One Fish, Two Fish, Another Fish...

I went salmon fishing with my son! He called on Wednesday and asked if I wanted to go salmon fishing on Sunday. He has a neighbor who has a boat, loves to fish but is allergic to anything with fins! I have not been fishing for years so I immediately agreed. I went down and bought my Seniors Tidewater Fishing License for $19 and drove down to Brooks' on Saturday afternoon. We went to bed early after setting our alarms for 4:45 AM.

I actually woke up before the alarm went off and heard Brooks in the kitchen making breakfast and lunches. We drove to Grant's, hooked the boat trailer to the truck and we were at the ramp on the west coast of Vancouver Island near Sooke and across from Port Angeles, WA by 7:00 AM.

The pink salmon were running and that was what we were after. They do not make that great eating fresh or frozen but are really good smoked and Brooks likes to smoke them in his hi tech smoker that Linda bought him last year. He really does a good job.

We quickly went to a spot where they knew there would be fish and dropped our three sets of gear. We got a hit almost immediately and Brooks pulled in a nice four or five pound pink! The next hit was mine and soon the pink was joined by a very nice Sockeye! This guy was not going into the smoker!

We were allowed four salmon each and by about 2:00 PM we had nine on ice. We thought we could pick up another three trolling our way back to the boat launch but by then the fish had gone for their afternoon nap and were no longer biting.

During the afternoon we had hooked and lost a huge Chinook salmon twice. That would have made our day as Grant figured it was probably thirty pounds or so! The first time we hooked it, I grabbed the rod and the fish made a run straight down. I was too slow releasing the tension in the line and it was gone! I noticed the disapproving look in Grant's eye and he was very vocal in his disappointment that "we" had lost the prize! A few minutes later it hit again and I stepped back and let Grant try his luck. He held onto it a little longer than me but the inevitable happened and it escaped from him as well.

We headed home, cleaned the fish and Linda made a huge batch of delicious sushi with the just caught (raw) Sockeye. It was delicious and I ate way more than my share! I was exhausted after the early morning and long day on the water so it was not long before I went to bed.

This morning we got up and after raiding Brooks and Linda's "burn pile" for usable cedar pieces (I managed to fill the Honda) I followed them to their current job site where they are erecting an eight foot high fence for a very charming lady! It is a beautifully made, very heavy duty fence that will offer privacy and noise protection from the road in front. They should put a photo of it on their website. I am sure it would bring in some work for them, although they seem to be pretty busy lately.

It was a great weekend and now I am back home in front of the TV. Norma spent the weekend working in her flower garden and bossing the lawn guy around who she kept for an extra few hours moving rocks for her. She enjoyed her weekend as well!