Sekui / Neah Bay report

[Beartrack]

Got back yesterday morning with 2 friends from fishing Sekui Saturday for salmon and halibut, and offshore in Canadian waters for Halibut on Sunday and Monday (28 or 29 miles out since the Canadian Online license has a closure for the Canadian part of Swiftsure.)

Long story short: mediocre

Sekui: despite the optimistic Olson's online report, and gleaming reports when I called them, when we got there everyone but Olson's said it was slow overall. Saturday between sunrise and sunset non-stop we only boated a half dozen salmon or so, all 8 pounds or smaller and mostly pinks. We tried in front of Sekui, Slip Point, Pillar Point and the section just East of slip point (can't remember the name right now), as well as out in the shipping lanes. No Kings hooked except 1 native one we release which was our 8-pound fish. All the rest were 2-4 pounds, silvers and pinks. Regardless of species, and whether it was cloudy or when it cleared up, we seemed to do the best on cop car colored lures of just about any type... we tried Coho Killers, Coyotes in 2 sizes, and a ProTroll Sting King (like an Apex.) We also caught a couple on a purple haze UV Sonic Edge. Also, I did hook one very, very impressive likely halibut/possibly skate? at Pillar Point in 170 feet of water that must have been simply put, huge. After 30 minutes of putting a ton of pressure on that fish, the most I'd gained (and in turn lost again repeatedly) was 8 or at most 10 feet of spider wire... and then after 30 minutes my leader broke.
Side Note: I also talked with Mike at Ted's Sport Center in Lynnwood today and he too had heard numerous reports of it slowing down at Sekui this past week so I guess I wasn't alone there...

Sunday we towed the boat up to Neah Bay not realizing it was closed on Sunday's and Monday's to salmon and we apparently were not alone in that... found a couple that had been staying and fishing up there a month straight that was just pulling out of the water from their final day of salmon fishing... said it had really slowed down after the rain there too, but that they'd finally found the fish. They were on the seaward side of the whistler buoy off of Tatoosh / Duncan Rock. Got ready to go, and then heard at Big Salmon that the salmon were closed that day and the next. So change of plans: got our Canadian Halibut online licenses and went looking for halibut as the motor was running relatively ok, and I've been wanting for years to finally get into some really good halibut fishing. We motored out but although we had the GPS coordinates we found we were severely hampered in figuring out how to fish the hole because my Garmin 178C had no bottom contour data, only the GPS top down map and depth sound capabilities... I'd ordered the G2 chip for it last Monday on eBay overnight delivery and by Friday when I'd left it still hadn't arrived - and Big Salmon was sold out of the maps. ARGH. So we wasted probably half our time plus on both days (Sunday and Monday) motoring around in very, very rough water trying to figure out the lay of the hole. Between Sunday and Monday we did manage 1 Pacific Cod and 7 halibut -but 6 were VERY, VERY small (2 to 6 pounds) and the last one was 20 or 30 pounds. I landed that one and for a fish it's size put up a big and fiesty fight from the time it was hooked right up to the boat - sure didn't expect that. But the water was very rough, in fact it was probably 14 foot swells with a tight period plus 6 foot chop and 25 mph winds on Monday afternoon. Took 5 hours to get out there and a good 3 to get in, pushing it on the way back with the wind at our tail. Good fun but I would NOT go back out there in those types of seas again, that's for sure. But the boat did well and the motor held up; with some engine cleaner in there it's been slowly getting a bit better.

Now for the VERY interesting news though (saved the best for last): about 20 to 22 miles out, both days, we started pinging a LOT! LOT! LOT! of what I am assuming were Chinook! The fish were all in 110 to 140 feet of water and the numbers were VERY impressive. Also saw a number of silvers jump - in fact we almost got one while coming in right in the back of the boat Sunday, and another that almost hit the bow rail coming back Saturday evening. It was very funny. But if I were targeting Chinook, I know the first place I'd try! If any of you are headed out there, PM me and I'll dig up some GPS coordinates for where we spotted the schooling action going on.

We also ran into a large batch of krill right at the surface just NE of Pillar point, and the stomachs of one of the fish (the only one we checked) from the Canadian offshore spot was FULL of them as well.

Hope the info helps someone headed out that way!

[Squarehead]

Thanks for the report, makes me feel better that I had to cancel my last weekend Sekiu plans (that & the fact that I got a nice King during my closer to home run over to Pt Defiance on Sun

[Beartrack]

Just got back Wednesday morning from 5 more days at Neah Bay. Eventful trip!

