Dave's Adventures

David(KillerBeee)

Last weekend I took Mark's boat, The Relentless, to Westport with my buddies Pat, Mike, Keean,and Bret. Mark was supposed to fish with us but got a last minute invitation to fish tuna on Saturday with the Salt Patrol crew. He would plan to join us Saturday night for Sundays mission.

Pat and I rolled down Friday night and met Bret there. Mike and his son showed up in the morning.

We fished the Casino zone and there was tons of life there with whales, thousands of birds, and plenty of bait in the zone. We worked the 15-30 depth using divers with bait and spoons. Saturday's efforts produced 5 kings from 12-31 pounds.

Keean, Mike's some who lives in Cle Elum, had his first ocean experience. He had a great time and did very well out there.

Note,

We lost as many as we caught. It seemed to be about a 50% landing rate and we experienced the same on Sunday.

Bret with the first fish of the day a nice 28 pounder:

Keean with a nice smaller fish:

Mike and Keean with a chunky one:

Keean with the biggest one of the day:

I had to get in on the action and pose with the big one:

Mark joined us Saturday night with a massive tuna hangover.

We got out to the same zone without Mike and Keean.

Same story on Sunday. Slow fishing over all but we managed to catch 7 kings from 12-24 pounds.

At the very end of the day, we were running back towards the North Jetty and stopped on a bird patch and promptly lost 2 salmon in a row.

Then we had one stick that took a blistering run. He hit a Kingfisher cookies and cream spoon behind a diver and gave the Classic glass and Tekota combo a real work out. He was about 5.5-6 feet long and didn't have much attitude overall but still got a knockout punch....

After chasing it for a while, it turned out to be a soup fin shark that we boated and later cut up. Excellent food and I will try to get a few pics from the fellas.

Great weekend with a bunch of good buddies.

David(KillerBeee)

The first portion is taken from our team captain Bo Palmer's report on the Tournament:

Team Gunslinger/Raymarine (Defiance) Report

Big Thanks To Mitch, Ken, Zac and the rest of the WTC Crew. The event came out very well, and is getting bigger and better every year. Ken and the guys looked absolutely wiped out last night from all of the work, Just wanted to let them know they are appreciated. They did a great Job for one of my Favorite Groups, "The Wounded Warriors"

I took some of my Dad's clients out on Wed. So that gave me opportunity to scout out some areas. It turned out not to help too much because when we put in on Sat. The temp had dropped a bunch. We basically started out at 47 over 52. One of the other Defiance boats (Hawaiian Style) had fished that area on Friday so we felt it would still be good. We actually pulled our biggest fish out of the cold 58.5 degree water there. But we just could not Get the bite rippin. So we started working our way west. We ended up at around the 50 over 125.02. We had a Defiance boat report (Thru-Bolted) that it was pretty wide open so we started working that zone. At about 2 pm it broke wide open for us and we left boiling fish at around 3 pm to make the run in. It was definitely a late bite for us. We had around 25 in the boat before we went out to that area and put another 23 or so on in the last couple of hours. Hope this helps anyone headed out. We ended with 48 fish on a pretty lumpy day. Thanks to all, it was a great event.

We just had the Ilwaco OTC Event a couple of weeks ago, where a couple of teams weighed 5 fish over 130lbs. I estimated our string to be about 120lb. So I thought that we might be on the Podium, but didn't think we had a good enough 5 to win. But when we got back, and I watched some of the other Top Teams come in with lots of fish, but very few big ones, I thought we might have a chance.

Our weight came in at 121lbs for our 5 fish and it turned out that was enough to take first place. We also took the Most Fish Pot with 48 that were all donated to a great cause, "Northwest Harvest Food Bank"

Tommy's Team "Usual Suspects" came in 2nd and also won the Biggest Fish pot with a 32lb Pig!

Team Kora, last years defending champs came in third.

It was really cool, as there were 5 Defiance Teams in the Tournament. I wish I could of gotten a good pic of all of us together.

Team Thru-Bolted fished a great tournament and got a wide open bait stop going that we joined in on for the last hour and a half of our day.

Team Hawaiian Style- Had a great tournament as well. He fished on Thursday, so he had some good recent intel for us. I hadn't fished since Wed., so having him there to scout some great areas was a huge help. Thanks Tom!

Team Deviant- Was awesome. First time he had ever been Tuna Fishing in his Boat!! Weather was sloppy and he powered through and weighed a good string of fish. He has been Fishing with "Hawaiian Style' and he was obviously taking good notes on how to throw down on the Albies!

Team Usual Suspects- Tommys Team, don't need to say much more, these guys are hard core and some of the best fishermen that I know.

Team Little Boat- It is not a Defiance Boat, but we have adopted him into the Defiance Family. If he wouldn't have had engine problems he would have been a contender for sure. Darryl knows the live bait game well.

On a great weekend like this one, it is hard to imagine that it can get much better. But it did. There was a point at the end when they had all of the Wounded Warriors come up front for some recognition and they talked a little about each one. As they walked up front, everyone stood up and gave them a standing ovation. It brought incredible emotion to me, I really found myself forgetting about the Tournament and the Win and thinking about how grateful I am for heroes like these great men and women. What a great organization to support. There was one Wounded Warrior who was not up front however. Bret DiFrancisco. He is a BDer and fishes full time on Tommy Donlin's team. He didn't go up front, but is one of my heroes as well. It was great to have him on my boat on Wed. and hear his stories about his injuries and the great sacrifices that his Brothers in Arms made for our Safety and Security.

Thanks Wounded Warriors for all that you have done for us!!!

Here are some pics of the event. I don't have a lot, but perhaps my team members will add some more over time. Thanks to all who participated.

