Drift Fishing the Umpqua River

I met Cathy in San Francisco for our flight to North Bend, Oregon November 20th.  She informed me that due to a lack of rain, we wouldn't be fishing the Elk or Sixes Rivers.  Instead, we would be fishing the Umpqua which would be good.  Only problem is that the Umpqua is two and a half hours drive form Cathy's house and 5 hours driving each day was just too much.  She said we would stay in North Bend at the Mill Casino instead - only an hour drive  from the Casino.

We met Scott Wolfe of Wolfe Pack Guide Service (http://www.wolfepackfishing.com/) at Arlene's Cafe in Elkton at 6:30 am the next morning.  

We put on our waders etc. and drove to the river's edge.  Scott launched his boat and we began fishing then he mentioned that he had a cold and a toothache but his brother, Richard, was on his way to take over.  As it turned out, Scott had to have a root canal later in the day and needed to rest the next few days to recover.  Richard did a great job for us.

It was foggy and cold but fishing was good.  We started by side drifting.  First fish was a steelhead caught by Cathy.  What an acrobatic fish.  My heart would stop each time it jumped frightened it would spit the hook.  She did a great job landing such a beautiful fish.  Her fish was photographed then released unharmed.  In fact, we told Richard that we wanted to release all fish and let them continue up stream to spawn.

We continued to fish switching between side drifting, bobber doggin and wiggle warts.  The wiggle warts worked best for me and I managed to catch 4 coho, each a different color.  Some were very silvery (in the river a short time) others were pink and silver or black and red with extreme hook noses.  All fish our first day were wild males - no hatchery fish.  I also caught a small mouth bass that was snug to the river's edge.

The sun came out around noon and it warmed up from the morning's 32 degrees.  The river was beautiful in the bright sun light.  

Richard pulled the boat out at 4 pm and we drove back to the Mill.  We had dinner in the bar then called it a night.  We were tired.

Our second day we departed the hotel at 4:45 am and arrived at Arlene's by 6 am.  We decided to have breakfast at Arlene's while we suited up for fishing.  We also ordered lunches for us all.  Breakfast was good and lunches were extra good.  Each lunch sack had a 2 inch thick sandwich containing many slices of turkey, two slices of cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat bread plus chips, a cookie and a candy bar.  A great deal for $7.95.

Richard launched his boat around 7 am and we were back fishing the Umpqua.  We had less fog but the air felt colder.  We didn't see the sun until after 2 pm even though the forecast was for "Plenty of Sun".  We started side drifting and it was the first time I caught a salmon that way.  The rest of our fish we caught with green Wiggle Warts.  I had trouble with the rod I was using as my middle finger kept getting caught between the rod and reel.  The day before I was using Scott's gear. 

At day's end, we had seven wild male cohos - Cathy caught 4 and I caught 3. We quit early and were on the road by 3:30 pm.  We stopped for gas on the way back to the hotel.  We showered and headed down to the restaurant for dinner.  We split an order of scallops and had a bowl of salmon chowder.  Still more food than I could finish.  We were tired and went to bed early again.

Our third and last day of fishing we departed at 4:45 am and had breakfast at Arlene's and ordered our lunches again.  Richard launched the same place we did the day before - through someone's farm.  We were on the river by 6:30 trying side drifting again.  When that didn't work, Richard had us fish the deep diver over a deep hole in the river.  I hooked a big chinook (maybe  a 16 to 18 pounder).  This was our first female and she was wild as well.

 A few minutes later, Richard was in the middle of a story that I was listening intently to when he stuttered trying to say "set the hook" but tapped my shoulder instead.  I was bit and didn't notice it.  This one was another female chinook and a hatchery fish.  Hatchery fish are the only ones you can keep.  I released her to continue death's journey. 

Cathy caught 3 coho on the green wiggle wart.  Boy that jig was really a producer for us.  I did catch one fish on Dr. Death (Kevorkian) wiggle wart the previous day.  Kevorkian is a purple and black wiggle wart.  We had a great day to finish our trip.  We quit early and were back at the hotel by 5 pm.  We split a nice steak dinner then crashed. 

