Team PP Westport Results

The "Trip" was nothing short of awesome. Twenty-two people put 44 fish---predominately kings---on board the Fury in six hours of fishing that could be described as frantic at times.

To start things off, here's Stam's daughter Erica moments after losing her cookies (my timing was off on the money shot). Oddly enough, she got sick counting the money that was collected for the "first person to puke pool": $95 bucks.



Next, B-RUN was off and running and my timing was a little better.

He reloaded at lunch and let go again with a much more spectacular launch, so I'm told, but I wasn't there for the Kodak moment. As B-RUN put it, he felt "special" most of the day. Regaurdless, he put 3 or 4 nice kings in the boat.


Here's K8 (Chromeshine) with a dandy kinger while the Kanektok Kid and Bucket loom enviously in the background. K8s friend had some kind words for her after she landed the brute.

Our gracious host, stam nabbed this dandy nook. Not bad for an Enormusclaw yocal.



Sol_on_the_Chuck with a slab-o-chrome.



Boat skipper, Mike Harris holds a dandy for board member Brotherchin.

Stam's daughter erica, again, with the big fish of the day---34 pounds. She won the money pool for puking and for big fish. Way to go girl.



Here's Parker back at the dock with his limit-o-kings. He had a little trouble getting started but made up for lost time in the end.


And, my buddy Nick who has historically always brought bad luck with him on trips with me finally spread his wings and caught these butes.



I want to thank my buddy Steve for putting this thing together. It's one of the trips I look forward to most during the year. Also, thanks to those who traveled from afar to join the festivities: B-RUN, Bob and Corey, you guys (and gal ) are champs. Lastly, a hearty thanks goes out to Mike Harris and Ingrid aboard the Fury for perfoming above and beyond the call of duty.

See ya all soon.

Sol

You guys certainly have your timing or better yet your luck working for you. A month of bad reports and you guys and gals coon em.
Very nice.
It's good to see the big fish are finally in.

why were people chumming... It looks like it was relatively calm out there?

Awsome fish! Sol that pick of B-run is probably the best of them all!

B-Run gets sea sick when he flushes the toilet and/or takes a shower! I'm surprised at how long he lasted before giving back to the sea! Way to go B-Run! He's truly a Class A guy.

Erica got sick because she ducked in the cabin in the ride out, was looking down, not paying attention to the horizon, and VOILA, instant recipe for puking on the open seas.

...or she just hurled to get the $95. A few of us thought to just put our fingers down our throats and gag one out for the cash, but we figured that would be "cheating" and opted not to do so.

I'd just like to go on record to say it was all about the BEER! I didn't hook my first fish until I finally was offered a beer around noonish. Once I took that first sip of beer, it was FISH ON! from that point on.

Never ever understimate the power of BEER while out fishing! A hard lesson that I knew, but somehow forgot yesterday. Silly me.

Nice report.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

That's just my buddy, Mark Berry, coming to grips with his inadequacy as a fisherman.


One of the days highlights for me was watching Bob sit through the morning "how to bait a hook" and the "don't adjust the drag" and the "don't set the hook" disertation in a demeanor that can only be described as *cool*. You're a class act, bud.

Stam,
If your invitin me, I'm in!
Had a blast, thanks again.

Nice report boys

Well done ladies

Back home !! was nice to get outa the heat for awhile and meet some great folks. I promiced and did not fail to come through with a chum show. For awhile there, I thought I had it whipped.. but then again, who the hell was I kidding.. I gotta do what I gotta do.
I was totally out of my eliment and had a great time. Caught a bunch of fish ( 4 kings and a hot coho) Got schooled by a few more, saw a whale, hooked a shark, puked my guts out. Sol and Parker are great guys to be on the rail with. Stams daughter totally deserved that big fish.. worked all day without a bite and never gave up.. we were looking for the last few fish and bingo, she got it.. well done.
So thanks to all, was nice to meet you and hope to see you again. Right now I got about 35 lbs of Fillet to vacume pack.

Very nice, everyone!

