TRIP REPORT: Alaska Coho Fishing. 10/3-8, 2009

It seems like I have been dreaming of going to Alaska my whole life. As far back as I can remember I was watching Alaska specials on TV; Fascinated by the grandeur of the place. It seemed to me one of a few locations with truly vast expanses of wilderness left on earth, and I wanted to be there. Last week I finally got there.

On the flight up, we were lucky enough to have relatively clear weather. As soon as we flew North of Vancouver Island, the landscaped transformed from scarred checkerboard to mind blowing mountain ranges & glaciers, majestic fjords, and a wonderfully broken coastline with hundreds of emerald islands protecting the route known as the "Inside Passage".























We touched down in Juneau briefly before flying to Yakutat, where we loaded all our gear for camp and fishing for six days onto the Beaver, which is kind of like the 4x4 of airplanes. We were off the ground within five-hundred feet of dirt patch runway.

After an exciting low altitude flight from Yakutat to the river, we dumped all our gear off, grabbed our rods and hit the first hole along the trail from the A-frame. We were all busting at the seams to get fishing. Within three casts all five of us had landed coho. I could tell already, this was going to be epic; What I have heard about salmon fishing in Alaska was true.







I started out the trip using a spinning reel with size 4 & 5 blue fox spinners. I wasn't confident in my fly fishing abilities, and I wanted to make sure I got some coho to the bank before I started experimenting with new things. Spinners worked well; I landed five or six fish in the first hour.





We fished until dark that first night and retired back to the A-frame for dinner and cocktails, each of us having landed a dozen or more fish in three hours of fishing. I scoped out the canoes that were left for us, excited about paddling & fishing, but could not find a single paddle. I read the note on the cabin wall from 1994, stating the location of the paddles, and assumed that somewhere in the last fifteen years they were used to fight off a bear, or for firewood, or who knows what. I didn't dwell on it, as there seemed to be no problem getting fish from the bank.

We woke early the next day. A storm had blown in overnight, and as we headed to the river, we found sideways rain and thirty mile per hour winds. Not ideal fishing conditions, but none of us seemed to care. I was wearing a Kokatat T-3 Supernova Angler Suit. With latex wrist gaskets, a neoprene neck gasket, and full-body breathable coverage, I was snug as a bug in a rug.







Wearing this suit gave me several distinct advantages over traditional waders and rain gear. With gaskets at the wrist and immersion coverage up to my neck, I could wade deeper and access more river than the other guys. If I snagged a fly or lure on the bottom, I could reach down, or dive down and grab it without soaking my arms and torso. With sideways rain and wind, the full closure of the suit kept water from collecting around my collar and chest. I found the breathability of the T-3 material to be excellent; We hiked for 6-10 miles a day through bog, mud, and sand in 40-55 degree temperatures, and I never once over heated, and the extra layer of heavy cordura nylon from the waste down made them more than durable for traipsing through the bush.



Despite the fowl weather of the day, the fishing was outstanding. Between the five of us, we caught & released around two hundred coho. I was starting to notice the fly guys pulling away with the lead. Tomorrow I would switch to fly fishing.

The following day we woke to clear sunny skies. I was so excited to see the clouds lifted, I hiked down to the beach at dawn to finally see the mountains surrounding us.



After enjoying coffee and a sunrise from the beach, I met up with the other guys and we hiked upstream to the reach of tide, where we each proceeded to catch double digits before lunch. After a short break we hiked down to the beach to fish the incoming tide. The sunshine and coast-mountain scenery were awe inspiring.













By the end of the day, I still had not tried fly fishing. I was starting to notice spinners becoming less effective, and fly gear still catching fish like crazy. At this point I felt satisfied with the number and quality of fish I had caught, and decided to try some new things the next day. After moose steaks and vodka tonics, we drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, we all took our sweet time getting to the river. All of us had caught so many salmon, the drive to rush at the door before dawn had been replaced by the need to relax and drink coffee. I thought about last spring's dismal salmon fishing on the Columbia in Portland, and how much time I had spent not catching fish, and decided to fish like crazy even if I got tired of it. I wasn't sure if I would ever experience fishing this good again.

