Sept. 12, 2010 - Steve tuna fishing (open ocean)

I (Steve) had a last minute opportunity to go tuna fishing on a friend's boat.  I bumped into Steve on Monday and mentioned that I had heard he was heading out to sea to go tuna fishing.  He said that someone cancelled and he had an opening and offered it to me.  I weighed my options, looked at my work load, talked to Kathy about being gone for 4 days and decided the answer was YES!

The Crew:  Jeff D, Mark S, Kevin M, Steve E, Jeff B, Steve S

There were 6 of us on the boat.  Steve S. the boat owner and fishing expert, Mark S. a good friend of mine, Jeff B. a commercial fisherman and pilot, Jeff D. a fishing fanatic and owner of a 62' yacht, Kevin M. a drywaller and avid fisherman, and me who knows nothing about fishing.  I didn't know 3 of the guys on the trip, but that didn't matter, we all hit it off and got along great.  We left the dock at about 6:30AM Thursday, headed out Deception Pass, and then straight toward Victoria, B.C.  I took over the helm almost immediately after passing through Deception Pass.   Around Victoria we spotted around 15-20 killer whales (Orcas) in several different groupings.  At Victoria I made a slight change in our coarse and headed directly toward Neah Bay.  The waters weren't bad with some mild rollers, small wind waves, and not much traffic.  We were cruising at about 24 knots in Steve's 42' Jersey sport-fisher.  We were at the tip of Washington by 11:00 AM (that seemed very quick to me as I am used to travelling at 1/3 this speed).  We stopped to check our fuel level and decided to skip filling the tanks and proceed to the open ocean to go fishing.  This proved to be a poor decision!

Tuna live in warm water, and we were still in cold water.  Steve had printed out thermal satellite images showing the water temps and estimated we would find warm water about 40 miles out.  It was actually about 60 miles out before we found warm water.  Interestingly, the warmer water changes from the greenish color we know in Puget Sound to a light blue color.  The water also seems much more transparent and clear. 

Chart showing our locations.  Fishing was about 65 miles offshore.

Once in the warm and blue water, we stop and get rigged for fishing. With 4 poles in the water it doesn't take long to land the first fish.  Wow, these are big fish at about 25-30 pounds.  It also doesn't take long for some of us to start feeling queezy.  It's pretty rough out there and just standing is difficult at times.  Steve S is driving from the flybridge where the motion is exagerated, and also prone to diesel fumes.  It doesn't take long before I hear the call "Elston, get up here".  I take over the helm so Steve S can deal with his sea-sickness.  He's basically out of commision the rest of the day.  We motor around at about 7 knots for an hour and half landing 8 more tuna and losing 3 others right at the boat.

My first tuna.  This is fun fishing!

We now have a decision to make.  Do we stay out here overnight in these rough conditions, or do we head back to a port?  This is where passing the fuel dock enters the picture.  Since we had to go an additional 20 miles out to find warm water, and it's now an additional 20 miles to back to land, we have burned a lot more fuel than anticipated.  We are also starting to run out of daylight for the trip back to land.  Staying overnight out here doesn't appeal to any of us and we already have a sick captain.  We decide to head to La Push on the Washington coast.  It's about 63 miles away and we are nervous about our fuel situation.  We can deal with losing the daylight, but not with running out of fuel.  So, with me at the helm I plot a course for La Push and head there at a reduced speed in an attempt to maximize our fuel efficiency.  Without fuel flow meters though, nobody knows what the most efficient speed is for this boat; it's just a guess.  The seas are rough, and it appears that we will get there after dark.  After about 2.5 hours of motoring toward land Steve S recovers enough to come up the flybridge and looks at the fuel guage (notoriously innacurate on boats due to the rocking and rolling) and figures we have enough to get us back even if we speed up.  We pick up the pace for the last 45 minutes or so and make it to the narrow and somewhat tricky entrance to La Push with just enough light tol see the entrance channel.  None of us have been here before so we don't know where to go, but we manage to get into the marina and find an empty slip.  It is now completely dark, but we are here.  The fuel gauge is reading empty on both tanks!!!  Phew, that was close.

