Ship’s Log September 29-October 16 2019
Another Anniversary at Sea
I did the fish catch totals for the year to date. I was at 72,230 pounds for the season. Just over 36 tons. That’s a little more than last year’s total on my first season with the James Lee, but over 4 tons less than Reuben and I caught on my little ice boat the Manatee II back in 2016. I am dissatisfied. My goal for the year was originally 60 tons. That shrank down considerably after trips 1 and 2 gave only 2 tons for 20 days. Then the blown genset setback which created a week at the dock during prime time. 50 tons was the new goal. I’m thinking I can nail that if the weather allows it. Reports are still great in certain areas, and those areas were close to my home port. I’ve just got to stay focused and not get sucked into land with some sort of problem. It will all boil down to me. I just need to prove to myself that I got what it takes to be a single-handed tuna fisherman in a 54 foot vessel.
While throwing off the lines to run over and get bait and fuel, I set my mind with all the power and strength I could muster up. Just Do It. Drive that boat over there, and use the wind, the current, and the exact handling of the vessel so as NOT to cause embarrassment. Slow like a pro, fast like an ass. That is the line I heard Johnny from the Two Fishers use. I agree. So, if you are going to mash everything up at least do it really slow so there is limited damage. Keep your calm.
All that worked out well, so Seanna and I left out of Ilwaco on September 29th It turned out to be a little too early with regard to the weather. The weather was on a downtrend, improving, so nothing scary. Just uncomfortable! I have included a photo of the page out of my logbook for that day. Getting out there was not entirely too bad but the night drifting in the trough really sucked. I got 56 fish on the one-way tac out.
After 12 miles drifting sideways in the wind, I awake to another crappy sea. At least there are not many boats around to watch for. I landed 188 nice quality fish plus another 30 peanuts. I am keeping the peanuts this trip. I have plenty of fish hold space to use one bin area for them. These smaller than 9 pound fish are round and fat and deserve to be put into a can and labeled properly with a “Fishpatrick’s” label and sent out all over the USA for the holidays and year around. Gettum now, free shipping on full case orders through the Holiday’s.
The following day I was struggling with the idea about how these fish up north here are very hard to LEAVE. Rule Number 1. NEVER leave fish to find fish. In the ocean as big as it is and the spread of all the water and the fish, if you find a ton a day you better stay and make it pay. 121 fish that day, less than a ton. I am still up above the canyon. I need to make the jump. 180 miles.
On October 2nd the soul searching continues. My dog Seanna and I are slipping south in a windy choppy sea. It was an easy slide, but not very fishy. Only 45 quality fish for the day. AArrggh!!, and the next day I spun around on a lot on biters, but did not put many together with only 74 fish total.
On the 4th of October I am still in front of Tillamook fishing a very nice ocean. Down a bit and way inside. I am working with my friend Calvin from Westport on the Julia C. He and I are catching similar numbers and working very hard to stay busy doing it. 112 fish for that day.
October 5th. This is another year where I spend my anniversary at sea. Kristi and I intend to renew our vows somewhere between crab season and salmon season. The month of May some year in the future. We have been married 16 years now. Since buying the Manatee II in 2012 I have been out there at sea on our anniversary more than I have been in here. Plus, it’s about the opening day of deer season. Too many important seasons to consider. Why did we choose Oct 5th? Well because we had a 10 day long range sport tuna fishing trip out of San Diego booked for our honeymoon, and built our marriage date around that. It made sense then. I called and did my usual apologies and we had our normal discussion about the money and life thing. She supports me and gives me the strength to continue. She does not chastise me about it in any way. I really needed that this year! I felt very powerful after the conversation. Lots of energy and a super focused mindset. The days total was 103 good ones and another 13 peanuts. Dinner was fried chicken, baked potato and corn on the cob. I got that corn on the last day of the Farmers Market in Ilwaco before I left. Seanna and I ate good.