After a relaxing breakfast, we hiked up river to the honey hole. I took one of the guys fly rods with me, and after fifteen minutes of coaching from Don, I was catching fish on a fly. Within an hour I had caught fifteen fish, and I was hooked. The spinning rod never left the A-frame after that. We all got into tons of fish that day; The numbers were ridiculous. It's OK if you don't believe me when I say in six days of fishing, the five of us landed somewhere around one thousand coho, I was there, and it was epic.



















A little attempted underwater footage of a coho being landed:


The last day was fishy just like the rest. I was sad and a bit nostalgic about leaving the next morning, but at the same time I was looking forward to seeing my girlfriend and taking a hot shower.

I snapped a few photos of the Beaver coming to pick us up:





The flight back to Seattle was again amazing.











By far the best fishing and biggest, wildest place I have ever experienced. Moose, bear, wolf, and coho out the wazoo, I won't soon forget this trip, and hope to return again.

-Jason

TRIP REPORT: Kayak Fishing the San Juan Islands, Washington

I had the opportunity to take a wonderful group of eleven clients sea kayaking and camping in the San Juan Islands in Northern Puget Sound this past week. We spent five days enjoying seventy-five degree sun-filled, windless weather; Ideal conditions to say the least.

This was the largest group we've had on this type of trip, so instead of just myself and another guide, we had the added bonus of a third guide, plus my girlfriend. This meant that instead of working non-stop for fifteen hours a day, one or two of us could handle whatever task needed to be done while the other could do their own thing for a few minutes.

What this meant to me was time to fish. I've been a guide on several of these trips, but until now never managed more than ten to twenty minutes of fishing the entire trip. I brought my hand-line and three buzz bombs with me, but was not really expecting to do much fishing.

I spoke with a woman working at the resort we launched from, and she told me that pink salmon were running, and recommended trolling a two and a half ounce pink buzz bomb. Who am I to argue with local knowledge? I picked up the buzz bomb and trolled for seven miles between the launch and our destination with nothing to show but sea weed.

The next day I managed to scarf down my lunch fast enough to get fishing while the group finished up. I dropped the buzz bomb to the bottom, maybe twenty feet deep and began jigging. On my second pull I had a white-spotted greenling. After the first couple of fish, I realized I shouldn't have a treble hook with barbs, and replaced it with a single siwash with the barb pinched; All the fish were released unharmed.




The water is so clear in the San Juans that I could sight fish depths to about twenty five feet. I maneuvered my kayak from sand and kelp, over some rocks and caught a few small rockfish:


Every time we took a brake, I dropped my lure down and caught fish. After the first dozen or so I stopped taking pictures, and gave the hand-line to my fellow guide Chris, who had never fished before. He bought a ten day license at my urging thinking he was wasting money, and ended up catching his first fish with the hand-line. Now he's completley hooked on fishing.

That evening we worked a deal with my girlfriend and Shawn the other guide; They would cook dinner while we fished, and we would clean and do dishes while they relaxed after dinner. We had heard from a few people on the island that they were seeing pink salmon jumping by the eddy line on the North West edge of the island. We paddled out at sunset to see if we could get into them. I began mootching and trolling the eddyine when this nice little thirty inch lingcod struck:



Lingcod are out of season, so we quickly released it after snapping the pictures. I repositioned on the edge of the eddy line and began mootching again. Three or four pulls later something huge slammed my lure and pulled hard on the line. I pulled back hard and the fish took off. Within another two seconds my twenty-pound-line snapped. Whatever it was, it was big, and it definitely got my adrenaline pumping.

We fished for another twenty minutes or so with no results, but the sunset was magnificent:





I'd say using a hand line from a sea kayak while multi-day touring is definitely worth while. I need to spend a little more time with it to work out the drag so I can fight larger fish, but it is coming along nicely. I can't wait to get back to the San Juans when lingcod is in season. Fresh fish & chips at camp will be incredible!

I am headed to Alaska in October to fish for silver salmon for five days. I have been dreaming about fishing Alaska for more than ten years, and I intend to soak up as much as I can while I am there. I will post a full report with pictures upon my return.

Also coming up the weekend of October 16-18 I will be teaching "Sit-on-Tops in the Surf" and "Coastal Kayak Fishing" at the "Lumpy Water Symposium" at Pacific City on the Oregon Coast. Come out and join me if you are in the Pacific Northwest!

