http://www.times-standard.com/localsports/ci_10485280
A bucket full of 'butts
Casey Allen/For The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 09/17/2008 01:22:43 AM PDT
Reef Madness is home! Gene and Margaret Morris completed a 10 week, 2300 nautical mile cruise through the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska. Their 25 foot TomCat, built by C-Dory Marine, made a comfy home for the couple, their golden retriever, Dawson, and an occasional guest.
They caught fish, enjoyed endless scenery, and made many new friends.
Hans Gerstacker and I were especially happy to see Reef Madness home. Gene and Margaret invited us to join them for and afternoon of halibut fishing on North Bay last Sunday.
It was a reunion trip and no one really cared about catching fish. The important thing was catching up with each other.
As we cruised around Indian Island, I watched the live anchovies swimming around the bait well.
There was a light breeze coming out of the southwest and the incoming tide was a gentle, 3 foot change from low to high. In other words, conditions were excellent for catching Humboldt Bay halibut.
During our first drift, Margaret recounted the story of Marlene's 125 pound halibut, caught while visiting Elfin Cove, Alaska.
Margaret is a great story teller and had me laughing, “After Marlene had the fish beat and on the surface, Gene asked Marlene, what do you want to do with it?”
She then imitated Marlene with a squeaky voice, “I want to keep it, can I keep it?” “Then Gene said, okay, go get my gun. That's when pandemonium broke out. Oh no, not the gun,”
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Margaret continued, laughing.
She described the comic scene of Marlene trying to position the fish so Gene could shoot it in the head and then the sudden dead weight after. The fight continued between the girls and the dead halibut until they wrestled it to the swim deck and tied it down.
Then Gene took over describing how animated Marlene was when they reached the dock. “Everyone noticed something was going on and had to come see,” Gene said, “She was sure excited about that fish.”
The stories were interrupted on our third drift when Gene said, “make sure you have a lively anchovy on your hook. I would check it every 5 minutes and change it if needed.”
I always follow my guides advice and did have a fresh anchovy, collar hooked with a red, size 10 Gamakatzu hook. My half ounce weight was bouncing the bottom when I felt a sharp tap. I lowered my rod tip and reached out to give a little slack. When my line came tight with the first hint of weight, I struck. The fish took off on a long run.
My drag was set light and at first we thought it was a shark. But once I gained control and started pumping it to the boat, it acted more like a halibut. We all cheered when the greenish brown color showed below the boat.
Since the live well was full of bait we put the halibut in a 5 gallon bucket and cut its gills to bleed it.
Now the fishing caught our interest.
We motored to the top for another drift and I noticed Gene's GPS display. It tracked each drift we took, putting a red line on the chart screen. It looked like a bloody claw mark because with each new drift, Gene moved us over 20 yards. He was systematically covering the entire bottom of the channel without drifting over the same ground.
Margaret was telling me about fishing the Thorne River, on Prince of Wales Island, for pink salmon. They were fishing with local friends, Gary and Candee Mooslin, who commercial fish from their motor-sailer, Blue Dolphin.
The river was full of fish and everyone was sorry they forgot their mosquito repellant.
Gene, Gary and Candee were catching salmon on lures but Margaret could not get one to take her fly, an egg sucking leech.
”Did you try any other flies?” I asked.
As Margaret started to answer, Hans rod bent over with a fish. Hans grabbed it out of the rod holder and yelled, “fish on.”
It looked like Hans had hooked a big fish, but it turned out his rod was more limber than it looked. When he finally worked the flatfish to the boat, the halibut was smaller than mine, but still legal. Soon, we had 2 fish in the bucket.
”These fish are fun on light tackle,” Hans observed.
Gene plugged his digital movie camera into his GPS unit and called us into the cabin to watch a home movie from Alaska.
I was amazed at the versatility of his electronics made by Garmin. The scene was a battle with a 30 pound halibut Marlene had hooked. With the fish along side, Margaret leaned over the side to gaff it.
She had a short bat with a gaff on the end. Margaret got the gaff into the halibut and tried to pull it over the gunwale, but it slipped off the gaff and back into the water. It was still hooked so Marlene maneuvered it into position for another try. Margaret stuck it again, and again it slipped free.
In fact, it slipped free again and again and again. It finally got mad and dove for the bottom, but Marlene pumped it back to the top to give Margaret another try.
She stuck the gaff in halibut's head and pulled on the fish.
The head reached the rail and seemed to stick. Watching the video, we were all rooting Margaret on, “pull that fish over the rail, come on, come on, you can do it.”
We cheered as the halibut finally disappear into the boat.
Shortly after, Hans rod went off again, sitting in the rod holder. By that time we were all giddy, cracking jokes, and having too much fun. Hans battled the biggest fish of the day to the boat and when we finally untangled it from the net, Margaret prepared to take some pictures.
It was easy for Hans to smile at the camera, because Margaret backed up to frame the photo and almost fell overboard.
”Oh Margaret, that would have made good reading in my column,” I teased. “I guess we should be careful of who we invite fishing,” she jabbed back. Hans' fish was placed in the 5 gallon bucket and the talk turned to meeting for fresh halibut dinner.
”Yeah, we've got a bucket of 'butts,” Margaret quipped. “Gee Margaret,” I answered, “thanks for writing my column.”
Welcome home, Reef Madness.
Casey Allen is a North Coast outdoors freelance writer and can be reached at longfish@humboldt1.com.
