2011 Halibut Seasons

[rasbo]

damn we gotta get a king salmon meet up there or  sekiu

[JKEEN33]

It's just me and my dad. If the weather is ok my brother in law or sisters will come out for the Saturday opening. We go out quite a ways so most people don't like going with us. That's halibut fishing though.

We usually either stay on our boat or in the truck. Since they built on the empty lot, I think I may be towing my trailer out there this year. Lots of guys sleeping in the back of their truck on all the side roads during halibut season out there. There is only one really old hotel out there and a private camp lot in town and then one small one out of town. I think there are also some cabins out on the Pacific side, but I don't know anything about them. Big Salmon is the bait and tackle shop in town they can get you an answer to just about anything needed. nice people, just don't wait to the last minute. They are not the fastest. the card I have is about 10 years old, but I think this number is still good. 360-645-2374. Mooring fills up fast for the season also. My guess is that we will pull our boat out this year and not do moorage.  

Couple key things I have learned. Use braided line. You are down 450+ feet. Mono at that length can stretch around 45 feet and you can't feel the fish hit.

Use pipe jigs. Sucks reeling up from 450 with a dog fish on or fishing for an hour before you realise you have lost your bait. We build our own jigs, they are pretty simple. I also add a barrel swivel to the hook. I have lost some big fish that start flipping and open up the split rings. The swivel has helped on that a lot. I like the jig big. You want to keep your line straight under the boat if possible. Tough to do at 450. It sounds strange, but you are drift fishing for these. I have drifted over a hole, caught a fish then missed the hole on the second drift by 20 feet and you catch nothing. Hit the hole again and a fish is on.
I'll get a picture of what we have and add it here in a few minutes. Nothing fancy, but they work great.

[JKEEN33]

damn we gotta get a king salmon meet up there or  sekiu

Got some great spots for salmon out of Neah Bay too. Seiku is fun, but it's like fishing the river. You have to be there when the run is going through or it is pretty slow. We usually spend the last week of August out there.

[JKEEN33]

A few pics from the last few years.

[rasbo]

not sure how far I would want to take my 17 foot alumaweld..I gotta go up and see that area  never been to neah bay , those are great pics

[JKEEN33]

On a nice day you would be fine. Nice thing about Neah bay is if the weather is bad you can always fish the inside. Seen a lot of really nice fish come in on some small boats. We have been doing this for several years and your confidence grows with experience. Keep everything on the boat maintained and watch the weather and you should be fine. It's also nice to get a few boats together and go out. We had about 5 difeent boats going out with us the first few years. Gas prices seem to have whittled all out partners down to nothing.

I saw your boat on another post looks like a nice one. 

[robodad]

I would be up for a salmon adventure get together, I haven't really learned how to catch them very well yet but willing to try !! I have electric downriggers all ready to catch something and a really big cooler to fill up !!!

[rasbo]

I would be up for a salmon adventure get together, I haven't really learned how to catch them very well yet but willing to try !! I have electric downriggers all ready to catch something and a really big cooler to fill up !!!

are 8lb balls good enough for that water

[robodad]

I would be up for a salmon adventure get together, I haven't really learned how to catch them very well yet but willing to try !! I have electric downriggers all ready to catch something and a really big cooler to fill up !!!

are 8lb balls good enough for that water

Ummmmmmmm !! Yep!! long as thur brass !!    

Oh you mean for the downriggers ??

[benhuntin]

2-3 lb balls are good most of the time on swiftsure ,  maybe a little more on the southwest corner.  Pipe jigs and Norway jigs are great and you dont need bait.

[rasbo]

I would be up for a salmon adventure get together, I haven't really learned how to catch them very well yet but willing to try !! I have electric downriggers all ready to catch something and a really big cooler to fill up !!!

are 8lb balls good enough for that water

Ummmmmmmm !! Yep!! long as thur brass !!    

Oh you mean for the downriggers ??

:chuckle:married 34 yrs their blue

[JKEEN33]

I actually prefer the 10 or 12 lb when trolling for salmon. If you get into a lot of current it's easy to get an 8lber into your kicker motor. Salmon fishing out of Neah Bay is pretty fun too. I have a few pretty good spots for that also although I don't make as many salmon trips up there. We head out to Westport a lot more just because it is closer. If I had my pick it would be Neah Bay all the time.

First time I was out Salmon fishing at Neah Bay I met a guy that told me to go out to Tatoosh Isl. Head due South for approximately 20 miles. You will start coming back to shore. When you hit 150-200 feet of water head West trolling until you get to about 350. You will be down by Father and Son fishing on Umatilla Reef. We have always done pretty well out there. On the run down South a lot of times you will run into big herring balls. It will look like the water is boiling. Stop and fish those hard. We do well when we run across them.

If you want to go after the big fish head out to Blue Dot. It's approximately 50 miles out and the fishing is slower, but you can get into the 30 and up fish.

I'm definitely up for a salmon trip if anyone wants to meet out there. I halibut fish for the meat and Salmon fish for the fun. Get a nice flat day out there and you can catch the silvers one after the other on a fly rod.

I'm by no means an expert, but we catch a lot of fish. More than happy to help out with what I can.

[woodman]

Geez, with all of this talk of fishing up there, I had to go out and start my Trophy. It has not been run since the end of last summer when Rasbo and I hooked lots of salmon at Sekiu last year. It started up and sounds good with the brand new engine that I put in it last year. I guess that I will polish it up this weekend and be ready for any trips out with anybody that wants to go. Maybe I will have to reel in Rasbo's fish again this year . I normally keep it moored at Sekiu for 6 month's out of the year. Love to fish up that way.

[JKEEN33]

Geez, with all of this talk of fishing up there, I had to go out and start my Trophy. It has not been run since the end of last summer when Rasbo and I hooked lots of salmon at Sekiu last year. It started up and sounds good with the brand new engine that I put in it last year. I guess that I will polish it up this weekend and be ready for any trips out with anybody that wants to go. Maybe I will have to reel in Rasbo's fish again this year. I normally keep it moored at Sekiu for 6 month's out of the year. Love to fish up that way.

Any idea what they charge monthly for a trailer spot out there? My dad and I have been talking about leaving my trailer and his boat out there and not have to haul it back and forth. May make a few more trips if we didn't have such a big gas bill from all the towing.

[rasbo]

Geez, with all of this talk of fishing up there, I had to go out and start my Trophy. It has not been run since the end of last summer when Rasbo and I hooked lots of salmon at Sekiu last year. It started up and sounds good with the brand new engine that I put in it last year. I guess that I will polish it up this weekend and be ready for any trips out with anybody that wants to go. Maybe I will have to reel in Rasbo's fish again this year . I normally keep it moored at Sekiu for 6 month's out of the year. Love to fish up that way.

yeah the captain has a way of diverting ones attention,then catching ones fish...Ray take notes LOL it was a blast we nailed them