Neah Bay & LaPush Halibut UPDATE **Day 3 & 4 **

[robodad]

Hit Neah Bay for the opener today and I don't know if we lucked out or have some skills .....you be the judge especially anyone that has been there on the halibut opener !!

Got a call from a friend that I have taken halibut fishing before and wanted to take his aging father out for a good day of fishing (not sure why he called me for that) so we agreed to hit Neah Bay for the halibut opener, I explained to him what a nightmare it is at that particular place when that many people show up and want to use the boat launch so I told them to pack some patience cause it's really gonna suck for the first while dealing with everyone on the launch. So we decided to leave my place in Port Angeles at 0600hrs (I know thats too late right? especially with a minus tide...! )  We ended up at the launch around 0820hrs or so, tide all the way out and like 5 feet of dock left and there was NO ONE in line and I was able to drive right up and launch the boat (after getting supplies and the launch ticket at Big Salmon) which surprised the heck outta me, Then I was able to park 2 spaces to the west of the launch ( those that have been there know what I mean) and didn't have to park a half mile from the launch.

We got everyone in the boat and motored out to where we wanted to fish and I set up Lee with the gear and he sent it to the bottom while I worked on his dads rod. Got that rigged and Lee was hooked up before his dad hit the bottom  holy hell, that was quick !! got that fish to the boat and tied off to the side bleeding and got Lee back in the water while I worked on my riggin. We had drifted off the spot so I had them reel up so I grabbed the fish and slung it in the boat and we roared off to make another drift. Got the spot and they both sent their stuff to the bottom and I had stuck the fish back over the side to finish bleeding and started on with sending my stuff down and I look over and the rope I had the fish on was lying in the boat with NO Halibut on it  somehow it had broke loose and sank to the bottom  Now I was pi$$ed for losing Lee's fish and felt super bad and told them how sorry I was and so on and had a knot in my stomach for being such an idiot and knock knock knock my rod was being attacked and sure as $hit I caught another halibut Whew !! I felt a bit better at that point and didn't hang that one over the side to bleed did it in the back motor well, anyhow not long after that Lee hooks up again and the very next drift once again Lee finishes up our limit thank God for that !! Wish his dad could have caught one but he couldn't find bottom well and had a hard time reeling up the lead let alone a fish on there !!

Got all the halibut into the cooler and the deck squared away and headed for some bottom fish or "tackle donation party" as I like to call it but what do they say, "If your not losing tackle your not fishing" they had a hard time with getting snagged on bottom and snapping lines etc... but we did catch a few really nice black bass and a few legal ling cod and all said and done the fishing was great weather was really great and check this out, we finally called it quits and motored to the launch and yupp.....you guessed it NO ONE there in line or otherwise, Pulled out of where I parked and got the boat on the trailer and was on the road in 10 minutes or less !! 

Don't have permission to show their smiling faces but here is a pic. Fish were small but "hey look here" if we filled the freezer all at once we couldn't go again right !!



 

[cohoho]

You suck donkey butt Allen....  No seriously you do....  I had to work and receive text messages from him on his Halibut...  But glad you had an excellent day and of course more white meat fro the freezer.  Looks like little man is peaking around the corner....

Anyhow, Really nice you were practicing for next weekend....  Now Sat go and find where the big boys are laying and stake some to the bottom for me...

[lokidog]

Very Nice!!

[RB]

Awesome!   

[Chase 1]

What a haul! 

[carpsniperg2]

Nice catch right there

[MLBowhunting]

Awesome 

[Austrian Hunter]

Cool!!!

[nwhunter]

Sounds like you timed it right! The other 200 plus boats were all down at the C closure corner with us. We went out of LaPush and left Forks at 3am and still had to wait 30 minutes to launch! Halibut opener is a zoo anymore. Congrats on the catch we limited as well on buts and lings and the ocean was a lake, beautiful conditions. nwhunter

[Wacenturion]

 

[Mfowl]

Nice fish! I'm jealous!

[Orion88]

 

[robodad]

A zoo does not describe the boat launch facility adequately at Neah Bay today, it was much worse then that. We arrived there around 0600 and the line was about a quarter mile long to launch but surprisingly it went fairly quick and we were on our way out of the marina, it was when we wanted to take out that was a bugger. There was about 30-40 boats just milling around the harbor waiting for their turn to get to the launch, I finally dropped my anchor and just sat still out of the way for what seemed like an eternity but in reality it only took 2 hours for my turn to come up......What a day !!

Saturday morning !!




[smg id=3149]
Turns out I had the hot rod for the day, the other two guys just could not catch even one fish although they were experts at donating tackle to the hali gods all friggin day thats for sure !! 



Ling cod was 18lbs

[Kola16]

You have had too much fun! Nice  And a nice size cod even 

[MLBowhunting]

Awesome catch.