Canyonwren Travels: Going for the Big Ones

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Going for the Big Ones

Nothing beats the screaming sound of your reel drag when you hook a big Steelhead, Coho, or King salmon. It is so exciting! It's been a long time since I have heard that music. Keeping this in mind you can understand why we jumped at the opportunity to accompany John and Loretta Sutherland over to Westport, Washington to fish salmon for five days. Making the trip even better, we could visit our good friends, Caroline and Don Samuelson, while camping in their driveway.

Our campsite at Cle Elum's football field.

Linda and I left Post Falls and drove to Cle Elum, WA on I-90. We arrived at the football field across from the Sr. Center about an hour before the Sutherlands arrived. It was a nice boondocking spot and we took advantage of the large area by walking and stretching our legs.

Once we were all together we agreed on a morning departure time, had dinner, and then went to bed. It was a cool windy night and we all slept well.

The next morning we drove over to a diner and had a great breakfast before we hit the road. We drove over the pass and then took Hwy 18 through Auburn, connecting with I-5 south. From there we drove to Olympia and headed directly to the coast through Aberdeen.

We found the road into Don and Carolines and made our way into their property.

Breakfast selfie.

At the Samuelson hideaway, we set up camp and started our visit. John and Loretta took the boat into Westport and launched it at the boat launch. Both Linda and I want to say that John and Loretta have it going when it comes to large boat adventures. They did a phenomenal job of getting the boat to Westport, out on the water, out on the ocean, and home again. We can't express how much we appreciated all they did!

Once we were all set up with the boat in the water and our campers set up, we had a wonderful dinner of Caroline's famous clam chowder. This was the last time we really relaxed for the next three days. The fishing trip was on and everything was a blur from that point.

Heading for breakfast!

Each morning we were up at 4 AM and on the water by 6 AM. We were out of the harbor until about 4 PM each day and then we cleaned fish and returned to the campers. Each night we had a wonderful meal prepared by one of the group and we were in bed by 8:30 PM.

We caught our limit of Kings each day (6 total) and caught Coho (?), Rock Fish (8), and a Blue Shark. We saw whales, a dolphin, seals, sea lions, and a huge Basking Shark.

The downriggers on the boat broke three times and John was able and prepared to make those repairs on the water. He has such a great attitude. When something went haywire, he calmly made the repair and continued on.

Part of the plan we had focused on catching John some crabs to ease his Jonesing for the succulent soft shell. We set the five crab pots each day and returned the next day to find... nothing. Actually, we caught some crabs but only two keepers. Not a good showing. After much debate, we decided that we should have put the pots in place for about four hours and not soak them for the 24 hours we did. It was our error not knowing that the tides and currents would mess up the trap doors and the crabs would get in, steal the bait, and run to freedom.

Nothing better than local knowledge!

On the third day of fishing, Loretta stayed back with Linda and Don while John, Caroline, and I went out on the water. We had a good day with limits caught on smooth seas. It was fun to have Caroline on the boat and she hasn't lost any of her professional sea legs. She cleaned the fish at the end of the day and showed us, landlubbers, how it is done.

View from Caroline and Don's deck.

During the first three days, we kept track of the fisheries reports and as expected they shut down the King fishing on Friday. The rules placed upon the boaters stated that you could fish for Coho Friday through Sunday, but all Kings had to be returned if caught. We decided that since we were returning home on Sunday, we would not fish and John and Loretta would pull the boat late Friday afternoon.

Linda and I took a long walk on the beach and then we did a little shopping. Back at the property, we talked with Don and Caroline. John and Loretta returned and we all got cleaned up and had another great dinner.

The next morning we said our goodbyes and hit the road. The drive home was, once again, easy. I owe that to my co-pilot, Linda. She always chooses the best time to leave and route that has us avoiding the major traffic. We had smooth sailing with clear hot weather all the way home.