Returning to Neah Bay...

:: Check out the slideshow ::

We’ve returned from another successful trip to Neah Bay and can’t believe how quickly the time flew by. Such a memorable trip though!

For the first time in Connor’s life, Patty fished with us in the ocean! We tried to remember the last time she fished in Neah Bay and it was before Connor was born. It’s truly amazing she’s made the turnaround she has. Her health over the past few years has been so poor and words can’t describe how excited we were to have her join us out there for a few days.

The Chinook (King) salmon eluded us, but they eluded everyone so we didn’t feel bad. The Coho (Silver) were fun to play. All in all, we wound up taking home 47 salmon, of that total only one nice Chinook that Brett managed to get out.

We switched things up a bit by mooching. For the mooching technique, you use plug cut herring and toss your line out and wait for the nibbles. Set the hook and reel them in. This was a fun change because the motor is off (when the tide is right) and you can hear everything around you. A pod of porpoises would appear right off the boat and entertain us for several minutes. I caught some video of it and will try to figure out how to get it online.

Our usual mode for salmon fishing is trolling. For bottom fishing we changed things slightly there as well. We did some casting and it was a blast. The sea bass were right on top in the surf and would “hop on” right away.

After a day of fishing we like to have a fish fry back at camp with the fresh bottom fish we’ve caught. We get the tempura and panko ready and fire up the deep fryer and then Brett cooks them until they’re golden brown and delicious. Out of this world!

We had a Morgan derby going too, for whoever caught the largest Coho, largest Chinook, and largest Lingcod. Brett won the largest salmon category and I won for the Ling.

Connor has really gotten good at ocean fishing. I have to remember he’s only ten and will be marveled at how well he catches fish. He’s following in the footsteps of his dad nicely.

We’re returning.

We want to come back in August and play the Cohos. We certainly don’t need the fish, but they’ll be even larger than what we had this month and maybe we can hook into more Chinook!

This August trip is not going to be all about the fishing. Nature hikes are going to dominate the adventure so we’ll fit in maybe 2 days of fishing. I hope to capture a lot of photos from this upcoming trip!

Below is a slideshow with music that I hope you enjoy. It was again, a truly memorable trip enjoyed by all and we feel so blessed to have had it!