Razor Clam Dig

Here in the Northwest we have traditions. When winter storms hit the coast, and the low tides come before sunup or after sunset, we dig razor clams. People head to the wide sand shoals the receding Pacific reveals as it retreats. They walk down to water's edge in small groups until there is a collection of hardy souls wandering in small patterns with eyes intent on the sand. You see a great slice of Northwest outdoorspeople.



In the center of this picture is a young family, with an infant less than a year old in her mother's arms. Was mom watching her husband dig? Or was she pointing out clam "shows" for him? No. She was down on her knees in the surf, baby cradled in one arm, the other digging after the clam up to her shoulder. What a great way to raise a kid!

At the end of the day the die-hards are still at it, headlamps and lanterns ablaze, looking for the last morsels of sweet claminess.


For us, we broke out pocket knives and sat around with glasses of Scotch, cleaning clams and bullshitting.

With a buttermilk soak, then some Zatterain's fish fry breading, and a 60 second dip in the hot oil jacuzzi, they are mild, sweet and delicious.

- Exechobo

Thumb Sharpening

Fishing, hunting, cooking all require sharp knives. I had a sharpening session after my knives were worn a bit dull on an elk. But I used my thumb as a jig, a guide to ensure I maintained a 20* angle between the stone and the blade. The result? A flat sided thumb with a hole ground into it. Ouch.


- Exechobo

On the Water

Fishermen= Optimist. We all know salmon fishing is now a matter of pure chance. The runs never achieved a level that generates confidence that we will catch a limit. But we go out between storms to try, trolling vast areas, intently watching the fish finder.

Of course any day on the water is a good day, and fellowship makes it even better. Sunrises like this don't hurt either.

Saturday Fair

The worst thing about our little farmer's market is the name- Open Aire Market. Aire! What the fuck!? How about ye olde farme faire? The pretension is appalling. Quite.





Anyway, once you overcome your loathing for the name, it is a decent Saturday market. I especially like that the food booths are local people. This pizza cart is better than any you get anywhere else on the peninsula. Strolling the market is a good way to socialize and meet your townsmen.

Salmon

This year has been poor fishing, but we persevere. Oct 1st means it os legal to keep wild salmon in marine area six. We. consulted our fishin lawyers to get an up to the minute interpretation of the rules, and set out again to catch some. The weather has been so pleasant that time on the water is it's own reward.




Apparently a few salmon are still in the Strait, and we managed to hook a few. But even though we can retain what we catch, the regs still require barbless hooks. As a result we lost a couple of nice big Silvers as the jumped and threw the hook right at the boat. We did land a couple too, so the day was not only pleasant, but also fruitful.




Exechobo

Silver Salmon

Also known as Coho we really expect to catch them in August. This year they moved into the Strait later than usual. We also think the numbers are much less than in past years.

As we hunted them the other day we were doing everything right. We fished hard for about 8 hours. The dish finder kept alerting us to fish at depths of 60-120 feet, and we dragged our herring eight through them.


We caught two like this. This year's fish not yet ready to head out to sea, jacks. It is interesting that these were caught trying to take a herring more than half their size.

- Paul/ BlogPress/ iPhone

Boatlaunch

When your boat is so big that it puts a big diesel pickup on the limit, launching is a production. In this case my friend uses the big boat lift.

Back in, run big straps under it and lift. Then drive the lift out over the water.



Lower it and off you go. Add good weather, tackle, friends, food and beer and you have the makings of a great time.



Then, we ran the boat out to
Neah Bay, which is at the mouth of the Strait of Juan deFuca, 50 miles west. The water was very rough. The swells were as high as 8 feet with only one or two second intervals. It was like riding a bull at a rodeo. When te water calmed down enough to manage without having to use both hands to hang on, I made a little video. Check it out in the column to the right.

- Paul/ BlogPress/ iPhone

New Blogs of Galactic Note

A local columnist, Pat Neal, posts his work on his blog.  I have added it to my blogroll in the side column.  The post that made me take note related the travesty that is our "hatchery or wild" salmon dilemma.  Read if for a ore elegant look at this issue.

