Kevin Newell stepped up again and even brought Clark along to run the deck.

They killed it today and are plugged with pigs.

Fish were caught 35 miles out today.

It is getting better every day.

I can't wait until Shake N bake is fixed and we put the jackpole back into action.

Kevin is at it again with another cancelled crew on Monday, and the ocean looks FLAT-  Yellowfin weather.

Stay tuned.

​Captain Mike

A good buddy and all around bad ass CG surfman told all of his relatives about the unreal tuna fishing out of the Columbia Rive and brought them to town to fish on our broken down boat.

Damn.

Kevin Newell of Total Fishermen (http://www.totalfisherman.com/) stepped up, as he has shut down for the year, but did not want to quit fishing.

He runs a fast as hell (40 knots) 36' Yellowfin center console and loves to catch tuna.

He took our guys out and pounded the tuna today, salvaging their trip.

Way to get it done.

Captain Mike

The reports of big numbers were killing us, so I asked Larry and Larry if they had room for John, Clark and I.

They said yes and we were stoked to fish on the biggest, baddest sportfishing boat in Ilwaco, Fat Cat.

We ran 60 + miles NW and found the commercial fleet.

It was dead, so we trolled holes in the ocean for 4 hours and then we began to see some signs of life.

Some jumpers and birds and we slid in and caught a few.

Around 3 it went big and we busted out the jackpole and jackpoled a few and reeled in a bunch and ended the day with 52 fat tuna.

One hell of a day on one hell of a boat with some excellent fishermen.

Thanks Larry and Larry.

​Captain Mike

Peterson CAT (they are awesome) tore down Shake N Bake's motor and it looks a bit worse than we thought.

It turns out a valve dropped and took out a lot of stuff as it worked its way through the motor and out a turbo.

We need a new head, 6 pistons, a turbo and some other stuff I probably forgot about.

Peterson is on it, but they can't get new pistons until next Wednesday. 

If all goes well, we will shake her down next Friday and be fishing again Saturday.

The only good news is that John, Clark, and I finally get to fish on Fat Cat on Sunday.

I will try and take a bunch of photos of this bad ass boat and post up a report Sunday night.

Captain Mike

Shake N Bake is broken (new heads and piston headed our way), so Clark and I had some time to kill on the docks today.

A buddy had a free (thanks Zeke) Mako for Clark, so  we headed deep into the commercial docks.

I watched some UNREAL video of Zeke and crew jackpoling tuna.  These guys are amazing. 

On our way back in, we ran into a commercial guy who was gearing up to go out again and had an incredible story to tell.

He showed us photos and video of the DOUBLE on marlin that he and his son had last week off the CR.

WOW.

I nearly shit a chicken.

We want one real, real bad.

We can't wait to get back out there soon.

Captain Mike

DirtyE went for the first (and hopefully the last) one-way trip on Shake N Bake.

He started his career as a "tuna consultant" by going over the side with his cobbled together raft.

The plan fell apart when it went WFO, so DirtyE had to swim over to the other boat rather than have us get real close.

Swimming in a survival suit is not easy and took Erik a long time to cover 50 yards.

Something tells me you might see the action shots TV next year.

The wind is blowing hard until Thursday, so hopefully we can get the motor sorted out (injector??) by then, as fishing is way too good to miss a day right now.

Captain Mike

Fishing was great yesterday, so we ran right back towards the honey hole.

On the way out, I noticed that the starboard motor was burning 5 more gallons per hour than the port, which is real weird.

A few minutes later, it blew some smoke and vibrated, so shut her down.

Luckily, we shut down right next to a pile of birds.

A few minutes later it was WFO and our crew of killers turned their "practice stop" into wholesale carnage, putting 20 fish on the deck.

We were stuck running on one motor, so we could not venture far, but pretty soon we had them going again and damn near plugged the boat.

Since we were now a 7 knot boat instead of a 27 knot boat, we had to head in early.

We kept the gear out and 20 miles late (.46 line) a troll rod goes off and we dump bait.

We ended up with a huge tuna and saw some flashers, but could not convert.

We kept heading east at 7-9 knots and hit the bar just right.

We (or at least I was) were beat, so we headed to the to the Ilwaco Tuna Club for some well deserved beer and cocktails.

The wind is blowing real hard, so we have a few days to get the fueling issue figured out.

Fishing is awesome right now and we can't wait to get back out there.

Captain Mike

We headed back to the honey hole today and never made it there.

We stopped on jumpers and damn near plugged the boat with our "practice stop".

We slid in on birds and jumpers for 3-7 a stop and pretty soon we were plugged and headed east.

One the way, at the 124.51 we saw jumpers and slid in and got two "extra" fish.

Great ocean, crew and fishing.

At it again in the AM with Clark.

​Captain Mike

We got a hot tip from a commercial buddy who was in them hot and heavy.

We pulled in near him when he said "Get over here now, it is time to make a dent in the tuna population!"

We did and there were foamers everywhere.

I have never seen anything like this before.

It turned into a practice stop, but luckily it did not matter much.

We slid in on foamers over and over again.

Loading up six rods at a time, we plugged the boat and then some.

Brett Dickerson from Oregon Tuna Charters was onboard and he broke his jackpole cherry.

He was an animal, ripping tuna out of the water.

Fishing is awesome right now.

At it again in the AM with John and Clark.

I can't wait.

Captain Mike

It lit up again today.

Ron and his team of seasoned killers plugged the boat and then some.

Lots of bait balls and lots of fat tuna, including one that went 35 lbs.

Sitting out the wind until Thursday.

​Captain Mike