Archive for the ‘fishing’ Category

June 19 2008

Hugo and I were up before 6 am but he wouldn’t cooperate by ‘doing his business’ on the bow, the swimgrid or the puppy pad. I kept encouraging him and knew he’d have to do it sooner or later (which was my PLAN) but when Kent got up around 8 he took poor little Hugo ashore in the dinghy. He’s such a good Grandpa and he loves Hugo! So now Hugo knows to hold it until he goes ashore, which is great as long as Kent continues. I will take him, but not if I have to lower the dinghy with the crane…

We left Squirrel Cove, heading northward in the drizzle. The water was calm and Kent and Rick had timed our departure with slack tide in the Yuclatas Rapids. As you will see in my video, they timed it perfectly to be a ‘non-event’!

Forward Harbour is not far from where we anchored for the night. We were protected from the wind and spent a lovely afternoon in a bay full of flipping herring and seals.

Rick and I went fishing in his dinghy, but only caught 1 rockcod - enough for crab bait. We both wore windproof, rain resistant jackets and spent a good 2 hours, drifting amongst the kelp beds waiting for the ‘big one’. Back on the boats, Hugo napped, Kent read and Paulette made dinner and sewed while we were gone. I made nachos when we returned and Paulette had ham dinner with scalloped potatoes ready.

‘Harmony’, one of Trevor’s North Pacific Yachts found us during the evening and tied alonside. I was feeling lousy and went to bed immediately after dinner so didn’t even meet the couple. They are heading north as well, so I’m sure we’ll run into them again, and I’ll be much more hospitable!

Watch as this little ‘devilfish’ makes his way safely back to the ocean after we released him from our prawn trap. I hope he considers himself lucky to live another day to eat more of our prawns!

We quite often catch small fish and octopus in our prawn traps as well as galatheid crabs - and prawns of course! I don’t often touch the octopus if they are larger than me… haha… that’s rare, but their arms seems to extend forever and they have very sharp beaks. Besides that their suction cups feel weird and are sometimes difficult to loosen, especially considering they have 8 legs and you never know where all the legs are at all times. The small octopus are cute though and I was glad to let this one go free in Pop’s bay!

*******

Seals have been a huge problem in our BC waters for years now and on the news tonight I heard there’s discussion at last on controlling them.

As a sport fishermen, I hate the seals. Sure, they are cute and have darling little faces and should be allowed to roam the oceans freely, eating whatever they desire. BUT, when I have a big Chinook salmon on my line and play him for 40 minutes only to have a seal come along, bite right into the body, leaving me with the salmon head on the line and he has a big salmon dinner, I am not a happy camper. I love fishing and it makes me very angry to lose a fish to a seal. The lazy little b*****s, stealing MY fish! Give me a gun, they’ll be good target practice.

Now, the seals have started going upriver after the chinook and are depleting the stocks by the thousands, even further than man has already. The Department of Fisheries is considering ‘culling’ them. I like that idea. There used to be a $5.00 bounty for a seal’s nose in the 1950’s. Let’s re-implement that. I know it sounds cruel, but if you enjoy eating salmon or you or your family depend on the fishing industry for your livelihood you most likely KNOW the seals are a pestilence.

There will be a huge outcry of course - and the professional protesters will flock to BC to intervene between the guns and the seals. Many studies will need to be undertaken, everyone will voice their opinion, tempers will flare.

Oh, I love a good controversy! Tell me your opinion