A different kind of wilderness...the wettest desert on the planet

[misanthropist]

So I spent Wednesday and Thursday in a pretty different environment than what most of us would be in...ocean fishing! Can sure be lonely out there...

But for the most part, we were actually fairly close in to shore, maybe at most two or three miles off. The weather was really good and the tides as well...slow incoming, then really slow outgoing, over the course of about four or five hours. Perfect for drift fishing!

The first day out we went for Kelp Greenling, a small fish, maybe 2-4 pounds tops, like a really delicate ling cod. Super eating fish! We limited out without much difficulty. There's no commercial fishery for them, as far as I know, as you have to pry them out of rocky reefs and beds of bull kelp, and there really wouldn't be a cost effective way to do that on a massive scale. Here's a few pics of some females, unfortunately I later realized I didn't get any pics of the males, which are a darker brown but have blue spots scattered over their bodies, very pretty fish.

Our fishing spot by the Great Chain Islands...harbour seals watching us with interest! There are always lots here as it's a good spot to get away from the killer whales that are often hanging around the area, plus I'm sure they're after the same fish as we are...

And here is one of the female greenling...kind of a pretty colour I think.

Here's the owner of the boat and the holder of the expertise...the guy who taught me how to fish, not that I am anywhere near as good at it as he is! But I'm a better shooter. My dad, turned 66 last year:

Here's an interesting fish, a little Ling Cod. We didn't keep it, or any other lingcod we caught, as they are a little endangered there. This is just a baby, it was probably a two pound fish. We caught a couple of others more than twice this size, but years ago out of Bamfield further up the island we were catching fifteen to twenty pounders, and one thirty-six pounder. The record is probably something closer to eighty or ninety, I'd guess.

He was hooked pretty good but we did get him loose. You get about a minute of calm with these guys, and then they just thrash like maniacs.

See the teeth on him? They are real biters, these guys. We used to catch them using a two-pound greenling as bait, they would just bite on and you'd haul them in.

 

[baldtaco-II]

Love that last shot.

The ling I see are a fraction of that size and generally regarded as tenacious "bait robbers" along with small eels, and to a lesser extent Pout Whiting.

 

[misanthropist]

Here's another greenling I caught. Tasted great with mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus!

And the poor last one just got snagged...felt him strike the lure so I set the hook as fast as I could, thinking he was biting at it. Not so, but close enough!

The second day we went for halibut, but we got skunked. It's really a couple of weeks before they'll start running in a big way, but a few people had gotten them in the last week or so and we thought we'd give it a shot. No luck though!

Here's a rig we used...tandem treble hook set in a little chub mackerel, three foot leader off a six ounce lead banana.

We just use spinning rods and reels unless we're going really deep, this water is probably only 200 feet deep so at this point I was just running spinning gear. For the deeper water I switched to a single action Daiwa with 25 or 30 lb test...most of my stuff is a lot lighter than that. My main spinning reel is a Quantum Bluerunner 80, I keep close to 400 yards of 15 lb test line on it.

I thought you guys might appreciate the exotic, expensive boat knife my dad uses...a twenty year old carbon steel mora!

Take note, that's a carbon steel knife that's been on a saltwater boat for at least ten years! I asked my dad if he'd ever had problems with it not being stainless and he laughed and laughed. What problems would there be? He sharpens it if he's using it a lot! The handle is spraypainted white from when it was a garage knife, so he could see it in poor lighting.

The water was eerily calm and glassy on the second day. Almost never seen it like this.

 

[misanthropist]

While we were supposed to be hauling up halibut, what did we do? Caught rockfish...sorry to see that as they are closed and somewhat endangered as well, and don't always do too well after being pulled up from the deeps. Apparently they have a different swim bladder arrangement and sometimes they don't survive the change in pressure. If we think we've hooked a rocky we try to pull him up slowly to minimize the damage. This guy did pretty well, which we were happy to see.

