My cousin Jeremy, my friend Erik and I headed out to the coast for a few days of fly fishing for bottom fish. The weather was absolutely amazing with the exception of it being windy most of the time making for tough fly fishing but with patience and good boat control we were able to get into some fish.
We caught several small lings of about 8 pounds, countless seabass of all sizes including a few pushing 6 or 7 pounds that we did not get a picture of. But the coolest thing for me on this trip besides the awesome weather and spending time with my friends was my first cabezon on the fly.
Another cool thing was being able to fish deeper water with my 12wt and a 550 grain rio coldwater striper line. The cabezon and lings pictured in this post all came from 65 to 75 feet of water. A slow retrieve and dark drab colored flies seemed to be the ticket with the exception of the sea bass liking a particular streamer with a lot of blue flash over white yak hair.
Although the ling cod that we caught were not big they put up a great fight typical of the species with strong quick runs and heavy sulking as they resisted the pull of my 12wt.
Erik even scored a bonus red irish lord who could not resist a huge yak hair streamer fished deep and slow for lings.
Did I mention it was nice out!
Anyway we had a great time catching a bunch of fish and sun. And as always the beauty of the northern coast of Washington is amazing which makes it that much harder to leave and go back home. Now I just have to find a way to make the time go by until my tarpon trip in June. Some more fishing should help to pass the time.
Tight Lines Everyone!
