May 6 - 7 in Garibaldi: Calm Ocean and Sun...At Last!

It seemed like the winter would never end; rainy, windy, cold, and the ocean unsettled. My friend Jim and I left the dock Saturday after the large morning tide swing (at about 8:30 a.m.) and headed to Three Arches, about 9 miles south of Garibaldi. There were several other boats and some charters fishing the reefs. It was a slow bite, but we managed 4 bottom fish and 1 ling cod. I had heard the bite was hot for lings early in the week, but not on Saturday. Beautiful day on the ocean, but a tough day to find the biters.

On Sunday, I knew there was no way I was going south again. So…we went north, off of Manzanita. The bite was slow again, and as we were heading south to fish the “Dinner Reef” straight off the jetties, I saw an interesting looking reef on my Navionics. We stopped and quickly reached our 10 fish limit for two people. Jim did this by getting two doubles in a row with nice sea bass. I got them one at a time - the hard way. I marked the spot on my GPS and I’m excited to return when I go back down to Garibaldi.

We did not crab; I have heard that crabbing is slow and they are in the clutch (meaning they are more interested in mating than anything else). We talked to a few people who did crab, and they said it was slow, with reports ranging from zero to just a couple of keepers per pot. A lot of small crab and female crab, which have to be released.

I’m planning to travel back down on Wednesday night to fish Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (we will see if I have enough stamina for it). The nice thing is my travel trailer is already there, and I have a slip for my boat. The old days of driving 76 miles down and back and fishing all in one day are in the rear view mirror now.