Great salmon trip

[The Bait Shop Guy]

I got to fish with Gary Tackman aboard the "SeeSwell" last night. Word among the fellow salmon guys we talked to in the harbor was not the most encouraging, but it was just too nice to not head out. We were set up well south of the Ford River Can by about 5pm. Water temps were in the upper 60's until you reached 70 ft, then it dropped into the 50's. Most of our fish came on riggers 80 to 110 down, and dipsys 200 feet back. This was the first time I've seen meat rigs in action! We ended up going 8 for 15, most of which came on the meat rigs. J-plugs also hooked (and lost,) a bunch of fish. Caught one and broke one off on a spoon off copper. Of course I had to lose the big fish of the night that hit a dipsy/flasher/fly right at dark. The fish burned off 400 feet of line on the first run! After 20 minutes, I was back to the 200 foot starting point, and the hook popped out! BUMMER!:mad: I would have REALLY liked to have seen that fish! Guess we all have our tail of "the big one that got away."

Thanks for taking me along, Gary! Can't wait to go again.

Here's a pic of the biggest one we managed to land - a 16 pounder.

[bayrunner71]

Chris: Great pic, sounds like a fun night on the water. Were you marking many bait fish?

[DooFighter]

Chris, glad to have you along, fun time for sure. Losing that big one was a heartbreaker. The look on your face, I thought you might cry. I'm glad you didn't, that would have been awkward.

:)

Seeing the meat actually work was a bit of a surprise to me, but, hey, meat's meat, fish gotta eat.

bayrunner, we did not mark much for bait.