Day six of my magnificent adventure.

[mash rookie]

I left last Monday for my month long boating vacation. So far, Six days, Five different ports.
Beautiful weather. We caught a pink Salmon a couple of days ago. Nothing to write home about. They are tasty when fresh.

My guests that started the trip with me have flown home. Just me and my dog for ten days before other guests arrive.

I am anchored up in a beautiful bay on San Juan Island. I got the crab pots out and cracked a beer. I will stay here a week. Read a book. BS with you guys and fart around on boat projects.

I fished mid day today and lost a nice 6 lb silver at the boat when I was trying to net it for myself. Could have hand lined the silly thing into the boat. I should have got up earlier than 10 AM because the Kings are here. By the time I got on the spot they were down deep. I missed the flood tide. I will be out early tomorrow.

A couple of Killer whales surfaced around the fishing boats a few times. If my pictures of them turned out I will post them. When I get a nice big fish I will post a picture.

I need a resize program for this laptop. I think I can probably find something online.

Updates coming…. Oh yeah I forgot, I am enjoying some good booze too.
MR

[Odin]

Enjoy yourself MR!

[dougyethanol]

sounds real nice MR, i love boating, enjoy your trip. what sort of boat are you on, sail or motor?

[rtalbigr]

I'm extremely envious MR. It's gonna be 98 here tomorrow and I gotta work.

Big R

[HungoverHog]

Now that's a vacation!! I would love to see pics when you can get them loaded.

[junkyard dawg]

That sounds awesome!

[mash rookie]

sounds real nice MR, i love boating, enjoy your trip. what sort of boat are you on, sail or motor?

38' power boat. It is a beautiful morning. Heading out to fish after I have some coffee. I have to take the dog to the beach first.
Our partner in crime Bushman is going to try to meet up with me somewhere for a drink while I am on vacation if he has time.

Big R. It took forever for summer to show up. It has been a beautiful high 70s on the water. This is the most beautuful place on earth when the sun is out. We put up with 10 months of rain and clouds to get it.

i'll check the crab pots when I get in from fishing.

[Bushman]

sounds real nice MR, i love boating, enjoy your trip. what sort of boat are you on, sail or motor?

38' power boat. It is a beautiful morning. Heading out to fish after I have some coffee. I have to take the dog to the beach first.
Our partner in crime Bushman is going to try to meet up with me somewhere for a drink while I am on vacation if he has time.

Big R. It took forever for summer to show up. It has been a beautiful high 70s on the water. This is the most beautuful place on earth when the sun is out. We put up with 10 months of rain and clouds to get it.

i'll check the crab pots when I get in from fishing.

I almost looked you up yesterday as I was at Friday Harbor with my wife's cousins. We met some people from our yacht club and stayed longer than I expected. I also forgot to bring out the book I promised you so will be out this next weekend and we can connect. I will give you a call, I think we are heading out Thursday afternoon. Glad to hear the fish are starting to show.

[rtalbigr]

Back in '71 did my Basic and AIT @ Fort Lewis. Day I arrived, Feb 2, was as beautiful day as anyone could ask for, sunny, 75 degrees, crystal clear blue sky. I thought, man this ain't gonna be bad. Next day, it started raining, the Army came down like a ton a bricks, and it kept raining, and raining, and raining. Didn't see the sun for two months. There were some beautiful days after though, but damn, couldn't stand all that rain and no sun.

Glad your havin a beautiful day MR, good luck fishin.

Big R

[mash rookie]

Another beautiful day in paradise. I got out a little earlier fishing this morning. (still not at the crack of dawn, I am on vacation) I didn’t catch anything big.
There were a lot of boats fishing and not catching. The King salmon were still down deep. 300-400 feet. I got my pocket picket a few times before I wised up and sharpened my hooks. At the tide change I did catch a nice Silver salmon A 6-7 lb hen. Full of eggs. That was good. I needed better crap pot bait. I had females in the pot I used oysters for bait in and I was skunked in the other. I will put the salmon guts in one and stinky chicken in the other. I am going to fish again tomorrow. The tide change is an hour latter each day so I can sleep in too. Hmm.... maybe just lay in the sun and read a book. fresh fish for dinner!

