Of the Ocean and Pleasant Surprises

[alaskanaturally]

Firstly, we want thank all of you who helped us during our trip to Oz, especially Ray who took us out on NDP. Took us a week to fix the frozen plumbing but finally got out yesterday:

Of the Ocean and Pleasant Surprises.

Wachapreague Inlet was a bit rougher than we expected as we slipped out into the North Atlantic. The forecast called for 5mph winds and two foot seas. Was closer to 15 and 3-4 ft with a good overlapping chop. The Seawyf , though feeling neglected for the past few months, was performing well on her 2015 shake-down cruise. We were happy that she wasn’t too unhappy with having been left for most of the winter. It was wonderful being out after about a week of playing plumbers repairing the cold damage to our house while we were frolicking in sunny/warm Australia.

The first objectives were a few wrecks about 10 miles off the beach. After hitting two of those w/o a touch, the old girl was pointed seaward for another 10 where there are three more. Not a single bite on those either. The water temperature was 47-48 so we couldn’t figure out why there were no ‘tog in an eating mode.

The winds had calmed and had plenty of fuel was in the tank, so we decided to head south toward the triangle wrecks about an hour and a half away. Figured we’d hit a few pieces of bottom about 45 minutes from our current location but in almost a direct line to the Triangles.

The first piece also was devoid of bites but a few minutes after the anchor line came tight on the next one, Ruta gets a really good hit. The fish did not fight like a ‘tog and we figured it was an oyster toad. Much to our surprise and delight, a 23 inch codfish was brought to the surface. Five minutes later another this time almost 24 inches. We decided to stick with this wreck and not bother heading further south.

The fishing was very slow, about a half hour between bites but we wound up with seven cod between 22 and 25 inches and a few undersized ones. A real treat as these guys do not show up in our waters every year. Perhaps, the codfish god was preparing us for our month in Iceland this June. Or perhaps he/she was mocking us saying see you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to catch a few of these. In any case they certainly were a welcome treat. You can see from the pics how difficult the fishing was. The woman just wore herself out.

Please, we urge all our angling friends to pick up any balloons they see floating. They are extremely destructive to wildlife. They should be banned. In Australia they are anywhere near the coast.

The ride back to Wachapreague was long but not too bouncy. While out there many gannets and a few loons were spotted. A pod of dolphin were doing their thing in the inlet. The old timers say that when those guys show up the black drum are close behind. Something to look forward to.

[rayke1938]

Good to hear frim you. Frozen pipes something we do not have to contend with in QLD.

Cheers

Ray.

PS fishing still a bit slow after the downpour just before you left.

Cheers

Ray