Conference wahoo::fishing

64.0. "cod stories" by NERMAL::FRASHER () Fri Jan 31 1986 12:58

I keep bringing up little things about the cod in Wash. so I figured I'd
go ahead and spill it all right here and now.

I lived in Tacoma, Wash. for 5 years.  I got a 15 ft. boat there and fished
a lot in the Puget Sound.  Some of the best cod fishing locally was right at
the mouth of Gig Harbor, which is across the Sound from Point Defiance.
There was a spot to the right of Gig Harbor where you cound get into some
good dogfish (shark) fishing, if you wanted that.  They put up a good fight,
but they really tear up a leader.  As you drifted towards the harbor, the
dogfish quit and cod started, almost as if there was a line down there that
the sharks couldn't cross.  Then you had about 10 minutes to pull cod up before
you drifted into the same situation, only then it was rockfish (rockbass),
which were as good eating as cod.  10 minutes later, nothing.  Then we would
run back upwind and start over.  There was no limit or license for cod and
rockfish.  The fish were small, 3 to 5 pounds, my wife caught one about 15
pounds.  The tiny 1 pounders died when they came to the surface, they would
bloat from the pressure change and we would throw them to the sea gulls which
always cruise looking for a handout.  They were good about cleaning up the
fish parts that we don't eat.  

A little side line here.  Ducks love trout entrails.

The sharks impressed me most.  You could drag them up from 200 ft. and they
would fight all the way.  Once they came to the surface, you would have to
cold-cock them to get your hook back.  Then I'd push them around in the water
like a kid with a toy boat, until they came to and swam off.  One thing I've
always detested is the practice of mutilating a fish, whether it is a shark,
sucker, sculpin or whatever, just because its a trash fish.  I will not fish
with someone who enjoys cutting a shark open and watching it eat itself.
Sharks aren't bad eating if you don't mind the texture.  Its more like chicken
than fish.  By the way, the shark that I caught at 200 ft. had a baby shark
that had followed it all the way up to the surface.  It swam around patiently
waiting for me to let its mother go and then followed her back down.  A cod
would have died 4 times doing that.

At Neah Bay in the upper left corner of Wash., there is a breakwater across
the bay.  On the other side of the breakwater is the best cod fishing I have
ever come across, 15 pounders lined up waiting for a hook.  We would put
ANYTHING on the hook, drop the line over the side until the 10 ounce weight
hit the bottom, and then start reeling it back up.  We didn't have to wait
until something tugged on it because something would grab it within 3 feet
of the bottom, without fail.  We caught so many fish that day, that the 
bottom of the boat was covered.  We had to shuffle our feet through the fish.
We wound up with 82 cod before the fog rolled in and we had to quit.  We had
been so busy baiting hooks and pulling in fish that we didn't see the fog
coming and before we knew it, we were socked in and couldn't see more than
about 10 feet.  I fired up the motor and we headed away from the breakwater
to get out a ways from the land that I couldn't see.  I heard the fog horn
on the point and headed for it because I know we had to go around the point
to get back into the bay.  That was the day that I realized that you should
never head TOWARD the fog horn.  We were going dead slow when suddenly, 10
feet in front of us was a huge rock with the ocean slapping violently against
it sending up spray about 20 feet.  I suddenly remembered that the fog horn is
mounted on solid ground, surrounded by rocks that I wouldn't dare get close 
to on a clear day.  I slammed the motor in reverse and gently but quickly
backed away from the shore.  Then, I headed back out to sea, at a crawl, until
I figured I was safely away from the point and turned with the fog horn on my
rightstarboard (right) side.  It sounded kind of faint, so I figured, with the
fog damping the sound, that we must be about 100 yards out to sea.  We cruised
along for a while, keeping the fog horn at about a 90 degree azimuth off the 
starboard side, figuring that the next time we saw land in front of us, we
would be inside the bay with the dock somewhere behind us.  I had one guy in
the bow watching for floating obstacles and slicing through the fog with a
knife (ha, ha, only kidding).  We had lumbered along for about 10 minutes
when we heard another fog horn on the port side (left) and this sucker was
CLOSE.  I knew that the far shore was too far to be able to hear both fog
horns, even on a clear day.  And being so close to it, it would have been
impossible to hear the one on my starboard.  Mass confusion set in immediately,
followed closely by one of the most intense feelings of dread I have ever
fealt.  Whatever it was, it was close and it shouldn't be there at all.  Then,
I heard it again.  It was closer now and it was up about 45 degrees above us.
I peered hard into the fog on the port side which was a dark gray and, lo and
behold, believe it or not, there was a RIVET in the fog.  I quickly deduced 
that we were cruising right beside a ship.  I grabbed my horn and shot off
a blast into the air and I heard a voice above me say "Son of a b____, there's
a boat down there.  Hard to port, hard to port."  We parted our ways and went 
on in, both tooting at each other until we were at a safe distance, and then
some.  The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful.

I once caught a 2 lb. rockfish that got itself swallowed by a 15 pound ling cod.
I ate both of them.

