Fishing From the Sailboat

August 29, 2022

Monday morning dawned beautiful, and although we could still see whitecaps out from our anchorage, things had calmed right down overnight.  It was hot, sunny, and calm in our lovely protected spot in Julian Cove.  Yesterday evening the forecasted southerly winds had arrived on the coast, and out at Solander Island, at the tip of the Brooks Peninsula, we heard on the VHF that winds were gusting up to 52 knots, which is almost 100kms/hr.  From our anchorage we could see whitecaps rolling by outside, but inside Julian Cove we were getting only puffs from the strongest gusts.

We spent Monday morning doing projects on the boat, and then at around 14:00, just before the start of the ebb tide, we started the engine and pulled up anchor.  As we motored our way out to the beginning of Quatsino Sound we saw a whale in the distance, and when we got closer to the outer coast, and to our next anchorage, we slowed down and put out our fishing lines. 

We had never really done much fishing from the sailboat before, as we had never been set up for it, but in planning for our passage to Mexico, before leaving Ocean Falls, we had set the boat up for being able to troll.  We plan to have a line out most of the time on our trip down the coast, and on this particular day we were trolling for salmon.  Within 45 minutes of putting our lines out we had one.  Jason reeled the fish in to beside the boat as I turned us away from shore and into the swells.  Keeping the engine in gear I engaged the autopilot and then went out, grabbed and extended our net, and scooped down and netted the fish. 

Our first fish ever caught from the sailboat, and it was a perfect-sized little Coho.  We then pulled in our other line, and headed up and into our anchorage in North Harbour.  We had chosen to move out to North Harbour so as to be able to get an early start the next morning for rounding the Brooks Peninsula.  

Once we were at anchor we pulled out our fish-cleaning station and mounted it on the rail across the back of our boat. 

We had designed and made this fish-cleaning station before leaving Ocean Falls, and this was the first fish to be filleted on it.  It worked great!  It was so much easier than having to go ashore or than trying to do it on a cutting board on the slope of our foredeck.  That night we had a delicious dinner of fresh salmon.

Comments

  1. Jan BellamySeptember 22, 2022 at 6:10 PM

    Those "Firsts" are always special. Glad you got to enjoy your fish for dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ColleenSeptember 22, 2022 at 9:10 PM

    There is nothing like fresh salmon. Even more special is the first one caught on your boat.

    ReplyDelete

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