"Everyone knows it's Windy"

[5th Tuition]

It was way too windy for any of my buddies to get their small boats out today; so a friend and I decided to take a trip down to Deale, grab a burger and beer at Happy Harbor, and watch the Charter boats come in from their morning trips

If we couldn't get out, at least we could see how others did

Pulled into the parking lot at 12:30 and the Loosen Up had just docked. We saw customers standing around the fish cleaning table; a good sign. The mate for Frank Carver had 6 fish laying on the table I don't know how many "slot" fish they had; Frank is pretty tight lipped.

We ordered our lunch and heard the unmistakable chug, chug, chug of a diesel approaching. The "Wild Goose" backed into her slip with all her tackle flying high. The mate took a plastic trash can with 5 fish tales hanging out the top to the fish tables. When Dale, the captain, came off the boat, I asked him how the Jellies were today? He said they weren't bad at all. They caught 15 rockfish (10 went back). Dale has always been kind enough to answer any question I have ever put to him. For this reason, I try not to "press" him too much. If I get a nugget of info, I'm happy.

The afternoon parties were ready, and jumped on both boats. Dale was first to head out into a blowing gale. Before we could drink another beer and pay our bill, he was returning to his slip Frank fired up the "Loosen Up" and slowly made his way out of Rockhold Creek. We paid our bill and ran over to check Captain John on my old ride, "Patent Pending". Customers were making their way up the pier and I waited until they left before engaging John and his mate Doug.

They caught a fair number of fish today as well (I think 4 keepers), but I didn't ask how many slot fish they had. John said the morning was very fishable, but a turn from the south (winds) gave them some steady 3-4 footers. He canceled his afternoon trip. We talked to Doug for a while and he said lures near the top did better than deep lures. He actually had an umbrella back 3 1/2 bars that got crushed off the board.

When we left Deale, we rode past Happy Harbor and sure enough Loosen Up was back in the slip. It has to be nasty for Frank to turn around:roll eyes:

We walked over to "Lucky Strike" (Tawn's new boat) and drooled over how clean and "fishable" she looked. A final charter, "Ebb Tide" backed into her slip; but we didn't stay long enough to see her catch.

At least I was around fish. This is what us old retired guys do on windy days!!
5th