Anyone here do off shore fishing? I have done a couple head boat trips with rented gear and am thinking about getting my own stuff. Don't know the first thing about it or if it makes any financial sense if I am only going out twice a year.
Me and my friend went a few miles off in my 21 foot outboard lobster boat this summer. There's a shoal near the island where I live (Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia) that bait fish (mackerel mostly) well up over. We caught bunch of pollack and salted it, then we went a little further off and caught 5 or 6 codfish. Haddock were not in attendance as they're pretty much gone on the near shore grounds. There are a lot of halibut, but recreational fishers can't bring one in to eat.
Are you talking going off a long ways for gulf stream fish? Up here we have to steam for a day or so to hit the gulf stream for tuna, swordfish and that ilk. If people are anything like they are here, head to the wharf and ask around...someone might even invite you along for a day trip.
Rise, thread (as it is).
I finally ended up getting a really nice Star jigging rod and a Penn Spinfisher 8500LL. I just put 300y of 80# braid on it and am ready for some high speed jigging. I bottomfished with it a couple times last year and once this year. Caught the hell out of some massive American Red Snapper, but had to toss them all back because they were overfished in 2013.
I beat it the hell on my last trip and it held up great, but at 50 years old, I am thinking it is time for a conventional rod and reel so I can use my bodyweight and leverage against the gunnel instead of just my arm strength to muscle the fish up.
Anyone in NC up for a trip this Summer?
I wouldn't oppose a nice boat ride but I'm not into fishing. 
I wouldn't oppose a nice boat ride but I'm not into fishing. :lol:
Fishing boat rides tend to be on the rough side.
How "I've only fly fished for trout / reel fished for catfish/bass" friendly is this situation?
Fishing boat rides tend to be on the rough side.
Rough seas on deck are the best. I eat everyone's sandwiches while they are heaving. 
Quintin_Stone wrote:I wouldn't oppose a nice boat ride but I'm not into fishing. :lol:
Fishing boat rides tend to be on the rough side.
Don't invite Yellek then.
How "I've only fly fished for trout / reel fished for catfish/bass" friendly is this situation?
Bottomfishing is pretty dirt simple. Jigging and high speed jigging is a bit more complicated.
Is there a general fishing thread? Can we just make this a general fishing thread if not? I'm going to be doing some spring chinook salmon fishing as of this weekend and plan on doing quite a bit of salmon fishing this year. We've got a little boat that gets the job done.
Is there a general fishing thread? Can we just make this a general fishing thread if not? I'm going to be doing some spring chinook salmon fishing as of this weekend and plan on doing quite a bit of salmon fishing this year. We've got a little boat that gets the job done.
Done!
I would love to do salmon fishing someday. Need to get out to the left coast though.
Nice! I'll be sure to post some pictures and share some stories this year. I suppose I can start with a story and a picture now. Last year we managed to get out in the fall to fish for Chinook/Coho, and we just weren't hitting good days. It's kind of a crapshoot to pick the right day salmon fishing (at least in the river we've been fishing). You just get lucky or don't. Really, you just need to fish lots of days and eventually you'll hit a good one. We never hit a good day last year, but we did have one day where we got lucky and my Dad got our first Chinook. We've hooked one before, but lost it due to a rusty flasher connection (Grrrrrr...). So, it was towards the end of the day and we hadn't caught anything or seen anyone catch anything. We were doing our trolling thing and saw a Chinook jump over in a shallow area which isn't typically where you would fish. I pointed it out and on a whim we just made a beeline for that fish through this shallow area and low and behold my dad hooked a Chinook on the way. It was pretty crazy trying to get that thing netted in our little boat. I was falling all over the place and dropped the net in the water for a sec. We finally managed to get it in the boat and it made all those bad fishing days worth it. Anyways, we figured out we probably needed to let the fish tire a bit more before trying to net it. 
Edit 2020-08-26: By the way, for posterity, that's a coho salmon. We were very new to salmon fishing and still learning a lot. I think back then you could keep one wild coho.
One of the seven I had to toss back because of federal restrictions.
That's an awesome looking fish!
Haha, great photobomb.