Scenic La Push on the rugged Washington coast.

We find the fuel dock which is closed for the evening but will be open early tomorrow morning.  We change slips to a guest moorage slip, and then we start cleaning fish for a delicious fresh tuna dinner.

Kevin and Jeff B. clean fish for dinner.

In the morning we get up and move to the fuel dock which is just opening.  The fuel pump isn't working right though and is pumping fuel at about the rate of 1 gallon every two minutes.  We need 400 gallons; this isn't going to work!  After many stops and starts and resetting of the fuel pump it finally starts flowing correctly and we get the boat filled up.  It probably took an extra hour to fill the tanks with all the fuel pump problems.  We still had enough fuel in the tanks for about 2 more hours of run-time before we ran out.  That's cutting it pretty close.  We are headed out by 8:30 but it's a 3-4 hour run to the fishing grounds.  We wanted to be underway two hours ago.

The day is spent fishing in much calmer conditions than yesterday.  We pull in about 15 Tuna, but lose at least 6.  It was a very fun day with everone taking turns pulling in fish.  We have 7 lines in the water; 4 on the outriggers, 2 off the stern, and 1 off the rod holders on the flybridge.  Steve S spends the entire day driving the boat and fishing the rod that is in the flybridge holder.

With much smoother water we decide to stay out here overnight to avoid the 6-8 hours of travel time to get back to shore and then back out to fish.  This will also save a ton of fuel.  At sunset we stop fishing and start getting dinner going.  BBQ steaks tonight.  The sky is clear and the stars are amazing.  Mark comments that he's never seen the sky like this before.  The milky way stretches from horizon to horizon.  We are so far away from city lights that the sky is BLACK.  Mark and I spend some time in the cockpit gazing at the incredible sky above us.  It is a bit strange to me to just shut off the engines and genset, turn on the running and anchor lights and go to sleep drifting around in the ocean.  There is no way to anchor as we are in almost 6000' of water; that's more than a mile deep!

65 miles offshore, sunset, fairly smooth water, and FISHING.

getting ready to net another tuna.

Putting up a fight.

Jeff D. and his big tuna.

Mark sets a pole for some sunset fishing.

It was pretty bouncy overnight and several of us didn't sleep well.  Despite that we are up and fishing just as the sun starts to rise.  This will be a full day of fishing.  We catch another 15 or so tuna.  One fish is huge, around 35 pounds.  If we were in the tuna derby held a few weeks ago, this fish would have taken first place.  We fish until about 2:00PM when things slow down and decide to make a run back to Neah Bay where we will fill up with fuel and spend the night. 

Jeff B. with the largest tuna we caught. Steve has an average one.

Fish On!

Fueling up at rainy Neah Bay.

After dark a fishing boat comes in and takes a slip near us.  He has some really nice underwater LED lights that attract a lot of fish, and our attention.

Cool blue LED underwater lights on a Lindell 36'

Captain Steve at the helm of his boat.



On Sunday we sleep in a bit as everyone was exhausted from fishing for days on a rocking boat.  We pull out of Neah Bay to do a little Salmon and Cod fishing.  It is rainy and cold.  A couple of the fishing experts manage to get several nice cod, but I can't seem to even get a bite.  We pull the rods in at about 2:30 and make the 3.5 hour run back to La Conner.  I drive for about 1/2 of the journey home.  The Jersey 42 is a fun boat to drive; it's like a sportscar.

Fishing for Cod at the very corner of Washington State.

Large rock pillar on the NW tip of WA State.

The lighthouse on rugged Tatoosh Island.

It was a great trip!  We all had a lot of fun and it was certainly a new experience for me.  We ended up with 38 tuna!!!  I don't think any of us have ever been that far offshore before, and really, not many people have.  Of all the boater's I know, only a small handful have ever ventured that far out in a small boat.  I learned a lot about fishing, and I got to spend a lot of time driving and navigating too, which I love to do.

I hope I get the chance to go again next year!