This year marked the 30th year I have been venturing out to Neah Bay and the FIRST year for my grandson Cody (Due to various sporting events, etc.,
Cody began his fishing ' career ' at Neah Bay at 11 years of age.) Of course, that does not take away from his many previous years of successfully
fishing for salmon, trout, walleye, etc. After all, Cody lives in Moses Lake and has been catching 4 pound rainbows for many years : - )

This trip was special in many ways, including his FIRST Fourth of July show on the beach !! They really know how to ' bang ' it up over there and as usual, the
show was terrific !! Also, he had a dream which came true ..... catching his first KING Salmon !! Very cool being 11 years old and catching an 11 pound
King with NO assistance from grandpa : - ) Having taken my boys to Neah Bay many times and now the next generation ..... it is beyond words.

As is the norm on the coast we had a mixed bag of weather, but nothing kept us off the water. Since the Kings, Coho's, Sea Bass, Lings, Cabazon, etc.,
were all quite plentiful ' inside ' we did not consider venturing ' outside ' to find them. Why bother ? It is always fun (not to mention a lot less gas), to be able to take the kids
right around the corner in front of the island and catch silver's all day long. After all, this trip included four kids and four adults. My brother-in-law
Jeff and I were usually riding the bumps at Duncan Rock before taking the kids out later in the morning. Those radical tide shifts presented some interesting ' stuff '
at the ' Rock ' before slack, but as is usually the case, large Sea Bass were the payoff for a ' touch ' of seasickness endured by Jeff ....

We did not catch as many Kings as expected but my 20 + lb. wild fish (the largest this trip) was certainly worthy of its name .... he fought like a ' wild ' fish is supposed too
fight !! These great fish come into the Straights in waves and some days very few while other days were amazing numbers. Seems the norm were in the
teens and those weighing in over 30 lbs. were the exception on the docks.

The wild vs. hatchery Silver's were also different during some days or even mornings vs. afternoons. At times, we caught 4 or 5 hatchery fish in a row and at other times, we would catch
maybe 10 or 15 wild fish before ONE hatchery fish ..... who's complaining though? Fishing like that has not EXISTED in Puget Sound for about 50 years !?
Catching and releasing more fish then one cares to count is not a bad thing ..... just ask an 11 year old?

This year did bring an addition to out ' traveling ' fishing show ..... I bought a new camper and it was definitely much appreciated when the rain poured
on a couple of occasions out there. There were a whole lotta wet tents filled with wet gear while our camper was dry as a bone : - )

These days we bring the vacuum-packer along and no longer have to stay-up half the night preparing fish for the freezer when we get home.
I was just recently thinking about all that TAPE and WRAPPING PAPER I used to use in years gone by ........ This trip produced yet another 120 gallon cooler filled with vacuum-packed fillets
of Sea Bass, Rock Cod, Ling Cod, Cabazon, Salmon, etc. ready for the freezer IMMEDIATELY upon arrival at home.

As is now our operating ' procedure ' we stopped at Sol Duc Hotsprings for a few days on the return trip for some well earned R & R.

Out next trip back to Neah Bay will be in August for the LARGER Coho runs and bigger fish.

Stay Dry and keep fish in the smoker : - )

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