Disastrous Halibut Trip Averted.

[Born to be Wild]

I was in the Spouting Horn restaurant tonight near closing when the owner Phil Taunton sat down and told me an interesting story of a near mishap during last weeks halibut fishery.

Last Thursday at approx. 8:15PM a small 22’ sport boat entered Depoe Bay harbor. The occupants went up to the Spouting Horn restaurant seeking a ride to Garibaldi. They were offering $50.00 for the ride and $20.00 for gas. Phil said their eyes were as big as golf balls.

Apparently this is what happened:

They fished out of Garibaldi the opening Thursday and had a successful trip with the rest of the sport fleet. A week later they realized after they launched that they had forgotten their GPS that was sitting on the front seat of the truck. They figured they would fish with the fleet again and follow them back in and didn’t go back for the GPS.

They got out there (somewhere anyways) and the fleet wasn’t there. They got skunked and headed back in. Figuring they were too far north, they steered to the south. They weren’t recognizing anything and again figured they were too far north so they kept her pointed on a southerly path.

They finally saw or recognized a big building and figured it was the casino. (I shouldn’t be laughing at something this serious)! So, they knew the casino was in Lincoln City and Newport was to the south.

Wait, there’s more!

Apparently they saw the channel marker lights on the Depoe Bay bridge and wondered why there was no bar there. The ocean wasn’t pleasant and being low on fuel, they decided to surf the waves into the channel. They made it! Welcome to Depoe Bay! (Now you can understand the part about there eyes).

They started off with 75 gallons of gas and had 4 gallons left when they arrived in Depoe Bay. They tried unsuccessfully to contact the Coast Guard when they were outside.

These two very lucky fishermen were from Woodland Washington. (Maybe Fastwater knows them). They told Phil that now that they have seen the beautiful Oregon coast from that angle they didn’t find it that beautiful.

Phil gave them the hour and a half ride to Garibaldi.

Two very lucky fortunate fishermen! True story.

Maybe Pilar or someone else can point out some of the potential costly mistakes these two fishermen made. Fortunately this story had a happy ending.

[CAPT KUJO]

Yeah,
I know a guy in Newport. Who followed a boat out Tuna fishing without a GPS OR A COMPASS. He's a licensed 100 ton Ocean Operator\. We refer to him as "NO COMPASS DAN". He decided to go back on his own(back to Newport). Moral of the story: You don't have to be stupid to be licensed and professionally stupid.

CAPT KUJO

[blubeast]

Saturday at the Newport launch I noticed a gent looking somewhat dazed walking up the ramp. I asked if all was ok.

He relayed he'd gone out to the Rock Pile and the fog came in. He did not think he'd make it back! I asked if his GPS failed... no... he did not have one.!....amazing.

After congratulating him on his safe return, I politely suggested he should now consider going and getting one before his next trip.

[ 05-25-2003, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: blubeast ]

[MarlinMark]

No sense in being stupid if you don't show it.

Mark

[Uglygreen]

Wow... and I thought I was being anal with the big hard mounted GPS, the first spare handheld mapping unit, spare batteries, and the second spare handheld non mapping unit. Guess not.. :shocked:

[Pilar]

Sorry to hear about that Dan. I cannot judge those guys because I did something similarly stupid more than 15 years ago. I got lost off of Depoe Bay in the fog and ended up in Newport. Just a compass and VHF, very few hours on the ocean for experience and no common sense. I will find the story and post it.

'Ok it's story time'

http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....=001839#000000


The ocean taught me a lesson and then graciously allowed me to survive the learning of it.

I must say that the one thing I missed the most when I was first learning to boat on the ocean was sane advice from anyone that gave a rats ***.

Last time I checked that is why most us of are here. You new guys have only to ask the questions and read the posts and the knowledge of the experienced is here for you to avoid potentially fatal mistakes. Us more experienced dogs have only to maintain a watchful eye on cockiness and complacency.

The Ocean will teach you but she will kill you too if you give her 1/2 a chance.

Glad those guys made it. They gave you small town coasties something to gossip about, Dan. Maybe they learned something about their limits.

Maybe some of you will learn it here too and not in person.

[ 05-29-2003, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Born to be Wild]

Exactly Pilar, I cannot judge them either. I have done some anal things on land and sea at one time or another more than once. Maybe I will someday post some of my inexperienced experiences.

I have learned from myself and others.

When I first joined ifish there was a thread going about how big a boat one needs to fish the salt. I disagreed with the thread and thought the point was missed and thought more importantly was common sense, experience, knowledge and safety equipment. Appears that these guys were missing some of these. Fortunately these two guys learned by there experience without loss of life or injury. A lot of stress and anxiety I’m sure.

