Just got home from a week in Neah Bay. We fished Umatilla Reef area about 15 miles due South from Tatoosh. The seas were the calmest I have ever seen every day and the fishing was nothing short of RED HOT. We released 100 silvers one day and 11 keeper sized Kings in the 12-15# range. We fished with whole herring and large 5" spoons mostly and put away the Hot Spot flashers early on. Not because the Hot Spot /Coyote combo didn't catch fish but it just wasn't necessary. We found kings at 80-100ft deep but caught them from the surface on down consistently. When you found the schools you caught fish in a hurry but there was never a lull in the action for long. Friday we had a double on one downrigger where both lines were stacked...one weighed 25# and the other a 20# fish. I reeled my line in on the other side of the boat and hooked another king with the 5" Wolverine spoon on the way up so it was a triple. My hands are hamburger from grabbing monofiliment line all week.

It sure was nice to get home to a real bed, a shower and my kids, grandson and dog. The stories from this trip will last a long time.

Grandpa - sounds like a great trip. One of those that you will reflect on when the fishing is not so hot!!

BTW- you may be able to take the WMD thread to 8 pages. I know that you must have had a minute or two with no fish on to think about some snappy comebacks.

Eddie...I prefer fishing to politics. The WMD thread is all bull****

Good report, glad you had fun!

With the fishing as good as it is, it will be interesting to see how long the season lasts.

I see that the coho quota is 23,400 for area 4. Does anyone know what the chinook quota is?

Here we are trying to discuss what probably is the hottest salmon fishing I have seen in all of my life and we have only 4 posts..two of them from participants in the fun.....Didn't we catch and release about 23,000 Coho last week? I know I released atleast 50 Kings myself. If the counting is anywhere near accurate I would expect the season for Kings to close soon. The checkers were not there every day though. Seemed like a weekend show but the fishermen were out in force every day.

The area 4 quota for Kings is 3900 fish. The count began on June 22nd.........inside of Tatoosh began July1.

Now that you have me itching to go up there, what are the chances that the weather and waves will allow me to fish out there with my 15' Arima on Friday & Saturday?

Nice report Grandpa2.

The chances that I had 4 days in a row out in the ocean with water like a mill pond were 1000 to 1 but it happened. I have a larger seaworthy boat and would not normally recommend a 15' boat out 20 miles into the Pacific. Last week it would have been doable for sure. Don't go out alone though and don't go out in the afternoon when the wind almost always kicks up. Last week on Sunday and Monday (June) the water was very lumpy and lots of fog. Do not go without a GPS plotter or radar. There were also crab pots out there in 120 ft of water that I missed hitting more than once by only a few feet. As careful as I was I also ran over a big piece of drift wood. Fishing inside near Waddah Island should be good now so no need to go so far out in the ocean. I would have to say that it is very tempting to fish out there with so many fish feeding like crazy... Most of the fish I cleaned had horse herring in their stomachs..8 -12" long. The Kings just killing my 6 and 7" spoons....GLoomis rod with Shimano Calcutta reel and a spoon....or a whole herring..no flasher...what a blast...the Kings were jumping like crazy too.....almost spooled me a couple of times. Very tempting to go out there in anything that floats but it is a long haul out there and could be a longer haul back if the water kicks up. Listen to the NOAA weather radio that broadcasts on VHF weather channel 1 out of Neah Bay and look for 4-5' seas at 8 -10 seconds with 1 to 2' wind waves..West wind....fat chance you'll find those conditions but I sure did all last week. Think safety first.

Grandpa I heard you talking with Jerry Garcia on the vhf. What kind of boats were you guys in? I was in a 20 ft grady (SHAKEDOWN). It was my second three day weekend in Neah bay in a row. The boat landed approx. 100 fish with the biggest around 25# . What a trip!
Robyns 77

I was there just trying to learn the ropes. Seems like Umatilla Reef is a heck of a long ways but is a blast once you get there.