Until next time,

Jason

KAYAK FISHING TIPS: Surf Zone Survival

I had the opportunity to lead a "Surf Zone Survival for Kayak Fisherman" class at the Oregon Coast yesterday; July 25, 2009. Upon researching the conditions on Saturday morning, we had two conflicting reports; One stated a South swell, The other North. The one thing they had in common was a swell height of 8-9ft with 15kt winds. Temperatures were in the low to mid seventies throughout the day, and the tide was flooding from 10AM to 4PM.

The river mouth where we set up our circuit was selected specifically because of the tidal action created there. You can ride the outgoing river flow along the head, turn South, and drop into the surf. Should any capsize or loss of gear occur, you and it would be swept back North along the beach and into the river mouth and calmer waters, and easily assisted.

We met the group of four clients at the boat launch in the estuary at 10AM. They had some previous experience in the ocean using kayaks to fish, but were having problems getting back in to the beach through the surf.

In the estuary, we worked on the fundamentals of driving the boat, rather than riding on it or sitting in it as we paddled toward the river mouth. Bow and stern rudders, pries, & draws, proper forward paddling technique, edging & bracing, and re-entry & rescue were all demonstrated for, and then practiced by the group.

We pulled out on the beach at the river mouth and snacked while we discussed tides & currents, moon phases & alignment of the sun, moon, and earth. We talked about the rhythm of the sea and decision making before heading out into the break.




I set up position at the end of the beach rip in order to pick up gear and assist with re-entries as the clients practiced their new skills in 3-4ft surf. My fellow coach Dave White set up on the outside of the circuit, guiding our clients in as they entered the surf zone.














The outside of the surf zone was breaking much bigger. At points we observed waves exceeding 10ft. Here is Dave heading out into an 8ft wave, trying to go vertical in his kayak:



And playing in the smaller stuff:



By the end of the class, everyone was able launch off the beach, and surf and/or guide their boat in under control and land on the beach. After a thrilling and action packed day spent playing in the surf zone on sit on tops, we paddled back to the boat launch and enjoyed a cold and tasty adult beverage before heading back to Portland.

Dave & I both had allot of fun with this class. When people are excited, active, and having fun, it's a pretty good day as an instructor. I look forward to doing it again soon.

Until next week,

Jason

KAYAK FISHING: Tips on Rigging a Sit-on-Top for Fishing

I received my new Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro a few weeks ago at Alder Creek in Portland, Oregon. I was pleased to see it was sparsely rigged; I wanted to outfit this kayak for fishing the way I thought proper. My fishing kayak needs to be more nimble than stable, and something I can have a bit of fun in the surf with.

So far I've installed two flush-mount rod holders behind the cockpit with rivets, neoprene foam gasket, sealed with mondobond


To cut the holes for the flush mounts and the day hatch, I traced the pattern onto the boat and then cut on the inside of the line with a sharp drill bit. There are better tools available, but it's what I had available. I did use a grinder to bevel the edges of my rough cut drill work.

I added neoprene foam seating, cut with scissors and attached with more mondobond. The gray foam back pillar positions me a bit further forward in the boat. My thinking is that this will balance out the voluminous bow compartment and the narrow stern. The redistribution of weight further forward in the boat will loosen the stern, making it more responsive to edge control, or "playful" as it's said.


The gray foam also pushes me away from the high back rest, allowing for better torso rotation, more efficient paddling, and great boat control.

In the previous picture, you will notice a valley day hatch positioned in the flat rise in front of the seat. With the addition of this hatch, I can safely bilge water from the hull without fear of taking on more water from crashing waves through the huge
hatches on some sit-on-top kayaks.

In front of the day hatch, I riveted in several pad-eyes and ran bungee in a cross pattern to secure a bilge pump, and a few other small items.


Moving towards the bow you will see that I've bolted in a scotty deck mount rod holder. If needed I can add the 8" extender that scotty makes in order to position the rod holder closer to the cockpit.


I riveted a few more pad-eyes around the boat and added reflective perimeter line around the length of the boat. The perimeter line makes the boat easier to carry, increase visibility at night, and gives me a way to hang on to the boat should I come out in rough water or surf.


