Results of Spotter Plane ride

Seelicious · 03-14-2005, 07:23 AM

My wife and I left Tillamook at noon in a 1942 Stinson Reliant...a WWII VIP transport plane...and headed south down to Pacific City. It was a beautiful day for a flight with visibility virtually unlimited.

The views were amazing and I would recommend this trip to anyone...who is not afraid of small planes!

The pilot owns 3 planes. One of which was built for spotting. It has huge windows and can fly with the doors off. The owner had a large fuel tank installed so he can make long range trips. He has the right plane plus a couple of backups should there be any issues with the primary spotter.

The pilot has been doing this for over 30 years. He flew spotter planes in Alaska and California. He was a commercial fisherman and a guide in Alaska as well. The guy has been around the ocean and the fishing industry almost his entire life. The bottom line is he is very qualified.

Here is the good part, the guy flies almost everyday for the Sardine boats so he is already out there covering water looking for signs. Because of an existing relationship, we will obtain some info without expense. To have a specific flight conducted we would have to hire him ourselves.

What does he see? You can see the rip lines in the water, color changes, trash lines, bait balls, birds and the fish themselves if they are near the surface. The commercial jig fleet is an obvious clue but Mark Mc brought up a good point that the commercial guys could be 75-100 miles out and that would not do most of us much good. I think it is always helpful to know where the fish are even if you can't run that far.

We talked about giving him SST maps so he can look at specific temp breaks and report back on how the water looks in those areas.

Weather obviously plays a critical role in what he can accomplish. So we can plan ahead and decide if we want to spend the money to hire him or not. When we have a good idea that the ocean is going to cooperate, then we can hire him to check specific locations or just do broad based recon.

More info to come as well as photos from above...need to go to work so I can afford gas this summer...BTW, $2.16 a gallon at the Tillamook Bay Boat House...I tried to by futures but no luck!

Peace-

Mark Mc · 03-14-2005, 10:39 AM

Bud, there is only one thing to say....

Oh, and also "thank you!!!"

corrirod · 03-14-2005, 10:42 AM

Yeah, thanks for checking that out for us.

Could lead to some interesting trips this summer!

Billfisher · 03-14-2005, 10:49 AM

I can just see it now... En route to TUNA! town with Flight of the Valkyries playing in the background... Very cool, and good job Dylan!

Bluefinn · 03-14-2005, 01:53 PM

Way cool Thanks Bud

Doryfisher · 03-14-2005, 05:29 PM

Very Interesting Stuff...... thanks

cabo · 03-14-2005, 09:16 PM

Thanks Bud, should prove to be quite useful come tuna time. Did he happen to mention the cost associated with a flight on specific request?

This is a great connection, thanks for sharing it with us.

GS

Seelicious · 03-15-2005, 04:34 AM

The cost is going to be $250-$350 per flight depending on how much water he covers.

Pilar- thanks for taking the lead on figuring out how to go about this. John really keeps the group goal ahead of any individual success. I appreciate your time and effort on this!

Peace-