We joined Grandpa and others out there this weekend, what a blast. Took the family and for my wife it was here first time in the ocean, she was blessed. The first three day where smooth as you could ask for and the fishing was to dream about. Sunday showed how thing typicaly are, we went to go hali fishing and the waves where there to greet us. 10-12' with a couple foot wind chop on top, not to be messed with in a small boat. it settle down a little but still needed respect. Largest was 28 which and several in the mid 20's. Cant wait to go again.

I tried Grandpa on the radio each day but he never answered. We fished Candian Swiftsure the first 3 days, brought home my 6 halibut and released twice that many. We got kings out there one day dropping darts for the butts. Fished off Umatilla on sunday, alot of fun to catch kings and coho on a spoon with no flasher. I heard somebody brought in a 47# king into Neah Bay on Saturday!!!

Jerry, it sounds like Grandpa was so busy catching, releasing, stowing, and generally having great fishing that he couldn't answer the radio. I even heard that GW called about making Grandpa Secretary of State Grandpa said he'd have to get back to him, but had some good ideas about world peace

Now Eddie there you go again...trying to suck me into politics...........Sorry I missed JG...I had my cell phone and he had the # but it never rang...If he was at Swiftsure and I was South 40 miles I couldn't hear him. Warren Buffett is beckoning me so I must go.

What frequency do you guys use up there??

I forgot the cell number Grandpa, I just LOVE fishing Neah Bay. Sorry I missed the potluck on the 4th. I'll be back out there the 17th- 20th, so hopefully the coho will be a couple of pounds bigger and the kings are just BIG. Most guys moniter 16 and talk on 68.

Gramps, me & the boys were on VHF 68 and sometimes 72. But Grandpa usually has his radio on scan, so I suprised he didn't hear you JG.

I tried from Skagway Saturday morning, 5 miles off Tatoosh a couple of times, at the gas dock at Neah in the afternoon and at Umatilla sunday. I tried " Grandpa or Slabquest" a couple of times. My fault for forgeting Grandpa's cell#.

Cherry Garcia,

I guess the problem here is too many nicknames. If you heard the boat names/call signs: Good Sport, Audrey Anna, Fishnut, 7th Day or JR that was us.

We saw that 47# slab in a wheelbarrow - what a hog!

I hope the season is still open for you when you go back. If the quota is 3,500 chinook, I'll bet that they shut it down soon.

Jerry,

Grnadpa, Murphy and others left on Saturday morning. They had been out all week and came by boat so they had a 100 mile trip back. If it got rough it could have been a long trip. Fishnut, J.R., 7th day, and SlabQuest where still around and would have liked to meet up with you.
The Get together was great, Pete donate some fresh hali, others gave salmon, chicken, man what a spread.
Saturday night we filletted and vaccum packed about 50 salmon from the trip, had a great assembly line, lots of fun.

The PSA Sno-King meetings is tonight @ the Edmonds yacht club below Anthony's and it has some memebers showing their secrects to different styles of fishing. From Saltwater to river, and even bass fishing. Hope to see you there tonight 6:30 to 8:30

Grandpa - I will get you to rise to the bait yet

JR,

Good Sport = SlabQuest

Area 4 rules only talk about a coho quota of 23,400 and closed 7/31 for kings east of Bonilla- Tatoosh.

Sorry we missed you JG...you could have met the real grandpa in the flesh....I was on 68 and 72 the whole time and didn't scan like I always normally do. I did leave by 7am on Saturday. There is a Chinook quota of 3900 fish in area 4. they have to be getting close to that by now unless some of the fish are landing in area 3 as we were fishing right on the Southern boundary. Gotta rest up and work for a living for awhile now...When I feel the urge to join in some of Eddie's baiting I will run out and jump in my boat.....

Doggone it Grandpa, you are going to be a tough nut to crack. Seriously, the more I think about your trip, the happier I am for you. Just think, you had a trip that will someday referred to as "the good old days"!!

