Wednesday, July 17, 2013

#2013-41 SLO Town Cowboys Fish Craig

Tuesday, July 16th

The SLO (San Luis Obispo) Town Homies arrived today. This crew is made up of a poker player, a deep sea fisherman and a fly fisherman.  Alex has known "the boys" for years now and as a group we seem to be able to stay mostly out of trouble.  This crew is looking to do some salmon fishing as we cruise around the southern end of Prince of Wales Island and end up in Ketchikan.

Vince Fonte, the poker player, recently was dealt the best hand in poker.  No, not a Royal Flush as we play with a joker that's good for aces, straights and flushes. Vince had 4 Aces and the Joker for a total of 5 Aces!  In over 50 years of poker playing, that's just the second time I've heard of 5 Aces happening in non-wild card poker game. So of course Vince thinks his luck is running good and hopes to land a BIG salmon.  He has crewed on the Wild Blue many times but is a bit worried after our 2008 rounding of POW Island.  You can see why just read the June 27, 2008 Blog entry.

Marvin Dee, a deep sea fisherman, is also a retired Insurance Broker.  He has traveled the world's oceans with other SLO Town Homies to seek fish.  We hope the salmon are listening.  This is Marvin's second cruise on the Wild Blue.

Bob Silva is the fly fisherman and a great chef, the most desirable crew talent.  He knows all the fishing knots and came equipped with lots of gear including two deep water rods, two deep water reels, two salmon rods and a Boca.  Turns out the rods and reels are from Roger, Dave and Sid who fished with us off Sitka last month.  Nice of them to make sure Vince, Marvin and Bob are well-equipped!  This is Bob's second cruise on the Wild Blue.

Wednesday, July 17th

We shopped last night after dinner but since we won't be able to provision until Ketchikan, we need to shop for a week.  This morning we add milk, cereal, and more bait then cast off from Craig.

Across the dock from Wild Blue is the Silverado.  Silverado's captain is an affable guy and we chatted about where they have been fishing for Kings.  He says the kings are in the outer waters and suggests St Nicholas Point off Noyes Island and Cape Addington. So we motor out with visions of fat salmon swimming in our heads.

We try southeast San Fernando Island first then St Nicholas Point.  We land a few Cohos but the Kings are elusive. Bob seems to be landing the most fish. After 28 miles of cruising and trolling, we set the anchor in a quiet cove on the north side of Baker Island known as Port Real Marina after an OK day of fishing.  The marina's only bar is aboard the Wild Blue.

Bob demonstrates the Boca, a device with
 handhold for moving dead fish. 
The tuna reeling technique for landing a salmon.




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