May is a big Birthday month for my family, so I took my youngest son, Wesly, to Westport for some bottomfish fishing to celebrate his and my birthdays. Left home a bit after 2:00 AM and picked Wes up in Tacoma at 3:00, then off to Westport. Checked in a charter boat at 6:00, and then boarded the Slammer with captain Brett, shortly thereafter. A total of fifteen fisherpersons on board today. Left the dock at 6:30, out of Westport and headed north... past Ocean Shores and about an hour and a half ride later, we were ready to fish. Seas were a bit rough, especially crossing the bar out of Grays Harbor... big swells all day long...somewhat windy, but the rain held off until the ride home. First task was to catch bait: rods were loaded with 12oz weights and a two hook leader, baited with chunks of squid. Let the weight down to bottom, crank up a couple of turns and wait... feel a nibble, let down to bottom again and wait a minute then reel up... fishing for 8" to 12" flounder/sole. Sometimes you get one, sometimes two. Wes was really proficient at this, me not so much. He ended up catching at least a dozen, me only five. All these flounder went into the live-well, then a twenty minute ride to Ling territory. Leader change to two 9/0 hooks, the flounder were set up with one hook through the back (hook protruding, with point toward the weight) and the other through the lip. Let bait down to the bottom, then reel up 7-8 turns, and wait. Lings take the bait with a hard bite, but the trick is to wait... count out 30 seconds, then reel like crazy. Lings take the bait in their mouths, hold it to kill it before swallowing it... if you jerk, or reel too soon, the Ling will let the bait go. Need to give time for it to swallow the bait. I caught a total of five, Wes caught three. It took about an hour and a half for the boat to limit out (30 Ling Cod). Next, about a twenty minute ride to Rockfish country. Rods were traded out to 7' light spinning rods with spinning reels. Terminal tackle was a 3oz jig head with a silver and blue curly tail. Procedure was to open the bail and let the jig sink for 20 to 30 seconds, then reel back in... Rockfish takes the jig on the retrieve. A real hoot to catch these fish on ultralight tackle... will wear your arm out! Action was fast and furious, with whoops and hollers all over the boat, and fish flopping all over the deck. The seven fish limit for the boat was reached in thirty-five minutes... 105 fish! These were really fine Rockfish, mostly in the 4 to 6 pound range. We were done fishing by 12:30, and about an hour and a half ride home, and we were back at the dock in Westport by 2:00 PM.
Had an awesome day with my son, Wesly. Biggest Ling of the day was a touch over 20#, Wes' biggest was 18# and his second was 14#... my largest was 15# and second was 11#. We each went home with over 35# of Ling and Rockfish fillets. Have fished aboard the Slammer now several times, and have never failed to limit. An awesome day on the ocean again! PTL!
