Eric bid on a fishing trip for us at an auction this spring and he had the winning bid. It was a commercial fishing trip with Brad Shride, who is a member of The Vashon Sportsman's Club with Eric. So we picked a day during the best time of fishing down at the mouth of the Columbia.
We were supposed to be at the Port of Chinook near the mouth of the Columbia at 5:00 AM. Rather than get a hotel for the night we decided to just drive down in the middle of the night and sleep in the car till five. I volunteered to drive since it was Thursday morning and Eric had to wake up early for work on Wednesday. We left at about midnight and got there at about three. Eric slept the whole ride down. I tried to get some sleep once we got there, but it was not so easy. So at 5 AM, with no real sleep we headed out on the river.
Because Brad's boat can hold up to 4 fisherman and there was just Eric and I, Brad brought a friend of his along. Being so close to the mouth of the river I wasn't sure what to expect the weather and waves to be like. I have never been out on a boat out in the open ocean. On the way out of Port it was pretty mild. We headed up river a little ways past the Astoria–Megler Bridge just at sunrise. It was so beautiful. You could not imagine a better day to be on the water. As soon as the sun came up we started fishing.
Eric and I had done a lot of fishing on Vashon, but this is very different. We have done a lot of casting from the beach and caught a fish occasionally. But there were many days when we caught nothing. When you get on the boat everything is already set-up for you. The fishing rods are ready with the appropriate lure. Everyone sets their pole to the appropriate depth and then waits while we troll around. It did not take long before the guys caught there fish. They may have lost 1 or tow, but really had no trouble. And in no time their quota was filled for the day. It had only been an hour or two of fishing. But I had no hits at all. So everyone hung out for a little while to wait for me. It was a nice day to be in a boat though. And there were so many boats on the water that it was just fun to watch all of them catch fish. Finally I got a couple hits, but I also lost a couple fish. I had never tried to bring in this large of a fish before so it took some practice. I almost got yanked off my feet once because the deck was wet and the fish was pulling hard. but after waiting for a little while a had a big hit. And with Brad's instructions and a lot of patience, I was able to pull the fish in. And it was wort the wait. I pulled in a 20+ pound King Salmon. The biggest catch of the day. After a few more tries I caught my other fish and we headed back in.
It was only mid-day, but the weather and the tides had already changed. So we suited up in our rain gear and prepared for a bit of a choppy ride back to Port. We sat facing the back of the boat so we didn't really get wet. It was pretty cool actually. We went flying over waves and there would be a huge crash of water of the boat. You would see it, but not feel a thing because you were wearing rain gear. We made it back to port where Brad cleaned all our fish for us. The seagulls hovered and fought over all the left over bits. It was pretty fun to watch them battle.
Eric and I had a blast. It was so worth it. And we were totally exhausted on the ride home.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Ocean
This summer we mad our trip to the ocean again. Unlike last year, we decided to go to Long Beach this year. It was different, but fun. It was the International Kite Festival so we got to see a lot of cool kites. There were huge kites for show, there were stunt kites that did tricks, there was even one guy who was flying 3 kites at once.
We rented a house rather than staying in a hotel which was cool because we had more space. But less people were able to come so there was only about 10 of us there.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Trip to Utah to see the Binghams
Eric and I made a last minute trip to Utah for the Bingham family reunion. I had never met Eric's family because none of them live in Washington. It was his grandmother's birthday and there were 48 of his family members there. I guess it was probably like the first time Eric met my family where we are know to have 40 people in one house for Thanksgiving. Slightly overwhelming. But it was really great to finally get to meet them.
We stayed with Eric's dad for the weekend. He took us to Antelope Island which is in the middle of The Great Salt Lake. You drive across a really long land bridge to get there. The views are amazing. We went to one of the historical sites there, where there are a lot of old buildings, old machinery, and old tools. There was also a roping area. Of course Eric got it on the first try. It took me a little longer.
There were also a number of buffalo on the island. I had never seen a buffalo up close. I got about 25 feet away. It was a little scary because they are huge. But they didn't even really notice us. We stopped at a restaurant to eat buffalo burger. I left Eric and his dad there and went on a hike. I didn't even realize that the elevation was so high in Utah until I started climbing this steep hill. I was breathing pretty hard. I later found out that it was at about 4600 feet. It was worth the hike though. It was an amazing view.
Friday, August 14, 2009
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