Albacore Fishing on A Greasy-Flat Ocean

I put together some footage of an albacore trip we took in July, 2007.   We only had to go out 19 miles to find blue water and tuna!  Was an amazing day with many fish caught trolling clones on spreader bars.   My brother even got a couple fish while casting fish traps.  We couldn't have asked for a calmer day out there!

Willamette Springers, Steelhead, and Sea Lions

Went out on the Willamette yesterday with a buddy to try for springers. We headed up at first light with a great shot of Mt. Hood on the way up.

Once we dropped the boat in, we decided to sit on anchor for a while, since there were a few fish caught in the area.  We rigged up some prawn spinners, and other ideas and got to it.  If you look closely, you can see the guy right above us has a nice fish on.

Not more than an hour in, Gary gets a nice springer.   An hour later, my rod goes off.  I leap up, get ready to set the hook and......its off!...still hasn't committed yet..  i wait....and wait..hands just an inch from the rod and reel, just waiting to snag it and set the hook.  the rod tip throbs down and back up again...  2 more tugs later he has it and running.  I grab my rod, set the hook and its on. Felt small, but then realized it was only a steelhead.  However, it was missing a fin so we netted and bonked it.

There was one BIG drawback fishing up there.. Okay, maybe about  5 - 10 big drawbacks.. SEA LIONS!   Those bastardly lions were at it.  Once they saw you stand up in the boat, or saw a net being waved around, they'd cruise toward the ruckus and eventually nab people's fish as they were fighting them.  Luckily we never encountered them during our 'hauls of bounty'  But I KNOW there were others that had their catch swiped away.

This lion was floating downstream, tossing a BRIGHT CHROME salmon around and taunting the fishermen.

Talk about heartbreaking!?!  I've lost a fish to a lion before and it really sucks!  If you can get them in as fast as possible, you can usually beat the lions.

One thing I couldn't believe is how many boats out there had slingshots, and 50-cal shot, and rocks.. Each time a lion would surface you'd see a couple holes puncture the water right near it.   I saw one good shot a guy took, hit the lion and that thing didn't surface again til 200yds downstream.. Guess he hit it!  good for him!!     But for the record, its a federal offense to harass them (which is rediculous), so I do not condone the activity.. BUT I DO APPLAUD IT!! 

Earlier in the day it was

Lions:           4 fish
Fisherman:   1 fish

but by the end of the afternoon, the lion must've been full, because the odds definitely jumped back into the fishermens' favor.  We probably saw 20-30 fish caught around us.. The warming water and sunny temps really helped.   We packed it up later that afternoon and headed back to Salem.

 
Not a bad 45 min. run to the river!   Hoping to get out again soon!

Steelhead Fishing -Underwater Footage

Took a trip to the coast with Dylan and met up with Drake, a fishing guide in the area. We hiked up a local river and caught some nice fish. This gave us a chance to play with the underwater housing for the camera. The footage is a bit shaky, but not a bad experimental try.

Ka-Boom! Au revoir, Gophers!

Took some time away from fishing yesterday to watch the guys out on the golf course. They were using a method I hadn't seen before, to get rid of the pesky ground squirrels and gophers/moles. I heard the booms before I even got there. I set up the tripod and had a blast... pardon the pun!

I couldn't HELP thinking of Caddyshack while this was going on...
Can you see why?

Overnight and Offshore

We took a scouting trip in early Spring, looking for longfins,  fishing overnight, and back to port the next day.   We were hoping to catch the first sport-caught tuna in Oregon that year. 

Offshore and Overnight from Sublime on Vimeo.

Italian Tuna, Turbulance, and Taters!

On 9/8/09,
Dylan and I ventured our way over the hill Tuesday evening, to the Mediterranean of the NW in hopes of stinging some bluewater bullets.


When we got over there, we learned of some unfortunate news that put a hault on a Wed. run to tuna town. He and I had the next couple days off, so we decided we'd stick around and check out the sights and sounds of the harbor.



While walking down the dock we saw Johnny Bowles, back from a trip, unloading a few coho and a nice amount of crab!
Crabbing looks pretty good over there.



We made our way around some other docks to look at some of the vessels. This is when I found my namesake boat! ... The Stoney! I had to get a picture with it~



We meandered over to Tillamook Bay Boathouse just in time to see this Crusty Ole' Salt hoisting a load of crab out of the boiler. Some larger crabs than I've seen lately.



I noticed this planter that they had there as well. A tribute of respect to those that lost their lives.



By now, boats were arriving back to port. Many of which didn't make it out to the grounds due to the lumpy conditions. One of which was Chris (id. painter). We ran into him a couple weeks ago while over there.
He was out Wed. but turned around about 12 miles out due to the conditions. However, he managed a nice coho out of the day!

We listened to the forcast that evening, and noticed it was trending down, along with the wind. The decision was made to go for tuna on Thurs!

Next morning, we made our way out. Wasn't a bad run, and even nicer than we thought.


After finding some warmer water, we dropped in. About an hour later, the first rod starts singing. We made sure Chris took the first fish! It was a good one too!



Dylan put the sting on this albie...right in the head! First fish, in the boat!


The Captain was glad to see the skunk off the boat.



A little later I get my chance to fight. This one is a PIG! Took some great runs, until eventually surrendering itself to the gaff. This is my biggest fish to date! 35 lbs. You can definitely tell the difference between a 25 and a 35 lb fish!


Still only had two fish by the afternoon. With each hook-up, we tried casting iron and swimbaits to create multiple hook-ups, but to no avail. Run and gunning to jumpers was out of the question due to the swells and the wind (sheep).

A while later and Dylan gets his chance to scrap. We only had 30 lb line, so we couldn't exactly horse the fish in. He had a good fight with a nice grade of fish also.



While he was fighting this fish, I noticed something about a 100yds behind the boat, moving across the stern. The deep blue water turned milky white, like the color of an iceburg just below the surface. You can see it just below the long white cap at the top of the picture.


A pod of pilot whales (?) surfaced to breathe. Was an awesome sight.


The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and as much as we all wanted to stay out and enjoy it, we knew we should probably head back to the barn.


We made our way past the tips and towards the harbor.



We had a couple watchful onlookers overseeing our return.



Was a great day with some great people! I enjoyed fishing with you, Chris, and hope to again soon! just gotta keep that boat of yours out here.. no need to trailor it back to ID!

Took a few pictures as the sun set, and before heading back over the hill to the valley.



Any day that you are alive, and out on the water, is a great day, fish or no fish. Chris, I love your perspective on life. I hope some of it rubs off on me. Thanks again!

Killin Tuna and other fish out on Lake Pacific

I had some time to put together some of the trips I've taken out on the Pacific Ocean. Most trips were out of Newport, OR, or Garibaldi, OR. We have seen some amazing things out there, but never have the camera for all of it. The quality isn't very good, sorry about that. But hope you enjoy it anyway!

Love this Video~! The Swear Jar

NEW FISHING INFO LINK!

just created this other page with some great links!

Use it as your main links page! Whether you need to see pass cams, river levels, wind, waves, or just want to see the fish passing through the Bonneville Dam fish cam.

Bookmark this one!

Now THIS was TUNA Fishing!

I can never get tired of watching this video.  If this doesn't get your heart racing, I'm not sure what will!
This was fishing in a pole boat... this was the heroic times of fishing for tuna!