Met my net man, Big Dave, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo at 0530 and launched the boat. Headed straight for Cultus Bay to scare-up some sand dabs and flounders. Took until about 7:15 to scrape up 6 or 7 baits.

We started fishing just east of the green can on the west side of the bar. The east bound drift took us from about 45' down to about 60' and back up to about 40' before the the bottom flattened out. On the first pass I donated my leader to the rocks on the bottom. On about the tihird drift, Dave had a drive by that pulled a few feet of line out and then let go. Another drift and I donated a second leader to the bottom. At this point I switched over to a jig for the remainder of the morning slack tide. A few drifts later, Dave thought he was hung on bottom. As we began backing down on it to see if he could get his bait and leader back, bottom unceremoniously began swimming away shaking its head as it went! Dave managed to get about half of his line back when the fish finally tore the flounder off the hooks and went back to bottom with it. I switched between gulp curly tails, magnum squid on a lead head baited with a herring chunk, and several colors of plastic twin tails and other than hooking another flounder they went without a bite, scratch, or sniff.

As the current picked-up mid morning we decided to stock up on bait again for the mid-day slack tide. We headed back to Cultus Bay and jigged up a few more flounders. Best success for bait was a Carolina rig with Gulp minnow or Carolina rig with pink and chartreuse micro crappie grub.

For the afternoon tide we chose to explore the old ferry boat wreck site. Dave had done a couple of dives there and based upon his experience we chose to drift along the east side of the wreck staying far enough off the wreck to avoid too many tangles.

On the first drift I had a solid take and let him swim with it for about 20' before I closed the spool and started cranking. I only got about 30' of line back when the ling ripped the little flatfish off the hooks and left the scene. Dave hooked bottom and donated our second to last leader to the bottom. I rigged him up with our last heavy leader and we started another drift. No takers on this drift, but on the next pass I had another taker. This one also pilfered the bait before I could get him very far away from bottom. After having four baits ripped right off the hooks I finally learned and sent my next bait to the bottom with the top hook through the bait's mouth and nose and embedded the trailing hook under the skin a little past half way down to the tail (had previously been letting the back hook trial loosely). On about the fifth drift I had another solid take and again let the fish swim with it a good distance before I closed the spool and tightened up the line. I was using my halibut gear with stout rolloer guide pole and 100 lb Dacron line. When the line tightened on this one it went on a short dash and actually pulled the front of the boat around against the current...strong bugger! I finally got him turned and swimming slowly along with me as I cranked steadily away. Dave grabbed the net and stood at the ready.

When I saw my swivel I foolishly stood up to see the fish. He got one look at my ugly mug and turned back toward bottom and made another strong dash for it. He almost pulled the pole out of my hands and broke off the leader right at the swivel. If I had cranked him about another foot he'd have been in easy netting distance - arghh! Of course, the water magnifies the fish, but I'd guestimate it at around 12 - 15 lbs.

Out of leaders and 0/5 on lings for the day we took our remaining flounders home as our only catch of the day. On the positive side it was about 80 degrees outside and the wind was very calm for Possession Bar. We saw an eagle out fishing and the sea lions on the green can buoys were about as comical as the circus!

I'll be back after them with bigger hooks and wire leader soon. <")))))><

Tight Lines!

Fish Dawg

goodtimesfishing

5/12/2013 12:44:00 PM

Amazing the strength those lings have! I know what you mean, when they see you they run hard! Had one rip drag for 90 feet(line counter reel). You mention wire leader but I think you will do better just using 40 lb maxima ug for leader and 5/0 hooks. You know how much gear you can lose out there, and that can get costly. Make your own leaders and space the hooks 6 inches apart(at least 6 inches) You can get eagle claw lazer sharp 5/0 hooks at walmart, a quantity of 29 hooks for less then $5! They work fine for the lings and it is easier on the pocket book when you snag structure. When fishing the right holes.....you will lose gear, lets you know you are fishing the right spot.
Sounds like you had some good ones hooked! Next time you will get some in the boat I am sure! Good luck!

bryanpeck

5/14/2013 7:22:00 AM

Thanks for the suggestions GoodTimes. I agree that the bottom is grabby out there in the ling zone and we did donate 3 of 5 leaders I pre-tied to the bottom as you described. I was using 5/0 Gamakatsu hooks on 20 lb fluorocarbon leader. The ling I had all the way to the boat turned and snapped that 20 lb like it was 4 lb. While I agree that quality hooks are expensive to donate to the rocks on the bottom I also think that there is nothing worse than spending the time, effort, energy, and money to get on the fish and then bring none home because of failure at the terminal tackle end of things. So, I'll spend the money for some quality Owner cutting-point hooks and rig them on wire leader I know will stand up to the fish. I'll still donate some to the bottom, however, when I get a fish to the boat it will not escape due to leader failure.

Good luck to you too!

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