Tday Chip Van Mols and I took out the Noklby Family for a day fishing on the 40 foot Gamefisherman. We had a long day of trolling until we saw a really nice fish come to the short bait. It came up all over the lure and didn’t bite. It looked well over 500 but it was hard to tell how much over it was. Big bill and big dorsal all over the lure. We waited for a bit and nothing. We turned around on the fish and and I never could raise the fish again. We worked the area outside the grounds for awhile with no action. As our day came close to an end we trolled back south to the harbor where we had a fish about 300 blow up on the long corner. We had about 300 yards of line out at one point and got it all back after 40 jumps. It seemed the fish was ours at that point it simply came with no trouble when the hook pulled. Great afternoon and had one close but it came 3 minutes away from getting a tag in it. I guess we got the best part of that one.
Noklby’s almost get one
Posted on December 30th, 2011My Apologies
Posted on December 30th, 2011I apologize for my posts being late this season. It has been a great year with a ton of good action. We have been in the field so much working that it has been really hard to get in the office. I have been hoping to have the trips and stay busy fishing and hunting and thanks to all of you we have. The problem with this is it is hard to post. My New Years resolution is to post on time and be better at keeping up. For those of you who follow our website regularly I apologize to you for the spotty posting. The news is all there it is just a little late. If you don’t hear from me for awhile you know that we are busy in the field or at sea. This is a good thing!! With good luck we will have a bunch more catches and hunts to share with you. Aloha Kev
Bryce Gets A Nice Ram
Posted on December 23rd, 2011You just never know when you are going to get to see the sheep really fired up fighting in full rut. This morning we saw these nice rams fighting. It was a great stalk and was high energy and stressful which added to the drama. Bryce and I drove to a good look out and could hear the sheep herd so we hiked the way to them so we didn’t spook them with the truck. We could hear the sheep whacking their horns together as they fought above us.When we got to the top of the rise the sheep appeared. They were moving fast towards us and turned up at the last second. During the rut I carry my cameras hoping to capture something out of the ordinary. Today I would get a chance. We had a 150 sheep working towards us with these nice rams at the back of the herd. 5 nice rams stayed on a hill posturing and fighting at a 120 yards while young rams and ewes came within 20 yards. Within minutes we would be busted and the sheep would spook. We were set up on the big ram but he wouldn’t give us a shot. The four younger rams all were fighting this nice ram at the same time. One would hit horns with him and another would follow. They mixed together so much Bryce had a hard time taking his shot. With young sheep at our feet at under 10 yards Bryce had to take his shot. Not our favorite but we had to shoot due to our time frame being cut short by the other sheep. He was quartering towards us and was walking when the 243. fired. The shot went off and the sheep ran. I got surprised by the shot and didn’t see the big sheep go down. When things came into focus for me a didn’t see the big ram in the herd. I was kicking myself because I am supposed to see the hit and follow the animal. I just got surprised this time and with the commotion of the close sheep I didn’t see the sheep go down. We found some blood and tracked the herd. We stalked the herd for 400 yards and the big sheep wasn’t with them. He had to be down behind us. We looked working our way back and found him. What a nice sheep! His mass and width made this guy impressive. Looking at his head turned when he was fighting the width was as wide as he stood tall. The photos I got were not what I was hoping for. The light was so low and the speed of the sheep fighting was so fast it wasn’t a winning photo moment for me. If the light was better and I could have concentrated a little more on my settings instead of hunting maybe I could have froze the sheep in action during the fight. Many times at the moment of truth while fishing or hunting I can get the shot we are hoping for. Today the drama was high and the hunt wound up tight. With the shots I did get you can get an idea of what we got to see. I was able to get part of the fight on Bryce’s video camera as a consolation. In person it was an awesome sight and with the other sheep around us an incredible hunt.
The Rut Begins
Posted on December 23rd, 2011Roy Carlson and I had time to scout after he got his Black Hawaiian Ram so we looked for herds and had found good herds of sheep. Here you see a young ram who seemed to be the biggest ram of this herd chasing this ewe getting ready make new years lambs. We were able to get close to the sheep today. The weather was good for movement and although we didn’t see a lot of sheep early we saw them in the early afternoon before we went home. Looks like the rut has begun.
Roy Carlson Gets a Nice Ram
Posted on December 23rd, 2011
Roy Carlson got this nice Black Hawaiian Sheep. We couldn’t find the sheep in their normal pattern but found a small herd with this nice ram in the bunch. Roy made a good shot off hand due to an tough set up. The sheep were close to us which helped but a standing shot with no rest can be tough. Not for Roy today. The shot made the mark and we had time to look at more sheep on the way home.
Boat Work Begins- Ready for Stain
Posted on December 22nd, 2011Here you see the wood stripped and some of the stain applied. It felt good to get to this stage. Once the stain goes on it is down hill from here. We use a filler stain that stains the mahogany and helps fill the grain. It is nice to get a good uniform color throughout the boat. I like when the wood matches.It looks newer and richer. When there are different colors throughout the boat due to stripping at different stages it is hard to get the uniform look. I like the mahogany and the stain for that reason. Teak is strong and holds up better to the abuse and raw new teak varnished is so beautiful. The challenge for me with teak is keeping everything uniform as the sun bleaches it blond. To keep the teak looking rich many times you have to sand the blond colored wood off the top to get to the rich wood below. This means taking a bunch of meat off of the wood to get there. The patches are harder on teak and you don’t have the stain to help match color when you have an accident and put a ding in the wood. The oils in the teak and the hard body don’t allow for even staining.One of the tricks that has been painful to learn after all these years of varnishing the boat is to sand down to 400 grit before any stain even goes on the stripped bare wood. It is so tempting late in the day after getting it down to 220grit that you just want to get the stain on. From what I have learned it is better to get the wood so smooth it is almost polished smooth before the stain goes on. The reason is that the coats of varnish to follow are fewer and it saves a ton of work later filling in the grain with varnish. With what we do with the staining if you have some stray sanding marks from stripping this sanding helps get rid of the last ones. At the 400 grit stage the grain is way less and mostly filled in by the stain. Many of my mentors and most captains of today feel the varnish is foolish and a movement towards painting the wood out is becoming the norm. At times I agree when a careless guest puts a big ding in it,but after working hard all week and it is shining in the sun it is beautiful and really makes the boat pop. It represents our commitment to our job.When we fish on custom boats with beautiful wood that is taken care of it just feels good. The custom boats of the vintage age all had varnished toenails and cab arounds at the least, so we like to try to carry on the tradition by keeping our wood varnished. As busy as we get there is time to get it done it just takes hard work to keep up with it. Next we put on the varnish and make it shine.
