2025 Albacore “Journey to 100 Tons”

When we purchased the James Lee in 2018 I got a new log book and wrote on the front cover of it “Journey to 100 Tons”. With the previous vessel Manatee II, the annual goal was always 50 tons. I hit that a couple of times. Manatee II was an ice boat and all trip plans were for about 5 days at sea. These frequent turn arounds create a lot of delays, and weather was always a factor for this 41 foot overall length vessel. The largest albacore tuna load I ever delivered in the Manatee II was 10,800 pounds. About 5 and a half tons.

The James Lee has a fish hold capable of 18.5 tons. 54 feet overall length gives the chance to go to sea with 25 day trip plans. I know a lot of Oregon Albacore Troll fishermen and some are considered highliners. The annual goal for many of them to have a “great” season was about 100 tons. So as far fetched as it seemed, I made that a personal long shot goal. For the first 4 seasons of operation with the James Lee, I always had either one or two deckhands and really went for it every year…..But the most I ever delivered for a season total was about 50 tons! Either crew problems and requirements to return them to port, or vessel problems with the same result….Gotta go in!! Costing a lot of time away from the fishing grounds.

I stopped purchasing crew insurance in 2023. Crew insurance does not cover immediate family, and my sons were interested in fishing with me. I do not want to take any other person. No more deckhands other than my own son or sons. They began to participate in a more meaningful manner, however sometimes they declined to come, and Seanna I would go solo. Zac and I filled the boat with albacore and I decided to park at the dock in 2023 and sell our catch directly to the public. It was a great decision which gave an opportunity to interact a lot with the public, work with my family, and spend more time at home. This also led to a fairly important life changing event. The My Outdoor TV network show Fishmongers with Tommy Gomes attended one of my dock sale events and ended up putting us on their TV show. Season 4 episode 3 titled “All About Albacore”. When that hit the air, our can sales really exploded throughout the entire USA people were ordering our premium canned Oregon Albacore. Lots of it! However it worked out, that season of 2023 total was only 28 tons! My son made the decision to purchase a boat and fix it up for dock sales of my albacore tuna. This allowed me to immediately return to sea each time I came in for offloads.

2024 gave a total landing of 72 tons!! This was a great year, and most of the time at sea was spent “solo”, just my ever present companion Seanna and I. My older (19 years old then) son Zac was in port on his vessel selling a portion of my catch from each load. Wyatt would go on ONE trip, just to earn enough money for a new (to him) vehicle. He wants to hang out with his friends in the summer and be a kid. Not interested in the entire summer at sea doing the intense work of harvesting Oregon Albacore.

This brings us to 2025. Trip one was a solo trip which lasted just a few days so I could grab up a bunch to get Zac’s sales off his boat the Colby Lee started in Winchester Bay. Wyatt wants and needs a new vehicle so he jumped aboard for trip 2 which took us 9 days total to catch near 18.5 tons. He worked very hard and was pretty surprised at me when I immediately returned to sea, and filled it up solo in just a couple hours over 8 days! Wow shat a season going forward! The albacore were spread out and fishing was epic. My second solo trip gave another full load….then another…The season began to blur a bit…WOW!

Weather began to take its toll…Days grew shorter. Once I had my supply for cans and pouches for the schools in cold storage (about 32 tons), I decided to meet a market demand up in Ilwaco Washington. The new Sportsmens Canning facility there needed a load of albacore. They were paying a great price, so I met their needs with a two (short) trip combination of just over 12 tons. The final trip of the season was 5 days at sea to help out another buyer in Newport Oregon. Samantha Wright with Wright Tide seafoods purchased that final load. The weather just would not allow another day. I watched as the fish seemed to leave the area. Waters were cooling and the swells were building. The days are short. The wind is blowing! I rolled into Newport Oregon on October 17th. My 72nd day at sea for the season. As of today October 26th, the James Lee is still up there in Newport. We wait until the seas offer the 9 hour window of time to come home to Winchester Bay.

2025 total was 186,700 pounds. Near 94 tons!! My logbook has some room for more entries. Achieving a 100 ton season remains a Journey.