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!

Tillamook Tales!

Went over the hill to Garibaldi for the weekend. We didn't go out fishing til around 10, so we watched the zoo at the ramp. I'd call it 'controlled chaos'.
Many weekend warriors, excited clients, and others dreaming of coastal chrome!


It was still a bit windy in the morning, even in the harbor.



I was impressed with how quickly and smoothly it went! Glad I wasn't a part of it, and was only documenting it!



Walked over to the Tillamook Bay Boathouse and got a few more shots before it got light.


Mmmmm...


Big Tuna Marine at First Light


We eventually made our way out to Barview to watch the fleet start harvesting chrome.


Glad to have these guys watching over us!


Was a pretty calm bar, with most of the boats venturing outside the tips. Look close, two boats have fish on!


Looking North, the sky began to get light...


We headed back to Big Tuna to get the crab pots rigged and lines ready.

Trying to get out between the salmon boats was like a corn maze out there!
Looking back at them, once we were out, they looked like you could literally walk across them!




Saw Captain Johnny Bowles out there puttin a hurt on the feesh, while we slid out past the Chrome-seekers.



Ended up with some large ocean crab as well as a pile of rockfish.



Great day on the water... Could be the last nice one for a long time, looking at the weather forecast!

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Passions and Pelagics: Pacific Pork and Pomfret

Ahhh! Let me first start by saying, 'what an AMAZING day yesterday on the water!' From the time we stepped aboard The Seelicious, we knew it was gonna be a great day. We idled out to the coast guard tower, then throttled up. Made our way out past the tips with no concern. Flat bar. The sun peeked its rays above the coast range.




Little Italy, once again, has treated me to a head full of memories!



Bud, Mike, Dylan and I made the run west, only after a nice filling breakfast at the Wheelhouse. Mmmm, what a way to start out the morning...coffee, biscuits-n-gravy, bacon, eggs and toast! Can you tell I'm hungry this morning?
Seelicious was loaded with its late-season arsonal. A porcupined boat; quills armed with fishtraps and iron. Chovie along with light green/clear fishtraps worked the best, with purple/clear also getting a little action.



Mike brought his own gear, and found the fish REALLY liked his BF jigs.



Oh yes, lastly, to add to the arsonal of Late-season tactics, we had a livewell full of anchovies just WAITING to become heroes! This was their day to shine! This was the day they lived their whole lives for.. The big dance...
...Go get 'em, squigglies!





So we make our way out past the tips, across a relatively smooth bar. The ride out was comfortable and seemed quick given the distance. We found green/blue water and some good temp breaks around the 125 line. The wind laid down as the day progressed. Sheep never appeared, making the spotting of jumpers MUCH easier! Most of the time, Ole' Eagle-Eye Mike would spot 'em 1000's of yds out before the rest of us saw them.... (I think its a trained eye that comes with all those ocean hours!)
The fish were a bit skittish and would sound fairly quickly as we rolled up on them. For the most part we could slide up, throw a few traps and iron and hook right up. Livies would then be deployed creating the second wave of the attack. This hooked up the next couple fish in the pod. By this time, the fish would normally sound and be below us. Once it seemed the pod moved on, the third and final wave of the attack was deployed...Iron to 100ft. Iron Mike would hook up on his BF jig down around 50-100'. Granted, not every pod out there produced these numbers. We Did have a couple stops that were bounty-less. But for the most part, we made it happen when we needed to.

Dylan spotted what we thought were 2-3 dorado under a kelp paddy we slid up on. We casted EVERYthing at them, including live bait but no hits. I was fortunate enough to see the forked blue-green tails as they were swimming off. We even slow trolled the livies around the paddy, with no results. We decided to move on to the next set of jumpers.

A little later, we came across a small baitball getting worked. We slid right up on it, and it moved right towards us. The predator fish that were workin this baitball were smaller....so we casted all around and thru the bait ball, and immediately hooked up with a Pacific Pomfret. You could see these chrome, crevalle-lookin piranha fish down in the water flyin in on the baitball, hitting it from all sides. Apparently our iron jigs looked extremely tasty to them, and we had 4 in the boat within a couple mins. They aren't large fish as you can see.







After the excitement wore off, we continued on our quest for longfins.

In the afternoon, the bite really picked up. We were noticing more and more pods of jumpers. The wind dying down and the ocean calming helped this out! We managed a healthy number of fish throughout the afternoon. Unfortunately, it IS October... The sun is setting earlier and the days are getting shorter, so we decided to run in.


We pointed the battlewagon east, and ran back to the barn at a smooth and comfortable 28 kt cruising speed. It was like a lake out there!





On the ride in, we recollected the events and highlights of the day. The calm conditions, seeing the dodo's, sharks, casting and hookin-up, (and yeah, losing a few), catching the Pomagranites, err PomPoms, err Pompanos, err....POMFRETS!, whatever they are! just kidding, they're pretty cool little fish!



These fish have some Sharp little teeth.. I'm not at my normal computer to edit, but you can kinda see them in this next picture. They also have a nice deep blue line along with that lighter blue along the back of the fish.



Anyway, just be be out on the ocean in and catching tuna in October definitely gave us a sense of accomplishment. To be blessed by Mother Ocean with 23 tuna, 4 exotics, along with visuals and memories to last till...well,. NEXT TRIP!


I couldn't have been out there with a better group of guys. I enjoyed fishin with all of you! For the most part, we were a fairly-well-oiled machine out there... Glad we got to fish together again, Mike! and of course a HUGE thanks to Bud for another AMAZING trip on the pond! You've allowed my head to swell with some amazing memories, yet again. Thank you, Amigo!