Hey herders, I know I've been a bit of a stranger around here.. Been trying to take advantage of good weather to get out after some fish whenever I can before I blink and it's winter again.. Anyway, here are a few pics of what I've been up to:
It all begins with the dead (and expensive) dinosaurs
Couldn't ask for a nicer day..
First order of business was to retrieve my shrimp pots that I had left out a few weeks ago, it was nice to see they were where I had left them. It was nicer to see some shrimp still inside! Three weeks is a tad long to leave them, typically an octopus or other (two-legged) thief will wander along and clean them out.. Ended up w/ 3 gallons of tails so it was a relatively good result.
My next objective was to go after Lingcod, a fish I have eaten many times (very tasty) but had never actually caught myself before. We only put one in the boat, but at 47" and 50 lbs it'll do! (The min size is 35".) Check out the mouth on this thing - I coulda stuck my head inside it, but not a good idea as these things are rather toothy. Cut it's guts open later to find a whole pink salmon in its belly.
Got after some halibut to round out the trip. Big 'butts can be tough to come by in PWS, we took home two - a small 18 pounder my buddy caught and this one I hooked up with the next morning when I got up early and dropped some bait while making coffee. He ended up being my personal best to date: 55" and 110 lbs. A good way to start the day..
That tail is 15" tip to tip.
Apologies for the so-so pics - I inadvertently made a sacrifice to the fish gods when I dumped my iPhone in the harbor so I had to borrow pics from my buddies..