Damn the fact that I have so much work to do this time of year...I appreciate the invite, and am really disappointed that I couldn't join you...looks like a stellar trip, with good company and good fishing.

I'll getcha next time.

Fish on...

Todd

Sign-up now for next year only a few seats available!!!

Great job guys and girls, I know you all had a great time being together and fishing. Looks like you had the food and drink department taken cared of too.
Maybe next year I can join you guys and gals out there on the big boat.

Steve

Like the pics, looks like everyone had a blast.

cool report and pics guys...even the one of B-run playing Exorcist and purging a giant glass of Sunny Delight .........all part of the sights and scents of the sea eh?

People always bring Drammamine, man I bring a sh*tload of tictacs with me........

That must have been the best day they've had out there all year...Stam your daughter's fish is amazing! Sol thanks for posting ............. dammit I wish I was there for the fun!

Mingo's posts are very inspiring, so it's time for Sol's "tip of the day." Luck is a lot like cleavage. If you want to keep it within arms reach, don't put your hand on it (Right Mingo ).

You'll do better to just keep it in your peripheral vision and bask in it's warm glow. If you don't make eye contact the powers that be will taunt you into looking at it. Look away I say. It seems to last longer that way.

Just a note.. we ate some of that fish last night.. Wow !!! better than damn good

Nice ta hear that your back to fillin your gut instead of evacuating it!!

Can we count on you for next year! Sol want ta do a film "Westport Exorcist" staring B-RUN.

Oh yeah !!! Count me in guys !! I'll be there

Good job Team PP!

Kudos to B-Run for making it all the way from Idaho to brave Big Blue.....especially when you KNOW you will blow.

Showin' off the guns again I see there Doc.

Ike

Next year, the kiddies will be older, so I should be able to make the festivities next year. I missed out!

Nice meeting you KK - I was fully expecting a lot more shiat from you, but I guess you took pitty on me!

I was really surprised to see that Doc is 6'6". He doesn't look nearly that big in his photos! Your a good guy Doc and was pleasure to finally meet you...

BrothersChin - without you and , I'd still be sulking at the dock! I owe you one, dude!

Actually, everone on the boat was pretty dang cool. I had a great time!

You know KK, I walked away from the best sea food feast I have ever seen and went with the wife into westport to eat the worst sea food dinner I ever had.. I won't make that mistake again. Those REDS you boys were getting ready to BBQ looked to die for, with Oysters and crab on the side.. what more could a guy ask for. But a promice is a promice and I told the wife I'd take her out.

My ribs sorta hurt, I think I sprained my side from yakking to much.. No problem, I have a year to get over it

On another note, It was too cool to have Bob and Cory fly down from Alaska, really nice folks. Like somebody said " So what are you gonna do Bob.. ship your salmon up to Alaska "

Believe it or not ... that was the first king I have actually caught myself in over a year. I can't fish with clients on board and w/o any days off to go playfishing ... I don't get much chance to wet a line for one anymore.

Gotta get a little R&R from our trip so I can get up at o'dark thirty in the morning in search of the silvers that aren't really here yet ... I'll get some more pix of the camera and post them shortly.

A fun time, nice to see some of the old faces and a few that I haven't had the opportunity to meet before

Sign me up for next year Stam.

They're more like starters pistols. At 4-foot something he just makes em look big. Just like that 19-pound king in his nancy-boy avatar.

Funniest part of the trip for me was when two banana peels

Thanks for driving Bucket, and by the way, did you get a Pacifico?? Did anyone see a Pacifico?

Last but certainly not least.......GRAHAM, you are on my shiat list, pal....... :p

Uh yeah, about those Pacificos....

They made it to Westport. But, they never made it out of the back of Sol's truck.

I heard that bottles were not allowed on the boat, so I left the Pacifico's in the truck. Of course, once I told Stam that on the boat, he mocked me heavily. With all the chaos on our side of the boat, bottles *would* have been a bad thing. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it!

If any of you are in the Seattle area, they are all currently chilling in my beer fridge. If I had a fridge at work, I'd keep them here. But I don't, so they are at home.