I am headed to Bend, Oregon on Sunday for a week and plan on spending at least one day flyfishing one of the area rivers for trout. I'm really excited for spring to kick in, I live in the midst of a really great smallmouth bass fishery.
Haha, great photobomb.
I am headed to Bend, Oregon on Sunday for a week and plan on spending at least one day flyfishing one of the area rivers for trout. I'm really excited for spring to kick in, I live in the midst of a really great smallmouth bass fishery.
Yeah. The mate's name was Doug and he reminded me a lot of Dale Dobson from Tucker and Day vs Evil fame.
One of the seven I had to toss back because of federal restrictions.
Guess more folks should have gone for the box Hiiro-san brought down the aisle. 
Gorgeous fish, looks very tasty.
Has the American Red Snapper fishery recovered since 2013?
It seems like they're doing a pretty good job of managing salmon fisheries in Oregon. The Columbia River is probably the biggest draw in Oregon, and it's supposed to be a good year like the last one. That's where we're trying this weekend, and it'll be our first time trying the Columbia for salmon on our own.
I sadly didn't get to eat it because of the restriction.
Looks like the ban may get lifted this year. It was a bummer not being able to keep them last year or this trip. Best guess is that it will be reexamined in June.
I talked with the captain and he mentioned that they have been catching the heck out of them lately.
Well, if the ban gets lifted, I guess that means the fishery recovered, so that's good! It also means you did your part to help by letting the fish go.
Well, if the ban gets lifted, I guess that means the fishery recovered, so that's good! It also means you did your part to help by letting the fish go. :)
Yup.
I am aching to take a trip down to Jupiter, FL (where the continental shelf is less than 7 miles from shore). It will take some doing to convince the wife that it is absolutely necessary, but I am going to try.
Well, today's first try on the Columbia River was a complete and utter success. It was the best salmon fishing trip we've had yet (and there's lots of room for better trips because today wasn't great given what we saw caught). Getting the boat in and launched was really easy and not stressful. We showed up just after sunrise, and it was easy to get the boat into the river. We fished in an inlet by the boat ramp initially because there were a lot of boats fishing there but within an hour or so worked our way out to the main stretch of the Columbia where most of the boats including all the guide boats were.
There were a lot of boats out! I think there must have been 125 or so in the general area we were in. Luckily the river is quite big, so we didn't feel too cramped. It was a bit choppy at first but the river settled down pretty quickly. So, during the main tide shift my dad hooked a big one (probably about 36 in), but we lost it at the boat. It was probably my netting fail. However, within an hour, my dad hooked another smaller one and we got that into the boat! We did a little bit of net googling after the first loss, and I think I've got it figured out as best you can now. This one was a little over 27". It's the biggest salmon we've caught so far, so it was a triumph, especially after our heartbreaking loss earlier.
So, I got to be the one in the picture because my dad didn't want fishy hands. I do all the rigging, baiting and fish handling while my dad is our trusty captain driving our little boat around.
We saw maybe 10-15 salmon caught the whole day within eyesight, so we definitely did better than average hooking one and catching the other. It was very satisfying, and I'm quite proud of my mooching rigs these days which have actually gotten a lot better with 3 years of practice at this point. We also saw a couple other boats lose fish, so the lost fish didn't sting quite so badly at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't hook anything which was a bummer (Apparently my dad has the magic touch these days with his rod). I read the restrictions wrong, so I thought the limit was one hatchery Chinook per day. I asked the ranger checking boats when we pulled in about a few things and I was surprised to find out the limit was two hatchery Chinook per day, so my dad could have been fishing along with me the whole second half of the day after he caught that fish. Bummer, but oh well. Now we know for lots of future trips this year. We're going to try again this upcoming Thursday!
