09-29-2002, 06:04 AM
Monday
I've been fishing salmon for over a year now. I don't have a boat, so I'm relegated to fishing from shore during the fall and wading in the surf in the spring. I've hooked one, the first time I went out last year. I've gone out several times this year and frankly was ready to call it quits. I'd gotten sick of putting money and time into fishing for something that I wasn't even getting strikes; fishing for 5 hours and not getting a single hit is extremely discouraging.
Well, I persevered and got rewarded! I caught my first ever salmon off the wall at Port Austin on Monday (9/23/02) afternoon - a 32" long, 10 pound female, nice and silver.
However, I went for a walk down the pier and hooked into another one not 1/2 hour later. Unfortunately, I didn't check my snap swivel after the first fish. It must've either gotten bent or unhooked somehow, as the fish took my lure, but I had my swivel still on with an open snap on the end. Good thing I had another of those lures. I figure it must've been unsnapped or something, as the fish wasn't even taking line when it came off.
I fished for a while longer, then got another fish. This was a 27", 7 pound male, also pretty fresh.
Later on about 9:00, I caught still another one, a 26", 6 pound male that was the darkest of the 3, but still pretty nice. He hit right next to the wall; not 10 yards out. This one had his jaw stapled shut with my back treble hook- one side of the hook in the bottom, the other side in the top. He couldn't open or shut his mouth, which made getting him off fun. (His mouth was stuck about 1/8" open.)
Strange though that my dad was fishing right next to me, using the exact same lure, the same line, and even the same rod and he didn't even get a strike. We left about 9:45 or so.
The first time I've managed to catch a single salmon, I limited out!
Friday
My father and I were ready to head back home right away without fishing. We'd stopped before our normal fishing spot and had taken about 1/2 dozen casts, but the lures were full of weeds as soon as it hit the water. Couldn't even float spawn there were so many! We could've gone out farther, but the waves were bad. Very bad. And very wet. The top of the wall is about 12 feet off the water; the waves were splashing far over my head (I'm 6'7" tall). There were 3 dudes out on the end when we got there. They came back while we were there; all were soaked to the bone. One had a steelhead, don't know how large. The end was fairly sheltered and dry, but getting *to* the end was the tricky part.
On the way back into the parking lot, we saw a buddy of mine and he showed us where to fish out of the wind in the river. I put on the plug (fire tiger) that I caught my 9 pound walleye on last fall, thinking it might still work it's magic. Boy, did it ever! About 5 minutes went by when I hooked my first one. Had it on for maybe 30 seconds before it spit the hook. (It was right in front of my buddy thrashing around; he said it looked nice and silver, but was hooked in the lower jaw.) Had several more strikes without hooking up, then got another one for about 2-3 seconds; he threw the hook right away.
My dad put on my spare plug like that and hooked one 9 pound male. Almost got tangled up in the boat, but he managed to hold it. Got it in, but it was hooked about 3" up from the tail. He got his first salmon, even though he did kick it back (after pictures of course).
I then hooked another fish about 3-4 feet off shore that jumped right away. It hit the water, rolled a few times, and came off. Then, it jumped out again and started laughing at me. 15 seconds later, he jumped out and thumbed his nose at me. The third time he jumped out to say goodbye, I flipped him off and told him to go spawn, only not as politely.
Had about half a dozen fish on, but landed none. I also had maybe a dozen other hits. My dad had 2 or 3 on, but only landed the one that was snagged; he had maybe a dozen other hits that didn't materialize as well.
The fish turned off shortly after dark. We left about 9:30. A few other fish were landed, including two by spawn fishermen; at least one of which was snagged.
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I've been fishing salmon for over a year now. I don't have a boat, so I'm relegated to fishing from shore during the fall and wading in the surf in the spring. I've hooked one, the first time I went out last year. I've gone out several times this year and frankly was ready to call it quits. I'd gotten sick of putting money and time into fishing for something that I wasn't even getting strikes; fishing for 5 hours and not getting a single hit is extremely discouraging.
Well, I persevered and got rewarded! I caught my first ever salmon off the wall at Port Austin on Monday (9/23/02) afternoon - a 32" long, 10 pound female, nice and silver.
However, I went for a walk down the pier and hooked into another one not 1/2 hour later. Unfortunately, I didn't check my snap swivel after the first fish. It must've either gotten bent or unhooked somehow, as the fish took my lure, but I had my swivel still on with an open snap on the end. Good thing I had another of those lures. I figure it must've been unsnapped or something, as the fish wasn't even taking line when it came off.
I fished for a while longer, then got another fish. This was a 27", 7 pound male, also pretty fresh.
Later on about 9:00, I caught still another one, a 26", 6 pound male that was the darkest of the 3, but still pretty nice. He hit right next to the wall; not 10 yards out. This one had his jaw stapled shut with my back treble hook- one side of the hook in the bottom, the other side in the top. He couldn't open or shut his mouth, which made getting him off fun. (His mouth was stuck about 1/8" open.)
Strange though that my dad was fishing right next to me, using the exact same lure, the same line, and even the same rod and he didn't even get a strike. We left about 9:45 or so.
The first time I've managed to catch a single salmon, I limited out!
Friday
My father and I were ready to head back home right away without fishing. We'd stopped before our normal fishing spot and had taken about 1/2 dozen casts, but the lures were full of weeds as soon as it hit the water. Couldn't even float spawn there were so many! We could've gone out farther, but the waves were bad. Very bad. And very wet. The top of the wall is about 12 feet off the water; the waves were splashing far over my head (I'm 6'7" tall). There were 3 dudes out on the end when we got there. They came back while we were there; all were soaked to the bone. One had a steelhead, don't know how large. The end was fairly sheltered and dry, but getting *to* the end was the tricky part.
On the way back into the parking lot, we saw a buddy of mine and he showed us where to fish out of the wind in the river. I put on the plug (fire tiger) that I caught my 9 pound walleye on last fall, thinking it might still work it's magic. Boy, did it ever! About 5 minutes went by when I hooked my first one. Had it on for maybe 30 seconds before it spit the hook. (It was right in front of my buddy thrashing around; he said it looked nice and silver, but was hooked in the lower jaw.) Had several more strikes without hooking up, then got another one for about 2-3 seconds; he threw the hook right away.
My dad put on my spare plug like that and hooked one 9 pound male. Almost got tangled up in the boat, but he managed to hold it. Got it in, but it was hooked about 3" up from the tail. He got his first salmon, even though he did kick it back (after pictures of course).
I then hooked another fish about 3-4 feet off shore that jumped right away. It hit the water, rolled a few times, and came off. Then, it jumped out again and started laughing at me. 15 seconds later, he jumped out and thumbed his nose at me. The third time he jumped out to say goodbye, I flipped him off and told him to go spawn, only not as politely.
Had about half a dozen fish on, but landed none. I also had maybe a dozen other hits. My dad had 2 or 3 on, but only landed the one that was snagged; he had maybe a dozen other hits that didn't materialize as well.
The fish turned off shortly after dark. We left about 9:30. A few other fish were landed, including two by spawn fishermen; at least one of which was snagged.
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