We ran out to the same spot as yesterday and had a fish on right away.
We jumped some birds and had them boiling. After the practice stop the crew started to click and we had good, steady fishing until it shut down at noon, Over half plugged with huge fish. Sitting out Saturday due to the wind. Running Sunday and we have 3 EMPTY SEATS for Sunday- email Jenn if you are interested. Captain Mike
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I just got a call from DirtyE on his way in.
After a few practice stops the crew started to click. Sharks were a huge problem, but they got it done. The fish moved in a little, which is always good news. John, Clark, and I are pointing west in the AM and we can't wait. Captain Mike The title is the text I just got from DirtyE.
Looks like they found the fish today. The ocean did not suck. Captain Mike We ran out to the same spot again today and marked a bunch of fish on the sonar.
They were not interested in biting, so we ran WAY out and found a few that were interested, but the wind was blowing so hard that we could not get bait going. Tapping out for a day, but DirtyE at it in the AM. Captain Mike We were headed deep SW when the water got blue and warm.
We saw some birds and stopped the boat. There were tuna boiling under the birds, but we still had our rods down below (reels don't like saltwater baths) and we only had Ser's jigging rig ready to go. Ser casted out and got hit 3 times and pinned one and fish were crashing our bait, but by the time we got our bait rods out, we lost them. We circled the spot and got them going again and again. We had to stand on the boxes to close them. I am pretty sure it was the lowest number of fish to plug our boat, as they were HUGE. The "small" ones were over 25 (on a certified scale) and the big ones were in the 30's. Big fish and shorter runs is what we like. John, Clark, and I are at it again in the AM and we can't wait. Captain Mike I have no idea why I set an alarm, as I was up at 3 AM and jacked up to head west.
Reports were the fish were way out, so we headed around 55 miles west and started trolling. We got into a few, had our "practice stop" and then the troll bite died. Jim, our buddy who runs Epic Sportfishing, called us in on a HUGE school of bait with a bunch of hit and run tuna mixed in. We worked the school for hours, picking up ones and twos. The crew started to click and figured out live bait fishing. At the end of the day, we had one full box and were working on the other one. The fish were damn big, some of the biggest we have seen in a long time. Great crew, good fishing, and it was great to be back out there. Clark and I are at it again in the AM. Captain Mike 28 days and 5 haul outs later we are finally back in the water.
Mark and Deny sorted out the problem after the "experts" from Portland walked off the job. It turns out our shaft was 17 thousandths off at the coupler. We had a different prop shop fix the shaft and Mark got it within 2 thousandths on the boat. We ran her up to 34 knots and no vibrations!!! Clark and I are headed west in the AM. Captain Mike Groundhog day again today.
Yesterday the shaft was adjusted again and it looked like it was still not true. We pulled boat and our team pulled the shaft and sent it across the river to a machine shop. It turns out that the coupler face was not true and that it needed to be machined to fit the new shaft. It should be sorted out early next week and as soon as we get our new props (Wednesday?) we will get her back in the water and try them out. The ONLY saving grace is that fishing is LOUSY right now. Lots of very good fishermen in the single digits and averages of one or less per rod from most of the charters. The good news is that the top tuna fisherman out of Ilwaco (commercial) said that he has been seeing (360 degree sonar) big schools of tuna that are around 180 feet down. Once they pop, and they always do, all hell is going to break loose and we will be there. Captain Mike |
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