Back in the Salmon runs of 1994-1996, my friends and I fished, quite effectively, what we called the "Mosquito Fleet"

I lived next door to an older guy who had a big Grand Banks in the Santa Barbara Harbor. For a slab of fish, and any eggs inside, he
would let me use his tender. It was a heavy Whaler-type hull, just under 8 feet long, powered by a 6 horse. If a big boat came by,
we would have to stop fishing, turn the boat into the wake, ride it out, then return to our trolling.

I can't tell you how many days we would go out and limit on the salmon those years, I almost always came back with at least one.

The boat was so small, there were no rod holders. I had a hand held radio and that was it!

My friend who fished with me all the time had a 9 foot zodiac with about a 15 on it. We would often fish near eachother. There were
a few hairy times when a big commercial troller would bear down on us, I am sure we did not show on his radar screen.

I used to fish with two rods, both with dacron. I tied loops, about a foot long, every 15 feet. With a 3 lb ball on the bottom, I would
snap 10 foot leaders, some with flashers, others without, and run three or four 'stops' as the guys who fish wire line and multiple
leaders up north call it. I would cross the butts of the rods under the motor, each in it's corner of the transom, and put my foot on
the "x" This would hold them steady till one got bit.

One day, when the salmon were thick and up on the surface, I wanted to get one on the light line. I threw a hoochie behind a swivel
and a 3 oz. No flasher, 12 lb test on the 'steelhead type rod with an abu garcia 5500. Then all of a sudden BLAMO, something jumps
and my line starts screaming off the little rod.

I can't really manuver the boat too well, I have 2 troll rods each with 3 or 4 leaders trailing them. I turn the boat towards the fish,
he jumps again. I have yet to really see him.

Long story short, it was a thresher, and after 25 minutes of pulling, I had it circling the boat. Oh, remember the two other troll rods,
the ones I was stepping on, well there were about 5 flashers, to krokadiles, a few spoons and a couple of bait rigs all in a big knot
under the boat. I had to shut down the motor and just let the fish pull me as the lines had tangled, and I couldn't deal with them and
the shark at the same time.

The shark starts circling, so I have to go around the bow, under one rod, over the motor, under the second rod, and over again....
this happened about twice before I felt the 12lb wrap with the tangle below.

At that point, I had just about given up any hope of landing the fish, so I grabbed the closest troll rod, set down the 12lb stick and
ever-so-slowly began to raise the ine by had. Keep in mind that there were 2 3lb balls and all that gear too. Low and behold, here
comes a thresher, laying on its side. If it hadn't been mirror calm, I would have lost it. Anyway, I gaffed the little t-shark, it was
almost as long as the boat. (disclaimer - my first t-shark, didn't know it was a baby.........)

I think that one of the reasons we did so well those years, without any electronics, besides the fact that it was
WIDE_FRICKIN_OPEN almost every day, was the fact that the only thing we had to look at/for was the ocean, currents, bait....I
think that it is really easy to get zoned into watching "fish pixels" on the fishfinder and overlook the current lines, trash lines, a bird
dipping here and there, a seal or sealion thrashing a fish. Believe it or not, I only lost two fish to the dogs, but caught many many
more setting on them. HEY, if they are there, they are there for a reason, the same one as us. Some people see them and run the
other way, back then, we were stoked. We knew that there was at least one fish there, albiet sans-belly.

Gosh those days were wet, cold and fun. You really can have a great time in a little boat!

Have 2 fish!
Santa Barbara

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