Tide Lines: The Turd Derby

As far back as I remember, I have never had an issue getting up early to go fishing, although some days are a little harder than others.

The rain pounded all night, and then just before daybreak, the wind picked up against the ebb. The plan was to head out directly west, past the surf line, to target bottom fish at one of my favourite spots, about 30 miles out. I knew it was going to be wet and bouncy to get there. Sure enough, when we passed the lighthouse, leaving the security of the inlet and heading towards the open ocean, the rollers started, then the breakers. It wasn’t dangerous, just bouncier and wetter than the day before. It was a real workout just to keep in our seats.

The run is usually about an hour. This day it would be twice that since we couldn’t run very hard against the seas. After pounding through 15 miles directly into the waves, we arrived at the first of several underwater rock mounds where the uglies like to hide. My intention was to keep going to the set of knolls that is another 15 miles out, but I didn’t think my clients wanted any more of this old-school rollercoaster ride, so I figured we’d try our luck here.

My idea was to backtroll, jigging slowly up and over the rocks, but as soon as I engaged the motor into reverse, it was obvious the seas breaking over the stern were going to make us all sick. Already soaked, we had to go to Plan B. Or was it Plan C by then? There are lots of letters in the alphabet to label alternate plans, and that day, I thought we might get deep into the Scrabble box.

Placing the engine in neutral, we floated with the wind and waves, which smoothed out the bounce. Since we were moving at about 3 knots, jigging wouldn’t work, so on a hunch I dropped the downriggers to 75′, almost touching the ocean floor. On the right side, we ran a rigged cut-plug herring with a dummy flasher. On the left, a Turd hoochie with an ugly red flasher called Monkey Puke.

This ugly red flasher is called a Monkey Puke.

For clarity, a “Turd” is a brown UV hoochie that imitates a live squid and is named for obvious reasons. What a setup: Turd and Monkey Puke. It didn’t take 5 minutes, and the left rod revealed the lingcod’s liking for all things disgusting. In short order, we had another two lings on the same side, so we switched the right-hand side to the exact same setup.

Island Fisherman Brown Turd

Floating in neutral, using only the wind and waves to propel us, we “trolled” without the need to steer for more than 3 hours directly back in the direction we came from. With Turds on both sides, it was truly a Turd Derby. We caught several nice lingcod, a halibut, some coho, and a handful of rockfish. We brought up the gear, ran directly back into the wind, and did the whole thing again with similar success. The day started out miserable and turned out to be one of my most enjoyable memories on the water. Turd Derby—who knew?

With decades on the water, professional guide Pete Bourgeois is set to reel in readers with his new column, Tide Lines. As the owner of Island Tide Sportfishing, he’s navigated calm days, sudden squalls, and everything in between. Now, Pete is sharing his most memorable on-the-water moments—both adventures and misadventures—and characters you won’t soon forget. Sometimes insightful, sometimes lighthearted, Tide Lines is where you’ll find that the finest fishing tales are often the ones you never saw coming.

Pete Bourgeois
islandtidesportfishing.ca
604-908-0753