea World. Seeing eagles, sea lions, and critters of all sorts in their natural habitats was just amazing.

The natural beauty of the land was also awe inspiring. Hearing the bells of the off-shore bouys clanging mysteriously in the distance through the fog and the foghorn and light beaming from the lighthouse in predictable cycles were reassuring as we approached the coastline and got our first glimpse of land after a rainy, windy day at sea.

All in all, it was an adventure I hope to repeat again next year. Not just because I will have the chance to refill my freezer with fish I caught myself, feeling the wildness of the fish as it fights at the other end of the line, but because of the comraderie with friends and the opportunity to be in nature, surrounded by it, a part of it, feeling it with all 5 senses, not as we usually are, casual observers looking at it in captivity or through the windshield of our automobile. See you next year!