2020 Tuna Trip 1 Part 1

Ship's Log July 1st-14th 2020

I left the day Oregon initiated the mask requirement. It was a strange and difficult decision to leave. I was torn by it. There are so many options. Financially we are fine, not too pressed into action for any particular reason. Just that searing desire to chase tuna and knowing they were there for the chasing was driving me crazy. My wife and I have built up a variety of options for making money. We own and self-manage 14 rental units, and live on a 167 acre ranch with many options. Kristi has a great fiber business going, and I could be doing more with cattle, lumber, and/or real estate. Or anything. Will get back to this later.

Jeff and I stocked the boat with supplies for a trip which may last 25 days. I printed the Oregon Regional and Northwest Overview from the Terrafin site, pointed an arrow to the destination of my choice, and got my stuff at home together. I am a Type 1 insulin dependent diabetic. Proper planning with food and that type of supply is important. It is an important part of my story, and has a lot to do with the entire shitteroo really. I do not want to sit at home and then move about town with a mask on, feeling oppressed with limited freedoms and lack of choices. I left the rest of my family to live that life, and Jeff, his dog Apollo, and Seanna and I headed out to sea on the morning of July 1st with heads full of uncertainty. There were no real verified tuna reports anywhere nearby. Jeff trusted me...kinda. And the dogs had been salmon fishing together and made great friends. The group of us are a team taking it on and willing to do whatever it takes.

2020 Tuna Trip 1 Part 2

Ship's Log July 16th–Aug 3rd 2020

Grind to Success

We took on 1000 gallons of fuel at only $1.78 each. It is Covid 19 time of life and fuel is cheap. On July 16th we had a new weather computer installed and then Jeff, Seanna, Apollo and I headed on a long goto of 150 miles west. July 17th we were still a long ways from the reported hot spot. 37 fish joined the party that day in what turned out to be a very rough ocean. The next day had us in the zone for a very rough work day which gave up 204 nice fish. We are on them! But the shit show continues. The following morning the compressor was freezing up. I cannot figure it out. BACK TO WINCHESTER BAY. 150 miles. July 20th we waited at the mouth of the Umpqua River for the tide to allow a safe crossing.

We fixed the problem and left Winchester Bay at 10:30 am on July 21st for the long haul back to the tuna grounds. We were irritated to say the very least. So with an extra Monster Mean Bean or two we traveled non-stop until we hit good water and ended up with a great score of 338 fish by the end of the day July 22nd.

2020 Tuna Trip 2

Ship's Log August 5th-15th 2020

Zac

Such a great story! I have worked with a lot of deck hands. I measure their worthiness by attitude and willingness. My son Zac... Amazing. He has had a lifetime of history with sea sickness and I was pretty worried about this trip. He puked as an infant on a halibut trip. He never felt comfy out there. However, he wanted to give it a go anyways. I am grateful for my good friend Larry Sarratt for running him from Reedsport to Ilwaco for me so that he could participate.

Jeff, Zac, Seanna and I left Ilwaco Washington on August 5th and in my head I intended to fish close in. Maybe out to 100 miles or so, but near shore so if he was too uncomfortable and incapable of eating etc I could run him home.

We ended up out at the 129 line, about 220 miles straight offshore of Oregon. We spent 10 days gettin um good! I will never ever ever forget the moment he passed me by and said "I like pulling them in!" I about cried with immense passionate feelings of happiness and pride. He is done with the sea sick thing. Here he is. He will always know what his old man is up to now. He will always have this experience of incredible fishing, super nice weather, and super bad weather. We spent those days gettin um good...448 fish on day 8. We spent days not gettin um. 33 fish on day 4.

2020 Tuna Trip 3

Ship's Log August 18-26 2020

Wyatt

Wyatt, Jeff, Seanna and I left Winchester Bay early morning of August 16th. Once offshore a bit, I reached out and I got 3 reports... Closest report guy had 110 fish. 75 miles from us. Up above him 40 miles a guy had 60 fish, and up above him about 60 miles a guy had 200 fish. We set our Go To to that guy. I figured with 20 days to work with, we will go to where the gettin is the best. We had to travel all day, and all night, and when the sun came up on that second day, we were within 20 miles of the hot spot. We had gone nearly 200 miles. The weather was very nice for the traveling, we were making 7 to 8 knots. The fish started to come, and Wyatt got a chance to pull fish on our first fishing day. The south wind came up pretty strong, and I was glad to have some miles North ahead of us so we did not have to turn back into it much. We put a bit over 200 fish in the boat before nightfall overtook us.

We woke to a howling south wind, about 25 knots in a crappy choppy sea. Seanna was huddled tight in her bed, Jeff and I were up drinking coffee and muttering under our breath... "Holy shit..." Wyatt was down in his bunk holding tight. We fished as best we could until about 3pm. Then we just shut pulled the gear, shut the boat down and began a drift, taking the choppy seas sideways in the trough as we got pushed further up North. We had only 18 fish for the day, and we all felt irritable, crabby, and crappy. We just huddled down in our bunks reading and napping until the howling quit and the vessel began to ease in the somewhat bearable sea. One futile attempt to get a few more happened late in the evening, mostly so I could get the vessel down south a ways before the long night and a drift north that would take us beyond the edge.