August 12, 2004
Columbia Cove (N 50° 08' W 127° 41')
We made our rounding of Cape Cook this morning at 1100. We're both glad we got up a little earlier than we had first planned because the Cape was blowing 20 kts when we got there, and I'm sure it did nothing but increase all afternoon. No unusual wildlife to report, I guess the albatross are keeping farther offshore lately.
Now for the sick part. If you've been following this web log you know we are currently inundated with fish. I have two pink salmon in the freezer, along with the better part of a lingcod as well as an entire coho which was given to us in Winter Harbour. You'd think I'd refrain from fishing, wouldn't you? But no, I'm a sick man. This morning as we were leaving I put out the green and white hoochy that caught "the one that got away." As I said before, trailing a hoochy on the surface has never been very successful, so I figured it probably wouldn't be this time. Wrong! About six miles north of Cape Cook I heard the reel issue a short burst. This usually means it hit a piece of kelp, but I looked behind the boat and saw a fish following the lure. I took the line in my hand and began pulling hard on the hoochy, making it skip on the water, and then letting it out a little. After about three tries I felt a pull and yanked to set the hook. Fish on! A short fight later and I netted a nice coho (forgot to mention I repaired the net after the last blow up). Taking no chances this time, I flung the fish and net up onto the side deck and quickly dispatched it with a winch handle (provided by my very able assistant). Now we have a freezer and a refrigerator full of fish!
We arrived at Columbia Cove in bright warm sunshine and quickly put the dinghy together for a shore excursion. Columbia Cove has a large sandy bay where we can walk the dinghy to shore (it's almost like a sandy flat in Florida). From there it's a 15 minute hike out to a large beach that faces the Pacific Ocean. The beach is wonderful white sand, about half a mile long, and has a stream at one end. Since it faces the Pacific it's great for beach combing. There are all kinds of fishing floats (plastic, not glass unfortunately), driftwood, and other assorted flotsam. We spent the afternoon just relaxing, but we plan on going back tomorrow to comb the beach carefully as well as soak in the stream.
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