Many thanks to Fish Dawg for arranging the tuna trip. It ended up being a father son trip. Bryan (FishDawg) with his 77 year old father; what a champion he is. Gives me hope as time goes on in my life. Andy (afk) with his son Jeff and me with my two sons Mark and Jim and my son in law Dan. We all met at the charter boat Friday evening and left the dock around 10 PM headed for the blue water 56 miles off shore for the start of our fishing trip at daylight Saturday morning. We all slept in the bunks while the captain and co-captian piloted us out to the fishing grounds overnight.
We were awakened at 5:30 for some coffee and anxiously awaited the start of the fishing for the much heralded Albacore Tuna. We were soon on the first "bait stop" where they chummed the tuna with live anchovies. We hooked up an anchovy on just a hook and let them swim to the awaiting tuna below in the blue waters of the Pacific. Now the tuna grabs the bait and is allowed to swim off while we count to five before putting the reel in gear. Holy mackerel, or I should say tuna! You won't believe what happens when they feel the hook. Rocket propelled would be an understatement! I have never had a fish take line this hard WOW!!! You hang on to the pole for dear life while the tuna tries to rip it out of your hands. Then you follow the fish around the boat over and under the other fishermen some with fish on of their own; what a free for all. Finally after this huge tug of war the fish is netted and dropped on the deck. The tuna begins to slap it's tail on the deck in very rapid succession. What a sound they make. These fish are so magnificent and beautiful words can't describe it. God's creation is awesome!
The captain successfully put us on tuna all day long and we ended up with 60 on board for the ten of us. We had a bite of supper and headed to bed for the trip back to Westport. We arrived around midnight and the deck crew cleaned the fish for us so they were ready to go in the morning on Sunday when we got up. What a trip! We had fresh Dungeness crab omelets for breakfast at a local restaurant...yum; what a caper for the trip!!
Cooked some fresh tuna when I got home; this stuff is good! My wife said it didn't taste like tuna from the can...imagine that!!
Tight lines everybody - Alan

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