[mash rookie]

Update.... Well, I got out of bed even later today and still went fishing about noon. Another beautiful day in paradise. It was sunny and mid 70's. I had my two fish limit in two hours. Still no King Salmon.
I caught a pink salmon about 5 lbs and another silver Salmon about 6-7 lbs. I boneless filleted all the fish. The silvers from yesterday and today I cut in to four servings per fish and bagged them in to zip locks to freeze.
Pink salmon is not my favorite but is good when fresh.
I decided to have fresh fish for dinner. After skinning the pink salmon fillets I decide that I would fry them fish and chips style. After getting everything ready I discovered I did not have any flour, bread crumbs, mesa, or any breading of any kind.
Hmm.. I had some corn chips. I used a coffee cup to crush a cup full into submission.
After rolling the moist fish in the corn chip mix I fried them in olive oil.

Damn. Some of the best fish I have ever eaten…..

Another day in paradise..

[frozenthunderbolt]

I need a resize program for this laptop. I think I can probably find something online.


MR

PIXresizer is easy and reputable. I use it.

[waylyn]

Hi mash rookie

try this software http://www.getpaint.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow it's totaly free and it will resize your pics, enjoy

[rtalbigr]

MR: How's the crab pot's comin? I absolutely love crab legs and can't imagine anything better than a fresh caught crab Must be like go to heaven!

Big R

[wildrover]

Man, I love hearing about boating around the San Juans. Enjoy your vacation!

[Bushman]

I planned it perfectly, about ready to do a run today and will be out on the islands tomorrow, I probably won't get out until late afternoon but will give you a call when I get settled....Life is good!

[Samohon]

Seems like your having a Killer Whale of a time MR... Would like to see some piccies...

Oh, BTW, try this Pic Resizing Software... (Easy Peasy)...

Have fun man...

[mash rookie]

Update.
Yesterday was a fun day fishing. Lots of action. My buddy that lives here on the Island went with me. Again because of the tides we did not fish until the afternoon.
We caught our limit of two each in two hours but only got Pink Salmon. Nice size 5-7 lb but not as desirable as Silver or King salmon. We ate one for dinner last night and the rest will go into the smoker. We had three in the fish box in an hour. We released four more over the next hour hoping to catch a bigger fish. When that didn’t happen we kept the last Pink to strike and headed in. Counting the ones we lost we probably had 10 -12 fish on. Of course I had to clean all the fish.

I am anchored in the bay off his property. After dinner at his place and a few drinks I had to hike down the hill in darkness using a small flashlight, get myself and dog safely in the dinghy and out to my boat. Damn it gets dark here. I think I will take a few days off fishing and get some work done on the boat. There will be better tides next week.

Bushman did you get the run done yesterday? What did you make? Bring a little white dog with you to sample. Don’t forget the book.

Thanks for the resize links guys. I will probably load one up today. I haven’t taken any pictures of the fish yet but the Killer whale pics might be okay. It’s a good SLR so I should be able to blow up the pics and see if the whales show well.
Of course when I catch a big fish there will be pictures.

Domestic chores today. My floating home needs work including cleaning fish blood of the back of my boat.

Sunny and 75 today.

[Bushman]

MR, I am actually doing a reflux run right now. I am drawing at 96% so I guess I can't beat that. Everything I have right now is aging as we drank all my good stuff up at Rivers Inlet. I have vodka and some infused drinks but am still excited to get together tomorrow or probably Friday.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Sounds like you'r having a pretty good time, I have my boat out on a day basis a bit south of you, Hood Canal around Seabec. Haven't tried the fishing yet but see other folks catching quite a few, my bag is crab and it has been outstanding on the Canal this year, How is it up there?

HAVE A GREAT TiME MR

[Bushman]

Sounds like you'r having a pretty good time, I have my boat out on a day basis a bit south of you, Hood Canal around Seabec. Haven't tried the fishing yet but see other folks catching quite a few, my bag is crab and it has been outstanding on the Canal this year, How is it up there?

HAVE A GREAT TiME MR

Hey OlympicMTDoo, we also spend a lot of time at Hood Canal as my wifes mother has a fractional ownership in a Condo near Alderbrook. I think this is the first year in about 3 that crabbing has been good in that area as the oxygen levels at that end are not great.

MR, I will be heading out about 3 this afternoon to the islands so will try to touch bases!

[OlympicMtDoo]

Hi Bushman, I'm going to be crabbing at Union Saturday, been a great year but last year was pretty good in the lower canal too. I live about 15 0r 20 minutes from the powerhouse launch, an easy get to.

[Bushman]

Hi Bushman, I'm going to be crabbing at Union Saturday, been a great year but last year was pretty good in the lower canal too. I live about 15 0r 20 minutes from the powerhouse launch, an easy get to.

