Post by: lokidog on July 11, 2016, 09:16:43 AM
The weather was incredible, even for here in the summer... hardly a whisper of wind and no swell (waves) at all. Most of our pots were set in deeper water, 300+, feet as usual with two shallower just to spread it out. I was surprised at how few boats there were as on a weekend in May, there can be over 100 in sight. The first pots pulled from the deeper water were not very good, 15-25 in each, but the shallower ones did much better 65-90 per pot so we moved them all "shallow", still 235 to 275 feet deep.
They were hoping to catch something to eat like a Cabezon or Greenling, but were happy with catch and release with the Rockfish and Dogfish Sharks that were plentiful. Unfortunately, one very large Staghorn Sculpin was released that could have been kept and eaten. We ended up with about 660 shrimp and a great show at the end of the day when a bunch of Orcas passed by.
Post by: Timberstalker on July 11, 2016, 09:22:57 AM
Quite the sails on that boat as well.
Post by: Ripper on July 11, 2016, 09:58:30 AM
Post by: RB on July 11, 2016, 10:38:40 AM
We did have a cool sighting of an eagle, it came down about 50 yards out picked up a small fish and flew off, we could see the fish wiggling in its talons. :tup:
Post by: Elkrunner on July 11, 2016, 10:45:58 AM
Post by: lokidog on July 11, 2016, 11:07:27 PM
Right on love seeing the Orcas! We went out and pulled 480 in two pulls and waved at the whale watchers in the the big jet boat hahaha. Morning weather was awesome but by 1 o'clock it picked up quite a bit took us awhile to get back to Coronet Bay.
We did have a cool sighting of an eagle, it came down about 50 yards out picked up a small fish and flew off, we could see the fish wiggling in its talons. :tup:
Interesting on the wind for you. We got back about 4 and it was still pretty flat.
Those look tasty!
Yep! :drool:
Post by: Smokepole on July 11, 2016, 11:17:29 PM
Post by: Oh Mah on July 11, 2016, 11:46:00 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on July 12, 2016, 03:03:59 AM
Post by: Whitpirate on July 12, 2016, 04:34:50 AM
Post by: warthog on July 12, 2016, 07:23:17 PM
been thinking of a blue crab / shrimp boil. the only ingredients i have is the old bay seasoning. :'(
Post by: lokidog on July 12, 2016, 11:58:57 PM
That's pretty awesome.Is that your sail boat?Where were the Orcas at San Juan Island area?
Orcas were heading from East to West on south end of Lopez. They were probably heading over toward Lime Kiln and were spotted today by my friends near Eagle Point, I think.
nice pics ! and awesome prawns.
been thinking of a blue crab / shrimp boil. the only ingredients i have is the old bay seasoning. :'(
I find boiled shrimp lose a lot of their flavor, I prefer them with a light breading and deep fried or simply sauteed in butter with a little garlic and onion powder.
Post by: Oh Mah on July 13, 2016, 11:20:40 PM
Post by: Kit Carson on July 13, 2016, 11:34:33 PM
Post by: lokidog on July 13, 2016, 11:48:50 PM
Oh Man, the sailboat was just passing by but was a nice photo op.
Post by: snake on July 14, 2016, 07:52:58 PM
Post by: lokidog on July 15, 2016, 08:56:35 AM
Awesome! Have the commercial/tribe guys been hitting the islands hard for crab recently? Last time I went to Lopez a few years ago the tribe had a grid of pots about every 50 feet for a mile long.
Surprisingly, I have not seen pots in the water from the tribes, especially since our season opens today. The white (non-tribal anyways) commercials don't start there season until September, I am pretty sure but then it sometimes goes into April.
Post by: Oh Mah on July 15, 2016, 05:01:18 PM
Thanks! My son and my limits of tails ended up weighing 14 pounds, basically 22.8 tails per pound. If we were sorting to an 80 shrimp limit, I have no doubt we would have been in the 19-20 tails per pound range, there were a lot of big ones in the mix.I agree nice photo.
Oh Man, the sailboat was just passing by but was a nice photo op.
Post by: 2labs on July 15, 2016, 05:22:08 PM
That's pretty awesome.Is that your sail boat?Where were the Orcas at San Juan Island area?
Orcas were heading from East to West on south end of Lopez. They were probably heading over toward Lime Kiln and were spotted today by my friends near Eagle Point, I think.nice pics ! and awesome prawns.
been thinking of a blue crab / shrimp boil. the only ingredients i have is the old bay seasoning. :'(
I find boiled shrimp lose a lot of their flavor, I prefer them with a light breading and deep fried or simply sauteed in butter with a little garlic and onion powder.
I agree, there's better ways to cook shrimp. Smoked shrimp on the Bradley are hard to beat!
Post by: Taco280AI on July 15, 2016, 05:22:40 PM
As far as cooking, had some (store bought) shrimp tonight. Butter, minced garlic, diced onion, pepper, seasoned salt and cook
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1098.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg364%2Fnwoutdoors%2F7ea6e89a-1317-4054-9ca0-e9de1a9148cc.jpg&hash=b4d2c6e844d38ccc10b92462eb05c9f8ddf6cfcf) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/nwoutdoors/media/7ea6e89a-1317-4054-9ca0-e9de1a9148cc.jpg.html)
Post by: WAcoueshunter on July 15, 2016, 06:38:36 PM
I prefer spot prawns on a quick boil in salt water (I take a bucket full home with me). Maybe 2 minutes or so, need to pull them as soon as they float. I've tried grilled, sauteed, old bay, etc. Nothing better than the quick boil with salt from the sea. Have a pot on the stove now, just about ready to drop in my last 40 from Sunday. Done well, they are the best seafood anywhere!
Loki, I'm headed up on Sunday, maybe see you out on the west side?
Post by: lokidog on July 15, 2016, 11:39:41 PM
2Labs, my wife's favorite way is a teryaki lime marinade then grilled on skewers. I still think my favorite is egg and cornflake crumb breading and deep fried. This seems to bring out their natural sweetness.
Taco280, that's a nice looking chunk-o-meat. :drool:
Post by: WAcoueshunter on July 20, 2016, 10:09:34 PM
On Sunday, I traveled from Deception Pass to San Juan Island around the low slack, right through these shrimp grounds that closed the day prior. No less than 20 buoys/traps had popped up, I'm guessing a whole lot of folks were wondering who stole their pot? Small buoy with good weight in the pot, and the buoy goes under but comes back up at slack tide. Big buoy, and it floats off to never never land. Talked to a guy at the dock on Monday who found one of his pots a couple miles away and he was convinced someone moved it. :chuckle:
Someone else asked about the natives and crab. They had an opener that may have been 24 hours, they were out yesterday afternoon and looked like it ended at noon today. Thankfully it seems they fish deeper water and don't bug the shallower spots that get hit by the recreational crowd. Might be there's a water depth restriction for them?