Thursday and Friday BFB report
Made it down to Newport to fish three days with Dave Starret and a couple of his buddies on the WP. Got there Wed night, met up with Pilar, Keta, Popeye and Mr. Fisherman. Everyone was wondering if the weather would let us out.
The weather turned out fine. Especially aboard one of the biggest boats I have every been on.
Popeye offered me a seat on his 47' Bayliner, the Julie Rose III, which I graciously accepted after talking with Dave, and making sure he was OK with it. We headed out at 5am for the Ranch, making an easy 20kts.
The Julie Rose III is a beautiful boat, and I will post some pics if I can get my digital camera fixed.
Long story short, we got limits Thursday and Friday. I took a 43" (40ish pounds) and a 34" (20ish pounds) fish those two days. I opted to head home Friday night, as last minute business travel has me leaving for Boston Sunday night.
The big story was the big fish the second day. Bruce opted to fish Harrison's ridge the second day, before heading out to the ranch. We hit it for two hours and only got one bite, but what a bite. Skip, Bruce's son, hooked into a big one that made a run that lasted over a minute. After a couple trips to the bottom and back, Bruce stuck the beast with the harpoon. It sounded, and the harpoon cable snapped when the rope came tight! The fish went about halfway to the bottom before Skip could get it under control again. The fish came back up and another tip was on the harpoon. Another shot, and a large wave pitches the boat just as Bruce takes his stab. Glanced off the gillplate! Down the fish goes again. One more time. The third shot is true, about 1-2" from the first hole. The monster is ours! The fish measured right at 56" or 88.7 pounds on the conversion chart. Biggest fish we heard of for the weekend.
I think most everyone out of Newport got fish, but it seemed the average grade was down a bit, lots of just keeper fish. The Julie Rose shook about 5 undersize in two days.
Next Saturday, I will be aboard the Sea Lion, Ray Taber's (mr. fisherman's) 22' C-Dory. It's nice having friends with fishy boats.
Big thanks to WP and everyone else who offered to take me out fishing. What a great group of friends. Bruce, thanks for everything, I enjoyed both days of fishing and hospitality. I hope to fish with you again.
KB
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(Ouch for me) Got a nice private concert from the boys (and gals)....a little Irish folk music to make the night. 
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