I feel that these guys without the proper experience and equipment should have never gone out especially that far offshore without agreeing first to follow a fellow mariner out and back in.

Did they have a cell phone or VHF? I doubt it. A 22’ boat in rough seas heading offshore without another boat to rely on? They assumed there would be plenty boats out there. That asumption could have gotten them killed. There are so many other things that could have gone wrong.

Lack of experience (but I believe they have it now). Lack of equipment (hopefully they won’t go without again). Common sense?

I have always told folks; “you don’t need a fish that bad”.

And it doesn’t matter how experienced you are or what license you may have, if you push the elements, sooner or later the odds might catch up with you.

When I hear of a story like this, I think it might be a good Idea for someone like Bill Monroe to do an article on safety on the salt. He could gather info from some threads off of ifish, other mariners including charter operators, and most importantly, the US Coast Guard.

It might make a difference.

Dan

[Bill Monroe]

It might make a column just before salmon season opens...but it needs to have details from some of y ou saltier folks...and names, if possible. Did someone get these guys' names? Feed me and I'll write it.

[Steelerdan]

Some friends of mine and myself are thinking of fishing out in the ocean. We've all been out on charters and really love the ocean but at the same time have a fear of it. I would really appreciate more info and maybe some contacts on people who would be willing to help us new guys.
The ocean is our friend but not our element.

[Pilar]

Bill Monroe .. what are you looking for to use in a column? Can you be more specific, please?

Also Bill, will you steer propective ocean fishers to this forum for info?

SteelerDan ... welcome ... you found it. You won't have to go it alone if you don't want to.

Stick around and read to your hearts content on most any subject. Use the search feature with Salty Dogs selected as the forum. One or two words related to your topic in the search window will send you links to read.

If you have any specific questions fire away. The folks at this end of the pool are pretty friendly and quick with advice. If you want to meet some of us check out the Tunaholics Anonymous meeting this Friday evening in Beaverton.

More on that here. http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....;f=21;t=001535

The following is from my Bro ... Rod Lee, whose wife had a baby right at the end of the 2002 Tuna season. Rod came to know the depths of his affliction when he watched the rest of the mighty Ifish fleet of little sport boats pound the tuna from the beach.

This is what he had to say about it.

After waking up today at 5:00 AM and turning on the computer and find that it had blown 15-20 knots all night at Stonewall Banks Buoy, I cursed the wind gods and went down to have breakfast with the dejected tuna gang.

The consensus was that tuna are done for this year. Unless Popeye is serious about doing the roadtrip, longfin fishing is goners.

Eating Starkist from COSTCO instead of home canned tuna is a real downer. I had some new recipes for jalapeno smoked tuna and pesto-olive oil tuna ready to go. Dock bought tuna doesn't taste the same as when you know the exact time that the longfin was beating on the deck as it goes into the jar.

So Pilar, since you were one of the few tuna-holics to actually see a tuna, tuna-holics anonymous will have to hold the meeting in Pilar's boat. It is sacred ground. Pilar can regale us with the legend of Bill the missing rod and tell us of the great one that got away.

When is the first meeting???

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by corrirod:
My name is Rod and I'm a tunaholic...

Join me in the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the fact I cannot go out for tuna again this year,
the courage to live another day without tuna,
and the wisdom to know they will come again.

12 Steps To Recovery

1. Put the poles down and slowly back away.

2. Stop hiding lures in various places in the house.

3. Never mistakenly call your spouse "Tuna" during love making.

4. As hard as it is to believe, not everyone enjoys tuna fishing.

5. Selling your car in order to buy more gas to go tuna fishing is not recommended.

6. There are other fish in the sea.

7. Leaving work daily to get home and accept packages from UPS/FedX is wrong.

8. No more telling your spouse the truck broke down while you were out fishing so you'll have to stay another day, or in extreme cases a week.

9. If extreme withdrawls have set in, for instance random "hook setting" while at work or home, or making the zzzzzzzzzzzz sound constantly, do not let the tuna-holic near any fishing articles like magazines, fishing gear, or boats as that will make matters worse.

10. Tuna fishing is not a replacement for eating.

11. Unlike AA, recovery should be made away from other tuna-holics. Gathering tuna-holics together will only create more problems.

12. It is not acceptable to miss your child's birth because you were out tuna fishing.(my wife told me that one)

Meeting adjourned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[ 05-26-2003, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Bill Monroe]

Details would include things like which VHF channels are best to monitor, do you own Sospenders? always take a compass? who do y ou file your flight plans with? Pick your tides? Have a favorite north/south side of the bar (and I suspect it changes from y ear to year on each bar), which web sites are the most accurate for wind (heh, heh)...things like that.
Should I post it separately?