I'll make it up and just bring a pony keg and C02 system next year. I'm thinking some Maritime Pacific Flagship Red (dry hopped of course) will be a fine addition to the pre-funk festivities! 64 cold pints will go down well!

Parker,
Hold on to the Pacifico's, you can bring them to Sol's birthday party--if he can decide when that might be.

My life's been one big birthday party.

Parker, just remember that I came through in your time of need. Beer is one of the guarantees that I make from time to time and sometimes it seems just magical the way it works more often then not. Once they were cracked you Sol and I got about a third of the boats fish.

The one thing that suprised me the most was the lack of inflated egos. I figured there would be someone who would be unbearable besides myself but overall everyones company was just great. I got a little puffed up with myself when I filled TRBO's limit.

I just had to make sure you guys could really fish stam.

OK sol I'm finally rested enough to reply, I went straight to work from westport tuesday and worked 18 hrs in Camas the nextday. First off thats Chris in the photo ( you would know that if you came to the BBQ) but you got me, not on my game that day all I can say is I'll be back! I do have to bow down though I'm not worthy SOL was on fire! Thanks Stam I had a great time Thanks to everyone that helped with the BBQ, It was nice to meet everyone hope to do it again soon.

I'm convinced the "don't set the hook" disertation at the outset of these charters do everyone a disservice. You'll catch 10 times more salmon in the salt mooching hering by reacting when the bait is taken. Pay attention to those slack-line bites and get on-em immediately (right Doc ). If your rod-tip bobs lightly indicating, bite-in-progress, set the damn hook. I laugh my ass off when I hear "feed em line." The fish is down there chewing the **** out of your bait, jack it to em. The charter folks routinly say setting the hook pulls the bait out of the fishes mouth because their hooks suck. Take your own and make sure they're sharp (Owner cutting points all the way ).

If you're not getting biten, vary your decent and retreve speeds irratically and pause frequently. Those fish are milling around down there with 20+ some odd other baits and coutless real baitfish. Make yours stand out. I plenty of folks on the Fury Monday were keen to all this and still didn't do well. That happens. You can't kill em all the time. But I also saw alot of people going through the motions like they were bored especially as the day wore on. Parker on the other hand put three in the boat in the last hour because he worked at a fever pitch.

For what its worth, that's my post-mortem on the event.

OK, I'll admit it.... I'm lost without my lead balls and custom FishFlash.

The real trick mooching herring is to be able to tell the difference between the drive by tail slap and the bite. The tail slap is why the charters tell you not to set the hook. Lighter and longer leaders with a 10' min pole length really help here. I have never used a leader above 15 lbs ( 20lbs main) or shorter than 6' and have landed fish up to the low 70lbs on light leaders. I have not been on a charter since the early 80's but back then they used 30# min for kings. Mooching is an art form and there are very few old farts left around that can really teach how to true mooch.

Can you fix me up with some x-ray vision, Doc? I can put it to good use.

I'd like to point out that it wasn't my fever pitch that got me those fish - it was the beer. It's all about the beer.



Ok, maybe never giving up might have had a *little* to do with it. I *never* give up. Ever. I will fish hard all day long and to the last minute.

Oddly, I missed all my fish on Owner Cutting Points. Probably was just coincidence, but I tagged all my fish on Vision 3/0-4/0 trailer combo's.

I'm sure glad you fella's enjoyed all the beer!

Alright sol I give..... that's by bird but I have to dig up something up to give you trouble about not attending the BBQ. Hey Stam what do you think about making the BBQ mandatory to get on the boat? You know sol we do enjoy your company.........most of the time!

Y'all got some slabs!! Great job

TRBO is holding back on us. I know he has some good pics---like the skipper and the deckhands bannana peels floating under Bob for a goodly amount of time.

Stam,
I love my lab but I still can't believe you feed yours a WHOLE crab. Any comments how she faired the next morning while we were fishin?

I'm sure yeager had the scoots or the ring of fire!