My dad and I left on Wenesday to go halibut fishing at Neah Bay with Jambo's Guide Service. Due to an oversight, we had to start the 5.5 hour trip at 4 PM. Not knowing what Neah Bay was like, we picked up a few supplies beforehand, and figured we'd pick up some food when we got there. Well, after stopping a few places to eat (neither of us had had lunch) we iced up the coolers at McDs (for free) and arrived at 10:30 PM to find almost everything closed. Dad said he had brought some food from home, so after driving around for 1.5 hours looking for a place to stay, I finally got fed up and said, "We're sleeping here." Due to excitement and the uncomfortable bed in my dad's camper, I got one hour of sleep before we had to get up and get out on the boat.
Fortunately, day two turned out much better than day one. We went out to the boat and met captain Michael Jamboritez (I know I probably mangled the spelling), JD (who's on this board), and the new deckhand Bruce. Everyone was very friendly and helped us get our things on board the Malia Kai. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera in the truck, but JD took pictures with his brother's digital camera. The boat was booked for six people, but four of them never showed up, so it was just us on the boat. The captain was understandably upset, because he lost money on the trip, but it didn't effect the rest of the trip. It was really nice, since I suppose they could have just called the trip off instead. It was very calm throughout the whole trip, and my fears about being seasick never really came to pass. In fact, it was the perfect day for fishing, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, not still, not too sunny (I couldn't find my sunglasses, and since I have a prescription, I can't just grab some others) because of a haze over the sky, and it didn't rain. It took about an hour to get to the halibut hole. On the way out, everyone was pointing out the incredible coastline and we were taking pictures with the camera.
Once we got there, they showed us how to fish for halibut, and since the boat was so empty, everyone got to fish. Within about 30 seconds, JD had a halibut on, and invited me over to reel it up. Once it got to the top, we determined that it was about a 25-30 pounder and I declined to keep it, since I was sure I could do better. JD opted to keep the halibut for himself since it was good eating size, and brought it on board. I went back to fishing my own rod, with Bruce about 5 feet away on the other side. Suddenly, he got a hookup, but after about 2 minutes, the fish busted off. In the meantime, JD had gotten a hookup and handed it to my dad. Dad was fighting the fish, when suddenly the fish went crazy, shaking all over the place and pulling hard on the rod. The captian got another fish while I was watching my dad and fishing at the same time, and after a good 15 minute fight, they finally got the fish to the surface. I left my rod and went over to see how big it was, and once everyone could see the fish, we found out it was two fish! The fish that had busted off Bruce's line had swam over and got the terminal tackle tangled up in the main line of the rod my dad was working and both of them came up. JD harpooned the second one (which was bigger) and Bruce gaffed the smaller one and hauled them both in the boat. I believe JD took pictures of the two fish connected together, but I'm not sure. Right after that, I went back to my rod, and got a hookup myself. I was determined to bring the fish up on my own, since I'd needed help with the previous one. I needed a place to sit that was close to the rail, so they grabbed our wheeled cooler and I sat on it and kept reeling. Then I leaned the wrong way and the cooler abruptly shot out from underneath me and I was sitting on the deck, still reeling. I handed the rod to JD, and my dad and Bruce helped me get up, and JD handed me the rod back, and I continued to pull up the fish. After a few more cranks, it arrived at the surface, and they gaffed it into the boat. That was it for the halibut, so we took pictures of the halibut, and headed off for the bottomfish grounds.
On the way there, I got a lesson in filetting flatfish, and we measured the big one and mine to find out the weight. The big one my dad hauled in along with Bruce's fish turned out to be almost 70 pounds, with the other 40 pounder hanging on! No wonder it was such a tough fight! Mine turned out to be around 40 pounds also, so after the filetting, we had about 60 pounds of halibut. All of a sudden, the captain shouted that he saw whales around the front of the bow, so we all ran around to the bow to see humpbacks jumping out of the water and breeching. There must have been at least two, because one would shoot up, then fall over in the water, and two seconds later another would come up and fall the other way. This happened about five or six times, and JD took pictures (although he wasn't sure if they turned out). There was tons of herring and krill in the water, so we watched them blowing the bubble nets to keep their pray confined, but we didn't see them surface to eat.
Once we got to the reef, we all switched to lighter gear and started fishing with flies and leadhead jigs (except Bruce, who was manning the lines and netting the fish, and the captian who was keeping the boat over the reef), and we were bringing up rockfish after rockfish, plus quite a few nice lings. We ended up with around eleven black rockfish, one copper rockfish, two tiger rockfish, one china rockfish (which JD cought and released), six lingcod, and two cabezon. On the way back, Bruce finished up filetting all that bottomfish, and we ended up with around 20 pounds of rockfish and lingcod.
Once we got back to the shore, everyone helped to unload the boat and get our catch back up to the truck, we all shook hands and wished each other good luck, and JD said he'd send the pictures. We gave the deckhand tip to the captain (since it was just one large bill) and told him to divide it up between the deckhands. On the long ride back, we got a recommendation to stop at Traylor's Bar & Grill in Port Angeles on the way back, so we did, and the food was fabulous. Highly reccomended also. We stopped by Tacoma Boys on the way back, and I was quite happy to find that they were selling fresh Alaskan halibut fillets (that were smaller than ours) for $12.99 per pound. Now figure 60 pounds at $12.99 per pound: $779.40, and that's not including all that bottomfish!
Overall, it turned out a fabulous trip, and those people that didn't show up really missed out. We'll be sure and go out with Jambo's again in the fiture. When JD sends the pics, I'll post them.
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