Darrell Ticehurst/Fisheries Issues
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Learning to Appreciate Your Crew
Sep. 14 2011, 4:09 PM
Sep. 14 2011, 4:09 PM
Learning to Appreciate Your Crew
Well, I tried to get a crew together for albacore this last Monday, and nobody could get off work. But the weather was great, and the fish were only 40 miles out. I heard some great last-minute reports, so I decided it was just too perfect not to go. Off I went, with just my dog Bear, chasing longfins. I left the dock at 10:30 AM and arrived at the grounds near Pioneer Seamount at 12:20 with lots of other boats around. Put in only three rods because I didn't want to try to handle more than that single handed. Just ten minutes into the troll I get a double. Manage to get both in although I am glad no one was filming my gaff attempts. Put them back out and just a couple of minutes later I have a triple! Man oh man, I was tired at the end, but I got all three in.
Well, I tried to get a crew together for albacore this last Monday, and nobody could get off work. But the weather was great, and the fish were only 40 miles out. I heard some great last-minute reports, so I decided it was just too perfect not to go. Off I went, with just my dog Bear, chasing longfins. I left the dock at 10:30 AM and arrived at the grounds near Pioneer Seamount at 12:20 with lots of other boats around. Put in only three rods because I didn't want to try to handle more than that single handed. Just ten minutes into the troll I get a double. Manage to get both in although I am glad no one was filming my gaff attempts. Put them back out and just a couple of minutes later I have a triple! Man oh man, I was tired at the end, but I got all three in.
So I had five in the box and I had barely got there, and on top of that I was already sucking for air and tired, and on top of that I have other boats everywhere and have to drive while doing everything else. I decided I had enough fish killed and go into catch and release mode. Rested for a minute and cleaned up the boat before Bear ate all the fish and got sick on the blood, then I put the lines back out. A short time later, another double and I am back to work. Got those to the boat and tried to unhook them using the gaff, but they were hooked solid. So I just lifted them into the boat, took out the hook, grabbed them by the tail and tossed them back. Those fish never even realized what happened I did it so fast. All released and with a slightly sore mouth, but otherwise just fine.
So now I have caught seven fish and am even more tired, so I decide to cut the fish. Start filleting and I get another double. Wash and clean off my hands. Clear the free line, catch the fish, release the fish. It is at that moment that I think to myself: "Damn, this would be much more fun and so much easier if I had a crew." Here I am doing everything while driving the boat and dodging the traffic, I'm tired, dirty, and more tired. I miss having a crew!
Anyway, I cut a couple of fish and all of a sudden I get another double. This time both fish are bigger (about 25 lbs.) and it is a lot of work for an old geezer like me, getting them both in and released. So I bemoan my lack of crew again and decide to keep the rods in the boat while I finish cutting fish. Get it all done and washed off, then I realize I am too tired to want to catch anymore, and I fire it up and head for PP after only an hour and 45 minutes on the tuna grounds and 11 tuna caught with none lost. If my crew had been there we could have fished all day and I wouldn’t be so sore. I got back to the dock before 4:30, only gone six hours total. Fabulous day, but I would have liked to have had more of it.
So I am much more appreciative of my crew now and look forward to my next tuna trip with a full crew.
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