A Little Fishing in the Northwest

School has started, and I just returned from the Pacific Northwest! It was a family vacation, so while I may not have gotten as much fishing in as I would have liked to, I still found some time to dip a line. I was so excited, because every fish I caught would be a new species!

The first day, after getting off the plane in Tacoma, we met up with some friends from my parent's college. They fished a little, so I headed to Gig Harbor for some fish. I tried vertical jigging, but I kept getting short strikes, and the smaller jig didn't sink fast enough in 70+ feet of water. So I decided to do what the locals (the friends) did: I would grab a handful of tube worms from underneath the dock, cut the tubes open, and bottom fish with a piece of tube worm. With this method, I was pulling up pacific staghorn sculpin within minutes.

They're actually quite pretty, with an orange glow.
I also pulled up a tiny Dungeness crab and a little rock sole.

Then I hooked into a fish with a bit more weight to it, and brought in my new PB staghorn sculpin.

The second day we headed to Olympic National Park, hiked a few miles, and headed over to Crescent  Lake, a breathtaking lake with breathtaking fish.

There are only two types of fish here, both found nowhere else in the world: the Beardslee rainbow trout and the Crescenti cutthroat trout. The fishing was challenging but rewarding, with me hooking 4 and landing two Beardslee trout. The ranger at the station said I was very lucky, because these fish
are usually picky.
                 

Me fishing at Crescent Lake

This photo was taken mid-flop!

                           

The only photo that does any justice to the colors of these fish

I was really hoping for a cutthroat, but I'm guessing they're not as plentiful. There were three other guys fishing, and they didn't catch a thing. All of my fish were caught with a kastmaster in 6-10 feet of water.

The third day of the trip, there was the Sol Duc River behind the B&B. I went at 6 in the morning to see what I could catch. There was plenty of baby salmonids, but I have yet to acquire micro hooks, so attempts at those were fruitless. However, I discovered plenty of riffle sculpins under every rock with a crevice. These were easily enticed with a piece of worm.

After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the Hoh Rainforest and the Hoh River. Unfortunately, I got skunked at the river. To make it even more devastating, I had hooked a cutthroat, 2 bull trout, and a salmon. And I didn't land a single one. I, to say the least, was pretty pissed. 

Getting skunked at the Hoh River

Then my family and I headed over to Rialto Beach, where we viewed tide pools and big cliffs. I spent  an hour trying to catch a goby in the tide pools. I even hooked the same silly goby three times. But, it also fell off the hook promptly after exiting the water three times, sooo... That kinda was a bummer. 

The next day started off  with me catching more sculpin in the morning. It's really fun to see sculpin pop out of their holes and completely smash (in micro fish terms) your bait. This time, however, I landed a different species, the torrent sculpin.

We traveled to another beach, this time without many tide pools. It was extremely foggy, and I saw a guy catching surfperch, but I didn't have the right tackle. Then we stopped by the Lower Queets River, where I would fish and my family would eat lunch. The river was shallow but gorgeous. Using a kastmaster, I hooked and landed 3 silvery rainbow trout. 

At the end my sister and I took a swim in Quinalt Lake, which has rainbow trout, but requires an Indian reservation fishing license to fish. Overall it was a relaxing day without too much driving.  

The fifth day we started out hiking on the north side of Quinalt Lake. Then we went to the Nisqually River Watershed. I tried fishing, but all I got was a bite from a sculpin. I was really hoping for a shiner perch, but it wasn't my day. After that, we went the the watershed's wildlife refuge, where we took a four mile boardwalk and saw a harbor seal, which was pretty cool since I've never seen a seal in the wild! 

On the sixth day of our vacation I didn't get to fish, but we visited Mt. Rainier National Park, which is one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been in. We took a long steep hike up alpine meadows, waterfalls, glaciers, and wildlife from butterflies to marmots to deer.

Me with my beloved (and mildly annoying) little sister

The seventh day was spent in downtown Seattle. We went to the Space Needle, visited museums, and ate good food. Other than that, there isn't much.

The eighth day we spent at North Cascades Natn'l Park. It was cool, but less impressive than some of the other parks. I fished in Diablo Lake without as much as a sniff. 

The ninth day was in Vancouver, and the tenth we took a ferry to Victoria Island. I love Victoria Island. The scenery was beautiful, the people were nice, and there was a lot of harbors where I could fish! I checked out 2 while my family went to view shops and attractions. The first one I stopped at almost instantly gave me a tiny 

Dungeness crab.

 I kept getting my worm stolen, so I used a tiny hook. Even then it was hard to catch the bait napper, who happened to be my lifer Shiner Perch!