So, I filleted that fish up, and it was the first time filleting a salmon worked out like I wanted. I've got it down pretty well at this point. I actually sharpened a couple of the knives yesterday and that helped. They were quite sharp. I wasn't able to get the pin bones out because I ironically ordered some fish bone tweezers on Friday which won't be here until Monday or Tuesday. I really didn't expect to catch anything today. We cooked three pieces up in a Big Green Egg on cedar planks with the fish lightly salted and with two very thin lemon slices placed on top of each piece. Along with that which is actually perfect on its own, I made a blended sauce of frozen blueberries, basil, lemon juice, and a little water. We just had it as a side in a dish that you could spoon over part of the salmon if you wanted. It was kind of nice that you could have a bit of the salmon pure or with a little bit of complimentary flavors depending on what you felt like at each particular bite. We also had some wild rice cooked in a Zojirushi and some yellow squash, zucchini and asparagus cooked in the Big Green Egg.
So, tomorrow, we're smoking the remaining 2/3 of the fish in the Big Green Egg using this apparently awesome recipe. I've got the rest of the filet slices brining in the fridge right now with that recipe getting ready for tomorrow morning. We happened to have all the ingredients handy. 
That was a good dinner. I think we have this whole fishing thing figured out at this point. It has taken us a lot of work and time over the last three years.
The smoked salmon was a success!
Here's what the pieces looked like after the overnight brining:
On the grill ready to go:
The Big Green Egg (the temp is a little hot there. We tried to keep it at about 180 F.):
Finished!
Hungry now?
Hungry now?
I want to go to there, and eat all the fish.
Looks awesome, tuffalobuffalo!
Yum.
If I ever find myself out in OR, you best believe I am paying you a visit.
I was looking at getting a couple Penn rods and reels off of Craigslist, but when I suggested meeting up at the police station Safe Transfer Zone, the "seller" simply went radio silent.
Funny that.
I've already got plans for next summer. I'm going to be mostly lake fishing around here this summer as I gather tackle, and see how my shoulders do. We should think about a fishy Slap and Tickle.
And that smoke looks gorgeous. I'm going to show that picture to a friend of mine who doesn't understand why I don't count his Pepto Bismol pink Atlantic salmon as "red", or even really a salmon.
I've already got plans for next summer. I'm going to be mostly lake fishing around here this summer as I gather tackle, and see how my shoulders do. We should think about a fishy Slap and Tickle.
And that smoke looks gorgeous. I'm going to show that picture to a friend of mine who doesn't understand why I don't count his Pepto Bismol pink Atlantic salmon as "red", or even really a salmon. ;)
True.
I tried explaining the whole green salmon thing to my wife and she just told me to stop.
So I finally caught up with the craigslister who was selling those Senator reels. Turns out he was having email issues.
He had a pair of really nice 114H's that appeared to be pretty new and very well serviced. He said they were four years old and hadn't been used since he sold his boat a year ago. Claims he repacked them with Penn grease and hung them up in the shed a year ago with the idea of getting another boat but never did, so it was time to sell them. The rods were really nice 5'6" Tuna Kickers that looked like they were probably rated for at least 100# braid. They were strung with 80# mono though since they were primarily used for trolling.
He also had an equally nice 113H on a slightly longer 6' pulley boat rod. It was also heavy action and appeared to be rated well over 100# as well. That was strung with 60# mono.
It was obvious he had taken care of his gear. There was no pitting on the chrome, no salt on the reels, the drag and retrieve was smooth with no squeaks, and the eyelets were all clean. I almost felt bad for talking him down, but not too much. I got one of the 114H's and the 113H for $160 cash. At that price, I would have suspected that they were hot, but the fact that we did the handoff in front of a security camera at the local police department made me feel pretty good about the legitimacy of the transaction.
I was thinking of naming them Lyndon Johnson and Daniel Webster, but figure no one would get it.
Those are big reels.
We tried our luck salmon fishing again yesterday and it was a bad day. We saw maybe 4-5 caught the whole day and didn't get any strikes. I figure you just have to pay your dues and hit those bad days in order to get to a good day with salmon fishing. Since we managed to get one so far this season, a bit of the pressure is off and the bum days don't sting so bad. We're gonna try again on one of the days this weekend.
Sorry about the skunk day. Had a couple of those on a head boat when I was younger and it sucks ass.
I noticed that the pulleys on my rods' line guides aren't moving terribly freely and research told me to remove them, clean them, and grease them. Unfortunately one of the bolts was frozen so solid it broke in the guide pin.
Who do I take it to to get this sort of thing serviced?
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