Got up at 3 on Saturday and was picked up by Walleye World for the first trip of the year to the big C. Of course I only got about 2 hours of sleep so I was snoozing in the truck before we got thru Oly. Woke up just before the Longview exit and saw the whiteout. Snowin' like a crazy and slushy on the sides of the road. Pull into Cathlamet about an hour later. Still snowing hard, but hey, we were third in line for the ramp. Found out why.
South dock was full. Only the little short dock on north side of the ramp had room for a boat. No biggy. Walleye backed down the ramp. Boat just about hit the water when he remembered the plug was still in his bucket. We had to make sure we had a plug in the hull. Got that done, boat into the water. I had a long rope so no problem making the jump up onto the walkway. Whoosh....slicker that snot. I did skate it down to the docks and did get the boat turned around. Of course the top was covered with ice and the snow was turning to partial rain. My rain coat was inside under the topper and I was getting soaked thru while holding the boat.
Walleye comes down the sidewalk quicker than I expected. He found a parking spot close to the ramp, so within a few minutes, we were under way. Getting out toward the west end of the marina and we find out the wiper was frozen down. A little coaxing and it was working fine. Pulled out into the main channel and formulated the plan of attack. I was still tired, Walleye had an upset stomach, so it was simple, we were gonna pull up to our spot by the island, anchor up, throw out a Kwikie and nap. Half hour later we had two kwikies in the water, heater on, and were eating our breakfast.....oatmeal cookies.
Tried several colors and sized of kwikies. Used several scents and even tuna balls. Nothing........until about 10. I had about 10 minutes prior thrown out my lucky kwikie (chrome with chartreuse head and tail) with fresh sardine wrap and a little sardine smelly jelly. Suddenly the old $11 Berkley pole from Walmart was doin the Fish On dance. Springer was up to the top of the water doin the rolie polie dance trying to spit out the kwik fish. No seal lions in sight so after a 5-10 minute reel and scream, reel and scream tug-o-war, we had a nice 17.5 lb hen in the net. Thought gee, this is great! We'll catch more.
We fished until 6:30. Not another takedown. We trolled Herring, Anchovies, with and without flashers. We tried different speeds and different directions. Not another bite. We did see one boat net a native that they returned. We also watched while a sealion played with someones fish about a 1/4 mile down river. Saw no other fish taken. Per the fish checker at the ramp, our fish was 37 or 38 for 84 or 85 boats.
Well, 1 for 1 is acceptable. Last couple of years has been nothing but shakers and skunk trips.
Steve
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