The Canadian invasion of Ilwaco, WA Sept. 14th, 2013

[Sculpin]

First and foremost a big shout out to Black Velvet for inviting Fishtofino and myself on this trip. Ted is one of the most knowledgeable, hardcore, sharing, and approachable fisherman I have ever met. Thank you buddy for the great time!!!.

I was invited down to join Black Velvet and his friends on a ten pack charter boat out of Ilwaco. He said I should bring my buddy Fishtofino along as well. We both jumped at the chance to try the live bait thing big time. The charter was out of the port of Ilwaco Washington. The outfit is Pacific Salmon Charters http://www.pacificsalmoncharters.com/pages/tuna.html. We were on the Pacific Dream http://www.pacificsalmoncharters.com/pages/tuna.html
which is a 56' x 19' Little Hoquium http://littlehoquiamshipyard.com/index.html.

We left Nanaimo on the 3:15 ferry out of Duke point. It was a long drive ahead of us. We had to stop and buy some food for the next day and pack it in coolers etc. as the charter does not provide meals. BV told us to bring 3 large coolers with us just in case the boat tubbed out. The boat's capacity is around 140 albacores.

Look out Ilwaco here comes two tuna crazy Canucks lol.



We got into town quite late after the grocery stop and fuel etc. (that's am the next day).





Fishtofino printed off some great directions and I co-piloted halve azzed enough to get us there.





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[Sculpin]

Fishtofino tried to get some sleep in the truck. I was too excited to sleep and wondered around the waterfront.





The fish plant was going full steam even at one in the morning. Must be albacore season lol.



I wondered down to the dock and found our boat.





She is a big gal for sure.



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[Birdsnest]

You have my attention!

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Type and up load quicker; we are all waiting!!!!!

 

[Sculpin]

I had some time to kill and walked the docks and took some pics of some killer boats.

Triple 300 Zukers seemed to be popular down there.



This boat really caught me eye. I have seen some pic's on the black and red site in regards to her. 40' Dorado totally redone with triple 300 Zukers. Look at the deck space. Nice!!!







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[Sculpin]

The other guys rolled into town and we all met up in the parking lot. Ted gave me some of the donation stuff for the Bamfield Tuna Shoot out to take back with us. There is so much stuff that these guys are donating that they have to spread it out for claiming at the border etc. ha ha. The owners showed up and we all went into the office to pay up. It was $380.00 total including the tax and the $10.50 one day license. Not bad me thinks.

BV warned us about the captain. He seemed like a total hard azz right off the bat and was for some parts of the trip. He really cooled down through out the day though and it was manageable. Hard love lol. Learned a thing or two from him but just kept quiet around him most of the time. I think he might of appreciated that, and I ended up proving myself through out the day.

Heading out into the darkness.



It was quite freaky looking out to side and seeing the glowing birds lol. I didn't realize at first that it was the lights from the boat.



In the darkness it was hard to get a good picture of things, land marks, etc. We did cross the Columbia River Bar and Fishtofino and I were like the Cape just North of it.........Disappointment. We were expecting some sporty stuff ha ha.



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[blackvelvet]

Freaking suspense is killing me. Nice pics John

 

[Adler]

Black Velvet, at least you know how it ends! Suspense is killing the rest of us who happened to stumble into the story as it began! Late night arrival, rough captain...sounds epic already!

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Come on John, are you trying to have us burn up the refresh buttons, even BV wants to see the end of this story and he was with you. Your killing me and the others that are now hooked!!!!! LOL

 

[Sculpin]

Sorry but had to do a quick beer run lol!!! I might stop until tomorrow as I am totally bagged...............

 

[Bent-Tip]

Sorry but had to do a quick beer run lol!!! I might stop until tomorrow as I am totally bagged...............

Beer run is OK. Please crack a couple and keep at er!

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Sorry but had to do a quick beer run lol!!! I might stop until tomorrow as I am totally bagged...............

Can you at least give us a total? Or would that ruin the end of this suspense thread? Get your sleep as it is going to be a long next couple of weeks for you! We all will just have to wait 12 hours for the ending.

 

[Sculpin]

Ok onto the fishing. We approached the grounds and were into some blue water and good temps etc. It was looking pretty birdie too. They ran a couple of cedar plugs off the back and we hooked up pretty quick on one of them. Left it hanging a bit and went into a slide. Captain is on the loud speaker telling us which side of the boat to be on etc. We are all grabbing rods and Roman (the awesome, hardworking, deckhand) is rigging us up with live bait and chucking out a couple here and there.

