Day 6...
Smallest crew of the entire week... Keith, f4b, and me... had only three rods to deploy. I felt half naked trolling the estuary with HUGE 12 ft gaps between each presentation. Sin of mortal sins! Just imagine all the fish we'd be running over that wouldn't even see one of our baits!
Turns out my fears were totally unfounded. The sun wasn't over the horizon twenty minutes when my rod folded. YEP! still running that tired worn out CYCLOPS spinner bait combo. And the ocean-fresh URB's were still biting it! Hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?
The fleet is picking up a fish here and a fish there, but it's far from good bite. By the time we troll all the way to the top, it's virtually high slack, and the team is poised for the next bite.... well everyone except the captain. I was suddenly overwhelmed by abdominal cramps and a raging case of irritable bowel. I turned the tiller over to f4b as I reached for THE bucket. As I'm sitting there with my shorts around my ankles doubled over in pain, f4b does his best to steer me out of direct view of passing boats. Of course I know EXACTLY what's gonna happen next.
FISH FISH FISH!
JFC!
Keith grabs the fish while f4b clears his gear and grabs the net. I clear my gear and uncase my Nikon D90 and start snapping pics.... all while still sitting on the pot! Talk about multi-tasking!
Not bad for pics taken 3 ft off the deck, eh?
We fished half way thru a slow grinding outgoing bite before deciding to find greener pastures back on the OR side.
f4b was promptly rewarded with our third fish for the box.... another platinum URB!
Since we're now after coho, f4b swaps out his herring for a hangback hoochie spoon. First downhill pass and it's fish on! Keith is closest to the rod so he takes it.... only it's NO COHO! And WTF? Why is this stinkin' crank on the WRONG side of the reel? And why is this leader so freakin' LONG?
YEE HAW! Check out this ultra-CHROME hen!
A QUICK lift to show her off....
And back she goes!
What a way to end another glorious day in the CR estuary.