Sea Cruise Yesterday

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

Took a short sea cruise yesterday in the Skagit 31 Saratogan. Beautiful day, so I pointed the Saratogan toward Deer Harbor. After a brief stay in Deer Harbor, motored down to Orcas Landing. Glad to see the county finally bought the floats there.

The Evergreen State came in and waked me good, but the Saratogan, being heavy hardly rolled at all. Swim step went under water by 4 or 5 inches and the water shot up six feet through the slots in the swim step. Swim step is definitely too low. Tightened the stuffing boxes while there.

Motored back to Friday Harbor to see the initial weigh-in of salmon in the first annual (I hope) Resurrection Fishing Derby. Biggest black mouth so far I believe is 17 pounds. Nice assortment of fish from 8 to 14 pounds. Would like to enter this derby next year. $800 per boat (four anglers) entry is a bit much for me at the moment and I don't have any pole holders or down rigger mounts.

Great to be out on the water. Was sort of looking for some choppy water but couldn't find any. Saratogan is very smooth!

McSkagit

[Tim McCrain]

I'm jealous!

You definitely had more fun than I did yesterday!

[Lootas1]

In reference to picture 2, that isn't a smile. That's a full s**t eating grin and a very well deserved one! Keep those pictures coming!

[Skagitguy]

Tim, If for no other reason, i will be up to Orcas Landing next summer to take a picture of my Skagit with one of the ferries. Nice picture. Chuck

[Tim_Mattson]

Tim,
Thanx for sharing the day.
I`d donate some spare Mts and such made by Scotty.I even have new rod bases but no holders.Rigger bases are new!
The stubby fish in the upper cooler sure looks like a Frazer River Fish to me.They always show up in the late winter and those icy days in Dec are perfect to catch them during the shorter days.They only have 8 hours versus 16 hours of light in summer to eat.
If you load your new riggers with Spectra line instead of SS cable,you`ll end the chance of a fish-repelling charge and get deeper with less drag.
You really need to be on the bottom this time of year as the fish root around in the gravel (Facing Down to see .....) while they search for the fatty Candlefish that bury themselves in the bottom during tides.....
This is where they get tapeworms BTW,almost always in the bellies of Kings.
You`ll see the scratches on both cheeks and Gillplates on bigger Kings.
If no riggers,then Pt. Wilson Darts and long slender Jigs work great this time of year,always hitting the bottom and working them quickly will produce most any day of the year.Try Purple/White!
You do cover more ground and get fish nearly every day with riggers used correctly.
:catchfish1:
TM
ps The swimstep will seem better when you have a swimmer use it to exit the water,not when you are in the hull trying to stay dry.It is after all ,a "Swimstep".

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

Winning Fish - Swim Step

Looks like the winning fish is 19.29 pounds. A real beauty!

The problem with the swim step or as Skagit calls it the "transom porch" is that with a full boat (full tanks and 7 people, the swim step is probably going to be under water. It's really too low to load people through the transom door. They'd have to step down from the float and then up again.

Also any wave action from the stern slaps the step which is really annoying. Big waves hitting it cause the boat to shudder. Lastly the exhaust pipes are completely under water. Not a good deal! Read in the muffler brochure, the mufflers are not designed to be completely submerged. When full, they also weigh a lot and put the boat even lower in the stern.

Sooner or later, I'm going to have to raise the exhaust pipes and the swim step at least 4 inches....

Not today...