Ellis’ bottom bobber salmon rig is easy to tie and is a great shore-based setup. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Halibut season to remain, Chetco Chinook arriving

Halibut hunters can now breathe a sigh of relief; the season is NOT going to close prematurely. I received a phone call on Wednesday from Lynn Mattes, ground sportfish and halibut project leader for ODFW, who called to give me an update on the “south of Humbug Pacific halibut fishery.” Mattes went on to say:

“NMFS ( The National Marine Fisheries Service), IPHC (The International Pacific Halibut Commission) and ODFW had another long discussion about the south of Humbug fishery (Wednesday), and we have decided that because of the legal language that’s in the Catch Sharing Plan, that fishery will remain open through the regulatory closure of October 31, so that fishery will not be closing early, it will stay open until October 31.”

So get in the halibut fishing while the getting is good. Do not expect next season to be the wide-open fishery we have experienced this season. I sincerely believe that this season is an anomaly, one that should be taken advantage of while you can.

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There were several three-fish days last week in the Chetco Bay. I have to chuckle a little bit about one of them. On Wednesday last, Mark Gasitch, one of the local fishing enthusiasts, invited me to hop aboard his boat, but I politely had to decline.

Then while watching the boats trolling the bay, one of them turned sideways and got out the net. It was Mark, who netted a gorgeous 18-pound Chinook. This was easily a Chetco River Chinook.

The same day two more salmon were caught, one jack and another that may have been around 10 pounds.

On Thursday three more salmon were hooked and landed.

This is how the beginning of the salmon season starts in the Chetco. First the jacks are caught, and then the big boys are not far behind.

The photo in today’s column shows a rig that many of us have forgotten to use, but used to be the real deal not long ago.

It can be used by bait anglers fishing from the jetty or from the pier, and I can tell you that it has caught innumerable Chinook in the bay.

This one is extremely easy to tie up. Tie your main line to the eye of a 2/0 crane swivel. Cut the line about 10 inches and slide the knot over to the side. This will be your lead line, where you will tie your 6- to 8-ounce pyramid sinker.

Now tie your main line directly to the same eyelet.

Buy a mooching leader cut it about 4 1/2 feet in length. Slide a cork bobber up the leader so that it is about 18 inches from your top hook. This setup keeps your bait floating off the bottom, away from the crab, and gives it enough height for the salmon to eat.

Simply use an anchovy, herring or sardine for bait. The top hook goes through the nose and the rear hook goes in and then out of the rear of the baitfish.

Make your cast, reel in your slack, put your rod in a rod holder and wait for your rod tip to go bonkers. This rig flat out works. You may not get bit all day, but if enough people start using these things, salmon will be caught and it will catch on again.

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There are several people at the Pilot who do not get enough credit for the things that they do to help keep this fishing column viable. One of them is our publisher, Charles Kocher. He tells his good friends to call him Charlie.

Charlie does a lot of behind the scenes public relations work that goes unnoticed by most of the community. He is also in charge of making key decisions, key decisions that are not always pleasant.

Not long ago Charlie had the unfortunate assignment of giving me some good news/bad news information. I’m not going to tell you what it was, and it wasn’t that bad, but I can tell you this with certainty: It hurt him a lot more than it did me. I have got a lot of blessings to start counting.

For one thing, I have this great column that allows me to have fun and bond with my readers. Every day I meet new people at the cleaning station who bring smiles to my face. I’m living the dream, and as anyone knows, life just doesn’t get any better than that.

Then there’s our editor Scott Graves and sports editor Jef Hatch. I met Scott several years ago when he was about to become editor of the Pilot. We originally did a great surfing article together. Actually he wrote the article and I supplied the photograph. It got published in Oregon Outside. Ever since that moment, Scott has been there for me when I needed him and he’s been a key role model in the art of diplomacy. Again, I need to listen more and talk less.

I’ve seen a lot of sports editors come and go in the past 31 years that I’ve been reading the Pilot, and I can tell you with certainty that Jef Hatch is second to none. For several years I was sports photographer until my magazine career seemed to have taken over my life. Jef has the task of writing the articles and supplying all of the excellent photographs that go along with them – that in and of itself is a formidable task. Most newspapers have other people take their photographs for them. Both Scott and Jef are also responsible for thinking up those great headlines for my column.

Last but not least, there’s our copy editor Lynn Guild. Lynn was always interested in making me look better as a writer.

About a year ago, perhaps longer, she was forced to temporarily leave the Pilot to tend to important family matters in Michigan. All I can say is, you never miss the water till the well runs dry. I always regretted the fact that I never got to say good-bye. Now that she’s back I can tell you this: I miss her even more now each day just thinking that she might ever decide to leave in the future.

Some writers become deeply enraged when their original text has been changed, taking it personally, not knowing that a great editor can help make a bad writer look good; make a good writer look excellent, and make an excellent writer look superb. In my case, I welcome the changes. It has also been said that writers are a dime a dozen, but good editors are worth their weight in gold. The editors and proof readers at the Pilot belong in Fort Knox.

I respect each and every one of these people deeply. They’ve become my extended family. I have dubbed all of them, “The University Wits,” after the great Elizabethans Marlowe, Greene, Nash and Peele.

Keepeth thine lines tighteth!