Finally, I clipped on some NRS thigh straps. The thigh straps give me more control over the boat and keep me from getting bucked off (sometimes) in surf.


To complete the sea worthiness of the kayak, I am working on installing a 3-4" closed cell foam bulkhead directly behind the front hatch. Before installing the bulkhead, I will stuff 10 or 12 foam pool noodles along the gunwales all the way to the stern. With the pool noodles, bulkhead, and day hatch for pumping water out, taking on water should not be an issue. I believe the bulkhead will also add strength to the structure of the boat, possibly preventing blown scuppers earned after smacking the hull on the backside of a big wave.

My plan for internal rod storage is to run two five-inch PVC pipes through the area in front of the footwells, through the bulkhead, and into the front hatch area. I'll seal the pipe end in the hatch, and have a screw lid with o-ring exiting in front of the footwells. This gives me the ability to store two piece rods with reels inside the boat for surf launches, without the 30" x 8" gaping hole in the boat.

At this point, I believe it will be the most seaworthy sit-on-top kayak that I have ever seen. Manufacturers take note; The design features and modifications published in this post are the intellectual property of Jason Self. If I start seeing the bulkhead/tube storage ideas on the market, we will chat.

Until next week,

Jason

TRIP REPORT: Sea Kayaking San Juan Islands, WA. July 8-12, 2009

I had the opportunity to take four clients to the San Juan Islands in Northern Washington this past week with my fellow guide Shawn Altman. We left Portland on Wednesday, July 8th and drove to Anacortes, where we camped on the watefront at Washington Park.

We woke early, around 5:30, broke down camp and caught the first ferry to Guemes Island. The sun rise was so beautiful and the water so calm, Shawn could not resist taking a quick paddle in his new boat, a NDK Greenlander Pro, before our clients arrived at the launch site.




One by one our clients arrived. We sorted through an amazing amount of food, water, pots & pans, fuel, camping gear, and dry bags. Amazingly enough, it all fits every time. We even managed a few full sized camp chairs, a large skillet, and a double burner stove. After suiting up for the 55 degree water, we hauled our 200 pound boats to the water with four people carrying each kayak, and began the journey to Cypress Island, where we would establish base camp at Pelican Beach.






Beautiful blue skies, light winds, and seventy degree temperatures made the paddle over to Cypress smooth and enjoyable. After setting up camp and eating lunch, the group went on a hike around the island. Upon their return and completion of dinner, we watched the sunset while sitting around the camp fire. Sounds of Outward Bound groups singing camp fire songs and waves lapping on the cobble beach made it easy for us all to drift off to sleep. The following day would be a big one for this group; We would circumnavigate the Island.

Another sunny and mild day greeted us as we launched from Pelican Beach Friday morning. Although the weather was mild, the currents were ripping. The plan was to paddle around the North tip of Cypress and down the West side to Strawberry Island, riding the ebbing current the whole way to our destination.



Our four clients had varying kayaking experience, some were stronger than others. As a result, the group covered distance a bit slower than we had planned for. After navigating through the fishing fleet, we landed on a rocky gulch on Strawberry Island and had lunch.




After a brief discussion with the group concerning our slow progress, and the changing currents, they decided to go ahead with the circumnavigation. We paddled South towards the end of the Island, where we found the current and wave action to be increasing.


As we neared the South tip of the Island, one of our clients wanted to pull out and stretch his legs; It seemed he was a bit tight in his kayak. I offered him my NDK Explorer HV because it has a bit more leg room; Little did I know that would be the last time I paddled my boat on the entire trip. From that moment on I was in a Wilderness Systems Tempest 165. The Tempest 165 is a great boat for someone 5'7 and 135 pounds, but a bit sprightly for me at 6ft 170.

The time we took to eat lunch and then pull out to change boats delayed our rounding of the Southern tip enough that when we approached, we found large boils 150 ft across in front of a rip of 7 or 8 nauts and two foot rapids pushing straight out into the channel. I had gone ahead of the group to probe the best route. After paddling over the boils and approaching the rip, we decided the group would approach the rip and then turn their bows out with the flow when about 50 ft away from the tidal rapids and ride it all the way back to camp.

