Recent content by Hunter Dan

Boxes. Cardboard, metal, tackle. Bags. Cabinets with lots of drawers. Shelves. Heck even my pockets, and when that wasn't enough I salvaged peg board panels from closing down Ed's Surplus and hung them on the walls of my shop to hang tackle all over the walls too! The ceiling is next.

Latest I ever remember a dig was early to mid May. Doubled up the weekend with a Westport halibut charter, which was super cool. The clams had started to spawn a bit though. A tad milky and the fat in the diggers was going a bit soft and dark. I betcha the warm weather this week could trigger an...

The gear and bait used for halibut is typically too large to interest many yelloweye. Gear used to target other fish tends to be smaller and more interesting to the fishes that don't deal with barotrauma as well. I got the chance to participate in a NOAA rockfish/barotrauma catch and release...

Yes, the coast of Washington is considered prime for oil and gas drilling. Clearly marked as such on my 1978 copy of Moen's Mineral Resource Map I got from the state Geology lab in Oly. Lots of ideas on different large scale power infrastructure and their merits. If I may add my two cents; I...

Estate and garage sales. Look for six pack captains who retire. Three times at Ed's I bought extensive parts collections from retired charter operators who preferred to work on their old reels. Buy every parts carcass you can find. Spend up for new unused drag washers, drive gears, pawls and...

I think part of preference for levelwind in the sound is how deep we tend to mooch. Out in the ocean I've done ten foot drops often. Three pulls is all you need. For fussy kings and blackmouth those long single action rods are perfect for long, light leaders. That being said, the latest...

So silly, all this talk of just one knife. There should be as many knives on your boat as there are fishing rods!

Make sure it is Washington legal too. Every state doesn't require brakes on all axles the way Washington does. Back when Ed's was a King Trailer dealer we sold numerous no brake trailers for use in Alaska and hoo doggy did we have to make a damn clear paper trail to prove it would never roll on...

Green/Duwamish river Chinook are an integrated stock. Zero genetic difference between clipped hatchery fish and natural spawners. Green river fish were extensively used in most hatchery programs around the state for decades.

The squid don't like fresh water much. The Skagit, Stilly, and Snohomish puke too much muddy water after a good rain and it pushes the squid away. Down on the Edmonds Pier once high slack is over the timer starts. When the muddy brown water pushes down from up north its over until the next incoming.

I suspect things were worse back when we still had lead in our gasoline. But, back then we also had the best hatchery system into the world to mitigate things.

Domoic Acid wasn't quantified until recently, true, but its effects have been embedded into popular culture for longer than I've been alive. The amnesiac symptoms in sea birds off the California coast was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds.

I must confess, I had a heck of a time this year. After a long search, I found most of the herd neatly put away, clean and tidy in a drawer. Something must be wrong with me.

Hoochies. I like herring strips hit with herring/anise , Lunker Lotion or Smelly Jelly liquid. Then VERY liberally sprinkled with pure krill powder. I usually rub the carked out herring all over the flasher every time I reset too. The krill is crucial, there's always a bunch in the coho.

Another thought, if anyone is feeling brave. Try those big spinners guys troll for coho on the Columbia. Dave Lee of Three Rivers Marine suggested it at a PSA SnoKing meeting a number of years ago, but I never heard if anyone tried it.