Had to return to Neah Bay to pick up my boat. I was joined on the trip by David (colvosview) on the way to Neah Bay and we were met in the early AM on Sat. by Peter (C-Dancer). David and I wound up leaving Fri. afternoon and got to Neah in time for a brief (45min) fish Fri. just outside of Waddah. Not much on the finder, no hits, no runs, no errors. From talking to the guys at Big Salmon, the situation remains much the same as a week ago (with the exception that you can no longer keep kings on the inside). That is, coho inside the straits are spotty but can be found. Table top and Umatilla reef are producing more consistently. So we made a plan to go out to Table Top first thing on Sat AM. That evening I confidently indicated that we'd get our fish tomorrow. David responded with "I hope so" and I indicated that the was no hoping involved - it WOULD happen. He asked how I could be so sure and I said "Because I ALWAYS get my fish". This obvious bragging/bravado on the outside was coupled with a tiny bit of doubt on the inside as the truth is, I almost always get fish out there but have had some bad days too. None-the-less, I pretended to be 100% confident for the fun of it. I told him we'd be back on the docks by noon with our limits of salmon. Went to sleep hoping that was the case Ermm.
Off the dock around 5:10AM. Ran out to Table Top (8 miles WSW of Tatoosh). Water was a little rough in the straits (5-6 swells with a little wind chop) so the run (in my C-Dory) was done at about 12kts. Got to Table Top and fished my usual favorite area there - the NW quarter at 400-600' on the edge of the canyon. Arrived at table top about 6:15/6:30. As is typical this time of year, the water was nicer outside the strait than inside. Swells were 4-5', 8s not much wind waves. Visibility ranged from 100yds to a mile or 2 but was mostly in the few 100 yd. range.
We had a few hits and the early fish were mostly either not hooked up or lost prior to the boat. Lost one fish that was probably a 15#+ (I'm guessing 20-25) king based on the very long run it took stripping line off a fairly tight drag. When it turned to come back, my instructions of "reel for all your worth", weren't acted upon with quite the vigor required. A couple of others were lost in hand offs from one to the other that were done prior to taking out the slack. David had good intentions in the hand off, but the execution necessary to keep the fish hooked up wasn't there. After a bit off instruction and avoiding the temptation to turn into Tred Barta, the percentage of fish brought to the boat got better. Still, fishing at Table Top was OK but by 8/8:30 we had only landed about 5-6 fish and only had one in the box. We also had picked up a few shakers. It was going to be tough to get back to the dock with limits by noon at this rate.
Picked up and decided to run down toawards Umatilla Reef - Umatilla has been a bit more consistent recently and that's where most of the charters have been going. In addition to fairly reliable salmon fishing, the charters run there since the bottom fishing off of Cape Alva is excellent and they are often running salmon/bottom fishing combo trips. About half way between Table Top and Umatilla Reef is a spot known as Limp Spot. It's a phallic shaped (yes limp) 600' shelf off the east edge of the 1100' deep canyon that runs from the W end of the entrance to the straits down to Umatilla reef at the south. I'm not certain if it was named Limp Spot due to the shape of the 600' contour when the map is oriented north or for some other reason, but I'm guessing Freud would have something to say about me noticing the correlation between the name and the spot on the map. Limp Spot can be good at times so I decided to stop and try there for awhile before committing to Umatilla Reef. Fishing was better there and we probably caught 15 or so fish in the next 2.5hours to fill out our salmon limits. Total kept were 5 hatchery coho and one hatchery king. The king was small - about 9 lbs. A couple of the coho were small 3-4 lbs. The others were about 5-6 with one around 9. I got lucky on the silvers landing the 9lb and a 6. So we had our limits and would be back on the dock by 12:15/12:30 - a little later than I had originally predicted but close enough to still look good. Of course, I had to point out that I said we would get our limits and we did because.... "I always get my fish".... As they said in the A-team, "I like it when a plan comes together". I think David and Peter had a good time and we all learned a bit from each other.
On the way in, the CG relayed a marine assistance request. A "24' Green hardtop boat was adrift without power 10 miles west of Tatoosh" and they wanted some help locating it and perhaps giving it a tow back in. I was on my way in an interested in getting home but my consceince wouldn't let me just leave. So I responded that I could potentially help as I was about 3 miles SW of Tatoosh at the time. However, I indicated that visibility was only a few 100 yds and that to find someone with the description of simply "10W of Tatoosh" would be nearly impossible. I had plenty of fuel for a run out and a tow back in with plenty to spare, but not enough for a several hour search. I asked for better coordinates. The CG indicated that the boat was also having radio troubles but that he woud try to get coordinates. I was asked to stand by. I started heading west at a slow but reasonabe pace.
10-15 mins passed and I asked the CG if the vessel adrift knew what depth water they were in. I was guessing they were on Table Top and if they were roughyl where they said and in anything less than 600' of water the had to be a Table Top. Another 10 minutes passed (all the time I'm burning my fuel heading west to help these guys). The CG came back with GPS coordinates. Apparently the guy had a GPS but didn't know how to use it (it's not that complicated for christ sake). I was passed coordinates and was told now that he was about 3 miles S of Tatoosh. That's good, not too far from where I just was 20 mins ago but easy for me to get to. I stopped and cursored around on my GPS to the specified coordinates. I kept having to move the cursor further and futher E - across dry land until the cursor wound up..... wait for it........
....
IN THE MIDDLE OF NEAH BAY in FRONT OF THE NEAH CG station!
I called the CG back and asked them to confirm the coordinates on plot them on a map at station as the description of alleged position of the boat and the GPS coordinates did not jive (I still wonder why the CG didn't plot them out prior to passing them to me as they would have discovered this more quickly than me). About 5 mins later, I was told to "stand down" as Neah Bay CG had located the vessel. So I turned to run in to the dock. I had only wasted about 40-45 mins on this. The run in was fast going (with the swells is easier), so I ran in at an average of 18-20kts. As I rounded Waddah, I saw the CG RIB with the boat in tow. A 24' Wellcraft with a green bimini top. They had just entered the bay. From the speed of the tow and my speed, I'm estimating that they were in fact a few miles W of Waddah and a few miles E of Tatoosh - e.g. they were not any where's close to any of the 3 different positions they passed to the CG.
I got my fish cleaned up and vacuum packed and went to load the boat up at the ramp. The Wellcraft (Wellcrapped in this particular case) was there. Main was an I/O, the kicker was a small Star-somethin outboard, vintage 1970 (1960?). They pulled their boat out and put it back in about 3-4 times trying to get it on the trailer properly. On a least 2 or those attempts, it appeared that a long extension cord was hanging from the hood of the Jeep Cherokee they were using to tow it and a heavy set guy in his 50's was running up and down the ramp along side holding onto the cord. WTF???? On the dash of the boat, a relatively recent model Garmin hand-held GPS was mounted (looked like a GPS 76). I asked them were they actually were found and indicated that I spent about 45 mins looking for them. They indicated that they were a few miles W of Tatoosh. Still wrong, didn't say thanks.... They eventually hopped in the car (that was underpowered to tow a 24' boat) and drove off - they appeared to have beer in their hands on the way out of town. As safe on the road as on the water. I wound up behind them on the road and passed them prior to Crescent Lake. I didn't want to be behind them for long. Idiots!:amgry
Moral - if you don't know how to use your GPS and report your position to the CG, please learn to do so now....
The most valuable lesson I learned, NO SLACK in the line at all times. It was also great sharing time on the water with David.