Last day on the Ocean in Oregon

After being shore bound for most of the week, Sunday was a very calm ocean. We left the harbor at 5:30 AM and it was so pitch black dark I could not see anything until we were several miles off shore. We were about 25 miles out when we put out the rods to troll for Tuna. We caught one almost immediately, but then had to work awhile for the rest. We caught 22, averaging around 10 to 15 pounds each so it was a good haul for us, even though Harvey thought it was less than he expected. When we finished processing about 250 pounds of fish I was glad it was not any more. We spent most of the day Monday either canning or filleting and vacuum sealing our share and packed to catch our flights home Tuesday morning. It was a fun and exciting trip, but I was glad when the wheels touched down in Columbia last night about 9PM.
Rick has most of the Tuna pictures so I post them when he sends them to me. Here are few from the trip.

This is looking toward the ocean from the back of the bay. Depoe Bay is called the smallest harbor in the world and it is indeed a tiny little bay hidden from view if you are in the ocean. If you look out beyond the bridge you can see the cliff blocking your view of the ocean beyond. The channel is "S" shaped and keeps most all of the wave action out of the harbor.



The Coast Guard has a station here and each day they go out and check the ocean before "opening the bar" and will announce any restrictions such as "boats 28 ft and longer only". It was neat to watch them practice maneuvers here in the bay.



Harvey has a big building at his house where he parks his boats and he put in a commercial type kitchen where we processed the fish. We canned a good bit of the Tuna, which, unfortunately, we could not bring back(glass containers) but we filleted, sealed and froze plenty enough for us to bring home. We bought 50 quart coolers and both were stuffed full of fish. (Rick is in the top picture and Joe is taking fish out of the cooker and Harvey is in the background.)



This was part of the fish we processed on Monday. You can probably understand why I was glad we did not catch any more. Harvey gives away quite a bit to families in need so it all gets put to good use.


This was my first time out in the Ocean on Harvey's boat which he bought several years ago. Circumstances had prevented me from going the last few years, but I was out there when he bought the boat and he was trying to come up with a name for it. His last name is Wolfe, so I asked, "Why not name it "Sea Wolf?" and now the Sea Wolf is well known among the locals as a fish catching machine.