Last Friday my crack team of tuna commandos and I assembled for a weekend of carnage in Westport on the "Rampage".High hopes and spirits were evident as we all met at the charter office and later went to dinner. Members of the group included Ifish's very own "Chrome Bumper"-Tim from Scappoose, "Relentless"- Mark, "Salmon U"- John, IB12Volt-Bruce, Marty, Rob, Jeff, Alton, Rich, and yours truly KillerBeee-Dave Beeee.
Dinner was at the Islander and we ordered steaks around for six of us. Turned out the meat came out Med-Raw and we all had some of the purple flesh. That stuff sat in my gut like a bad memory and tormented me throughout the trip.
After dinner we rendezvoused at the boat, met the crew, loaded up and listened to their spiel. There were some tuna veterans as well as some newbies in our group but we all paid close attention. Shortly after our mission briefing we got under way.
The bar was pleasant, the seas were mild, and the air was fresh. We started watching fishing videos shortly after crossing the bar and hung out socializing for a while in the cabin before it became time to hit the rack. The bunks were clean and comfy and I think we all rested fairly well considering the anticipation. I had to get up for a few minutes when they shut the motors down as we had arrived on the tuna grounds where we would be fishing in just a few hours.
I got up and got prepared for the morning, headed out on deck, grabbed a rod and a dead bait, threw it in and hooked a nice blue shark. Played with him for a few and cut him loose.
We started up trolling around 6:30 and it took a bit before we hooked up. We were picking up mostly singles on the troll and then put in baits for a few fish here and there. The fish weren't willing to stick around for long on each stop. I think partially because we didn't chum enough. It seemed that the bait dock had done us wrong! About 1/3rd of our baits died on the way out and most that were left weren't all that lively. Lots of red noses and lazy baits.
We worked throughout the day, sometimes trolling and sometimes not. The bite never really got hot. The deck hands, Lance and Marshall, were great! They worked hard for us doing the best they could. The skipper, Randy, started out friendly and then tapered off into something other than helpful at times. I hate to be critical but several of us were scolded and not taught what the "Right" way was. There was some chit chat in our inner circle about how we might have been treated with more courtesy.
On the bright side, the meals were decent and more than any other boat that I've heard of does. Breakfast was great and previous night's raw steak made me indifferent to Saturday night's dinner.
Randy also had a bogus forecast for Saturday night and Sunday but decided to stick it out Saturday night. I was happy to stay as any adventure seems to end too soon for me.
Saturday we managed aroun 55-60 tuna, a relatively small number for a live bait trip.
Marty and Rob with a couple of "Fresh Ones".
The boys set up a large sea anchor to stabilize the boat for the night's drift. After dinner, Mark and I set out for the back deck to play with some sharks or whatever might come along. We put out some dead baits and hooked a couple of blues and let them go. The skipper came to see what we were up to and suggested some glow Tady jigs to drop and see what bit! To our suprise, we wound up hooking 6 or 7 Humboldt squid. Out of those we only landed 3 but it was a lot of fun.
One of Mark's Humboldt squid!
To be continued!
KillerBeee (David Bergeron)
KillerBeee
Northern Dogs and friends on the Rampage!
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