Shawn took the group out with the flow, but I could not resist playing on the water feature. I pointed my bow into the flow and ferried into the rip. When I entered the fast moving tidal rapids, the Tempest 165 submarined completely underwater, then resurfaced as I crossed the rip and turned into the flow. I kept a keen eye on the group as they rode the swift current North towards camp; I knew this would be an experience they would not forget. I rejoined the group after riding the flow for about two miles, and we enjoyed magnificent views of the North Cascades and Cone Islands.




We completed the circumnavigation of Cyprus, and huddled around the camp fire as we devoured dinner and watched an amazing sunset.


Saturday we set the bar a little lower. Everyone was tired from the previous days adventure, so we decided to make it an instructional day and take it easy. We paddled to Eagle Harbor where we worked on kayak skills and relaxed. I managed to test out my new hand line for a few minutes while Shawn was working with the group. I hooked something small, probably a rockfish, but lost him after a few seconds of play. I found the hand line incredibly hard to get a proper hook set while jigging, but also quite compact and simple to use on trips like this.

I also took a few underwater photos. I have been wanting to do this since my first trip to the San Juan's; The water is extremely clear.








That night after the group had gone to bed, Shawn and I executed our usual routine of walking down the beach to the North tip of the Island and listening to the weather report, consulting the current atlas, and planning the trip for the next day. As we were listening to the radio, we watched nickel-sized jellyfish-like bioluminescent creatures flash in the water lapping at the cobble for an hour in pure amazement as a thunderstorm moved into our area.

Sunday we awoke to cooler temperatures, 20 mph wind gusts, and 2-4 ft wind waves. This combined with the strong currents to make the return to Guemes quite interesting.






There were a few close calls during our paddle back to Guemes, but everyone made it back through the challenging conditions without capsizing. We landed back at the park where we had launched four days prior, where we sorted out gear and packed up to catch the ferry back to Anacortes. After a brief stop at the Bowling Alley Restaurant in Anacortes for their "World Famous Fish & Chips", we drove back to Portland, haggard, exhausted, and happy; Another "once in a life time" trip under our belts.

Until next time,

Jason

Back in Action

After a ridiculously busy spring, I'm happy to report that I will be back to regular weekly posts starting today. Finals are finished, which was a serious expenditure in time and energy, but I did well and will not be taking classes this summer! My little brother got married in Colorado, and I was the best man. At any rate it was an excuse to spend a week in the Rockies. Even though we were busy with wedding chores most of the time, my Step Dad and I managed to get away for a couple hours and catch a couple of pike at Vellacito Reservoir in SW Colorado. I will post a report with pictures on that at a later date.

While I was in Colorado, my new kayak arrived; The Scupper Pro by Ocean Kayak. I have to say, I usually don't get to excited about sit-on-tops, but this boat is sweet. It's much more performance oriented than your usual sit-on-top. I added a few things like two flush-mount-rod-holders, a Scotty bait-caster deck-mount rod-holder up front, reflective perimeter line, deck mounted bilge pump holder, valley day hatch, neoprene foam seating, and I'm in the process of putting pool noodles into the gunwales, and a four inch foam bulkhead to separate the bow hatch from the rest of the boat. When I'm done with the Scupper Pro, it will be the most sea & surf worthy rotomolded sit-on-top that I have ever seen anyway. Although the bulkead will be awesome, the downside is that I will have to measure the entire cross section of the kayak with calipers, transfer that to a cardboard stencil, then cut it out of a foam block. It will be challenging, and I will give a full report with pics......as soon as I find my camera charger!

Coming up in early July, Saltman and I will be guiding a four day San Juan Islands sea kayak camping trip, and I fully intend to make use of the new hand lines. I can't wait for this trip. I look forward to the San Juan's every year. Last year I did not get the opportunity for any fishing, and I have been eagerly anticipating my return to the Juan's since then. I intend to be fully geared this time, I'm even mulling over the idea of towing my new Scupper Pro behind my sea kayak, just so I can have it in the off moments to wet a quick line. We'll see though, it's allot of trouble to do.

There is allot going on, and some good saltwater kayak fishing and outfitting tips coming your way throughout July!

Until next week,

Jason