A bucket full of 'butts
Casey Allen/For The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 09/17/2008 01:22:43 AM PDT
Reef Madness is home! Gene and Margaret Morris completed a 10 week, 2300 nautical mile cruise through the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska. Their 25 foot TomCat, built by C-Dory Marine, made a comfy home for the couple, their golden retriever, Dawson, and an occasional guest.
They caught fish, enjoyed endless scenery, and made many new friends.
Hans Gerstacker and I were especially happy to see Reef Madness home. Gene and Margaret invited us to join them for and afternoon of halibut fishing on North Bay last Sunday.
It was a reunion trip and no one really cared about catching fish. The important thing was catching up with each other.
As we cruised around Indian Island, I watched the live anchovies swimming around the bait well.
There was a light breeze coming out of the southwest and the incoming tide was a gentle, 3 foot change from low to high. In other words, conditions were excellent for catching Humboldt Bay halibut.
During our first drift, Margaret recounted the story of Marlene's 125 pound halibut, caught while visiting Elfin Cove, Alaska.
Margaret is a great story teller and had me laughing, “After Marlene had the fish beat and on the surface, Gene asked Marlene, what do you want to do with it?”
She then imitated Marlene with a squeaky voice, “I want to keep it, can I keep it?” “Then Gene said, okay, go get my gun. That's when pandemonium broke out. Oh no, not the gun,”
Advertisement
Click Here!
Margaret continued, laughing.
She described the comic scene of Marlene trying to position the fish so Gene could shoot it in the head and then the sudden dead weight after. The fight continued between the girls and the dead halibut until they wrestled it to the swim deck and tied it down.
Then Gene took over describing how animated Marlene was when they reached the dock. “Everyone noticed something was going on and had to come see,” Gene said, “She was sure excited about that fish.”
The stories were interrupted on our third drift when Gene said, “make sure you have a lively anchovy on your hook. I would check it every 5 minutes and change it if needed.”
I always follow my guides advice and did have a fresh anchovy, collar hooked with a red, size 10 Gamakatzu hook. My half ounce weight was bouncing the bottom when I felt a sharp tap. I lowered my rod tip and reached out to give a little slack. When my line came tight with the first hint of weight, I struck. The fish took off on a long run.
My drag was set light and at first we thought it was a shark. But once I gained control and started pumping it to the boat, it acted more like a halibut. We all cheered when the greenish brown color showed below the boat.
Since the live well was full of bait we put the halibut in a 5 gallon bucket and cut its gills to bleed it.
Now the fishing caught our interest.
We motored to the top for another drift and I noticed Gene's GPS display. It tracked each drift we took, putting a red line on the chart screen. It looked like a bloody claw mark because with each new drift, Gene moved us over 20 yards. He was systematically covering the entire bottom of the channel without drifting over the same ground.
Margaret was telling me about fishing the Thorne River, on Prince of Wales Island, for pink salmon. They were fishing with local friends, Gary and Candee Mooslin, who commercial fish from their motor-sailer, Blue Dolphin.
The river was full of fish and everyone was sorry they forgot their mosquito repellant.
Gene, Gary and Candee were catching salmon on lures but Margaret could not get one to take her fly, an egg sucking leech.
”Did you try any other flies?” I asked.
As Margaret started to answer, Hans rod bent over with a fish. Hans grabbed it out of the rod holder and yelled, “fish on.”
It looked like Hans had hooked a big fish, but it turned out his rod was more limber than it looked. When he finally worked the flatfish to the boat, the halibut was smaller than mine, but still legal. Soon, we had 2 fish in the bucket.
”These fish are fun on light tackle,” Hans observed.
Gene plugged his digital movie camera into his GPS unit and called us into the cabin to watch a home movie from Alaska.
I was amazed at the versatility of his electronics made by Garmin. The scene was a battle with a 30 pound halibut Marlene had hooked. With the fish along side, Margaret leaned over the side to gaff it.
She had a short bat with a gaff on the end. Margaret got the gaff into the halibut and tried to pull it over the gunwale, but it slipped off the gaff and back into the water. It was still hooked so Marlene maneuvered it into position for another try. Margaret stuck it again, and again it slipped free.
In fact, it slipped free again and again and again. It finally got mad and dove for the bottom, but Marlene pumped it back to the top to give Margaret another try.
She stuck the gaff in halibut's head and pulled on the fish.
The head reached the rail and seemed to stick. Watching the video, we were all rooting Margaret on, “pull that fish over the rail, come on, come on, you can do it.”
We cheered as the halibut finally disappear into the boat.
Shortly after, Hans rod went off again, sitting in the rod holder. By that time we were all giddy, cracking jokes, and having too much fun. Hans battled the biggest fish of the day to the boat and when we finally untangled it from the net, Margaret prepared to take some pictures.
It was easy for Hans to smile at the camera, because Margaret backed up to frame the photo and almost fell overboard.
”Oh Margaret, that would have made good reading in my column,” I teased. “I guess we should be careful of who we invite fishing,” she jabbed back. Hans' fish was placed in the 5 gallon bucket and the talk turned to meeting for fresh halibut dinner.
”Yeah, we've got a bucket of 'butts,” Margaret quipped. “Gee Margaret,” I answered, “thanks for writing my column.”
Welcome home, Reef Madness.
Casey Allen is a North Coast outdoors freelance writer and can be reached at longfish@humboldt1.com.