I could not sleep. It was a glassy calm night, so I began my move for the bite down south. I cruised at 7.75 knots and 1200 rpm. When I got tired, I gave myself the job of doing a fuel transfer from a stern tank into the forward day tank. Some sort of schlommy pluggy thing has been happening with the fuel transfers, and this time it shut down the genset. That woke me up. I rubbed my face a few times in the pitch black darkness down in the engine room. The main kept chugging away as normal. I just remained on course. I knew exactly what to do, and exactly what I was up against. I had to go up and turn on the 12 volt light system in engine room and start bleeding out the fuel line to the genset, clear out the racor, prime the pump, and bleed the air out of the injectors. I have become an expert at this! The genset easily roared back to life and all the bright lights came back on, and the refrigeration became available to the fish again.
After midnight the half moon continued to guide me south on the beautifully calm ocean. I just wanted to hit an area NW of Newport on the next morning. I had to hit it right and not force a double back. The area just south of there has been a desert. So I want to nail down a drift which lands me on some fish. On day 8, I woke up, caught a quick 47 quality fish before noon, then it died. There were still very few boats around. I saw the Temptation and the Millie G and the Four C’s for part of the day as I worked south. I made a call to a friend and heard bad scores and BAD weather down south. The weather was already getting crap here where I was at just above the 45. I finished this day with 117 fish. Seanna and I had pork chops, green beans, a baked potato and some applesauce.
Day 9 was a beautiful morning. Day 9 was the reason I ever began to write this seasons story. I set the gear before dawn with barely any light. The fish were slow to begin coming on, and breakfast was all lined up in the house with a beautiful Aidells Pineapple Bacon Sausage done, and a pancake cooking in the pan. My eggs were sitting there easy to crack after the pancake gets flipped. My blood sugar was a bit low, creeping down under 100…I am an insulin dependent Type 1 diabetic.
I went for a quick glance at the gear. It was just before 9am. A swordfish jumped inside the area of my gear. I got excited and immediately went into action. It jumped again. It will bust my commercial gear if it hits a jig. I threw out a bunch of bait then ran into the house for my sport rod I have rigged for this sort of thing. I need some drag! I threw out the big jig, let out a bunch of line and then strapped down the rod. That is when reality kind of hit me and I busted out laughing. What a crack up! Yeah right! Going to catch a swordfish!! Alone. Idiot. Blood sugar dropping, pancake starting to burn, alone on the boat, all that will happen is that my line will get stripped. Stupid. It was at that exact moment when a diver popped, and then both chain lines exploded with albacore, and the 2 stern lines went tight and disappeared. Oh shit!… I reached for the fishing rod to clear it but I was too late. It blew up and the line started to rip off of the reel. I knew if I can snug down the lever drag and it stops, it is not that swordfish. So I snugged down the drag and it stopped. I breathed. Then I started to toss out a bunch of live anchovies. I pulled a diver and threw that fish onboard, reset the diver and pulled a stern line. I tossed more bait. I grabbed a gatorade from a nearby cooler and chugged it. Need sugar!! The rest of the gear was all filled up by then. I smelled a burning pancake. I threw some more bait, ran into the house and unplugged the pan, ran back and began pulling fish after fish after fish. While I pulled these fish and reset the gear and threw out more bait. I was seriously cracking up with laughter and wishing Seanna would come out off her bed in the house and watch this epic event. I needed a witness. No boats were around. This is when I decided to write these stories. It was the most amazing fishing experience I have ever had. I threw 500 pounds of fish on the boat in a manner of minutes. My mind kept thinking about how this gives me a lot to look forward to. I am super inspired! I have a reason to stay healthy and strong. I want to do this forever. I must stay healthy, and I must stay fit in order have the opportunity to participate in this pure joy of fishing. This gives me serious motivation to keep up this big old wooden boat, ultimately pay for it, and not fail. That day the fish count was 154.
On October 8th after a very rough night I jerked myself around that area trying to find that bite again and ended up with only 46 fish.
