Overnight trip to Stuart Island in the overcast/foggy, but thankfully dry, weather. First soak of our two crab pots (baited with saved Coho carcasses) netted us 10 but alas, no keepers. Second soak brought in at least 15 and this time we had three nice feisty Dungeness keepers and one Rock that was legal but puny. He took a dive with promises of growing lots in the coming winter.

On our way over to Roche for fuel we dropped our Coho set-ups we've been using near Shipwreck and trolled the South side of the island. About 15 minutes into our run we had a good strike on the Red Racer flasher w/a Purple Haze hoochie and Ace Hi-Fly insert. There was extra cheering when we realized it was a hatchery fish! My non-scientific scale said 11 lbs... felt about right.

I didn't reel the beast in, but I'm the one who does the gill-surgery for bleeding so I was already messy and got to hold it up for a picture.

Bonus points for windy-camping-morning-hair.

We only had time for one more pass and got two more strikes but no takers. And since we really didn't expect to catch anything at all, this was a happy run. Our first Dungeness too where we did the placing/pulling/cleaning without veteran assistance on hand. :)

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