Ship's Log September 1-7 2019
Mark Kimball’s Bluefin
September first we had fresh supplies and fuel. We motored over to the live bait dock and took enough anchovies to fill up the 4 tanks, then immediately set out to sea, crossing the Columbia River bar at 4pm. Mark and I were discussing his need to be done with this season. Remember, his participation was a very spontaneous unplanned thing. Originally, we had discussed only one trip together. But he was having a blast, so we pushed it as far as we possibly could. Now he has to get back to his Lodge on the Elk River, get with his wife Mary and do some guide trips for clients he had on his books. He was a bit bummed anticipating the end of this adventure with me on the James Lee. We only had a few days left to meet his ultimate goal of catching a Bluefin. Just about every day on the fishing grounds he has mentioned that desire. I always reassure him that we usually get at least ONE per year, and none yet so the odds are ever improving...
The days at sea were very long and the nights very short. The days at the dock were very busy and the nights out were very long, and so he was pretty toast. He went down for a nap while I motored us out to the blue water. We hit the blue water at 7pm, only about 18 miles from the mouth of the Columbia. I pulled in 24 great grade fish by nightfall, and had dinner on the table when Mark came up refreshed. During dinner we discussed the task of trying to find another deckhand this late in the season. I had someone in mind and hoped that he was available.
It was a pretty rough sea. I wanted to work this area near the Astoria Canyon, and with this rough sea it gave us a chance to do it without the sportfishing fleet. We got 123 good grade fish, and I pushed the vessel up North anticipating a long drift in the windy night. The next day we awoke after a 12 mile drift right back where we were the previous day. We put in 167 fish. The forecast called for 25-30 mph winds the next few days, and I planned to ride that down south in order to deliver Mark to his truck in Winchester Bay by the 10th of this month. This gave us 5 or 6 days to get what we could thru the wind. We were about 150 miles north of Winchester Bay. That is only a day and a half, but I knew we would hit fish and wanted to work on whatever the sea was willing to give.
The sounds of the sea and the vessel are hard to describe. Every captain is tuned into the sound of it all. Troubles are almost always revealed to the captain through some sort of sound or vibration. We are ALWAYS tuned in. The James Lee is a wooden boat that gives up a lot of sound by that fact alone. As it flexes its way through the ocean, there is a lot of creaking and cracking and wood type flexing sounds to hear. The 40 KW John Deere Genset is running 100% of the time and has its own sound, coupled with the 855 Cummins main that also has its own constant noise. The transmission has a certain rattle to it while driving a very long shaft out the stern giving more sound of the propeller churning. The refrigeration system with 2 pumps and a 10hp compressor has its own sound. Then there is the ever-present WATER rushing around the vessel. And the WIND. On rough days the sound of the water is the loudest of them all. You might as well be sitting in the middle of a water park, near that big giant bucket that dumps every 5 minutes. Trying to eat your fries while the kids are all running around screaming with laughter and excitement. Those screams are like the wind howling thru the rigging. The bucket is like the water blasting over the gunnels and across the deck while making a turn, or while drifting in the trough at night. The sounds of the boat grinding against the rough sea with blasting smashing drops into the giant holes caused by the swells topped with white water caused by the wind. It is all so LOUD!! The engine is revved up to keep up the trolling speed. 14 hours of LOUD during these rough sea times. When the fish are biting good, we crank up Sirius Satellite loud enough to carry the rock and roll music over the rock and roll of the vessel. The overall sounds are very TIRESOME! Once it is time for dinner, I shut down the main engine, switch the music to a low setting on classical, we eat our dinner, and when it is rough, I put in earplugs as I climb into my bed. I am wedged between a wall and some survival suits to keep me in place. Seanna is snuggled near my feet. I still hear the hum of the Genset, the refrigeration pumps and compressor, the creaking of the wood, and that damn bucket of water that keeps throwing itself across the deck outside while the vessel rolls in the trough thru the night.
I cannot remember exactly which of the next few days that it happened. Mark was SO EXCITED! In the middle of a great bite with albacore galore all over the place, there appeared an obviously different looking fish. Fat body with beautiful color and short little pectoral fins. It was a BLUEFIN!! About 20 pounds. Mark pulled it in and onto the landing table and just stared at it for a while. I got a few pictures. We bled it well and marked it so it would not get lost. He was taking that one home to Mary. SWEET!! We ended up back in Winchester Bay on Sept. 7th and had 630 fish in the boat for the short trip. Time to find a new deckhand...
