Favorite fish to catch

[TonyAmalfitano]

Sorry John, I hate to be the first to tell you......they are not fish

If they ain't fish, what the heck is that stuff!

I'd like to start fishing, but ain't got a clue.

[DBM]

Well a couple of weeks back took a really long slow ride up and down the bay on my brother's boat, dragging what looked to be lures through the water. I say that because if we were trolling you'd think we'd have gotten a hit or somthing in 8 hours. Unfortunately that's prety much my experience. Occoasionally we'll go out and nail the stripers, like I hope we do this coming saturday, but on my boat it's usually a long slow ride.

David

[Mariner]

Some of my fondest memories are of salmon fishing with my Dad out of Ilwaco, WA. Nothing better than fresh caught salmon on the grill the night after the big catch!

What is the prevailing opinion of the size boat it takes to safely navigate "The Bar" where the Columbia meets the Pacific? We always went on a chartered 42 footer with two tons of concrete poured into the hull to keep her in the water. It would seem the Albins would be well suited to that challenge!

That's a tough question. All the river bars along the Washington and Oregon coast are treacherous. The Columbia bar is probably the worst due to the large amount of flow as well as traffic.

On a nice day and an ebb tide, it can be safely done in just about any boat. But the conditions can turn nasty in a very short time. Most of the charter boats are about 35' and up. Observing from the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, I've never seen boats under 20' out there.

The truth, however, is that when it turns ugly, anything under 75' is instantly in very serious trouble.

My friend's father wrote a great book about accidents on the various river bars that resulted in loss of life. It's only interesting if you're really into safe boating, but it gives you east-costers a bit of a peek into what it means to go offshore fishing in the Pacific Northwest. It's a whole different animal out here.

http://www.amazon.com/Northwest-Sea-Dis ... 301&sr=8-1[/u]

[Mariner]

The Columbia River Bar Pilots Association has a great photo gallery showing what it can be like when it gets ugly.

http://www.columbiariverbarpilots.com/P ... /Page.html