We finally hammered out a tentative schedule for the July 9th Ilwaco Tuna Club tuna kickoff party.

The event will be held at the Ilwaco Tuna Club, located on the water in the Port of Ilwaco.

http://ilwacotunaclub.com/

Thanks to some generous sponsors, 3 Rivers Marine, Renaissance Marine Group, Best Day Yacht Broker and Pacific Boatland, we will have a FREE catered dinner for the first 150 people who show up.

There will also be a brand new 31' Steiger for you to hop and check out.

Thanks to Kona Brewing, there will be free beer on tap.

The CG is sending over a 47' MLB and crew to put on a bar crossing and safety seminar and should have boat tours as well. EVERYONE who crosses the bar should attend this seminar.

The event will kick off with a meet and greet from 3-5. 

The ITC guys will be on hand to answer any questions you have on tuna tactics and rigging and there will be tons of tuna swag for sale.

Dinner is around 5 and the CG seminar will start around 5:45.

Around 6:30, Larry Phillips from WDFW will be speaking on salmon and addressing any questions you might have.

At 7, Tre-Fin will be putting on a jackpole seminar.

Del "Tuna Dog" Stephens is covering tuna tactics around 7:30.

There will be an auction around 8.

There is a lot of good stuff up for auction, including a week in Cabo with Eat Me Lures (lodging and two days fishing), and rods and reels from Accurate and Shimano, along with a whole bunch of other cool stuff. 

If you ever want a deal on a trip to Cabo, this is your chance.

It is a great chance to meet the guys in your port, learn a bunch, and get some deals on tuna gear.

We hope to see you there.

Mike C

The excellent fishing continued this weekend.

I was stuck on land, but Clark and Cooney made a run on Saturday.

It went WFO from the get go and after a few "training" bait stops, the crew got the hang of it.

There was a mid-day lull and then fish started biting again.

They crew plugged the boat and were back on dry land by 3.

This June has been the best June ever.

Lets hope it keeps up.

Captain Mike

6/17 was planned as a shake down run to make sure the new props and everything else worked.

That all changed when I got intel of tuna being caught in the Astoria Canyon.

We left late, as the fuel dock did not open until 8.

We ran west and got a call from a boat that was into fish at the 125 line, so we ran out there.

It started out slow and we ground it out, with only 3 fish by 1.

Then things started to happen.

A troll fish turned into fish boiling around the boat and everyone hooked up.

The fish were very skittish and went down right away.

It was a nearly a full moon, so we expected an afternoon bite and we were right.

Around 2:30 we started seeing lots of jumpers and then things heated up.

We ended up tired and out of bait with 25 fish and left biting fish to head in.

If this is any indicator, this is going to be one hell of a year.

Captain MIke

Our buddy Todd Holt (Todd from the bait dock) was helping deliver a sailboat from Ilwaco to CA, when everything went wrong.

The boat lost steering, propulsion, and its mast in a storm.

They also lost all power, so they could not call the Coast Guard for days.

Luckily the were finally able to contact the Coast Guard who rescued them.

Read the full story here.   ​http://kval.com/news/local/talk-about-fear-sailboat-adrift-off-oregon-coast-for-3-days  kval.com/news/local/talk-about-fear-sailboat-adrift-off-oregon-coast-for-3-days

The water on the tuna grounds is very, very warm for June.  

If there are not tuna in the Astoria Canyon right now, they will be there in a few days.

I keep hearing tuna rumors, but none of them are confirmed.

John Cooney and his father, Master Machinist Ralph Cooney, spent the day tuning cedar plugs.

Supposedly tuning makes them swim better, but we have been too lazy to try it until John and his dad volunteered to give it a shot.  We should know within a week or two whether or not it makes a difference.

Deny has been killing himself to get EVERY last thing on Shake N Bake working and has her ready to go.

Shake N Bake is waiting for a few parts from CAT (routine maintenance) and should be up and running  by the 18th when we plan on our first tuna run of 2016.

Stay tuned...

​Captain Mike

The water is getting warmer fast and the tuna will likely be here sometime in the next 3 weeks.

Shake N Bake is back in the water and is a tune up and an intercooler away from being 100% and CAT should have that done by the end of next week.

Put Saturday July 9th on your calendar for the 2016 ITC tuna kickoff party at the Ilwaco Tuna Club.  

The Cape D Coasties will be putting on a seminar on how to safely cross the bar.  If you ever plan on crossing the bar on your own boat, this seminar is a must.  

There will also be a jackpoling seminar put on by the Dayboat Tuna guys.

 We are fishing that day, but will be around after our trip to help out with any tuna fishing questions anyone has.

In the tuna offseason Clark has  been polishing up his boat handling skills and Cooney has been catching HUGE trout with flies.  Amazing.

Only a few more weeks until tuna and I can't wait.

​Captain Mike