What he is too politically correct to reference is the added lunacy of the gill nets.  The Native Americans are granted by treaty the right to fish and hunt as they always have.  The game laws and conservation rules apply only on a voluntary basis.  And many make their living as commercial fishermen, for the industry is dominated by them since the Bolt decision.

When the salmon start up the rivers in Washington, gill nets, illegal to any but the tribes, are stretched nearly from bank to bank on the rivers, staggered one after the other, as many as it takes until there are no more salmon to net.  Now when the number of fish getting up the river to the hatcheries number as few as 1000, it is considered a fantastic thing.

There are no wild Washington salmon anymore, with the possible exception of the Columbia.  Only those whose fins are not clipped in the hatchery.  Buying salmon in a grocery store supports this misguided stewardship.

Fishing with George

When I was a kid, like 14, my dad took me up on the river to learn to flyfish. I was an avid panfisheran icefisherman and dreamer. My great Uncle and Aunt were legendary flyfishers. They conducted the lessons for a few years.
When I was 17 or so, dad took a friend and me to the river for a few days. I remember it well- one thing, I lost my class ring while swimming in the icy water. Another thing, this was the only time we did anything like this. I never brought friends home, and dad rarely went anywhere without mom.
This was a remarkable fishing trip. First, I remembrer it vividly, second, even though a teenage jerk, I had a great time with my dad. Third, my friend took up fly fishing and is still at it. Now, almost 40 years later, we reconnected on Facebook and exchange news of our fishing. This all is good and makes me happy.

Salmon in the Strait

Tuesday I went fishing for salmon with some buddies. It was the first salmon trip this year. Though they (the salmon), aren't yet in the strait for migration, there are always a few local fish out there if you can find em. Well, we did find them. Both of them. And we caught them. Now they are in the freezer, awaiting our culinary ministrations. Anxiously? I doubt it.

The wind was low, though we heard on the radio that high winds surrounded us in every direction. There was quite a swell as a result. It rained on and off all day, and the temp was in the sixties. All in all a nice day.

Crab Season Update

We have pulled our pots, going the whole "week", as defined by the WSFG bureaucracy, with no crab we could keep. It is apparent they crop is caught and it is time to turn to other piscatorial pursuits. The expectation is to catch 95% of the mature male crabs. The lucky remaining 5% are all it takes to repop the waters. Now in absence of social convention, I wonder if homo sapiens could do as well?

The commercial boys, as we like to call them, have all ended their season too. We will give it a try in other waters, for fun. We will also give it another go later in the year. I am told December is the best month for crabbing. We will need some good rain gear. In the meantime, the lake fishing is there, and the salmon are starting to enter the shore waters, but it is a bit early for a big push.

Fishing Bonanza!

Today the crab week began, and we were on the water by 8:00 AM, in our world this is early early. We went to our new launch spot, but found the tide was so low we were unable to get the boat in the water there. Making one of those snap decisions that old salts like us make all the time, we went to John Wayne Marina to launch with the big boys. It is a great facility- no wonder it costs 9 bucks to put a boat in there. I used the bathroom twice to try to get my money's worth.

So, we navigated the channel, remembering the lessons learned in my power squadron class when I was what, 14? The water was quite smooth, it was not too cool, and we enjoyed the run out to where we like to "soak our pots". It took no time at all to get them in the water, we are getting a routine down pat.

The marina is a top notch facility, in the beatiful Sequim Bay. John Wayne used to sail here, on his yacht The Wild Goose, and envisioned a marina. His family still owns land here, and donated the land to make the marina. We may buy a season pass here next year as the launch is so good.

Check out how geared up Maryvonne looks.

As soon as we got back in and got the boat out of the water, we picked up Roy, and headed out to fish Lake Sutherland for trout. This was a banner day, as it was the first time Maryvonne has ever gone fishing. And what a day it was! She outfished Roy and me, catching 3 nice trout, Kokanee and Rainbow. We headed home happy.

We invited a few friends over to share our bounty, and Maryvonne cooked a great dinner. It was the first time she cooked trout, and it was perfect.

