Price Island
November 6th (Wednesday)
After lunch we headed out to check our deep-water traps. With the forecasted gale we wanted to have our traps brought in, just in case the weather was such that we could not go out and check them for the next while. On our way out, we saw a sea otter, which is always a treat because they are so cute. When we pulled up our prawn trap we did have a few prawns, but there were also a few that had been chomped in half. When we went to pull them out and release the fish that was in the trap we saw that the fish had a part of a prawn in its mouth. We have had this type of fish in our trap before, and we think that it might be a Threaded Sculpin, but we aren't sure. It has barbed hooks that stick out from the sides of its head, and they always get caught in the net of the trap when we are trying to release it. It also creates an amazing amount of slime, which makes it very hard to handle. There were also some hermit crabs, a purple coloured prickly starfish, and three small rock crabs in the trap. We let everything go, including the prawns because there weren't very many. We did not bother to reset the trap as we had had such little luck getting prawns here.
When we pulled up our crab trap we did have crabs, but none that were big enough to keep. We coiled up the 300' rope, and came into the main area of Higgins Passage. We reset our square trap in an area where we would more easily be able to check it over the windy days ahead. At that point in our day we had about 1.5 hours left until sunset, and we decided to go out for a quick time of fishing. We wanted fresh fish for dinner, and we also wanted more carcasses to use for bait. With the forecasted wind it was unlikely that we would be able to go out fishing for the next few days at least.
We motored out through Higgins Passage and saw a family of five river otters. We did not go all the way out to Jaffery Rock, as we did not have much time. Instead we stopped just out from the first set of rocks that the swells break against. The swells were a lot bigger than the other day when we were out, and it was quite impressive to watch them rise up and up as the water got shallower, and then form a peak at the top and begin to curl over, finally breaking and coming hammering down upon the rocks. In between each swell the ocean sucked away from the rock and formed an immense hole before the next wave came thundering in as a wall of green and white water. It was amazing how impressive it all looked when we were bobbing in the swells in a little 12' boat just out from the rocks themselves.
The first time that our jig went down we had a nice Lingcod right away. A little while later we had a good-sized Copper Rock Fish. When the first of the rain showers started we headed back towards home.
We relaxed for a while before making dinner, which would be one-half each of today’s fresh Dungeness crab, pan-fried fresh fish, with leftover rice and potatoes.
After lunch we headed out to check our deep-water traps. With the forecasted gale we wanted to have our traps brought in, just in case the weather was such that we could not go out and check them for the next while. On our way out, we saw a sea otter, which is always a treat because they are so cute. When we pulled up our prawn trap we did have a few prawns, but there were also a few that had been chomped in half. When we went to pull them out and release the fish that was in the trap we saw that the fish had a part of a prawn in its mouth. We have had this type of fish in our trap before, and we think that it might be a Threaded Sculpin, but we aren't sure. It has barbed hooks that stick out from the sides of its head, and they always get caught in the net of the trap when we are trying to release it. It also creates an amazing amount of slime, which makes it very hard to handle. There were also some hermit crabs, a purple coloured prickly starfish, and three small rock crabs in the trap. We let everything go, including the prawns because there weren't very many. We did not bother to reset the trap as we had had such little luck getting prawns here.
When we pulled up our crab trap we did have crabs, but none that were big enough to keep. We coiled up the 300' rope, and came into the main area of Higgins Passage. We reset our square trap in an area where we would more easily be able to check it over the windy days ahead. At that point in our day we had about 1.5 hours left until sunset, and we decided to go out for a quick time of fishing. We wanted fresh fish for dinner, and we also wanted more carcasses to use for bait. With the forecasted wind it was unlikely that we would be able to go out fishing for the next few days at least.
We motored out through Higgins Passage and saw a family of five river otters. We did not go all the way out to Jaffery Rock, as we did not have much time. Instead we stopped just out from the first set of rocks that the swells break against. The swells were a lot bigger than the other day when we were out, and it was quite impressive to watch them rise up and up as the water got shallower, and then form a peak at the top and begin to curl over, finally breaking and coming hammering down upon the rocks. In between each swell the ocean sucked away from the rock and formed an immense hole before the next wave came thundering in as a wall of green and white water. It was amazing how impressive it all looked when we were bobbing in the swells in a little 12' boat just out from the rocks themselves.
The first time that our jig went down we had a nice Lingcod right away. A little while later we had a good-sized Copper Rock Fish. When the first of the rain showers started we headed back towards home.
We relaxed for a while before making dinner, which would be one-half each of today’s fresh Dungeness crab, pan-fried fresh fish, with leftover rice and potatoes.
Busy day for sure.
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