| I felt a feeling of excitement as I stepped onto | | | | with the captain's position up on top. All of the |
| the charter boat. Would this be the time? Would I | | | | exhaust was routed thru a pipe that went up |
| finally get my Salmon? Every time I had been out | | | | through the center of the boat. This arrangement |
| deep sea fishing I didn't even get a bite. The | | | | was probably ok when it was windy, but on our |
| arguments have been flying around for years as | | | | day the exhaust was sucked down to the |
| to why the Salmon have gotten so rare. I haven't | | | | passenger area. We all got a little green because it |
| been paying too much attention to these | | | | took an hour and a half to get to the captain's |
| arguments. I have to admit that I am selfish and | | | | favorite fishing "spot". |
| just want to catch my Salmon. | | | | When we reached the captain's "spot", the high |
| My day started at 6:00 AM, when our windup | | | | school kid handed us each a Salmon rod with the |
| alarm went off in our tent. Our little party | | | | bait already attached. We fished for about an |
| consisted of me, my dad, and my Uncle Bob. | | | | hour without any bites. Since there didn't seem to |
| We had set up our tent in a public campground | | | | be any Salmon around, the captain had the high |
| only a couple of miles from the harbor of | | | | school kid give us bottom fishing gear. We caught |
| Garibaldi, Oregon. Garibaldi is a small town situated | | | | lots of fish with the bottom fishing gear. |
| on the Tillamook Bay along the Oregon coast. | | | | I was thrilled to haul in a couple of bottom fish. |
| Garebaldi has the perfect location for a harbor | | | | Another guy caught a Rockfish. This fish was the |
| and a marina because the waters are relatively | | | | oddest living thing that I had ever seen. It looked |
| calm in the bay. | | | | prehistoric. It was black with orange dots all over |
| It was still dark, so getting up wasn't easy. As we | | | | and it had an orange mouth. Very strange indeed! |
| pulled out of the campground, several cars sped | | | | After we fished for bottom fish a couple of |
| past us going in the other direction. I found out | | | | hours, the captain had us pull in our lines and |
| later that these were the charter boat captains | | | | motored for about an hour to another one of his |
| driving out to the jetty, so they could see what | | | | Salmon "hot spots" Nobody caught a Salmon, so I |
| the bar conditions were like. | | | | guess the spot wasn't that "hot". |
| I was comfortable with the boat because it was | | | | We pulled in our Salmon lines and traveled for one |
| fairly new and looked to be in pretty good shape. | | | | and a half hours back to Garibaldi. Once again, the |
| It looked big to me. I was used to my | | | | captain ran down and looked at the engine before |
| grandfather's 14 ' boat. There were eight of us | | | | we crossed the bar, but by that time, I was too |
| fishing plus the captain and a high school kid who | | | | tired and too green to care about the bar, I just |
| baited the hooks and netted the fish. | | | | wanted to get back to dry land. |
| As we approached the bar, the captain ran back, | | | | We got back to port about 3:30 PM. We didn't |
| lifted the cover off the engine and looked around. | | | | catch any Salmon, but at least we caught some |
| He had a very serious look on his face. That's | | | | bottom fish, and had fun doing it, so the |
| when it hit me, "uh, oh, going over the bar is | | | | important thing was, we didn't get skunked. |
| serious business". I couldn't believe the size of the | | | | The trip cost $145.00 . It's less if you decide to |
| waves at the bar, they towered over us to | | | | only fish for Salmon or bottom fish, but if you |
| about ten feet. I felt pretty sheepish when the | | | | only go for one type your chances of not getting |
| high school kid said that the bar was pretty good | | | | anything goes up. |
| that day. | | | | I'm glad that we decided to fish for the bottom |
| Once we got into the ocean, the waves were | | | | fish too because they really made our day. As for |
| only two or three feet and there was no wind. | | | | the Salmon, the arguments and the finger pointing |
| After we got out into the ocean, we were happy | | | | about what caused their rarity goes on. It would |
| to see that we wouldn't be dealing with the wind. | | | | be nice, however, if next time there was more |
| but after awhile, a little wind would have been | | | | wind and at least some Salmon. |
| nice. The boat we were on was a cabin cruiser | | | | |