[Pilar]

Most guys from here listen to VHF 78, 16, 22 and one of the weather bands. Most informal chatter is over 78.

I do not own sospenders but I should. The Compass is a built in Richey. The float plans vary in formality but most tell a significant other or a fellow fisher that is on the beach for the day. Float plans include info on departure time, souls on board, planned destination and scheduled return time. The fisher checks in with the person on the beach when the trip is over and the boat is back in the bay near the Marina. Also I often call friends from offshore and tell them what is going on in the boat, the weather and sea state. Sometimes we even change the plan and phone that in based on new info or conditions encountered offshore.

Verizon coverage extends out to the Rockpile off Newport.

Sorry Bill, this turning into a book.

Tides are very important on at least 2 bars, Columbia River and Garibaldi. Less important on most of the others. Avoid the Ebb tide for bar crossing. That sentence should be memorized and recited out loud while looking at tide tables and planning trips.

Every bar is different and I play it safe and run the middle of most of them. There are exceptions. Garibaldi is bad near the south jetty tip, submerged jetty fragments and big breaking (at times) swells. Nehalem is narrow and there are others who can tell you about that. Craigc for instance. The Columbia river bar is the stuff of legends and we could write a book about that one.

Depoe Bay is hard to find in the fog and the dogleg crack in the rocks is a mind blower for people who have never seen it before.

Newport is my favorite. It is easy on all but the most severe ebb tide. The jetties line up exactly with the base course for the Rockpile, 240 degrees. The fishing starts right at the south jetty.

Weather is a many splendored thing. We listen to and read NOAA and serve that up with 80 pound sacks of rocksalt. They ALWAYS predict the maximum conditions possible regardless of how likely it is that the conditions will be at the maximum. The wind that never blows, the swell that does not increase, etc, etc, etc,

So we also look at bouy conditions and get first hand reports from guys like Wakm & Stakm. Dan has even posted digital shots from his deck, the Wak Cam.

46050 bouy, just northwest of stonewall bank, live conditions and recent history.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_pag...$station=46050

NOAA, NWS forecast for nearshore, Cape Shoalwater to Florence out to 60NM.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/wrhq/TotalForecast.csh?

[ 05-27-2003, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Steelerdan]

Pilar, Thank you for the welcome. I am going to try and make it to the tunaholics meeting this Friday but i work until 7:30 but will try so that I can meet some of you. Thanks again for the welcome.

[Pilar]

Ok, I found the aforementioned story in the archives.

Here
http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....=001839#000000

[Born to be Wild]

Some pretty cool storys in those 2001 archives Pilar.

I especially liked the one about grandpa wanting to troll in while being towed.

I have learned respect for the ocean also through experience.

When I have time, I'll tell you about fishing Monterey bay for chinook in our inflatable boat in the fog without a radio, compass, or anything (didn't have cell phones in those days). And that was just one of a few crazy trips back in the wild and anal days. :grin:

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

I have been working on the ocean for several years, own and operate a 55' charter boat, have mastered 120 foot crew boats and supply boats in the Gulf of Mexico, Sea of Cortez and Atlantic, have been a mate on ocean tugs towing 80,000 barrel oil barges and lumber barges, served in the U.S. Navy on a Fletcher class destroyer as a radarman and have weathered four typhoons and hurricans at sea......And still I can make dumb mistakes that could have cost me dearly. All because of the fact that a person will tend to get complacent and over confident.

But there is no excuse for going out onto the ocean unprepared in any way! If you have all the electronics that are available today, you still need the rudimentary skills to navigate. Just a few years ago, the commercial guys could find their way home in the fog by use of a compass and depth sounder. Today it absolutely floors me to find people relying on their GPS and having no idea what a compass is for.

The people who rely only on their electronics are pushing the edge of the envelope and will be surprised the day their electronics fail. To put to sea without the basic navigation skills is foolish!

And weather reports are only a guide to help you make your own decisions. Never push the edge thinking it will get better! Always assume the worst can happen and you will never be sorry.

Today we see a lot of inexperienced people putting to sea in questionable boats, relying on electronic equipment they barely know how to use and having no practical knowledge or experience. And the sad thing is that they usually are taking someone less experienced than they with them.

We are courting a real disaster offshore because of all the aforementioned. One of these days, the weather report will be wrong (I don't think it ever has been but.... :tongue: ) there will be a lot of inexperienced people out there in boats manufactured by companines who have no real engineering desire to make the best boats, and we are going to lose a lot of souls. :depressed:

That's why I love this site where those who are seeking knowledge from others can come and get some jewels of advice. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

For those of you willing to take the time to help out, like Pilar, Mark, Corrirod, Fish Assassin and Popeye, etc. etc., my hats off to you.