San Juan Ling Cod

[Fish4Fun]

Fished last Saturday May 11th with Mark Coleman,  All Rivers & Saltwater Charters. Met him at Skyline Marina in Anacortes and the trip was on, great morning with little to no wind. Mark runs a 29' Defiance called "Reel Ultra" brand new boat that just went in the water on the 1st of May. All of the tackle was top notch, Mark said we would start working our way up through the islands fishing our way along. After losing 3 fish I finally got keeper Ling #1 in the boat, and so went the day. Final tally was 5 keepers, 4 oversized to the boat, and I will have to guess and say we lost 15-20 fish between all of us. Having fished the up there with my own sled I was shocked at how many we hooked in a day. Every drift we were on had fish on it, only saw 1 other fish landed in the other boats, so I am sure it was Mark's technique that was getting us hooked up all the time.

Having been a guide before myself, I was totally impressed with the boat, the gear, and the results. Nice to park my boat once in a while and go be a fisherman and not worry about anything except fishing. Mark, will get the charter trips from me when it is time for a break at running the boat.

Will post a few pics to show the day

[Fish4Fun]

[Fish4Fun]

[Kola16]

Are those all Okuma SST salmon rods  I had a monster ling snap one of those in half last year because I held the drag 

[Skyvalhunter]

Those are some nice fish!!!

[Fish4Fun]

Are those all Okuma SST salmon rods  I had a monster ling snap one of those in half last year because I held the drag 

Yeah, those rods were working great all day. I told my Step-Son NOT to be thumbing the reel, let the drag and the rod do the work.

[cohoho]

Looks like a good day there for sure...  Glad he has everyone wearing vests or were they yours?

Not implying this was your case, but it reminded me of this:  a lot of people claim they break rods on drag when most actually bend the rod to it's limit then step in to it.  Do not care what rod your running - (stepping into towards the end) on a pre-loaded rod it will snap like a twig...  Watched a Ugly Stick rep claimed his Ugly Stick was unbreakable by holding a 10lbs weight at one end and lifting, the guy at B&J Commercial in Anchorage put a huge load on and stepped into it.  Yep gonna break every-time...

Most of the rods that I saw break on the Kenai were for this same factor, all loaded up on a nice fatty Reds or Kings and stepping closer to acquire more leverage I guess and pop goes the weasel...  Of course Lamisnap used to get a bad rap, from me included till I saw the demo, then a light bulb went off in my head...

[Kola16]

Looks like a good day there for sure...  Glad he has everyone wearing vests or were they yours?

Not implying this was your case, but it reminded me of this:  a lot of people claim they break rods on drag when most actually bend the rod to it's limit then step in to it.  Do not care what rod your running - (stepping into towards the end) on a pre-loaded rod it will snap like a twig...  Watched a Ugly Stick rep claimed his Ugly Stick was unbreakable by holding a 10lbs weight at one end and lifting, the guy at B&J Commercial in Anchorage put a huge load on and stepped into it.  Yep gonna break every-time...

Most of the rods that I saw break on the Kenai were for this same factor, all loaded up on a nice fatty Reds or Kings and stepping closer to acquire more leverage I guess and pop goes the weasel...  Of course Lamisnap used to get a bad rap, from me included till I saw the demo, then a light bulb went off in my head...

This has truth...I held the drag, and started to lift the rod tip  Hey, I was fishing over a wreck and the fish needed to come up 

[cohoho]

Looks like a good day there for sure...  Glad he has everyone wearing vests or were they yours?

Not implying this was your case, but it reminded me of this:  a lot of people claim they break rods on drag when most actually bend the rod to it's limit then step in to it.  Do not care what rod your running - (stepping into towards the end) on a pre-loaded rod it will snap like a twig...  Watched a Ugly Stick rep claimed his Ugly Stick was unbreakable by holding a 10lbs weight at one end and lifting, the guy at B&J Commercial in Anchorage put a huge load on and stepped into it.  Yep gonna break every-time...

Most of the rods that I saw break on the Kenai were for this same factor, all loaded up on a nice fatty Reds or Kings and stepping closer to acquire more leverage I guess and pop goes the weasel...  Of course Lamisnap used to get a bad rap, from me included till I saw the demo, then a light bulb went off in my head...

This has truth...I held the drag, and started to lift the rod tip  Hey, I was fishing over a wreck and the fish needed to come up 

Been there on snag or two...   

[elk247]

Nice fish. Seems quite a few guys on here recomend mark coleman.

[Fish4Fun]

On wearing the floatation devises that is the first thing Mark does is have everyone put one on before the boat leaves the dock. Great idea, they are very comfortable to wear all day.

ELK247, Mark is a class act and is a pretty good fishermen, nothing but thumbs up for this guy from our group   

[Ripper]

Looks a good time was had by all.

[Chase 1]

What a day, what a day!!