As predicted, the springtime fishing is in full swing and today is opening day of fluke season. I have been waiting for this with anticipation and I was not disappointed. After trying for several days to catch killies in traps, I finally put together a satisfactory bucket full of medium and small killies. I prefer the larger ones because they have a lot more vim and vigor but these worked well enough to get the job done.
I got up at 4:30am to meat Nirav and Brian and Jake at the ramp and we were on the water at about 5:15. This was a planned very short trip because the high tide was at 3 am and we would be faced with a slack low tide and a ridiculous amount of boat traffic and pressure had we stayed out much longer. So the plan was to be in the water by 5 and back home by 8 at the latest.
We were the first boat on the scene and being there early paid off really well. There was a beautiful sunrise and a cool rainbow that stretched a full half circle from one side of the horizon to the other. I tried to photograph it but it didn't quite capture the moment as well as my eyes and memory did.
We managed 11 nice keepers during our stay - ranging from 18 to 22 inches. We were mostly using the Wonder Rig and early on we actually caught a couple of them on the bucktail jig - a surprise to me. I didn't do so hot only pulling in two - but I did have one of the nicer sized fish. It was a good start to the season and we got out of there just as the bite started to die - leaving about 30 boats behind us. The small channel that I fish gets a lot of pressure and it's going to take several days for this area to liven up again. If it's half as good as last year, I should have plenty of fluke for the next few weeks.
When I got home, I had another small bird in my trap. I released it. That was now my 3rd bird and I felt comfortable invoking the "Small Animal Claus" in the rules. For a late breakfast/early lunch I cooked that little Poussin (small chicken) in the rotisserie. It was really good. I demolished that thing and all that was left was a pile of bones. If yesterday's meal was the best of this Survivor Diet Challenge to date, then this had to be the second best. However, I did have bit of diarrhea about an hour later - I don't know if this is connected to the fowl I ate or not but it is worth mentioning.
In the afternoon we decided to give fluking another try as the high tide was at 4-something pm. We shot out around 2pm for another quick fishing trip - this time with Brad, his son Brad Jr, and Jamie. Jamie was the hot hand (as usual) with the first fish, first keeper, most species (sea robin), and most overall fish. She's a lucky little bugger. We got caught in a mild rain and some cold weather and decided to head in after landing only 2 keepers with about 5 throwbacks. I got a nice 21 incher which took the afternoon pool. It was obvious that this small area had been pounded all day long and that recovery time would be needed.
For dinner I had a portion of blackened striped bass bites over field greens and arugula with a fried egg on top. I completed the dish with a small platter of striper sashimi that I shared with Ty. Throughout the day I drank a lot of water and picked on smoked bass and bass jerky when I felt hungry. Lots of food today - should be an interesting weigh in tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment