Not a yak report, Halibut charter out of Depoe Bay

Howdy all,

Last week was a fishy week for me.  Monday out at PC on the yak, and then Friday out of Depoe on a charter boat (Tacklebuster with Tradewinds Depoe) for the Halibut opener.

Last year was my first deep water Halibut Charter, and I went out on a 34' boat (the Siamez, which I don't believe in in the Tradewinds fleet anymore, and Rick is now captain of the Morningstar).  Last year was rough, wet, and we had to use a ton of weight to get to the bottom.  This year was different only in that the Tacklebuster is a 43' boat.  Seas were roughly (haha) the same - ride took about as long as was a little more comfortable thanks to the boat having actual seating and grab rails in the head - and a couple of the other customers on the boat were on the same Siamez trip last year.  The captain of the boat and his crew were efficient, friendly, and not overly talkative.  Which was nice, since there were 9 customers on the boat.

There were loads of boats on the grounds on Friday, and the seas were around 6'.  I did not envy the guys in the 18-25' boats - I can't imagine how rough that ride must be in an open top sled - saw some small boat with upwards of 5 people on them - we had a total of 13 including crew, and it felt crowded on a 43 footer.

Started out with 40oz., and quickly got bumped up to 48oz. to reach bottom - and even with 48oz on, it really was tough to touchdown and keep it down.  Which of course meant the retrieves and baitchecks took forfreakingever - my least favorite part of deepwater is the whole 1000' of line out with 3lbs of lead on the end of it, using gear I am not familiar with (I LH retrieve, and of course charters use RH retrieve gear).

It was a beautiful day, the chicken ranch was covered in boats, and we landed enough fish that every paying customer went home with a decent sized one, as well as three for the boat.  All of the fish were between 32" and 45", and the one I kept was 33.5" measured to the fork.  And this year I wasn't the only one who took the whole fish head home with them - the guys at the filet table looked at me funny last year, and I had to explain the whole fish head soup thing.  This year they left the cheeks in for me, and we grilled the head and belly flaps that night.  MMMMMM.  One of the guys that runs the filet station there is an absolute whiz with a filet knife - I wanted to have him take my fish apart for me, but he was busy.  Very, very little wasted meat on the carcasses after he was done with them.

I'm not sure I will bother with a deep water Halibut charter next year - while I love halibut, and the boat ride is fun, I know that fish that are as big or bigger than the ones that we brought to the boat last friday exist in waters that I can reach with my kayak.  Or from a mothership, if that comes together.

But it was fun - if you are looking to take a charter out of the central coast any time, Tradewinds Depoe Bay has given me good service, competent and friendly crews, and fish.