Terry Rudnick of WDFW Kids Fishing program made a comment at one of our recent meetings that "The Good Old Days" are right now....I believe him.

From WDFW regs:

Neah Bay: (Marine Area 4): Waters south of a line from Kydaka Point westerly approximately four miles to Shipwreck Point are closed to fishing for salmon July 1-Sept. 30. June 22-Sept. 14, daily limit two salmon, plus one additional pink salmon. No more than one chinook. Release wild coho. Chinook minimum size 26 inches, coho minimum size 16 inches. East of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line: Chinook retention allowed July 1-July 31 only, and east of a true north-south line through Sail Rock closed to salmon fishing July 1-July 31. Release wild coho. Release chum Aug. 1-Sept. 14. Season may close earlier if quota of 23,400 hatchery coho or chinook guideline is attained.

Sekiu (Marine Area 5): Waters south of a line from Kydaka Point west approximately four miles to Shipwreck Point are closed to fishing for salmon July 1-Sept. 30. July 1-July 4: No minimum size, daily limit two salmon. Release chinook, wild coho and chum. July 5-31: Chinook selective fishery. Chinook minimum size 22 inches. No minimum size for other salmon species. Daily limit two salmon combined, release wild chinook, wild coho and chum. Any salmon to be released may not be brought on board a vessel. Hatchery chinook retention may close earlier if an overall quota of 3,500 chinook is attained.

Aug. 1-14: Chinook minim size 22 inches, no minimum size for other salmon species. Daily limit is four salmon, no more than two chinook and coho in total. Release wild chinook, wild coho and chum. Any salmon to be released may not be brought on board a vessel. Hatchery chinook retention may close earlier if an overall quota of 3,500 chinook is attained.
Aug. 15-31: No minimum size. Daily limit is four salmon, no more than two coho. Release chino, wild coho and chum.
Sept. 1-30: No minimum size. Daily limit is two salmon. Release chinook, wild coho and chum.


The only mention I see of a 3,500 chinook quota applies to area 5...not area 4.

For area 4, a "chinook guideline" is mentioned, whatever that is.

Nice posts Granpa and good presentation last night at the PSA meeting. Unfortunately for me, Neah Bay isn't in the cards this year, but maybe Sekui later in August or September.

Marine Area 4 (U.S. /Canada border to Cape Alava and East to Sekiu River):

June 22--Sept. 14. 23,400 coho sub quota. Open seven days per week, two fish per day plus one additional pink salmon, only one of which may be a chinook. Chum non-retention during August and September. Retained coho must have a healed adipose fin clip; chinook minimum size limit is 26 inches. Chinook guideline is 3,900 fish. Chinook non-retention east of Bonilla-Tatoosh line, except chinook retention allowed July 1-31. Closed to salmon fishing east of a true north/south line through Sail Rock, July 1-31

Grandpy Pants,

Where did you find that? It bugs me that WDFW hides different info in various locations.

It's an excercise in detective work to extract the straight story from their info sources.

After fishing Sekiu Sun-Tue with no fish to speak of (we only saw one King being cleaned, but heard of fish being released), we put the boat on the trailer and headed to La Push. A good freind who lives out there was giving me grief about fishing Sekiu instead of running up to Umatilla Reef. So we did and had a day that will be long remembered. As Grandpa and others have said, many, many fish caught. We got our Kings and Silvers, saw a 6ft Blue Shark, water was relatively flat and the weather was great! Just like the good ol'days....
Hope to get out there again in a couple of weeks....


Kev

Like I said, in some places the good old days are now. When I tell my fishiung stories from last week and mention that it is sunny and calm this week too everyone asks me why I am not still at Neah Bay with the others who stayed. I must admit to gainful employment that keeps me away from the boat most days.

The 3900 fish "guideline" for area 4 was first published April 10th..look at the WDFW website under "news releases" for that date.