Look at the spines on the back! They sure would hurt...my dad took one through his boot years ago, swelled up like a football. Some kind of poison in them. Most people here don't eat them, but the chinese and the vietnamese love them, and fished them to the brink of extinction around here. Sad, when I was a kid you could barely keep them off your line, and now they're protected because there's so few left.

Last picture I have for you: a bald eagle that was standing on a little rock close to shore. We get a lot of eagles here; sometimes if a fish gets shaken off the hook but doesn't survive the handling (mainly a problem with rockfish) the eagles will spot it and swoop down and grab the stunned or dead fish from the water. Pretty cool to see but we didn't see it this time! I got within about thirty feet of this eagle while I was fumbling with my camera case and putting the lens on! Naturally by the time I was ready he was leaving!

I guess I probably should have thought about it more...I just batch resized everything down, but I could have cropped it and zoomed in on that eagle. The original pics are 10mp images, something like 4500x3200 pixels, so if I'd thought about it I could have posted a better one of the bird...maybe I'll do that later on tomorrow!

Anyway hope you enjoyed my little tour of fishing off Vancouver Island...I spent a lot of time out here on the boats as a kid and my dad practically lived out here!

One good thing about the pic of him: I have managed not to violate the cardinal rule of photographing my dad. He has never, ever, in his life, been photographed without a fish. My mom discovered this when going through the old family photos a few years ago. So no worries, dad, your perfect streak is unblemished!

 

[lambertiana]

Sure look tasty!

That reminds me of the time we took the scouts fishing not far off the Pebble Beach golf course. We caught a lot of rock fish, which were great eating. And occasionally, when someone was reeling in a rock fish, a ling cod would grab it. The ling cod were running about 24-30", and they have wicked teeth. And the meat is greenish-blue when raw.

 

[Ottoshot]

Nice report Misanthropist. I love to fish as well, I hope to do it on the west coast someday.

 

[mneedham]

Misanthropist,

Awesome pics, I'm going out for three days in July, can't wait.

 

[grease-man]

Looks like a perfect day to me! Thanks for sharing! -Matt-

 

[stingray4540]

Looks like and awesome couple days of fishing!!! They look tasty, I am sooo jealous.

Mora boat knife, that's awesome; carbon steel, even more awesomer!
Funny how people just have to have stainless because they are scared of rust.
How ever did those sea going vikings get along with those carbon swords and knives?!:jerkit:

P.S. How's the leg coming? Get well soon!

 

[kgd]

Excellent pictures and a great story to share! Most of my fishing is in freshwater and I always admire the colours of marine fishes. Those are some beauty's for sure. Glad you have such good bonding time with your father.

I'll now have to revaluate my position on carbon knives for the ocean!

 

[ilbruche]

Some great catches. Looks like fun. :thumbup:

 

[Elen]

Very nice photos! :thumbup: Looks like a fun time out on the sea.

About the carbon steel knife thing, I think it really boils down to whether you're the kind of guy that just has to have a knife that looks "good", with flawless fit and finish, no scratches, no patina, just like it was just wrapped out of the package. If you are, then stainless (or some of the non-steels) is the way to go for you. If you're more of the "knives are tools made for use, not for looking good in a cabinet" type, then carbon steel knives are just fine for boat and sea use - they'll just look like they've been used. Hell, they'll work for diving, even, although that'll really put the wear on them quickly. Carbon steel Moras are probably the most commonly used fishing / boat knife in Scandinavia.

 

[batosai117]

Those are some crazy looking fish compared to my Gulf of Mexico delicacy here in Texas . If I were to catch those without knowing what they were, I'd probably throw them back and think they were poisonous or something along those lines. All I get down here is a lot of speckled trout, flounder, red fish (or red drum same thing) and black drum. Piggy perch are the bait stealers down here. Nice pics and a good fishing story :thumbup:. Thanks for sharing, J.

 

[Snow]

Awesome pictures! My good friend is a salt water fishing nut and is trying to talk me into a weekend trip sometime this June.

 

[pitdog]

Great pics, the colours of those fish are awesome......looks like you had a great time !!!!