November Yellowtail!

Here I was, sitting at work, Saturday afternoon, watching golfers beat the ball around out on the range. Checking the computer every few minutes for an update, I'd wait to see how the Tuna guys were doing. I saw Chad's post from Bud, talking of fish in the boat. Didn't sound like a monster day for numbers, but hey, any tuna in October is a great sign!

Later that afternoon, I get the call from Bud. I hear how they did, and the other boats that were out. I got work cleared and made preperations for a Sunday Run...which could quite possibly be the last Tuna Trip of the Year. I called Dylan (Z. Fisherman) to join us.

He and I cruised over to Garibaldi first thing Sunday morning to meet up with Bud and Dave (Beer Wagon). We left dock around 7am. At some point on that dock I heard Bud mumble, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning..." This is a preface as to what was to come..


The bay was littered with smaller salmon boats, anxiously awaiting that first-light salmon bite. I mean LITTERED. We had to dodge our way out through the mine field of boats. Finally, we were to the tips and noticed a realitively flat bar. It was an easy crossing. Up to 25 knots we rose, gliding over 5' swells with ease, due to the length and duration between each swell.


Calm seas and little wind accompanied us on the way out.

The water started clearing up pretty quick and before we knew it we were into bright blue water. We threw out trolling gear and made our way West in 58.5 degree water.

A large dragger was up ahead and we made our way that direction. We noticed alot of bird activity, most of which were albatross. We trolled through them a few times when the first rod went off. Up to the boat came Sr. Albacore!


We caught him on a Cedar Plug Chain. First fish in the boat. This brought a little ease off our shoulders for the rest of the trip.

In this same vicinity, we hooked up again. This one ran and fought differently, shooting from side to side. As it came up, we heard "Yellowtail!" We made sure THIS fish wasn't getting away! He attacked one of the spreader bars. Here's a scary fella, brandishing a bloody knife and a glare that could kill. Oh wait, it's just Dave.


We each wanted a picture with this one. This next one is Dylan.


...and finally, yours truly...


Our first exotic of the year, and what a time for it to come....OCTOBER?!

We spotted a few schools of jumpers, but they remained pretty shy of the boat. We hooked up a couple others, but somehow they came unbuttoned. Managed to get another nice-sized albie in the boat.


Around noon, the wind started kickin up from the South. This bumped the forcast up to more of a 3 and 5 forcast. We started seeing some sheep which made spotting jumpers almost impossible. at this point, we started trolling west and eventually pick up and ran.


The ride home definitely was not as comfortable as the ride out. With that southerly, the chop was nearing 4-5 ft.

We slid in across the bar before it really had a chance to stand up.



All in all, it was a successful mission. The yellowtail just brought that extra bit of energy and enthusiasm.


Driving back around the bay, headed for home, made for some good picture opportunities as well.

Wow, what a difference a few hours make. That morning, the Ghost Hole was PACKED! Not to mention pretty rough
... and now, at sunset,...calm and quiet... no boats.


Great year. Thanks Bud, I've had some great trips and memories! What a great way to end the 2007 Oregon Tuna Season!

....Or IS it the last? ...can't tell with Bud

Coast Guard Rescue

Okay, here are some pictures from today's rescue at sea. These are only a few, for I'm pretty tired and am going to crash pretty soon. Bed is sounding pretty good right now.
I'll let the others give the details, but in short, here ya go.

I was out with Bud, Fishoholic, and Chasin' Tale (sp) going after some tuna, Tuesday morning. Once we got out there, we heard Ken, Crazyfish, on the Spotted Owl, on the radion mention their boat was taking on water. They chose to keep fishing and stuck by the rest of the pack. We asked him to keep us up to date every 10 mins or so as to their status. Reports were, that their pump was bailing water faster than it was coming in.

Afternoon: They started in a little earlier, before Tuna Time, SeaFox, Thunder, and us, Seelicious, picked up gear and ran. While running in, we heard, that up ahead, the Spotted Owl was taking on water more rapidly, and the motor had died. We heard, "We're dead in the water". They were about 5 miles ahead of us, and we ran to them to assist in any way we could.

By this time, they had hailed the Coasties. 2 47's from Garibaldi were en route, as well as the copter from Hammond. We all sat nearby for any help we could give.


Within just a few minutes, you could hear the thumping of the bird coming from the north.



The copter hovered closer, and let down the rescue swimmer to get in the boat and assess the situation.




Once on board, the swimmer radio'ed above to drop a portable pump to try and syphen out the water, and tow the boat back to port. The copter hovered in extremely close to the water, kicking up a big spray, leaned to the side, and dumped the pump overboard.


The pump was dropped, the swimmer got back in, swam out to the pump, drug it back to the boat, and assembled it. after a couple pulls, it began running and started dumping water out of the boat.


At this point, the cavalry, 2 47's were on the horizon, crashing through the waves toward us at what had to be 30-some knots. Once arrived, they pulled alongside Crazyfish and Spotted Owl.


Once they had the situation under control, the four of us that were there to assist, left and continued our way back to the barn. John, Fishoholic, has some more great pics, that I can't wait to see!

