My truck, and boat pulled out of the driveway at the normal time of 3:30 AM, for another day of Salmon fishing. Only this time instead of turning left and driving north 75 minutes to Baker Lake, my son Shane, and I turned right and headed south for 3.5 hours to Westport, for hopefully a rendezvous with some Chinook and Coho Salmon on the Pacific Ocean. After launching the boat and driving through the fog, with the temperature being 53 degrees, we started fishing 15 miles offshore. I landed a 16 lb. Chinook caught 105' down, and Shane caught a 7 lb. Coho. We spent the day using large lures, targeting Chinook, and the Coho was an insidental catch. The lure I used, as shown, was a 7" #639 tomic plug, that my brother-in-law found floating in a rip while fishing with me off the west side of Vancouver Island. It had noticable teeth marks in it, and has not let me down. Two trips out, two fish caught, including a 26 pounder last trip. When it comes to tomic plugs, they are not created equal, none of them have the same movement. One will destroy their other gear, in order to retrieve a lure like that! Today, I think we would have done better, if it were not for all the Jellyfish. They were on the downrigger lines, the fishing lines, and even slimed the lures. Fish will absolutely not bite, if the lure has any remnants of Jellyfish on it. The water looked gray, as did the sky, the horizon was foggy, the temperature never rose above 61 degrees, even though it was 89 degrees back home. As you can see by the picture, I was wearing sandals. Under the jeans, rain pants, sweatshirt, and raincoat, I was wearing shorts. I have been told, I am an optimus. The big event of the day, was seeing dozens of Mola mola (Sunfish). They were floating on their sides at the water surface, showing no fear, even when boating right up close and personal with them. They can weight up to 1000 lbs., and are the largest vertebrae fish in the world. Shane said, they float on their side, to let the birds pick off the parasites that have grown on them, hence the name Sunfish. Isn't nature awesome! Shane and I, were fortunate to see this happening. They have now become my new best friend, in the sea life world. Why you ask? Because they eat Jellyfish. I know that I have seen more sunsets than I will see sunrises, and so each adventure becomes more special.

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