net and water

It’s been a long and grumpy winter for me, with lots of time spent on the phone and email trying to sort out a new way forward for our kayak center here in Skamokawa. It’s easy to lose perspective when you sit inside all day, and a couple of weeks ago, I finally started breaking away from the office to get out on the water. I put the skiff in the water on my birthday, March 10 and started fishing for spring chinook. So far, I haven’t caught anything, but it is early yet, and tomorrow is the first day of another three day opening, so maybe my salmon luck will change soon.


unaaq and norsaq

And yesterday, I finally got out in a kayak again, for the first time in weeks. I took out the Valley Q-Boat, which was loaned to me by Rob Avery of Valley Kayaks. It is a fiberglass, hard chined, Greenland style kayak. It seemed to roll pretty well, and for an 18 foot long kayak, was very maneuverable and nimble. Andrew took out one of the new plastic Valley Avocets and we paddled down to Three Tree Point and back. I took the harpoon along just for fun, and found that I’m sadly out of practice, compared to what I was able to do with that last fall. Sigh…

Enjoy some pictures!


springer fishing


skiff and triangles


north shore


Valley Q-Boat

2 Comments

  1. Valley q-boat… I paddled one of those at the WCSKS. at around 165lbs it fit me better than the anas acuta. I still think I’d rather paddle my Romany though 😉

    I always enjoy your pictures! It reminds me that I need to get further down river more often!

  2. You probably paddled this very one, it is last year’s demo boat. It definitely fits me better than the anas, and I probably weigh about 190 right now. I usually paddle a Romany; I was curious to try the q-boat out for a while, though. I want to see how much camping gear I can get away with and still have it above water…

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