The Fishing Thread

Paleocon wrote:

do you ever tan the skins? I just recently found out about folks making stuff like wallets and belts out of salmon skins.

No, but I'm aware it's possible! Chinook skin is super thick.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

do you ever tan the skins? I just recently found out about folks making stuff like wallets and belts out of salmon skins.

No, but I'm aware it's possible! Chinook skin is super thick.

I considered making fish leather out of triggerfish (that hide is REALLY tough), but the fish are too small to make the effort worthwhile.

Got my 3rd Chinook in the river today. It was a little but extremely feisty guy! I can only keep two more, so I'm gonna have to hope for a big one.

My darling caught her first fish ever last week and it was a nice Coho salmon! We actually had a GoPro going, and the footage is really fun. I finally had time to check and upload it. My nephew Henry saved the day helping with the drag.

Managed to get a nice one today! Medium at 33" and 19 lbs. Seana did a first time perfect netting and saved me from trying it by myself!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/SBCkOxp.jpg)

My sciatica is getting better. Looks like I might be well enough to participate in Rocktober.

So I went snakehead fishing in the Blackwater Wildlife Reserve with my nephew yesterday and came away with four good sized fish. The smallest was 18" long, while the other three were over 24". The biggest was 26" and about 6 pounds.

It is pretty late in the season, but they were still biting on Mepps spinners.

It's that time of year again despite the 2020 apocalypse. We went out for the first time for Chinook and also finally got a great setup for crabbing (crab davit along with our friend who came along's pots). We've got our own pots on the way. We got 10 or so Dungeness crab keepers! Amazing! We caught a Chinook! My dad got it, and I managed to net it after some bungling with the fish not being tired a bit and trying to swim under the boat. 19 lb Chinook which is a great medium size. Only a couple people out on the river today fishing for Chinook and nobody caught one that we saw. Heard of one caught the day prior. On this coming Friday, we'll be out on the river for two straight weeks fishing. Going to be great. I've been cooped up in the house for what feels like all year apart from a couple small things. Being outdoors is really nice.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/s5AocXT.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/VPhqbUQ.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/VMKVEJX.jpg)

Cooked the crab up tonight, and ate half of one as a late night snack. Absolutely delicious.

Dungeness Crab is the best. East Coasters and Gulfers with their piddly blue things can fight me.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Dungeness Crab is the best. East Coasters and Gulfers with their piddly blue things can fight me.

Man, we finished up the last of my 3 crabs worth today. We just did scrambles with some green onion, chives, and Gruyere. SO GOOD! We're going to be crabbing here while Chinook fishing starting this Friday for two weeks. Can't wait to catch come more crabs. They are the best. I have like 15 chicken backs in the freezer we're gonna use for bait.

Made Gravlax out of the bit of my share of salmon we didn't give away to friends.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/3wxDhMz.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/NOCTIqM.jpg)

Pretty massive tail pieces.

Looks awesome!
If you need another warm body on a non covid year, let me know. Last year was a great time.

boogle wrote:

Looks awesome!
If you need another warm body on a non covid year, let me know. Last year was a great time.

For sure!

Carlbear95 wrote:

Dungeness Crab is the best. East Coasters and Gulfers with their piddly blue things can fight me.

Put your gloves on and your mouthpiece in.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
boogle wrote:

Looks awesome!
If you need another warm body on a non covid year, let me know. Last year was a great time.

For sure!

I'm next.

Btw, ever make salmon skin leather? I am thinking of dressing a belt with it.

I'll pick you up from the airport Paleo

boogle wrote:

I'll pick you up from the airport Paleo

Hopefully next year things are better! We will be doing halibut, cod, and rockfish next year out in the ocean. I think that starts in May.

Paleocon wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
boogle wrote:

Looks awesome!
If you need another warm body on a non covid year, let me know. Last year was a great time.

For sure!

I'm next.

Btw, ever make salmon skin leather? I am thinking of dressing a belt with it.

I haven't yet. Maybe I'll try and skin a fillet or 2 and get enough for a wallet.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
boogle wrote:

I'll pick you up from the airport Paleo

Hopefully next year things are better! We will be doing halibut, cod, and rockfish next year out in the ocean. I think that starts in May.

