That sealed it for me, and I decided to link up with them and crash their party. They were deer hunting and had 4 wheelers and a motorcycle. I don't hunt anymore (except to hunt for a good place to fish) but I enjoy hanging out with them when they are hunting.
I headed out from town just before 7 AM on Saturday morning, just as it was getting light. I won't include a map segment here, but if you want to see one you can go back to one of my previous trips, as I've gone to Marguerite Bay several times this year. I was solo for this trip.
The weather was cool, calm, and overcast.
I had an unexpected visit by some porpoises right near the entrance to Clover Pass. I say unexpected because I've passed this was probably hundreds of times over the past 35+ years of boating and I don't recall ever seeing porpoises right here before. It was a small group, perhaps 6 or 7 at most. You can't really count them because they are in constant motion. They criss-cross in front of the boat and I've been told they like to feel the surge of the bow wave. They joined me for perhaps 10 minutes. Since I was alone it was impossible to get photos.
About 10:30 AM I entered Traitors Cove and took some time to bait and prep my 3 shrimp pots. I had retained some salmon heads from the Silver harvest this season and so I had some good hanging bait. I dropped the pots in about 450' of water out in front of Marguerite Bay where I have done well in the past.
Then I went in and tied up to the USFS dock.
There were four boats there. Two of them were metal boats that belong to my colleagues from the bank, and the other two were commercial fishing boats. No one was around when I tied up.
In the summer we can't tie up to that outside slip where I tied. They bring float planes in full of tourists, starting about mid July. There is a bear and fish viewing platform, sort of a Poor Man's Anan Creek, about a mile up the road. They have vans to transport the people up there. But in the winter it is fair game for tie up there, as far as I know.
I had an early lunch, and got my gear together for a hike up the logging road. This time of year the daylight hours are very short. I estimated that it would be full dark by about 4:15 PM, so I didn't have much time.
I know that I have posted many pictures of Margaret Lake in previous postings, but it was so beautiful up there that I cannot resist posting a couple more. For me they are all unique because they are at different times of the year, and the lighting is always different. When reviewing these photos after the trip I regretted not using my polarizing filter. My friend Len says they "put the blue back in the sky."
The USFS must have been looking for new projects because since the last time I was here they have placed name signs on many (all?) of the lakes and creeks in this area. Just in case there was any doubt about exactly where I was on this trip, here is the answer:
I worked my way along the side of the lake and tried some fishing with light trout gear. I was very surprised to almost immediately hook into an old spawned out Silver salmon. I was surprised that he was even still in there at this time of year, and even more surprised that he actually hit my spoon. I did not get a picture, but he was about 12 lbs, and starting to decompose, as they do after they hit fresh water.
A few minutes after that I got a cutthroat trout about 15". Should've gotten a picture but did not.
It's hard to take a picture of a fish and keep it alive to release it when you are by yourself. You lay the fish on the bank and it rolls in pine needles and dirt while you are getting the camera ready. So you clean it off, which gets your hands slimey so now you have to clean your hands before you can handle the camera again. By the time you do that the fish has rolled in pine needles and dirt again. You see the pattern here I'm sure.
As I was walking back towards the boat I saw a couple of my buddies also returning. Their mode of transportation was considerably more stylish than mine, as this next photo shows.
They offered me a ride back to the boat but one of my primary goals on these trips is to get some exercise, so I declined. Besides, it was stunningly beautiful weather for a mid November day and I wanted to enjoy the hike for as long as possible.
Here is a picture of what I generally use for transportation on my trips:
I just hung out on the boats and visited with the guys as we waited for dark. Butch prepared dinner this evening, corned beef and cabbage. I don't even recall the last time I had corned beef. It was very good.
Here's a picture of the bay as the sun set:
The other guys were pretty tired from a long day of hunting I guess because they all started sacking out about 8 PM. I had inherited one of the guys to sleep over on my boat since they were a bit crowded on the one boat and I had lots of room. I really didn't want to go to sleep at 8 PM but my main cabin had been turned into a bedroom, so I just took my iPad to my bunk up front, closed the door, plugged in the headphones, and watched a movie for awhile before going to sleep.
It was a quiet night, and I was up about 6:30 AM on Sunday. My buddy John who had slept on board volunteered to go out with me to pull and reset the shrimp pots. So about 8 AM we pulled out and did that.
We only got about 40 shrimp in the pots, which is a lot less than I usually get in this location. There were a lot of "Crimps" in the pots. Not sure that is the right word for these little critters. I'll bet I had over 100 of them in there on this pull. We just toss them back in the water. Here is a picture of a rather large one.
When we got back to the dock John and all the other guys went up the road on their respective vehicles hunting. I just hung out on the boat and tried to stay busy.
I had volunteered to contribute spaghetti and sauce for the evening meal, if they needed it, so I went ahead and browned the ground beef so that would be ready. I also went ahead and set up my propane cooker on the dock and cooked the shrimp.
The two commercial boats pulled out. They were also hunting and had decided to move north up Behm Canal to the next bay up, Neets Bay.
The guys returned about 2:15 PM with no deer. Guess I'm a jinx.
I did get a ride in the Polaris RAZR, which was a lot of fun.
I had not been very far up into the hills on this logging road system because I am always on foot and can only travel so far.
It was almost dark when I shot this picture from far up on the hillside across from the dock during my ride on the RAZR. I did not know where we'd be going and unfortunately I did not have my zoom lens with me.
Dinner this evening was a deer roast, mashed potatoes, and salad. Butch did the cooking and we all sat out on the dock and ate. One of the guys had brought a big metal fire pit, so we could have a fire right there on the wooden dock. The stars were out, the moon was out, and it was a beautiful, but cold, November evening.
The next morning I was up at about 6:30 AM and pulled out at 7 AM. The weather forecast called for 30 knots in the afternoon and I had at least 3 hours of running time ahead of me. And I had to pull my shrimp pots again. The pots this time were better and I got about 100 nice shrimp, with many extra larges in there. A pretty good haul for just 3 pots. It takes some time to "process" the shrimp, and stack and stow the shrimp pots, so it was just after 8 AM when I finally headed towards home.
The only item of note on the ride home was that I quickly noticed that both the radar and the sonar (depth finder) on my primary Garmin unit were out. I have a smaller backup unit for GPS and sonar, but only have the one radar unit. I had some concern because as I approached town I saw a large fog bank ahead of me, but it blew off before I got there. This is definitely something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. It's always something on a boat.
I got into the stall about 11:15 AM, before the winds picked up.
Total trip mileage was 58.5 nm.
A successful mid November trip for Faraway.
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