 I moved to shallow water and caught another under the fish cleaning station.

These fish are skilled at cleaning hooks. There was this much perch and I caught two in an hour.

At another harbor, I hooked a very large red rock crab and also caught my lifer snake prickleback, which I only caught one of. 

This fish was surprisingly colorful

The next day, we took a ferry back to America, went to deception pass, and drove back to Tacoma.

It was a great trip, one that I won't forget for a lifetime. But, I must return...

Personalization

I thought I would just put this up for fun. I personalized my new fly gear!

I did this via woodburning. You basically burn a design into wood, or in my case, cork. The fish there is a brown trout, because they're one of my favorite fish. They fight hard, are absolutely beautiful, and taste great. Also, they kinda were responsible for the whole fly fishing thing, so I thought I'd give them credit. :)

Trying Out My Fly Gear

Hooray! Yesterday I got my fly gear in the mail, and it wasn't an hour before it was ready to hit the water.

My set up is a 5/6 wt combo from Wild Water Fly Fishing. It isn't Sage or Orvis, but at $104, it's a high quality rod and reel at a price that can't be beat. So I rigged it up with a panfish popper and headed off to the local golf course. I attempted to catch fish and practice casting (my skills are pretty low), and in a couple hours, I only got strikes from about 10 fish. I only hooked 3 and landed 2, all bluegills. 20% fish landed is pitifully low. 

A nice bluegill

The second fish

Same fish, different angle

It was nice to get a feel of my new rod. I'm new to fly fishing, and I guess practice makes perfect. I will be fly fishing at an acceptable level at some point in my life! [hopefully  ;)  ]

Creek Bait Fishing

My sister, Carina and I recently headed over to the local creeks for some chubs and sunfish. We caught crawfish from the creek, then cut them up for bait. The action was fast! These fish are super aggressive.

I love creek chubs. They fight surprisingly hard, make great bait, live or cut, and eat almost anything. Besides, they aren't to bad looking, either. I've noticed that they seem to prefer bait on or near the bottom, although they will take baits higher in the water column.

We also caught a bunch of redbreast sunfish. The pictures do no justice whatsoever of their colors.

These little creek fish are super fun on super-ultra light tackle with 2 lb test flourocarbon. We also sighted a few suckers, but they obviously don't like cut crawfish.

Bass Fishing on the Delaware and Raritan Canal

Yesterday my family went canoeing with some family friends on the D&R canal. I, of course brought my fishing rod. I didn't get much fishing in (ever tried fishing from a canoe while others are paddling?), but I managed quite a nice day on the water. Truthfully, I rarely fish the canal, because all I catch are tiny sunnies. Today was different. I caught two very nice bass with a YUM Dinger, and my new PB redbreast sunfish!

The first bass of the day. 

It seemed like dead weight at first and then it started slow, deep head shakes. The same sequence happened with the second bass. Perhaps a fighting style for this particular body of water... At the golf course the fish are usually feisty and acrobatic. Both styles, however, put up a great fight.

A chunky canal bass

Same fish, different angle

PB redbreast sunfish!

I caught this colorful guy on a mealworm under a float. This fish is gorgeous! I earlier had red flashes pecking at my 5 inch YUM dinger while bass fishing. I've figured out the culprit now! Overall a great day on the water.

Back at home

The day after I returned from camping, I decided to return to my golf course pond for an hour and see what I could catch. It was a rather slow day, being the hottest time. I managed two small bass, all on Senkos.

The first bass

The second bass

Using wacky rigged Senkos, I've developed a trick to make them last longer, because Senkos are like bubbles; when a bass hits it, it falls apart. Loop a rubber band or fishing line around the Senko where the hook enters. Then hook the hook through the Senko and the reinforcement. I've found that this method lasts up to 3x longer, ultimately saving money. 

Camp

I've recently done a lot of fishing, but I've also been a bit lazy with my posts. I recently returned from a camping trip with my friends. It was mostly about having fun, and we didn't really fish a lot, but the fishing was great nonetheless. The lake was loaded with largemouth. The visibility of it was about 5 feet, and in a rowboat, I could see schools of 20-50 6 inch largemouth bass. The lake name shall remain hidden, but it was somewhere in the Delaware Water Gap area. The fishing was amazing! I caught 12 bass in 2 hours, some small, but mostly nice sized.

Me with four nice bass (please excuse my fuzzy hair)

A teeny bass

All of the fish were caught on soft plastics rigged weedless. We kept 3 the first day and 6 the next.  I know a lot of people who say bass taste crappy, but 24 fillets breaded up and fried was one of the best fish frys I've ever had. Definitely a great experience I can't wait to relive.