Awesome. You have enough tackle or should I bring my own?

Paleocon wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
boogle wrote:

I'll pick you up from the airport Paleo

Hopefully next year things are better! We will be doing halibut, cod, and rockfish next year out in the ocean. I think that starts in May.

Awesome. You have enough tackle or should I bring my own?

We'd have everything. We buy too much stuff and have backups of everything and have more than enough inflatable life jackets for everyone in the boat. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention I put my knee into my fancy $350 Edge rod while trying to net the fish, so that's broke. I kinda like the beefier but cheaper $100 Fenwick I have anyways. I have 1 instance of rod insurance I purchased for the Edge rod, so I filled out the claim and hope I can get it replaced or fixed. I asked if they could swap it for a beefier size if they replace it. I guessed on it when I bought it. I doubt they'll humor me. I already broke that rod and they fixed it under warranty since it wasn't an accident. Took them months.

Yeah, so keep a possible fishing trip in the back of your mind for next year. I'll post in here when we start planning stuff. Even if we weren't too successful, it's really fun to go out into the Pacific Ocean from Newport.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
boogle wrote:

I'll pick you up from the airport Paleo

Hopefully next year things are better! We will be doing halibut, cod, and rockfish next year out in the ocean. I think that starts in May.

Awesome. You have enough tackle or should I bring my own?

We'd have everything. We buy too much stuff and have backups of everything and have more than enough inflatable life jackets for everyone in the boat. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention I put my knee into my fancy $350 Edge rod while trying to net the fish, so that's broke. I kinda like the beefier but cheaper $100 Fenwick I have anyways. I have 1 instance of rod insurance I purchased for the Edge rod, so I filled out the claim and hope I can get it replaced or fixed. I asked if they could swap it for a beefier size if they replace it. I guessed on it when I bought it. I doubt they'll humor me. I already broke that rod and they fixed it under warranty since it wasn't an accident. Took them months.

Yeah, so keep a possible fishing trip in the back of your mind for next year. I'll post in here when we start planning stuff. Even if we weren't too successful, it's really fun to go out into the Pacific Ocean from Newport. :)

Awesome. I will absolutely do so and the certainty that I will not have to travel with a rod and reel makes the prospect all the more attractive.

Currently getting ready to do our 2 week camping/fishing trip starting this Friday. Definitely gets complicated when most facilities are closed. It'll just be me and my dad. We've got a camp shower setup worked out, so things should be okay.

Finally got one today. We'd been skunked 4 days till today.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/iwEZKlc.jpg)

Awesome Tuffalo!

If I may try to insert myself into a future Fish and Tickle, I can contribute a camper.

Druidpeak wrote:

Awesome Tuffalo!

If I may try to insert myself into a future Fish and Tickle, I can contribute a camper.

Sweet!

do you eat them raw sashimi style?

Paleocon wrote:

do you eat them raw sashimi style?

Sometimes with a fresh Chinook! It's real good. I've made sushi too. You could do poke easily. I haven't done that.

Got another one today! Same size. Got a few crabbies too!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/dEvvieT.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/xasnfoT.jpg)

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We got a Chinook today! I think we were the only boat out to get one. Everyone was pretty depressed. The fishing has been bad. We went four days with no Chinook (we did get some nice Dungeness though!). So, for our two week vacation, my dad caught 4 and I caught 2 (you can only take 5 each in the rivers). All except 1 28" fish were around 33-34" and 18-19 pounds. Really nice medium size Chinook.

Here is the fish in the bag and our flag up on this foggy day:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/zY4Xrke.jpg)

Here is the crab meat from 9 Dungeness crabs:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/yFKgdVx.jpg)

Me and a big crab:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/CLky4ZI.jpg)

Using our crab davit:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Wxldg8g.jpg)

Fog before first light:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/aTHgWUS.jpg)

We'll be fishing the next two weekends, but we're basically done. I don't really have much hope to catch any more. Definitely want to crab some more, though. It's so fun, and our boat is really good for it.