I was invited to go on a Trip to the TUNA grounds by my boss earlier this week... I could not say no. So, I headed to the house of my boss and man-o-man do I love his place.... you have to like a boss with a 3 car garage to the left of his 2 car garage... but you gotta' LOVE a boss that has an indoor custom built fish cleaning station between them
did I mention that I love his house... pluse the KINGS run right by his house about 100yards from the shore
I heard that the gear would be supplied on the boat so I didn't have to bring my own, YA RIGHT... like I am going to not use my own stuff??? so I brought a small clutch of the essentials
so we load up the truck and pick up a couple more friends and head south to Westport. We arrive at the dock at 9:00pm monday night. The captain and crew were patiently waiting for us to arrive. They seemed very young (the captain was 21 yrs old, i believe) Quick introductions and a rundown of the safety stuff, location of life jackets and we were on our way. I had to check out the live bait tank.... pretty large and CHOCK full of excited little swimmers
It was getting late so we head for the bunks for a nights sleep because there was a LONG day ahead of us as we planned on fishing from first light to dark... non-stop. The sleeping quarters aboard the TORNADO were small and close together but quite adequate. I didn't sleep well at all.
We wake up, grab a coffee that the Captain had ready for us and listen to a short tutorial to get everyone on the same page for the day. We were 55 miles due WEST of Westport. They throw six rods over the stern of the boat and we start the hunt for the Albies. My boss, Bob, was one of the 1st to land a TUNA... I bet you can't tell he loves to fish just by looking at his smile.
next was one of my co-workers... Walter (a tournament Bass guy so I had my concerns
) but, he played the fish like an old salty dog and landed a sweet specimen
hey when is it my turn... oh yah, I have to put the camera down and grab a live bait and FISH.... ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz count to 6 slowly, engage drag... FISH ON!!!!!
soon anothe couple nice TUNA under my belt
bite off.... back to trolling lures. The crew was always working hard on either helping one of the customers bait the hook... gaff a fish... untangle some lines... or re-rigging one of the many 'boat-rods' that they provided. If you broke off a fish, they would simply say "here's another one ready to go" and you got back to the fun of fishing while they did the task of re-rigging the rod in question... they had plenty of them to use
hey... look at this... friendly visitors. they were with us for a while WHAT A TREAT
well the bite was ON and then off then ON and then off then ON and ON and ON... WOW!!! the crew of the tornado were very particular about taking special car of our catch.
First, they would cut/rip the gills and place face down in the bleeding buckets:
Next, when they were done 'flopping and a bleeding' they would quickly pack them in the ice (i think this fish bumped his head
Finally when the session was over and were back to trolling and looking for another batch if TUNA they would take the fish from the ice and pack them in the big 'OL SALTY SLURPIE... wich was simply a saltwater and ice bathtub I stuck my hand in it.... WOW!! that is CCCCCOLD
this day was kicking our behinds and some of us needed a rest
112 TUNA later we were just about spent and asked the captain if he ever joined in... well he did at our request (the alternate captain took his spot at the helm) and caught a couple of his own.
heading back they asked who wanted the fish filletted and how namy. they charged $3 each for the fillet job (well worth it for me... plus it allowed my whole share of fish to fit in my cooler.
back to the bunks. a GREAT nights sleep this time. Amazing what along day will do to you. The next morning (coffee ready again) they took the 1/2 of the TUNA that we didn't have them fillet and removed them from the salty slurpie and placed them on the deck so we could divide them up and taker them home.
Walter and I back at the truck with a PILE of TUNA that we were taking to the canery in Tokeland.
now all I have to do is get my behind in my own boat... gather up a couple of friends with boats and do it again.... SOON!!!!!!!!!
salmon whisperer
1st Westport TUNA trip a success *pic heavy*
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