2008 Moutcha Reports

Believe it or not, while that hen looks very dark, she still had live sea lice on her.  Cut very nice, and we ate a couple steaks of her last night bbq'd in a dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar marinate... was super tasty! 

The water at the head of the bay there is somewhat brackish (the river pebble picture I put up was taken maybe 1/2 mile upstream from where she was caught), but more than anything I think that particular run of fish just turns very quickly as they stage waiting to get up river.  If I'm still in the Pac NW next year, I'd probably go up to Moutcha the Monday before the tourney and fish during the week to target some fresher fish for the freezer.

On Monday, gill nets were going in on the south shore of the inlet, near the mouth of Moutcha Bay.  That will be the end of fresh fish for a while.

The eagle photo was taken with my waterproof camera... he was literally 15' from me!  The fuzzy picture is of a sow black bear and her two cubs being stared down by that same eagle on Monday morning.  He had a nice rock at the head of the bay, and when the bear came by he spread his wings and screamed at her.  She took the long way round him, and he never moved off his spot.

Regarding bear sightings ...  I had 4 sightings all weekend.  I never did see the sow with her 2 cubs.  Cool pic Threeweight.  The sow and 2 cubs at one point was in the tent area that Fishin-T and Threeweight were set up in.  They were away from the main camp area.

On Friday, Jesse and I paddle up the Conuma River to see if the fish were pushing up.  We didn't see many, but we did see a young bear on the shore.

On Sunday we paddled out to the point then trolled the shoreline into the bay.  We saw this young one beach combing.  It didn't pay any attention to me when I came within 30 feet of it.



On Monday after almost everyone left, we were hanging in camp with Jim and his dog named bear.  At one point Bear started running towards the beach (not 25 feet from us) and he spooked a young bear.  Bear chased the bear and treed him not 60 feet from where we were.





Then on Tuesday as we were driving towards Campbell River, we saw a large black bear at the side of the road near the big lake.

As far as I know, no bears got into the main camp (other than the one that bear chased off).  There was potential as we weren't bear safe by any means (need to change that).

-Allen

I suppose there were some bright fish.  Here's a pic Jesse took of zuluo3 with a nice one.

-Allen

Dean has some fun on Monday.  He had a large fish take him all the way to head bay before he lost it.  I'll let him tell the story including recovering a net he dropped in the water.

Later Dean hooked up again and had a fish tow him all over the bay for perhaps a couple hours.  Here's the 28 pounder he finally landed.



I'm a big believer in "putting the hurt" to the fish and landing them as fast as possible.  On Monday I switched over to a spinning outfit, in fact it is my float rod rated 8-12 pounds with a 2500 class reel loaded with 20# powerpro.  I was able to land a 29 pounder and a 17 pounder while Dean was still fighting his 28 pounder.  You don't want to be doing this.



Instead you want to be doing this.



The result was this.



-Allen

The area around camp drained out forming a big mudfield.  We didn't launch from there instead we launched from a dock at the dry land sort about 1/2 mile away.  We just tied up our yaks at the end of the day and left them there for the next day.

-Allen

Geez you guys, keep those pics and reports coming, really makes me hot to get to VI for some summer kings!!

   THree---what brand/model's your waterproof camera???

Olympus 720 SW (I think).  It is a few years old now, but has held up well and takes pretty good photos.  I really like the all stainless steel housing.

Launching and landing off that dock in Alan's photo was pretty exciting.  There are slick logs on both sides of it.  On one side, the log isn't anchored well and rolled when you stood on it (don't ask me how I found this out).  The other had some carpet and stuff nailed to it for traction (which was great), but getting out of the kayak with legs that had been unused for 6 hours and onto a small round log led to some interesting gymnastics.

One byproduct of this trip is that we did a good job collecting bait for some fall river salmon.   

-Allen

Just wanted to post a heartfelt thank-you to Allen, L-A, Moutcha Jim, and all the other folks who put a lot of work into making the derby happen this year.  The odds seemed a bit long that it would come together so I know that folks must have really persisted and I'm glad they did.   

