Floundering For Flounder

August 30th, 2021: Loaded up the family and the fishing gear for an extended escape to Lopez Island. If you have never taken a San Juan Island ferry, its a scenic cruise in its own right. Amazingly, we had a whole deck to ourselves.

Day 1: We spent the day making sure the beaches were up to snuff. At lunch we got an invite to explore a private beach that had an impressive shell midden. Of the 41 known middens across the hundreds of islands, 8 are located on Lopez, proving that Lopez is a pretty good place to hang out. Surprisingly, to me at least, 7 of the 8 Lopez middens have been aged at 700-400 years old. The end date makes sense with the arrival of European diseases but its interesting that the stars aligned 700 years ago to bring people together for some really serious clamming. 

Day 2: Back to the beaches but this time at the Fisherman Bay Spit Preserve. Its a good spot to climb on driftwood and visit an old homestead or watch the reef netting. Took me until today to figure out what those boats were up to, at the time I just figured it was some sort of salmon operation. Turns out reef netting was a common indigenous practice in the Sound and adjacent rivers. Back in the day, two boats would hold a net between them and an artificial reef made out of stinging nettles and grasses would force the passing fish over the reef and into the submerged net. Once spotters saw enough fish in the trap, the net could be lifted and the salmon were collected. You can see the Lopez Island setup in action in real time or if you prefer, the Lummi Island example has fancy footage and inspirational music. 

After we picked up the grandparents from their dramatic entrance and with the exhausted kiddos down for a nap, it was finally time to bust out the fishing gear. I'm not exactly sure how you are supposed to fish for flounder but I was working with banana weights and a leader leading to plastic worms on a monstrous surf casting rod, on the assumption the fish would be pretty far out and glued to the bottom. The very first cast found an aggressive sculpin but that was it for the nap break.

Day 3: The morning adventure was a visit to Shark Reef for the excellent views of San Juan Island and the Olympics. Not the best place to turn loose toddlers with an undeveloped fear of heights, especially with the opportunities to spot seals cruising just beyond the edge.

It was a little different vibe from our last visit in 2018 when even the elder child was not a flight risk:

Day 4: Started the day with chores and then headed Spencer Spit State Park (another converted homestead).

I returned to the same spit in the afternoon to see if a cooperative flounder could be found. I only managed to catch seaweed but it was a beautiful place to fail. While I have caught a flounder by accident fishing for pinks and found a couple in crab pots, I've yet to catch a keeper and the quest will have to continue.

Day 5: Back to the real world... took a little longer than planned with our two navigators at odds but they got us back to the mainland.