I found Wind Rose Charters by accident. I was searching craigslist for a fish tank and found their post under activity partners. Being a local, I've heard of many of the fishing ships - the Shellback, Reel Steel, Jumpn' Jack, but not Wind Rose. I did a little research and was very impressed by their website. I liked the price ($110+tip), the idea of getting dungeness crab, and having a choice between a 7am or a 7pm fishing trip. I called in and booked a trip and then liked them on facebook to see what people were catching.
Their social media person contacted me and asked me to write a blog about my experience. Since I was planning to write a detailed yelp review anyway, I figured why not. Before the trip I signed up for Salty's fishing Derby which runs Memorial Day to Labor Day. It was $10 to enter in the category of salmon.
The Wind Rose website says to get there by 6:30am, and the trip starts at 7am. I made the mistake of stopping for ice at the Chevron before the trip. There was a bunch of other fishermen in line and it took me about 12 minutes to get through the line. I arrived at a full boat waiting for me at 6:40am and after some introductions we were off at 6:45am.
We didn't have to go far. We had our lines in the water by 7:15am. I was the first to put my line in and the first to catch a nice 14lb salmon. Even though we all had assigned poles, we took turns pulling in our first fish regardless of pole. We tried to stick with our own poles after that, but there were time when 2, 3, and even 4 fish were on the lines at once and whoever was closest grabbed a pole.
Curt was an excellent Captain. He knew exactly where and how to catch our limits quickly. I had both my Salmon by 8:10am and the boat had their limits by 8:30am. Curt made quick work of cleaning the fish exactly as requested, packed them in bags, and had us heading home by 10am. I almost felt bad taking the day off of work... almost.
After fishing, I went back to Salty's and weighed in my largest salmon at 13.5 lbs after gilling and gutting. I spent $130($20 tip) and got about 24 lbs of Salmon meat, which means I paid about $5.41 a pound for salmon rather that the store price of $14.99. I gave 6 lbs. of it to my co-workers, and then hosted a salmon feast for 16 people.
We made four different sauces: (1) Butter, dill, lemon juice, and garlic salt with parsley, (2) Tequila, Mango, and Jalapeno, (3) Dijon mustard, dill, and lemon, (4) and something special. We cut a whole salmon into steaks, tied the steaks inside corn husk filled with lemon slices, rosemary sprigs, sliced garlic, and butter. Most of it was cooked over mesquite coals. I also kept the caucuses of the salmon and covered it in the lemon butter sauce and cooked it for an appetizer. I originally just wanted the collar bone and cheeks, but Curt advised me about how to cook the carcass and it was fantastic!
Dinner was excellent and after making a couple to-go plates, I still had about 3 lbs of cooked salmon in my fridge. I highly recommend Win Rose Charters. read more