Nice ling cod. Is that second shot a springer or a coho?

The smile in the second photos says it all. Very cool.



How long does it take typically to bring one of those big guys in? Any tips that you could offer for someone just getting into kayak fishing?

*****

Is that second shot a springer or a coho?
Dave I always thought Keith caught a Spring but I looked at a web site for salmon id and now I'm thinking it's a Coho?

How long does it take typically to bring one of those big guys in?
I'm thinking 15 minutes, When they get above 20lbs you need help from a buddy with a net and the challenge begins!

Any tips that you could offer for someone just getting into kayak fishing?
As far as catching Salmon on the Central Coast we drop our lines where the $300.00 a day fly-in customers are fishing (you can get that info on-line from where the fishing lodges are set up all up and down the coast) and use the same slow 1 kt. trolling speed and line set up except for the live bait (thats where the hoochie comes in). If their catching fish, were catching fish!
Fishing out of a touring Kayak is a challenge so I don't fish alone, I use a paddle leash for the pole and have a comfortable system for securing the paddle when the fish is on. We troll with the reel and pole base between the legs and the pole runs under the arm so a normal paddle posture is used, you'll know when a fish is on! With some practice you will get comfortable gilling salmon with your hand but the big ones need a net. A set of pliers handy with a plastic gabage bag between the legs works well for storing the catch without making too much of a fishy mess of yourself.

Ha! you guys were day tripping weren't you? Nice catches, a salmon that big would present a seriously fun challenge in a yak or canoe!

Darren, nice recipe, though I like to throw in a habanero or two for a bit of kick. Perfect camp food... just make it up, put it in a freezer bag, and dangle it in the water. every 20 minutes or so, pull it out and knead the bag instead of stirring. Tip: use name- brand, expensive freezer bags; a leak here and your lunch becomes chum.

Good Lord

I've got fantasies of catching goldfish-sized pike for pan frying, and you guys are landing salmon the size of aircraft carriers...

I tend to paddle alone and I'm understanding the potential chaos if I hooked anything of any size. It might be prudent to mount a rod holder on the deck so I could continue to brace and paddle if need arises.

fishing for pan-fryers in the Broken Group some years ago (full-size rod and reel) i got into it with one of those "aircraft carriers". dragged me half way to Uclulet before i got him close enough to see how big he was. i cut him loose and paddled back to camp on Benson. it was fun.

Daren.....

Oh, you mean you don't have a rod holder mounted yet? I thought that was an essential kayak accessory... mine also double as light beacon holders for night paddling(I use flush mounts behind the cockpit), 1-1/2" pvc fits nice and snug into most of them, so I riged a beacon into an 18" piece of pvc. If you're into serious fishing, you can rig your paddle across the cockpit or in front of it, with a paddle float on each end, and forget about bracing. One kayak I built with a freind of mine has provision for pontoons, as his primary goal is fishing, paddling merely being the means to get there.

He also has about 65 wrecks programed into his GPS, and a fish finder mounted. I don't get that serious about the fishing part.

Good idea! Im going to try this

Robert, there is no way I can technically describe the effect on pole, paddler and boat with a big salmon on but I'm comfortably stable bringing the fish in and I would think throwing the pole in a holder would make bracing with a paddle a necessity. My comfort level with fishing has more to do with the sea state. Swell is not bad, it's the wind waves and shoreline clapitos that get me to put the rod away.

Very cool rig there Stumpy, and a great design!

Daren... the picture of you being dragged around the Broken Group had me laughing all afternoon... too funny

dvfrggr... I put the hole saw kit away. I'll hold off on the pole holder for now... deal with it down the road.

I carry a couple of tarp poles that are about 3 feet long when collapsed. The three foot ice rod sounds like the best compromise. I can pack them all together in some kind of rig.

i had a big grin on the whole time, so it's ok to laugh.

Daren.......

I think I can see black lips which would make it a springer (blackmouth) salmon. Pretty big though.

Nice fish though.

