Guest Post by Omid!

After this piece, I may as well hang up my blogging hat. Omid takes the cake on this one! Enjoy!

Well… I thought I was done with Astoria fishing for the year, but knowing we had one last sunny weekend in the forecast and that the commercial nets would be going up on Monday, I decided to take the family out for a little fishing and crabbing excursion.It took an act of congress to have all the participants agree to go and by Saturday night, it was final. We were all going.

Sunday 6:00 am – everyone is up in the car, the coolers are filled with food, drinks and ice, fishing rods and tackle ready in the boat, car and boat gassed up, we head towards Astoria. Passing Clatskanie, we stop to take a photo for Erin’s blog. She got a kick out of it. It was a chilly 37 degrees out there.

We get to the ramp and it is pretty quiet. No lines, no hustle and bustle. The weather is nice and sunny, we launch and head over to drop off our crab pots. The bait choice on the menu were, turkey legs and Tilapia. There must have been 50 other pots out and my prime choice spot was taken. So we scooted further down and managed to drop off a strip of pots in a semi secluded area.

We headed up to the main river and started to troll for some Salmon action. The swells where big and the waves were pretty close together which made it an interesting ride for Erin and Remy. We only used hardware for our trolling and that included my $13 Swarovski spinner and a regular red and white spinner. Other than the swells and the waves, it was pretty uneventful for the first half of the morning and everyone was busy doing their thing. Erin checking her Facebook on her cell phone, Naseem being pissed off at the sun and the moon and the sky (not to mention at Erin and I), and Mateen playing with Remy. 1 hour into the troll and Erin says, “I think I’m getting sea sick”… Well… all that looking down on a choppy water had gotten to her. I told her to not look down any more and get some fresh air. That’s when I decided we should head for some calmer waters and motored on to above the bridge.

We were back at it again. We were on the Washington side and had miles of water to ourselves. We made our first pass to the shallows and turned south in search of some deeper waters. It was all quiet and the calm waters and nice sunny weather had everyone pretty much back onto what they were doing before. Remy catching flies, Mateen training him, Naseem being the music DJ, Erin trying to find a signal for her cell phone and me just enjoying being on the water. That’s when Naseem started pointing to one of the rods and kept yelling, “THE THINGEE, THE THINGEE …” so I jumped out of my seat, lost my shoe in the process and grabbed the THINGEE. WOOHOO… FISH ON. Mateen with the net at hand and I’m fighting the fish with Naseem rocking out and Erin …. Yes. Still trying to find a signal on her phone. Mateen nets the fish like a pro and we bring it in (my $13 spinner had done it again). It is a wild Coho and must be returned. By now Remy is very curious and wants a piece of the action as well (more like a bite out of the fish). We release the fish unharmed and start to gather our gear to troll again. OH LOOK… Where are all these boats from?? 3 or 4 boats had seen us and had scooted close to us during our Chinese fire dance.

Back at it again. Still heading south and away from those other boats. 15 minutes into the troll, BAMM. The same pole goes off and again I pick it up and stand on the engine cover to reel it in. As it is getting closer, I yell, WOW … I see another Coho trying to hit the “actually” same spinner while the fish is hooked!! That would have definitely made me a believer with the $13 spinners, but the hooked fish surfaced and the other one just gave up. Mateen nets the fish and it is a legal Coho, grabs the whacker and knocks the fish out while Remy is HOWLING like his legs are broken. The other rod is still in the water, so I get on the kicker to start trolling again and again BAMM. FISH ON. We bring the other on in as well and we have 2 fish on the floor with Erin and Naseem trying to keep Remy back and he is HOWLING non-stop…. Even if I was trying to be discrete with bringing in the fish as to not attract any other boats, REMY’s loudmouth was definitely announcing something to the world.

It is 11:00 AM and we decide to change our heading and started to troll towards the bridge. A few minutes go by and the pole with the $13 spinner is dancing again!! I reach over to grab it and nothing. !?!?! It was a good looking action but apparently was a drive or a fluke because as you remember, my $13 spinner has proven itself. We kept trolling until noon and said goodbye to the Astoria bridge for the year.

We start heading towards the crab pots and had to once again ride the swells and waves back to where we started from. Erin and Rey were holding each other pretty closely. We arrive and with a lot of anticipation, Mateen grabs the first string and I get to pull it up. WOOHOOO … We have crabs … We start to measure them and even Remy got in on the act.

There were tons of crab. Most all measuring right at 6 inches, but to be on the safe side, we threw those back. In on pot, we must have had about 25 crabs and 90% of them were females, which will need to be released as well. A couple of small ones and Mateen really wanted to take a picture with one. All in all, it was a pretty exciting time for all the family to feel like they are part of the “Deadliest Catch” story line.

This guy even had what looked to be like a popsicle stick in his mouth when we caught him.

On the way back, we were greeted by the gang of pelicans and seagulls, all were eager to see if we had any food for them.

We made it back home in time to wash the boat, clean the fish, cook the crabs, deliver some to our good friends and for the kids to take showers, all before 6 PM. We had a fantastic time with the whole family together, caught fish and crabs and the weather could not have been any better. What else could one ask for? It will definitely be a day we’ll remember for a long time especially with the rainy season just upon us.