All in all, a day we counted our blessings and appreciated how happy we are here in the Great Northwest.

Lazy Day

It actually rained today, well really a heavy mist. But it was the first precip since I don't know when. Made me decide to put off finishing the roof till it was dry again. So we spent the day doing stuff that was needed, but didn't amount to much. I did get all the crab pots laid out and checked over. And set up the boat and all the tackle for a trout fishing trip. Went to town and had a meeting, went to friends for dinner. Had a good time.

Crewing on the Crab Boat

Back on the straight for crabs !  She is like the muse that adorns the bowsprit of the great wooden sailing ships.  As a matter of fact, we saw one transitting the strait while we were tending our pots.  It was headed to Seattle for the Seafair week, a GREAT festival.  

Crab Season Ends?

Yesterday we went out in high winds to pull the pots.  It was a slow, wet ride, and fun! But alas, the pots were all empty, so this week we didn't get one crab- no small ones, no females, none.  Could it be the season is over for us?  Perhaps.  No photos, cause the water was too intense- didn't want to get my camera wet.  Good decision it turned out, as we both ended with wet butts, and about 20 gallons of water in the boat.  

Crab Season Continues

Yet another beautiful day on the water! We launched on Saturday, at about 3:00 PM to pull our pots just as the tide peaked. As you can see, the wind was not a factor, and the water like glass. The temperature was just right, a bit cooler than at the house. Conditions were right for just floating around on the water.

Visibility was pretty good too! This is Mount Baker, 10,770 feet in height, is located miles away, northwest of Seattle. The strip of land is Dungeness Spit, the longest sand spit in North America, more than 5 miles long, and the tiny white tower on the spit to the left of Baker is the Dungeness Lighthouse.

As this picture illustrates, Maryvonne is all geared up and ready for catching and hauling in pots. As you know from watching the Deadliest Catch, grabbing the pots as the boat goes by is a job that is tense, and demands catlike reflexes. You can see her confident, yet intense, piercing gaze here as she scans the horizon for out pots. She never misses.


Then we got the crabs home, and into the pot they go! This one was very helpful, it grabbed the tongs, and for a moment I thought it was going to use them as extensions to its claw to grab another crab and toss it in the pot! But that's not the way we roll up in here. We butcher them, separating the crab into halves, clean them, then into the pot they go for 10 minutes. After that, they are ready to cool and eat!

Note the sheets on the line in the background, further evidence of our reduced carbon footprint. Not only does the reduction in electric usage count, but the evaporative impact of the sheets reduces the temperature of the planet, I bet. But all our efforts have not offset the carbon footprint of Mt Baker. We are recommending it be capped, or at least traded.

Crab Update

No photos today of the crab experience. After a bit of work on the motor, I am gaining confidence in it. We left the house today at 8:30 and returned with 9 nice sized Dungys at 9:30. The wind was howling, relatively, but we pressed on, our pots having "soaked" for 24 hours or thereabouts. As we put the boat in, waves were washing over the transom. We made our way slowly to the pots, and picked them up, rolling from gunwale to gunwale with each wave. The first pot had 4 BIG Dungies! ! As we motored between the 4 pots and pulled them up, we were shipping water over the bow by the bucket (small buckets). Only one pot was empty, but all in all it was a good catch, and we were pleased with ourselves. We motored into the ramp, and found about 30 gallons of water in the boat as we wrestled it on the trailer. By 11:30 the boat and equipment was washed down, the crab butchered, cooked and in the freezer. A great day in the Great Northwest, and only half over!

Crabbin Time!

The ebb and flow of life in Sequim reflects the seasonal harvest opportunities we love. As the earth brings forth new opportunities, new vistas, and new life to our sensibilities, the great fathers in Olympia capriciously, if not maliciously, make new rules about fishing and hunting seasons. This year's crab season is ON!

In the great struggle for life, wily crabs attempt to

defeat our ingenious if rusty pots, and we brave the wrath of the sea, in this, the most dangerous catch! Why do we brace ourselves and go forth to the sea? Why do we brave the fury of the open water? To wrest from the deep it's most treasured denizen, the Dungeness Crab!