Also a special thanks to Stan and Doug who entered my 4th place fish.  I caught that particular fish on Saturday evening.  It was pretty dark and fairly small so I gave it to them on the water without much thought about it meaning anything in the derby.  I had to leave Sunday afternoon and was sure I wasn't in the running for any prizes.  Much to my surprise I got emails from Allen and L-A saying I won a paddle!  So Stan and Doug -  I owe you a beer!  I hope we make it again next year so you can collect.   

For my report, I learned a lot about the mysteries of "the bite" this year.  I came in early and caught a bunch of fish (including that nice bright one Allen posted a picture of) on Thursday evening and Friday morning.  Good solid hook-ups.  Something like 9 or 10 fish so pretty steady.  By Friday evening though it was over and I didn't catch another fish until that dark dinker on Saturday.  I had a few other bites during the derby but they were not very aggressive and didn't hook up.  The fish were still around, and I was fishing the same techniques, but the bite was gone.  I like the theory that it was the power boats but it's hard to know.  The lesson seems to be that salmon are fickle creatures and it's nice to plan for enough time to allow the bite to come and go.  Last year's derby was a stroke of luck that there were plenty of fish on the bite throughout the weekend.

Thanks again!
Steve                 

L-A sent me a couple of nice pics.  First one is a fish splashing me with Conuma Peak in the background.



Second one is the same fish after I landed it.



-Allen

That's a nice looking hen that Zuluo3 is holding.

It does seem that in short run rivers, that the fish darken up early. In fact it's true for the tulies in the lower Columbia, too.

Did Tom talk anybody into a mackeral derby? 

Thanks Allen, LA and Moucha Jim for a fun derby.  It was great meeting so many cool people.  I am new to rod and reel kayak fishing and appreciated all of the help I was given to get going with this.

Monday, after the derby, four of us stayed another day and fished.  I finally hooked up on my second cast.  I’m not sure what the distance was, but the fish towed me out of the bay and almost back to our campground.  Things were going well and I attempted to net the fish several times.  I hadn’t done it before.  The fish don’t like going into the net!  After screwing around with a line tangle, the net slipped out of my hand and sank underwater.  The fish made a run and the line snapped.   Luckily, I brought freedive gear and recovered the net.  I finally caught a 28 pound Chinook.  Allen helped me with the netting and snapped a photo.  A picture above of me holding my first (and only) Salmon is in a post above.  I'll be ready next year with a bit stronger line!

Greetings all!

I want to thank everybody involved in making this another great trip!  I look forward to it every year and, even though we will be on the East Coast, we are planning on coming out for it each year.  Next year Carolyn will be back too!  And, we have made a full-on convert out of Brian.  Having never fished before, I think Moutcha Bay has made a great impression on him.  However, I suspect he might think that all fishing is that sweet.  Like the time I brought my (then) 6 year old son to his first Mariners game and he ended up leaving the game with a foul ball!  He was disappointed at his next game that he did not get another one.  I had to explain to him that some folks NEVER get a ball at a game. 

I have uploaded some pictures to the common area set up for them.  Charles, that picture of you and that other fellow you were fishing with is there. I also have higher resolution versions of these.  I sized them down as to not bog down the website.

In thinking about next year, what do you all think about anchoring a dock out somewhere in Moutcha Bay to act as a between bites center.  Weigh station, coolers, keg, some kind of shelter, tie up for boats, first aid station, etc.  That would take the edge off the 45 minute paddle to Head Bay.  Only need to do it once!

Zed

WOW!
That was some great fish porn and a stories of triumph and defeat! 3wt; you fought for an hour!?!?!

Beautiful scenery and wildlife too. That beach and fire look waaay too familiar. I can almost smell the smoke (In fact I can, all my rain gear still smells of it).

Y'all look like you had a really good time. Hope I can clear that weekend next year!

WOW!
That was some great fish porn and a stories of triumph and defeat! 3wt; you fought for an hour!?!?!

After hooking and losing fish after fish, and knowing I had to hit the road Monday afternoon, I was NOT going to lose the hen I hooked at 11:00 AM.  Ran the drag loose and let her tow me around till she was good and done. 

The fish in Moutcha may have been dark, but they had a ton of fight in them.  This hen did not one, but three aerial leaps once she realized she was hooked.

Dean, I didn't realize you might need some help.  I saw you hook and start fighting that fish, but then you disappeared.  I thought you landed it and headed home!