JULY 13, 2022 – FOLLY’S BAY

John told me we were going to go fishing today early, and I like to not be rushed in the morning. I like to have time to drink my coffee, read, and generally wake up, so I was up at 5:30AM today. At about 6:45AM I went down to the stateroom and said “I thought we were going fishing?” to which he replied, “eventually, slack isn’t until 9AM today.” Well I wish I had known that before deciding to get up at the ungodly hour of 5:30. Anyhoo, we set out for the fishing grounds around 8:00. No rain thankfully and not very cold either, and best of all the water was much more calm today. Almost immediately I hooked up another ling cod, this one turned out to be 14LBS, a super nice fish. The total count for the day so far is 2 lings (threw the little one back), 3 red snappers, and 3 little rock fish. Clearly we have found the bottom fish. It’s starting to feel like the salmon aren’t here yet, or surely we’d have some sign of them, a small shaker, or something? We haven’t talked to the guides yet at Duncanby Lodge, maybe we will go there tomorrow. Today was a rare day where it didn’t just pour all day. J went fishing midday (I begged off) and came back with a nice 17lb Chinook! Bummed that I missed the catch, but stocking the freezer!! We went out fishing again in the late afternoon in quite pleasant weather (my kind of fishing). We soon hooked up a nice silver, brought him aboard, tied a line around his head (through the gills), slit his gills and kept him overboard for the duration of our fishing. For the next hour all we landed were a few “catch and release” small rock fish, then hooked up another silver which John landed. He was holding it up for me to assess whether we should keep it as it was small-ish, maybe only 5-6 lbs, when it gave a good shake and popped out of his hands and back to the sea. Very slick move Mr. Silver Salmon! Cheated death again. After a few more turns, we pulled in the lines an downriggers and prepared to go back to the mother ship. John went to go pull in the silver we were bleeding out (makes it taste better) in the water and it was GONE. Not sure if something snuck up and grabbed it, or if the knot just failed!? Regardless, we were 0 for 2 on silvers today! Oh well, we had fun regardless, the best part not having any rain for a change.