Sunday morning I was up early again so I packed my bags.  At 7:30 am we went down for breakfast.  Since our flight wasn't until 2 pm we decided to spend some time sightseeing in Bandon by the Sea.  We picked up some sweets at the candy shop then went to an art store.  We had the privilege of hearing one of the owners play the harp and a song she wrote.  She was quite good too.

We were on a high after three great days fishing the Umpqua River catching 17 salmon.  All good things must come to an end though so we headed to the airport.  Our flights home were on time and uneventful.  I can only thank Cathy for including me on another great adventure. 

American Angler Tackle Buster Trip!

I left November 10th on the American Angler expecting to head directly to Guadalupe Island.  Captain Ray took us to check-in at Ensenada then headed back towards the Sixty Mile Bank where the yellowfin and bluefin have been biting.  As it turned out, this was a great decision on his part.

Ray's crew included Rocko, Austin, Patrick, Josh (Galley Chef) assisted by Nick.  I always enjoy trips on the American Angler.  The entire American Angler family makes each passenger feel that they are their favorite.

There were 22 other anglers on this trip and all but 3 were new to the boat.  Some had never done a long range trip and a few had never caught a tuna.

We spent 3 days fishing the yellowfin and bluefin before heading to Guadalupe Island for a couple days fishing trophy yellows and yellowfin tuna.  How was our fishing?  There were huge successes and big failures.  There were more tackle failures on this trip than I've seen before.

The yellowfin tuna were in the 30 pound range and required fishing with a short 30 pound fluorocarbon leader tied to spectra.  The bluefin were 50 to 60 pounds and wouldn't bite line heavier than 40 pound.  Bigger bluefin were in the mix which accounted for some heavy heartbreaks.  We managed to land 262 yellowfin tuna and 48 bluefin tuna in 3 days which was about 20 percent of what we hooked. I sent a couple fish to the galley and kept 2 bluefin and 10 yellowfin.

The heartbreaks primarily came when someone hooked a big bluefin on 30 or 40 pound line and would lose the fish at color after an hour battle either to pulled hooks or spectra breaks.  In my case, I had a kite fish I fought on 200 pound leader tied directly to 130 pound spectra break my spectra at color after 1 hour and 20 minutes.   Ray says the fish was well over 300 pounds and probably over 350.  It was the heaviest fish I've fought.  I may not have landed the fish, but another passenger captured a video of the fish underwater for me. 

My Fish Lost at Color!

After that, I grabbed my 80 pound outfit and dropped a sardine down 300 feet on a sinker rig and got bit again.  This time the fish bit through the line.  It felt like another big fish. Humbling!  If something could go wrong it did.

We spent the next two days at Guadalupe Island.  The wind was howling.  We fished the weather side and picked up 3 yellowfin in the 125 pound range the first day,  These fish were on the big black porpoise.  Ray handed me another kite fish hooked on the boat gear.  It popped off after 5 minutes when it either bit off both hooks on a double trouble sardine leader or was eaten by a shark.  We also landed 3 yellowtail in the 35 pound range.  We lost many fish as well. All these fish were stronger than your average yellowtail and yellowfin tuna.  We could only guess it's because they need to out swim the Great Whites. 

Our last day of fishing, we ended up doing a 360 tour of the island looking for biting fish.  We picked up 13 yellowtail during the day. Many more were lost to the rocky landscape below.  I had a big yellowtail drag my spectra across the rocks and break free taking my jig with him.

It was time to call it a trip and Ray said we have 15 more minutes of day light so make the most of it.  So we did.  It was a spectacular sundowner.  The tuna wanted to bite and we all hooked up then two Great Whites joined the party.  Out of 15 to 20 fish hooked, 6 were landed.  At one point a big white breached on the surface and grabbed another tuna.  It was heartbreak but also exciting to see these magnificent creatures.

We had good weather for almost the entire trip and the fishing was great even if the catching wasn't.  I paid a lot of dues this trip.  I have had spectacular fishing all year so it was my turn. Unfortunately, my hands have made it more difficult to fish.  My arthritis keeps me from being able to grip my rod and reel very well in order to cast and baiting a hook is very difficult.  One hand can't hold the bait properly and the other can't hold the hook properly to bait the hook.  I fear my fishing days are numbered.