Bottomfish opener

[Dman]

 Anyone going out for the Straits bottomfish opener next month? We'll be out there May 4-6 for some Lings and Rockies. Should be good tides.

[jackelope]

although i would love to...i'm chickensh-t to take my boat out there.
maybe i shouldn't be, but oh well. maybe after another year of boat ownership, we'll get it done.

[Dman]

 Go with a partner boat and have a good GPS/ Radio and your PFD's and you'll be good. You have a 19' right? The bay at Sekiu is really protected and fishing is good right there. Good to be cautious though, I've seen some real dumbarses out there in 12' kicker's, 4 miles out. If I don't have a partner boat, I'll talk to people when I'm there and see what channel their running and where they'll be just in case, there's always channel 16 too....

[jackelope]

right 19.5' bluewater. good heavy deep v boat. i'm sur eit'd be fine once i get some work done i need to get done to it. my buddy bought an alumaweld striker last month 19', so maybe we venture out there together. did you do any good with the blackmouth this year?? it was a great year from what i heard.

[Dman]

 You'd be fine up there with a Bluewater and I've seen several Stryker's up there, just keep an eye on weather/ fog moving in. I only made it out once for blackmouth for two hours. Had one nice hook up I missed. It really was the best year I've heard of in a long long time for PS blackmouth. The fish have been big too, I heard they just got a 30# up in the San Juan's and there have been many in the 20's. We'll be headed to Nootka again in August with our boat, can't wait. That's a perfect fishery for our size boats. Very protected and limits are the rule that time of year, you ought to try it.

[jackelope]

dman...i'd love to head up there...whats the drive like...mostly ferry??
sounds like fun.

[PolarBear]

I'm going out into the south sound for lings this week.  I wish that I could make it up to north for halibut, but that aint gonna happen.  I spent 4 days and nights on the boat this weekend and caught a couple dozen little local silvers. (18"-24") in Pickering Passage.  Damn, those things fought hard on light gear and 6 lb line!  My kids had a blast with them.  We are going after sea-runs next weekend out at my Folks place on Totten Inlet.
D-Man....  You ever fish Toliva Shoal for lings and rockies?  I havent in several years but might give it a try.  We use to get some dandy lings under the Narrows Bridge but they chase you off if you are around it now.

[jackelope]

Pbear...we were getting those little resi silvers off the beaches on our flyrods a couple months ago...they are real fun on topwater poppers.
anybody care to share a spot in the sound for a reasonable chance at getting into some lings or other bottom fish for a couple newbees?? aside from the straits
you guys know anything about the posession pt area??

[Dman]

 Pbear, I haven't fished Toliva but I've seen the current ripping over it a few times. Quite a drop off on the south side, goes from like 20' down to 500' in a hundred yards. Those resident silvers are tasty buggers too, nice and red.
 
 Jack, Nootka is a very nice drive. Total is 8 1/2 hours including a 2 hour ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo. All good road and very scenic going through Strathcona Park. On the Possession lings, Scatchett Head is supposed to be very good. There are several reefs off Possession that also hold lings, but you'll find them also off Blake Island, Dalco Point and the Maury Island barges too. I've seen guys do the pretty good by catching small flounder and using them as bait.

 It would be fun to have a group of HuntWa fishers in the same area. Give me a shout some time when you go out.

[jackelope]

let me tell you what i think i know and then tell me if i'm in the right place. there's a spot i know(it's no secret!) where it goes from real deep, 300', to like 90-100' quick and makes a kind of bar or plateau. would i want to fish the plateau or the steep dropoff area or what. my gut says to focus on the plateau part, but not sure.
thanks for the input.

[Dman]

 I'll actually troll along contours really slow in Spring right off the bottom, jigging. Lings spawn in the Spring, they come up out of the deeper water in May-June and you'll find them sitting on ledges (edge of the plateau). The other good spot is any pinnacle, usually you can mark them suspended on the finder.

[jackelope]

sweet..
thanks

[Dman]

 Well, we got back Sunday night from Sekiu, foggy and poor fishing. Three small lings and one quillback. Lost two larger lings at the boat. Did have some excitement when a 52' boat blew up and sand near us. Luckily the one person on board was picked up promptly.

[jackelope]

saw that on the news...
we spent sunday getting the boat out and cleaned up, pulled the carb for overhaul, etc and then monday out fishing smallmouth on lake washington on my buddy's boat. pretty slow going, i think the water's still a little cold for them, but it was a beautiful day on the lake.

[jackelope]

just got off the phone with my buddy who's out in M.A. 10 looking for lings...one rocker in the box, no lings and having to release a lot of true cod.