Still working out some kinks with the Dory - needs a power tilt seal apparently... hmmm.

In any case, on to the fishing report! We fished halibut off shore in Canadian waters at the "Sock" and 2 places just a bit farther out on day 1: we were about 29 miles out. Results: 1 nice halibut about 40 pounds, 1 nice ling around 20 and a number of very small halibut. LOTS of bait (krill and herring, etc.) in the water and lots of whales and porpoise around and the porpoise seemed entranced by the boat. Several got within 15 feet, going VERY fast. Got a very nice canary, promptly released as required (darn.) Saw an unbelievable number of salmon everywhere offshore.
Day 2: stayed in close to shore down to fish salmon toward Umtilla Reef south of Tatoosh a few miles after getting a tip from Rogerbum (thanks Roger and great meeting you!) so that my friends kids could come out. Result: limits on coho
Day 3: spent part of the day very close just monkeying around waiting for my buddy to wake up and get to the dock. Mainly trolled for an hour or so West of Tatoosh for Kings. Only got a large pink salmon but not much else. Then went in and got my buddy. We goofed around locally and picked up some more salmon.
Day 4: back offshore, this time to the Canadian Blue Dot for halibut. Result: nothing but a very small halibut landed, however I hooked (very briefly) about a 5 or 6 foot 7-gill shark which was cruising the surface by throwing on a pacific Mackerel for bait which I'd caught earlier. Short experience but very fun. Also on the way out we encounterd a number of whales and when coasting to a stop, one startled the bejeebers out of us. As I sat there in nuetral and we were looking around for where they went one came under the boat and surfaced about 12 or 15 feet from us - could easily have flipped us with his tail I'm guessing. Sure never anticipated THAT! Got the heck outa there. Also my buddy caught a several pound tuna on a Point Wilson dart. The offshore fish, whale, porpoise and even birds seem to be simply gorging themselves on the krill out there... ran into 1 slick approximately 1 1/2 to 2 miles long - never seen anything like it. Saw 1 seagull so full that as we pulled up to 1 bait ball it couldn't even fly away.
Day 5: I fished solo down by Umtilla again about 3 or 4 miles out then for a short while at Umtilla for bottom fish. Result: again lots of native fish plus some hatchery. 1 pink, 1 nice Coho, other Coho (hatchery and wild both) released. Got a nice cabezon at Umtilla, lost another at the boat and lost 2 lings, and all the bottom fishing was in an hour or so for lack of time. Then headed back to the dock and home.

All in all a very exciting trip. Synopsis for salmon: the vast majority are still offshore eating krill and very, very large horse herring. The highest concentrations of salmon seem to be 12-30 miles out. Kings just started rolling in in big numbers Saturday or so for the commercial guys too with a large number of 30 to 40 pounders. Closer to shore there are fewer fish, especially good south of Tatoosh several miles and they can be caught with reasonable frequency 2-4 miles from shore in good enough numbers to scrounge together a limit. Though I used coho killers in about any color and same for any size and color of Coyote (all worked), they are in such a feeding frenzy when you find them I think you could tie on the leg of a wooden chair and still catch them... in fact twice I watched them come up and hit small sticks on the surface that were floating next to the boat! Lots of action and the biggest problem is trying to get through the silvers and pinks in the areas I mentioned to try and troll for the kings. Especially offshore farther. I'd have to say given their distance off shore, they will be there available for several weeks of fishing, especially the Coho and Pinks. I know Rogerbum is still up there and is online almost daily. Big Salmon may have put up wireless as I know he was able to connect from the boat. So you could probably ping him for the latest too.

Synopsis for Halibut: with the very big minus tides right now, even the charter boats are taking a very long time and long runs to get their fish. I know that one of the most respected boats out there the other day took with 12 fishermen on board 2 1/2 hours to land their first halibut of the day. Need to wait for more reasonable tides I think when the fish will be traveling around more on the flats looking for more feed during the days when there is less water exchange going on.

Anyway, hope the info helps someone with their fishing plans!

[gljjr]

Great report! Sounds like you are getting good use of the new boat!

[starcrafttom]

nice report. all that krill will mean bigger pinks and coho this year when they get here. We had a big whale go under the boat while trolling off of ucluelet b.c. last year. It gives you a weird feeling all right. Thanks for the report.