Patterson Reunion Thursday July 8

Six hardy fisherpeople--Alissa, Don, Paul, Sue, Great Dave, and Grand Dave-- left house at 5:15AM to fish for salmon, including Sue as a first timer. We steamed towards Moss Landing on The Bequia.  Moss Landing is across Highway 1 from Elkhorn Slough. The prior weekend in a fishing derby someone landed a 43-pound salmon. At the time, they were catching 3 or 4 salmon per boat, or ½ fish per pole. We planned to do better.

As usual, Paul started the event by hooking and landing the first fish. It was about a 20-pound Chinook salmon. Twenty minutes later he hooked another large fish that shook the hook just before reaching the boat. He then landed a 20-pound Silver salmon, which is protected in the Monterrey Bay and so we released it.

I then asked Paul how he was fishing, and followed his advice well, as I landed one Chinook a little smaller than Paul’s and then one a little bigger. We all had bites, but those four fish were all we landed for the day.

We had fresh wild salmon for dinner that night and for breakfaster the next morning, plus frozen salmon to take home after the reunion.

Next time, we're going after albacore (again). We expect the tuna to tremble when they hear that the Pattersons are on the water again, for by now we are surely by now part of the Monterey Bay fish folklore.