Nice we have some retired friends that just built a second home one the hook near Tahuya. Do you ever do any shrimping?

[mash rookie]

Sounds like you'r having a pretty good time, I have my boat out on a day basis a bit south of you, Hood Canal around Seabec. Haven't tried the fishing yet but see other folks catching quite a few, my bag is crab and it has been outstanding on the Canal this year, How is it up there?

Crabing sucked last week. Loads of Females. There were so many pots in here you could damn near walk across the bay. I will try again tomorrow.

MR, I will be heading out about 3 this afternoon to the islands so will try to touch bases!

Cool. I am anchored in Westscot bay. Drop by, raft on and we'll toast a few. Heading for shore now to do laundry. I will be back aboard this afternoon and email you my exact location and a pic of my boat.
MR

[mash rookie]

Day thirteen is not quite so much fun. I will probably start drinking early today. Sunny but the wind is blowing 10 knots and my boat is swinging around like a carnival ride. I added an extra line to the mooring buoy. I am glad that I got my dog to the beach and back early. I wont be able to get that coat of varnish done on my rails today.

Sad day too. I got a call from my daughter that a friend passed last night. Cancer. She was only 49. I’ll take a float plane back next week for the services.

I think I missed connecting with Bushman. He was trying to call my business line yesterday instead of my cell. We’ll get together one of these days. It will be a good day to assemble my MK controller kits. With a drink in hand. Maybe I will download the resize program and load up some pictures.

My son and his girlfriend are due in tomorrow. I better get the forward berth ready.

Crabbing is slow. One nice keeper yesterday. I will check the pots today when the wind dies down. Okay, I guess that’s all for now guys.

[Samohon]

Sorry to hear of your loss MR, guess cancer has no age limits or territorial boundary's.
We lost a dear friend at the beginning of the year here MR, also 49YO. (pancreatic cancer...)

Keep your chin up man..

[mash rookie]

Thanks Sam. Chins up. New day. I got a couple of nice crabs in the pot this morning. I will get them cooked in awhile. My son and his girlfriend arrive today. They will enjoy fresh crab. Years ago we used to get 12-20 crabs in a pot overnight in this bay and have to sort through the small ones and females. it is over fished to a point that there is very few left here now. Last week you could almost walk across the bay on pot buoys. My buddy that lives here told me that the local Indian tribe commercial fished crab in here last winter. That has to have had a large impact too.

I got my butt kicked playing horseshoes yesterday. My buddy had some friends over to play on his beach front. Nobody wanted to hike up the hill for fresh drinks so I took the dinghy to my boat. I brought back Tequila and mixer. Use up the store bough stuff.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to share my good stuff. Tequila, hmm maybe that is why I am moving a little slow this morning.
Cloudy and cool. It might burn off and be a decent day.
MR Over and out.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Thats too bad about the crab population in your area, it's starting to get a little slow down on the Southern Canal too so I'm going up North out of Triton Cove today. Sorry about your friend, 49 is way too young. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

[Bushman]

I'm sad I missed connecting with you as well. Sorry to hear about your loss. My usual crabbing spots have been outstanding this year but while at Stuart Island we only caught 6 crab in 3 days using 3 crab pots. The good news is while heading to Stuart Island I saw two commercial shrimp bouys, they are allowed to run them in line with about 15 pots to a line. I marked both ends of his bouys on my GPS so that next May when shrimping opens for us non commercial people I can set my 4 pots along where he currently has his lines.

OlympicMtDoo I will be in your neck of the woods Sunday through Tuesday and then Thursday I head out to Europe for almost 2 months.

[mash rookie]

Day 18 ..Fishing update guys. Three days ago my buddy that lives here went fishing with me. We were catching so many pink salmon that we started releasing them after we had three trying to catch a king or silver to fill out our limit. We released five Pinks salmon before keeping one and calling it a day.

I found out the next day that we can keep four pink salmon each. Damn.

Yesterday my friend from Seattle fished with me. We caught our true limit of eight Pink Salmon. Lots of action.
Unfortunately we lost a nice king right at the boat. Nice 10 -12 pounds. The first one we have had on. Damn.

I set the crab pot out this morning. I used seven salmon heads zip tied to the bottom of the pot. Damn. We caught six nice large Dungeness crabs !!

Today I had two guests. We caught another ten pink salmon. NO kings. Damn.

Another beautiful day in paradise. My daughter and my friend are devouring the crab as I type.

I promise i will post picture when I get time.