I was switching between the digital still camera and the Video camera. The rescue swimmer being deployed is on video and currently being edited for youtube, or somewhere similar. That video is coming soon!


Glad everything turned out alright. It was a situation that could've been ended up much worse, but thanks to quick action by the Coast Guard, it was avoided. All hats off to every one of you!

Tuna Frenzy on the Big Blue Pond

Got the call last weekend, so my brother and I headed over to Garibaldi for some TUNA! hunting with Bud and Andy. Snapped a pic of the sunrise on the way over from Salem...


After loading up with ice, we headed out past the jaws. About 20 miles out, we brought down the outriggers, and deployed the gear.


Mexican flags and Archer spreader bars were the ticket. We immediately picked up a single once we got up to speed. Right as we hooked up, I ran up front, casted a swimbait out, and hooked up with another. Within 15 minutes we already had 3 in the boat. We knew we were in for a great day!
Can you believe these pics were taken 20 miles out?! Almost the glassiest water I've ever seen out there!


I was "allowed" to take all the pics and film as much as I wanted by Bud. (Past trips, while bringing the camera out, have resulted in missed fish, bad gaffs, and lost fish). Soooo, I took the opporTUNAty to film away, and shoot some good photos. Got a few nice ones of some tuna coming in to the gaff. The water was a beautiful blue out there!


You can see the look on the eye of this tuna.. He sees the gaff coming, and ya know he isn't a happy camper!


I couldn't stand to just film the WHOLE time, so I had to put the camera down at some point and get into the action as well!


Like I said earlier, Mexican Flag was the ticket. Here's a great shot of the clone, as well as a good shot of that hook stickin out of this guy's mouth!



A few of the fish also came behind an Archer Spreader Bar. Here's a shot of one of those...


It was good to fish with Andy again, and he kept a good line on those fish as well!


Lastly I had to get a picture with my brother, Mark (Sea-Bass). This was his second trip and can't WAIT to get back out there for more action!


We ended the day with exactly 30 fish! What a great day, with triples, doubles and plenty of singles! We had some larger sharks make some V-lines toward our boat when we would hook up, so we had to get some of those fish in quickly! Couldn't get any pics but there were LOTS of sharks! Another first for us, was that Mark caught is first fish while casting a swimbait out. He couldn't believe the way that fish hit and took off. I was up front casting beside him, as his drag began to sing! He was pretty blown away by their power.

Around 2, we decided to return back to the barn, on a greasy-flat ocean that allowed for a smoooooooth 29-knot run back in. Saw a few dolphins, multiple sharks, albatross, sunfish. ...God, I can't stop thinking of those things. so much to see, ironically, while out there!

Mark and I ended up bringing about 6-7 fish home to process and vacuum-sealed the loins. Ended up with over 60 lbs of loins!

We've BBQ'ed 'em, marinated them, sautted them, cajun-styled, etc...I love trying new ways to eat tuna! It'll DEFINITELY not go to waste!


Couldn't have asked for a better group to fish with. Bud, you rock, and I had a blast, as well did Mark! ...and to think its only the first of July!!! Hopefully there will be more to come! Your kindness and generosity is larger than can be described with words. Thanks for imprinting so many memories into my head. I'll never forget these trips!

Garibaldi Halibut and Salmon Report - Seelicious

Bud, Michelle, Eric, Doug, and I headed out on the pond for some Halibut limits with some potential for some salmon on the way back in.

...Man, you wanna talk about great ways to fish for Halibut! Bud had some SWEEEEET new electric reels.


Felt like we were almost cheating, it was too easy to pull those up. just flip the switch and control the speed. I couldn't help but chuckle, looking over at the charter boat, right next to us, as some guy is straining himself, lifting, and reeling, lifting and reeling, as I just flip the switch and smile.


We Picked up 3 chickens on the first drift, then filled the tags on the second drift. Eric picked up, what we THOUGHT was a Halibut, but turned out to be some type of shark.



I'm sure someone out there knows what kind of shark this is, we didn't, so I took some pictures, so someone could let us know what it was. (Notice the blood drips falling from the shark's head in mid air?. thought that was kinda cool...)




Picked up gear, ran in, and dropped lines for salmon. The salmon bite was pretty hot. We lost a fish right at the boat that had to be 30+... Eric managed to land this nice hog.


Seely got into the action, too! Hooked up with a GIANT!


The fish ended up 'Fish-slappin' her though, right when I took the picture.


Sorry, Michelle, Had to put that pic in.
Caught a few feeders, and some silvers too.. Even got a couple while reeling up to the boat.

Took the fish home, Doug, Eric, and I cleaned our prizes, and we called it a day.

The ocean was calm, the sun was beating down.. couldn't have asked for much better weather! ...AND able to take home some salmon and halibut for a BBQ tonight!

Thanks again Bud, had a Stellar time out there!


Felt like we were runnin for Tuna out there ..expecting to see jumpers. But guess that'll have to wait a month or so...

...Doug can tell ya about the last Halibut...

Shotgunning Sandshrimp

We did a little steelheading on the coast but the rivers were barren of fish. SOooo, with an excess of sandshrimp, we went up an old logging road and found a great source of entertainment...Shotgunning Sandshrimp.

...didn't even see it comin~!