When the boat was new, I wasn't familiar with running the high seas, but I had
a friend with me who grew up with the ocean.  I tried running through 15 foot
swells with a constant throttle set at low speed.  He told me to give it hard
throttle going downhill and slack off before the uphill crest.  I tried it,
except that I forgot to slack off at the crest and we went airborn.  We dropped
from 15 feet and pancaked in the bottom.  Everybody had whiplash.  Once I 
regained myself, I tried it again.  He didn't realize how much power an 85
horsepower motor on a 15 foot boat has.  As soon as we crested the swell, I
hit it with everything.  This boat would do 60 MPH in about 7 seconds.  We
were probably doing close to 40 MPH when we went right into the side of the 
next wave.  We were completely under water.  Luckily, we had all of the canvas
on and just floated back up.  Eventually, I got the hang of it.

Well, that's enough stories for now.  Maybe I'll do some more later.

Anyone else got a story?

Spence

Spence,
       sounds like great fishing, but are you talking about recent
trips or have you moved on since?

I'm replying  from across the puddle, i.e. Ayr, Scotland where if 
your talking about 5 to 6 years back then we across here had great 
shore fishing for cod ( I'll give you my best trip report later ),
but due to extreme over fishing by inshore trawlers some of which
were fined heavily a few years ago when they ventured too close to
shore and were beached on sand bars near the harbour. We now have
to travel a fair distance to get any half decent shore fishing or 
pay exorbitant fees to local charter skippers for short boat trips.
I do have a small Avon rubber dingy and a 4hp outboard, but its 
only for really calm weather inshore fishing trips, which isn't to 
often during winter when the cod are close in.

The only sea fishing left locally is for flatfish ( flounder, 
plaice & dabs ) and codling to 2.5lb. Local rivers are good for 
brown trout, sea trout and salmon. Infact the angling club in the 
Ayr plant ( mainly river fishers, you may have seen notes from some 
of them ) leases a 3/4mile stretch of the river Girvan, a summer 
sea trout and autumn salmon stretch.

Well back to cod fishing, the best fishing I've ever had was about 
7 years ago. It happened one night after the end of a local club's
open competition, half a dozen of us who caught nothing during the 
competition decided to fish on. At about midnight the guy next to me 
miscast and his baited trace splashed into the waves about 20yds
from the promenade, while trying to sort out the overrun on the reel
he felt a bite and a short run which took up the slack line but 
because of the mess he was in thought nothing of it. We finally
unraveled the line and as he took up the slack realised the fish was 
still on and a good 10lb'er at that. Needless to say the 6 of us 
started lobbing our bait the same short distance as where Bobby had 
caught his fish. The next hour's fishing was great, resulting in 
everybody catching fish between 8lb & 15lb but as the fish started 
to move away our casts got longer and longer until we couldn't reach
them any more, the 6 of us who had caught nothing during the 
competition ended up with a total of 350lb of cod, excelent even for
then.

So much for the good old days. 

Another pointer to just how bad the fishing over here has become is 
the size of the heaviest cod taken during Scotlands Largest Shore 
fishing competition ( sponsored by White Horse Whisky ) over the 
last 10 years i.e. 10 years ago one would need to catch a cod of 
about 15lb's to be in with a chance of winning but nowadays if you 
catch one about 3lb you are almost guarenteed some sort of prize. 
This competition is fished over a 35 mile stretch of the southwest 
corner of Scotland and attracts on average 1500 competitors.

OK enough of my rubbish, has anybody else got some stories.

Also if you or anybody else is keen on fishing, and happens to be 
visiting the Ayr Plant, then I dear say that we could arrange an 
outing ( river or sea ).


Tight lines

Gordon Montgomerie
Ayr, Scotland.

    Finally figured out VAX NOTES.
    
    All of my cod fishing was between 1972 and 1977.  The breakwater
    at Neah Bay, Wash. is inside of Puget Sound and trawlers can't get
    close enough without crashing into the rocks.  Anything over about
    20 feet long would be in trouble.  The cod in the open seas are
    much bigger and a better target for trawlers.
    
    Some day I plan to go back up there and catch some more.  I really
    miss it.
    
    Spence

    Spence,
    
    The Inshore Cod fishing in Newfoundland is (in my humble opinion)
    amongst the best on the Eastern Seabord.  I have a friend there who
    fished commercialy up until a year ago.  We have Hand-Lined
    Cod up to 110 lbs (gut-in).  (This is not as common as the 15-20
    pound variety however).  In any case, once you've gone head to head
    with a fish that's half your weight, you don't look forward to making
    a habit of it. (Unless you have a cheap supply of "A535" and a good
    Masseuse).  
    What did we use for bait?  A 2 lb treble jig with 8" hooks - No
    bait, just bare hooks!
    
    An old Newfie fisherman was told me, "Ya Jigger up N' down By and
    yill git a fish in noo time".
    
    That old newfie fisherman was telling the Truth!
      
    
    Duncan