That irritation gave me the energy I needed to motor through the night in order to stop above the reported hot spot and drift perfectly into it at day break. I hit it just right. The Dawn Venture was fishing this area. By 4:00 pm on October 9th I had my second hundred. I was in that zone where all things did not matter. Just that next fish. I could not possibly describe the feeling of it all. So many big fish. Lots of them in the 30 pound range. It was a consistently fishy day. The fish were coming hard and they were very big! The quality fish were a 16 pound average. I had not seen anything like this to date all year. I ended with 263 fish total and only 17 went into the peanut bin. Near two tons! I remember feeling that whatever brought me to this day in my life was worth it. Now as I write this I want to use a quote from Justin Herbert the University of Oregon quarterback. It struck me when I saw it on TV recently. He said that if his 10 year old self could see him now that ten year old self would be SO EXCITED!! I know my 10 year old self would have been very excited if he knew what he was ultimately going to be doing at 51.
I called my buddy Tyler on the satellite phone that night. I was seriously fried physically, but on a high I will never forget. At this point I was believing that I may be able to fill this boat up! Make the boat payment with one trip, and clear fuel and expenses to boot. Maybe something extra for a pizza or two out with the family. Tyler gets excited for me. We understand each other. He is the best getter I know. He and I have been fishing together since my first year in 2012 with the Manatee II. It has been a natural developing friendship that continues to get better. We knew it was possible to fill up the boat this trip. The only question is whether or not I can hold up through the constantly changing and intensifying weather.
The 10th gave up 96 very large average fish in a windy choppy sea. It blew 20 knots all day with higher gusts. There were very few boats. I remember seeing the Royal Dawn and the Dream Catcher. I remember wondering if they were getting as many or more than I. I knew the bait boats had large crews. The Dream Catcher mighta had 3 people, but the Royal Dawn has a pretty big crew. It had to be a scratch for them, but for me alone it was heaven on earth!!
The 11th gave up 159 fish, an easy ton. The 12th gave up another ton with 169 fish. These two days were very nice weather and a fleet showed up from Charleston. There was a lot of boats around.
On the 13th is was ROUGH! The fleet bailed back into the harbor. AAARRRGGGHHH!! The weather is expected to get better immediately so I stuck it out and ground out 97 large fish. The Dream Catcher and the Royal Dawn were still hanging out too. I got maybe 1700 pounds.
On the 14th I had only 64 fish by 4:30 pm. They were great on the grade, but crap on the overall number and weight. I stuck to my tac and waited to see what the evening bite would give. A shitload! I ended up with 132 all big, no peanuts. The intense bite action went into the dark of the night. A 15 pound bluefin for the BBQ later this winter at home hit the table along the way. This is my 16th day out here. I am seriously hoping for the weather to keep quiet enough for a full 22 days and a full fish hold! Still hoping!!
It didn’t work out that way. It was a rough grind. I pulled into Charleston on the morning of the 16th. The current was ripping on an ebb tide. I circled around the tug boats and was heading into the dock space coming in pretty hot. There were two old men trying to pull their crab pots up past the dock to get out of my way, but I was coming fast and the current was holding their pots under the dock. I was up high on the flying bridge. I hollered “Just drop them! Its okay I won’t hurt them!” They dropped them. I kinda missed my aim a bit and ate the spot inside the rubber bumper, breaking off the splash zone I had applied to the bow at the waterline because of previous encounters of this kind. I had to wait a second for the stern to stabilize and not hit the Dream Catcher which was in the spot next to my portside. It all worked out and I was able to back off and get the nose onto the rubber where it belonged, avoid too much embarrassment, and then climb down and secure the boat. I told those old guys that it isn’t whether you are going to screw up or not, it’s how you handle it when you do. They kept looking for another guy to help me out. After tying down the vessel I pulled up their crab pots from under the bow and headed straight up to the watering hole.
The result was 23,708 pounds of fish sold, plus another 1434 pounds of peanuts to get canned up and sell to you guys reading this story! That gave me a total of 97,372 pounds for the year, and enough on this trip to make that boat payment, and pay the fuel as well. It was one and a quarter tons short of the 50 ton goal but I am very grateful for a successful season.