The 2008 fishing trip began when Hank picked me up at 0630 on Monday, September 20, 2008. He treated me to a hearty breakfast at The Chalet and then we headed for the bay front. Hank’s boat, Christy Belle, is docked on Port Dock 7. We unloaded my considerable stack of things. I always take too much stuff but I hate to get somewhere and need something I don’t have. I purchased a wide bottomed coffee mug for this trip which I thought would be good and stable out on the ocean. I found this same mug on the bed of Hank’s truck when we got in Thursday night, right where I had left it.
It was a bit foggy as we got underway. Hank had gotten ice and loaded provisions!!! the day before so we headed down the river with no delays. The ocean was calm with gentle swells and no wind waves. We set a course of NNW for a site where Hank often catches ling cod. We arrived after 3 hours of cruising at 6 knots. Hank rigged 5 lures on one line using a 60# cannon ball and the starboard gurdy. We trolled this rig keeping the cannon ball bouncing on the bottom. Fishing was slow but 4 nice ling cod were boated in 2 hours.
Hank cleaned them and put them in a tub of ice and salt water to cool. We then headed NNW again to try for albacore tuna. We ran till late afternoon and then began trolling for tuna. The fishing array consists of 4 lines off each side of the boat. The outside line is furthest back and the near line is close to the boat. You troll fast at 5.5 knots. The lines are attached to outrigger poles which gets them spread from the boat. We trolled for a few hours and caught 1 tuna of about 22 #. During the day we saw many sea birds, 2 albatross, 1 sun fish and 1 sea lion.
Quit fishing about sundown and settled in for the night. We were drifting with many other boats within a mile or so of us. Hank served pot roast with potatoes & carrots and a dinner roll for supper. In bed about 9pm and asleep about 9:01. You hope none of these cruises through the “camp ground” during the night:
The vhf radio is left on during the night on channel 16 which is the hailing channel. It was pretty busy all night. One event was a 42’ boat named The Triton hit a rock somewhere near the mouth of the Columbia River. It did not sink but did create a lot of radio traffic for about an hour around 4am.
Tuesday dawned with a light mist under overcast skies. We got underway trolling at 7:05am. Nice ocean with 1 to 3 foot swells on long intervals and no wind. Fishing was slow and only caught 7 tuna in the 12# to 16# range. Observed a “bait boat”, the Resolution, fishing for tuna. It is a 48 foot boat from Crescent City, California. These boats have a platform near the water level. Men stand on it with short, stout poles and heavy line. Live bait is thrown out to attract the schooling tuna and the men cast, hook and jerk the fish on board.
There were 4 or 5 of these boats working the area. Trolled all day in a NNW direction and pulled the gear at 8:15pm. Hank cooked ½ pound burgers on his gas BBQ and served them with all the trimmings. Deck hands are fed well on the Christy Belle. Less radio traffic during the night and a calm ocean resulted in 9 hours of restful sleep.
Wednesday I awoke to sounds of metal clinking and found Hank, with the floor boards up, working on the engine. Gives pause for thought considering we were 64 miles west of Cape Kiwanda but it was a simple matter of tightening the alternator belt. We were trolling by 7am. Breakfast consisted of coffee, V-8 juice, banana nut bread with the main course of sausage and eggs which were served to me on the observation deck. Excellent food although it was the first time I had sausage in a styrofoam cup and eggs in a bowl. Caught 2 fish early then a SW wind picked up. A little rougher with 2 to 4 foot swells and 2 to 3 foot wind waves. Kept the boat rocking pretty good. Fishing picked up about 3pm and we ended up landing 22 tuna, the biggest around 30#. This is a picture of the cook holding the biggest tuna we caught.
Finished fishing at 8:30pm. then hot dogs, coleslaw and chips for supper. In bed by 9:00pm. Wind picking up.
Thursday morning the wind had lessened but because of the swells and chop during the night I did not sleep quite as well. We drifted 5 miles north during the night. Hank decided that since the fishing was so slow that we would go in a day sooner than planned. This was too bad because we still had 2 ½ loaves of bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, dinner rolls, 4 danish, 10 bagels, 2 pckg of cream cheese, eggs, steak, 3 kinds of lunch meat and probably other food I did not know about. I am sure in 1 more day we could have eaten it all.
We began trolling toward home on a SSE course. We caught 6 more tuna on the way in. The big event coming home was one of those things fishermen love that create good tales. I was once again perched on the observation deck watching the lines when I saw what looked like a huge, thin fin near the outside port lure. I had no idea what it was but watched as it made 5 passes back and forth near the lure. Suddenly the line went tight for a second and then slacked. I pulled it in and the “hootchie” lure was gone and the 150# test mono had a clean break. Hank thought it must have been a Thresher shark. We had heard reports that some had been seen. It was really something to see happen. The long fin I saw was apparently it’s high thin tail. We cruised on into Newport arriving at the dock at 10pm. The ocean was the calmest I have ever seen.
The end of another great trip with Captain Hank.
Wayde Dudley 09/20/2008
HELPING ODFW
On September 21st Wayde, Barb and friend Larry Dale helped (on behalf of our Longview Hills Fishing Club) the US Forest Service and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with an ongoing project they have to place logs in key spots on various creeks to enhance salmon habitat. We directed traffic to keep vehicles out of the way as the helicopter was overhead. It was great fun and not too difficult as we only had two vehicles all day so we were able to watch the entire operation. Pretty impressive!
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