What’s the agenda? 6
The one constant in life is change and in today's world change seems to come at an ever increasing pace. When it comes to fishing and being in the outdoors some change is good, i.e. net bans and selective fisheries. Others however are very misguided, i.e. closures without using the best science available and decisions made purely with emotion. I believe that what we have in front of us with NOAA's proposed no fish zone on the west side of San Juan Island is one of the latter. The idea of closing fishing within a half mile of San Juan Island essentially eliminates fishing at many of our favorite summertime spots. Spots such as Eagle Point, Lime Kiln and basically the entire west coast of San Juan Island. Where is the science behind this proposal? Do we get access to the science so that we might review it? Why was this particular proposal made? Is there evidence of recreational boaters and fisherman harassing killer whales? If so where is it? If not why propose such an arbitrary rule? Why punish the very people that are stewards of the resource? No group does more for the health of our marine resources and has more respect for our marine resources than recreational fisherman and I for one am tired of seeing us thrown under the bus without sound reason.
We need to take action and unfortunatley in this day and age we have to keep a constant vigil. That is why I always encourage people to get involved with a group and contribute time and money. We as sports fisherman are under constant assault by one group or another and they all have there own agenda. We can't just sit back anymore, we have to be active. Fortunatley, there are a few opportunities to voice your opinion and concern about this. First send an email to orca.plan@noaa.gov and then show up to one of the two public meetings. The first will be September 30th at the Seattle Aquarium from 7-9 pm and the next is October 5th at the Grange Hall in Friday Harbor from 7-9 pm. Please remember to always be courteous.
On a lighter note, we had a great day this past week fishing with Marc Marcantonio. My sons Mason and Madden and I hopped on board with Marc to fish Lake Sammamish. With four people on the boat Marc decided that using a drop shot rig would be the easiest way to fish. Marc brought along some of his Qucik Drop weights( www.quickdropweights.com or at Sportco/Outdoor Emporium) that can be easily rigged and changed so that more time can be spent keeping your line wet.
After launching the boat in Lake Sammamish around 6am we quickley started catching perch until I lost a nice smallie right at the boat. Afterwards fishing just shut down and the consensus on the boat was that I was to blame for loosing a fish. After a couple of hours of running up and down the lake and hitting spot after spot to no avail Marc suggested that we hit Lake Washington. This sounded like a pretty good idea to me seeing as how I live on the lake and the opportunity to learn from a pro like Marc in my own back yard was too good to pass up. We quickly put the boat on the trailer and made the quick drive to Lake Wa.
I have done quite a bit of running when on the water to find fish before but totally changing bodies of water was a first for me. As we were driving from Sammammish to the launch on Lake Washington you could feel the excitement build again as we had new and fresh opportunities to get after some fish. We only had a couple of hours left in which to fish so there was some since of urgency. Not enough however to keep us from picking up a few cigars from my wife down at the beach house.
As it turned out, the move to Lake Washington was a good one. We all got in on the action and boated 8 bass in just over an hour. Being on the water with good fisherman is always a learning experience but when that guy is as knowledgeable and helpful as Marc it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Marc was great at instructing and working with the boys. We all gained in our knowledge of when and how to target bass and my sons have been out in there kayaks every day since catching bass up to four pounds.
Thanks Marc for a great day on the water!!
Nice photo's, Rob. I had a lot of fun, and your boys are already fishing studs! I really enjoyed the day, and also meeting your family and sharing a La Gloria Cubana with you. ciao, Marc
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Mason always out fishes me, @#$& !! We are having a blast with the bass lately.
Again, the cigar triggers the bite. Looks like fun to me and it looks like Mason out fished you.
Keep up the good work buddy, I may have to try that bass stuff one day.
You have some of the best bass fishing around in your front yard! No wonder you won't go salmon fishing with me!!!