We were using pretty light gear compared to what I am used to trolling. 7' rods in the 20-30 lb. class with Avet MX reels spooled with 25-30 lb. mono. The hooks were like the size you use for steelheading lol. Wild. I was shocked at how small they were.

The first streak of the day. I love it.



BV and Fishtofino at the rail.



BV was the most gracious host ever. I can't thank him enough for the invite. Great individual. He brought bags and bags of smoked salmon that he smoked himself, and it was unreal with cream cheese and crackers. Some of it was from his big 42+ lber he caught just South of Sooke.



It get's busy at the rail. Usually one side of the boat. 10 guy's lined up.



We came across a school of Mola's. These were mini versions of the ones we usally see offshore. They were pretty vertical in position as well.



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[JAC]

Very cool!!

 

[Sculpin]

We got a few on the first stop. I was a bit nervous at first with all the guys at the rail, the hard azz captain, etc. I didn't want to get yelled at ha ha. I borrowed a rod off of Woody that he just set up and the drag wasn't set at all. I was having a hell of a time trying to deal with my first fish as there was no drag!!! BV walks up to calmly and just says put your thumb on the spool and back it off to free spool and turn the drag knob aways and try that. I knew about the backing off before adjusting thing but just needed a calm guiding hand with it while I had a 25lb albacore on the line lol. We were in business after that. BV showed us how to do the short pump and reel as well to keep the fish under control. It worked like a hot damn to keep their head in one direction and not let them do circles. Like I said previously, I learned a lot this trip.

Fishtofino having some fun near the bow. Swim you little ******* swim lol.



The chovies in their temporary home.



We had a couple of bait stops that produced a few fish. We had some lulls between. The boat is set up with Satellite TV and in between stops we could watch the football game ha ha.



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[Sculpin]

The boat itself had some quality gear on board.



There are a lot of Avet's on board. BV, Woody, and some of the others brought their own gear.



She's a big boat. I hope this pic can show that. From the pilot house cabin door to the stern. Not even the full length.



Nice covered cockpit area for everyone to hang out.



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[Dennis.t]

Okay now! Im all ears! Lol

 

[JAC]

Looks like pretty calm water

 

[Sculpin]

After a couple of first stops we hit the mother load of the trip. Ed the captain stopped on a huge flock of birds. We must of put close to 30 fish in the boat in less than 30 minutes. It was mayhem and we all loved it. "Coming over", "Coming under", "Move your feet", "Fack", etc. It was so cool.

Fishtofino was an animal during this with three caught and put in the boat within 15 minutes .

Some of his carnage.



I think BV hooked up the most fish for the trip. He had a dandy on up on the bow that spooled him then broke off right next to the boat. Probably 30+ lber. Fishtofino had a good one on as well and got shacked off by Jermz from the black and red site. Jeremy couldn't control his fish and didn't let anyone know and just ran right into Shawn's line. Lesson learned. Let folks know what's happening right away.

I had one hit me right away when we stopped on the school that was a personal best in any salt water fishery I have experienced. A 4 second hook up. My bait was an Olympic swimmer and barely made it two feet when this big azz albacore comes out from under the boat and just smokes it!!! I saw two other tuna hit un hooked live bait right next to it that Roman threw out there. Wild stuff big time.

Some off the damage after Roman reorganized the slush bucket lol.





Ankles deep in albacore..........not a bad problem to have.



The biggest slush bucket I have ever seen.



Some of the crew with some of the catch.



The bench seats drain out the side with proper plumbing etc. I love this shot.



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[Sculpin]

We hit a few more on stops etc. after the big one. The total for the day was 68 with only about 3 or 4 on the troll. The rest were on live bait. The boat did a lot better the previous two day's but after all they are fish and they can swim lol. That's fishing. Fishtofino, BV, the crew, and myself get that. We were all pretty happy with the day and the catch. That's what fishing is all about. It's not about the numbers. It's about getting out there and experiencing it. The adventure, the comradery, and smiles on everyones faces is what does it for me. We met some great folks and hope to fish with them again sometime. We shared something this day. That's enough for all of us.


The ride in was pretty nice due to being able to see things lol. The ride out was total blackness. The only disappointing thing about the trip was that we can say we crossed the CR bar in flat calm conditions LOL!. Fishtofino and I wanted it to be a bit sporty. Maybe another time.



Cape Disappointment.





The Coast Guard's self righting boats ready to go.





We could use a few of these up here.



Approaching the Port of Ilwaco.





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