Hey guys, got out to fish today and did pretty good, all things considered. Started at Dalco and ran into HBP - how'd you do mooching by the way? Lots of bait right at the point in the AM but I left it for the moochers and trolled towards Pt. Neill, after a shaker or two about 9 or so I caught a 24 incher but let it go, and 20 minutes later I hooked one that was bigger but lost it right at the boat. The first one was on the Glowmate-enhanced Hotspot and the B2 spinner, but I switched to my Glowmate Coyote and hooked that big one right away. 150 feet seemed to be the magic number, just like in Elliot Bay.

Then I had something happen that tried to ruin my day - the NE wind was ripping out of Quartermaster and the tide was slack anyway, so I turned around to head back along the point, but the wind was pushing me off the drift pretty bad, I sped up and heeled the boat over a bit too much in the crosswind, and ran over my wire Well, that killed the motor and forced me to dink around retreiving everything, finally got it all back on board but by then it was too rough to hang out over the motor and get the wire out of the prop, so I rowed (yes, oars for backup) across Commencement Bay (wind at my stern and high slack fortunately) which burnt up an hour and got my bum rotator cuff more of a workout than it deserved

Hell Ya! That is a good day on the water (minus the extra curricular activities).

Spawnout,
We only got to fish till 10,which was the change. I had one good hit right after we left you,but no hookup. We left early,cause of the wind,it got to rippin' pretty good,and we couldn't stay on a drift for more than about 2 minutes. We would run up into 50' of water and drop down to bottom,by that time we were into 300' of water. We ran back across to Clay Banks,and it was just the opposite. We would start in 250' of water and the wind pushed us into the shore in about a minute.

We said enough is enough,and enjoyed a wet ride back to the ramp. The fish checker was there,and he hadn't checked in any fish this morning.

I think we'll be back out on Friday a.m. Hopefully,the wind won't be so bad.

Sorry to hear about your cable,that's gotta suck,to chop up a new cable. Glad to hear you made it back to the ramp. Since my boat is a split seat,I don't have the option of oars. If I break down,I have a couple paddles stored under the bow. I hope the day I have to paddle,never comes.

Spawn,

I think you had an awesome day! Don't worry, I lost two balls in Elliot and 80' of wire last Sunday. Didn't let me down, kept on truckin' Could have been worse- you could have been working!

Downriggin'

Yeah, that was a little windy for the Alaskan HBP - it was up to 15 when I left, and since I launched at Gig Harbor and had to run across the Narrows with the wind out of the north and the tide out of the south it was pretty nasty

I used to mooch, and resisted getting into booger balling for a long time, until I finally got tired of getting skunked. Those wires are a hassle, but they sure do work

DR, 2 booger balls donated to the fish gods in one day? Man, you are hard on gear, I make it a point never to lose more than 1 a day . I do carry a spare, along with spare clips, wire, and even an extra downrigger. The more junk you have, the more it breaks I guess

I will have to fish it a couple days this weekend to even begin to take advantage of all the fish out there, and to try out all my pretty new spoons and other things Wind is going to be out of the south, so I'll have to launch at PD and hug the bank

Spawnout -- what is a B2 spinner? I'm familar w/a B2 Squid.

Thanx

Sincerely,
Roger

Don't want to steal Spawn's thunder, but he adds a couple of glow beads then places a spinner blade in front. I like to put Cheaters or a Spin N' Glo in front of mine (see Hootchy Pix post).

Purpose would be to create more noise vibrations in the water. Drive 'em wild!

Downriggin'

Spawnout,

I had that happen to me many times, getting the downrigger cable caught on the kicker or the main motor. After having to hang over the back and pull my cable free and almost getting pushed into the rocks, I bought a prop guard for my kicker and haven't had a problem since. I also have a longer boom on my Penn (opposite side of the kicker) and now that downrigger has not gotten caught on the main motor. Sounds like you hooked into some nice fish!!

Downriggen,

I lost a ball a year or two ago right out in front of the stadiums.... seemed like there was an anchor cable loose or something on the bottom. I'll try and steer clear of that this weekend if I can make it out into Elliot Bay on Saturday.

Yeah, DR know's my tricks :p The contraption looks like a walleye rig but seems to put that little extra flash and action on the squid, not to mention a little rattle that the blackmouth seem to like <img border="0" alt="[eat]" title="" src="graemlins/eat.gif" />

Jeff, I've got a skeg protector, but I don't run it except on the river, as it reduces performance. See, I only have one motor on my boat - it doesn't need a kicker as the 25 Yami trolls right down, and if I really want to troll slow, like for sockeye or kokanee, I use the oars. I do probably need a little more downrigger boom, but come June I'm trading my Alaskan in on a Lodge, which is over a foot wider, so my wire will probably be far enough out of the way. I kind of screwed up anyway - I know better than to try to use the port 'rigger when the wind is hard out of the starboard - I should have switched sides but got lazy