Narrowly avoided the skunk on the first trip of 2024

[pdxfisher]

I have been chomping at the bit to get out on the water and so when Sunday looked decent I thought I would hit the Willamette out of Swan Island for a day of sturgeon fishing. I got on the water around 8:30am and started looking around in the harbor for signs of fish. All I could find were scads of small fish. Not sure if they are carp or something else but after stopping to fish around a few schools of those things I was sure they were not sturgeon.

 

I chatted with another guy in a kayak and he had also been blanked so far. No big deal I thought. I will just keep moving and hunting. I made it all the way to the dry docks without finding anything I thought was a sturgeon. I did see tons of schools of little fish but nothing that looked big enough to be a sturgeon.

 

As I pedaled past one of the dry docks I was shocked as a duck popped up out of the water right beside my kayak and took off. It was one of those diving ducks and I guess they can stay down pretty long because I did not know it was there until it popped up right beside me.

 

I fished in that area for a short while but without likely looking marks I did not want to waste too much time. No biggie I thought, they must be out in the current. I prefer that to fishing in the harbor anyways so I was excited to go drop anchor out in the current and catch some fish.

 

The one issue though is that the tide was coming in and heading towards slack. There was still a slight outgoing current, but not much. Well to make a long story short (if that is possible at this point) I ended up dropping anchor, fishing and pulling anchor about a half dozen times. I also fished a few spots off anchor by holding my position with my paddle.

 

In the 7 hours I was out there fishing all I managed to land was one bullhead.

 

 

 

However, that was a welcome fish since it kept me from getting skunked. That is better that the sea lions were doing I saw at least 4 different ones (probably there were more but I know there were at least 4 for sure since I them all at once). I never saw them get a fish. For the most part they kept there distance but one did make a bit of false charge at me but when I screamed it skedaddled.

 

So, not a very fishy day. I just never found the fish but it was still a great day out on the water. I had not been out in quite a while and sometimes I start to forget how much I just miss being out there. Here is a short video that shows the mystery duck, my one little fish, and me dropping and pulling anchor a few times.

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

12 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

 

 

However, that was a welcome fish since it kept me from getting skunked.

 

 

 

 

Hmm...

 

I don't mind days when nothing seems to work, but I consider that a skunk. 

[pdxfisher]

On 1/11/2024 at 8:54 AM, roadwarrior said:

 

Hmm...

 

I don't mind days when nothing seems to work, but I consider that a skunk. 

 

I have lower standards

[TnRiver46]

If it’s got fins and eyeballs, it’s a skunk buster 

[T-Billy]

On 1/11/2024 at 11:54 AM, roadwarrior said:

 

Hmm...

 

I don't mind days when nothing seems to work, but I consider that a skunk. 

Oh come on, it's not a drum for crying out loud!!! 😂

15 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

If it’s got fins and eyeballs, it’s a skunk buster 

Even if it's a carp?

[TnRiver46]

A fish is a fish and a skunk is a skunk