Craig

That year we put in at Bella Bella and took out at Shearwater.We headed west down Seaforth channel hitting prime salmon grounds at Idol Pt., St. Johns Harbor, Goose Is. and Superstiton Pt. then north up Hunter channel to Shearwater.
Keith caught that salmon off the west side of Athone Is on our way to a campsite at St Johns Harbor. I gained 5 lbs that trip, we ate Salmon for breakfast , lunch and dinner( too much for me!). On a trip the following year(different route) I lost 5 lbs, the fishing was not so good, in fact we were almost out of food and were looking at heading back 3 days early until we found Salmon on the west side of Spider Is.

Yeah. We were almost out of food and would have been if we hadn't sniveled those halibut steaks, bottles of wine, coffee and a case of beer from the Tradewind Tugboat Tours. That bought us some time. Otherwise, those sorry-assed muddy clams that Keith and Larry pulled out of the mud on Triquet would have been our death knell. Long ways to Shearwater on an empty stomach.

Jon

Personally, I like it because it pops off with two clevis pins and the mounts are almost invisible. If I were to build pontoons for myself, they'd be bigger, and go with a sail rig, which I've been thinking about lately, for another skin boat. just not sure how to mount a rudder to the frame.

Yes, to be honest I was wondering just how one would pull in a salmon that big from a tippy ocean kayak, but that rig looks like a fantastic solution!

Just to demonstrate you can catch a respectably sized fish with nothing but a hand line. Mine's a kite line holder, but I'm really liking Sheila P's idea for the twine holder. I'll have to look into that.

OK, Philip, mine is bigger than yours is ...



And, I have the shorts to prove it!

Very respectable!
Someone in our group caught a fish like that and if memory serves me well the meat had a green hue to it. That fish was incredibly tasty!

Yes, Ling Cod have a bit of green cast to the meat. Big filet's like off of that ling or Dave's fish are perfect for basting with a mixture of melted butter, garlic and a little lemon then toss it on the grill. Yum, one of my favorite food.

Just out of curiosity, how many of these larger ling cod caught were simply let go because they were too big to eat for even three people to finish around a campfire? I assume that if they were kept, it was because people were either in large enough groups to actually eat that much fish or, people were heading back that night and therefor able to freeze what couldn't be eaten?

I like fishing as much as the next paddler but I was under the impression that it takes well over a decade for these big fellows to reach the size they do and given that most of the east coast of VI has been under a voluntary ban on rock fish for the last five years, and specific limits and bans on green-ling, I've always let anything big I catch go.. while specifically trying to catch the little fellows.

I let this beast go after taking it's picture for posterity on my last big trip...

Monster,

Someone, on a different thread, pointed out that groundfish caught at depth and brought to the surface stand a very good chance of suffering fatal injury from over-expansion of their gas bladder (aka swim bladder): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_bladder

You've no doubt seen extreme examples of this, in which the bladder distends out the creature's maw ... typically in fish caught roughly 100 meters below the surface. I've never seen that in a groundfish landed from depths of 10-15 meters, which is pretty much the practical limit for where and how I fish from a kayak. [That orange monster was taken from about 20 meters down ... deepest catch I've ever made from a kayak.]

But, the other person made the claim that even fish taken from 10 meters down may, emphasis may, suffer internal damage which eventually kills them. I have no way to verify that. But, my rule is that everything which comes to the surface gets eaten. If the luck of the draw provides three little ones, that's it. If the first one is big enough for dinner, that's it for the day.

In some popular kayaking areas (Broken Group, for example), the taking of groundfish is now prohibited, to allow stocks to recover. I believe that is a DFO restriction, and not a voluntary one at all.

Hunh. I did not expect to find anything this detailed or particular to returning ground fish safely, but here it is, provided by Sea Grant and the California Dept of Fish and Game: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/release.pdf

It is a pdf file, or I'd extract it and post it here.

Worth noting is that they claim the apparent extent of gas bladder distension does not necessarily correlate with mortality, if the fish is repatriated appropriately. The stuff you learn!