Team Gunslinger/Raymarine (Our Battle Wagon "The Gunslinger")

Next, my take on the weekends event:

Let the good times roll!

A few words about this effort.

About the crew:

Of course there was Bo, Mr. Defiance. A real great skipper and hard working guy.

Casey, Lamination shop manager for Defiance. A true working man and a heck of a nice young man. Fast learner and great all around. Casey has fished with the team the last couple of years and earns his ride the hard way. Great to have the master builder aboard to see his enthusiasm for the design and the end product.

Mike,
A buddy that hadn't done the tournament thing but an excellent fisherman and a never say die attitude. He brought the Go Pros and we had a lot of fun messing with them even on the tourney day, it was all about the gaff cam, the head cam, the tower cam...Good stuff, can't wait to see the end product of all his efforts. He's a hardcore fishing maniac and I'm glad he jumped in with us.

Eric,
Mike's buddy who I have fished with many times. Easy going and another hard woking man. An electrician by trade and just gets the job done with a smile all the time.

Both Mike and Eric were my invitees for some others who couldn't make the show. What a great thing to share the time and the success with these two deserving fellas.

Dave(me),
Volvo repair guy and fishing freak. I have had the good fortune to get involved with the Gig Harbor chapter of the Puget Sound Anglers years ago, which led me over time into the fire. It's been a great time learning all the different things from all the great anglers I have had the pleasure of fishing with.

To sum it up, pretty much a true working mans crew putting our heads down, doing the work, and having a great time together...Friends fishing for a great cause, combining lady luck, with some knowledge and skill to make it to the podium.

It all couldn't have come together without the great support of a lot of friends in the Defiance family. We networked, shared the work, and got the work done in a true team fashion and it was amazing to have that kind of community.

I am super grateful to be a part of each and every one of these events. The WTC is special in it's own way to me with the Wounded Warrior program. I'm a veteran and fortunately didn't have to do combat time but I feel deeply connected with the great men and women who serve our country each and every day.

We had the pleasure of taking Carl out for a little salmon time on Sunday morning. Carl fished with Wayne on the See Ya Saturday for the tourney. What an adventure that must have been. Thanks Wayne!
Aboard the Gun Slinger we trolled the north beach for a few hours and managed to bag a couple of nice kings. I think Carl had a pretty relaxing time. We also rode back to Lewis-McChord together and had a lot to talk about. Looks like a dinner with Carl to have some salmon on Wednesday is the next plan.

Thanks to all the people who participated in this event, fishing teams to volunteers. It was truly Classic.

Final note:

Our team's victory secured us an invitation to the 2013 IGFA World Offshore Championship in Costa Rica next April. Let's see if we can make it to that party. Time to save some cash!

Here are a few more pics:

Gun Slinger ready for battle in the morning.

Me with a nice tuna.

Mike up on the tower Sunday afternoon.

Carl and I with a couple of beautiful kings.

Some more pics that are now up on the WTC photobucket page. Check your team photos there. Thanks to Glenn and Cami for the awesome work with the cameras. It was so nice to have you both there to record everyone for posterity.

Good fishing!

Gunslinger baby yeah!

Acres of tuna.

Go team!

See your teams photos here:

Garibaldi here we come.....

Next stop the Garibaldi leg of the Oregon Tuna Classic

David(KillerBeee)

This weeks report is taken from my good friend Tommy Donlin who fished his boat as Team Defiance The Usual Suspects along side us on Team Defiance The Gun Slinger.

We had a blast in Ilwaco and really hit the jackpot with our big fish was well as number of fish.

Thanks to Bo Palmer, owner of Defiance boats, Tom, Steve, and Jason on my crew. Also thanks to Tommy, Darryl, Arvin, Brett, and Andy on Tommy's crew.

For anyone that is not aware, the Oregon Tuna Classic is charity tournament that donates food and money to the local food banks. Our goal is to catch the 5 largest albacore tuna each day. It was a great weekend and a most worthy cause.

Dave

If you would have told me a week ago that both TEAM DEFIANCE boats would be in the top 5 after two days of fishing, with one boat leading the points race by 20 lbs and in a good position to fight for rights to head to CABO SAN LUCAS for the IGFA WORLD FISHING CHAMPIONSHIP, I would be pragmatically optimistic and reserved. But if you would have also told me that TEAM DEFIANCE would catch the largest fish both days, the largest albacore ever seen in an OTC or WTC event, a BLUEFIN TUNA, and a collective 174 fish, I would tell you YOU'RE OFF YOUR ROCKER!

Well....YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!!!

THERE I WAS....

With two killer crews on the team boats, we were bound to have a good trip. We arrived thursday afternoon to load with ice and bait and put the boats in the slips. The OTC had a new format this year. They consolidated the events from 4 events to two events and made the Ilwaco and Garibaldi events 2 day events, effectively cancelling the Charleston and Newport/Depoe Bay portion of the tournament. This bodes well for us who hale from the Seattle/Port Orchard region.

Friday's new format had a "leave when you want" rule with no captain's meeting but a "lines in" time of 7:30AM. We departed the dock around 5:30AM and headed offshore to arrive at our destination 10 minutes before 7:30AM. We floated around as we readied our troll gear and put in at the mark. We did not even have time to deploy the outriggers and we were bit on the QCOVE TNT Spreader Bar trailing a Ballyhood Albacore Allstar in Purple/Black. We converted to bait and Arvin hooked up immediately. This fish was little more squirrely though, running up to the bow, down through the screws, back out, and diving underneath the boat. As I grab the gaff, two more guys hook up. Arvin calls "color" and then starts studdering...

"COLOR....UM...UMMMMMM. THIS FISH HAS SHORT FINS. IT DOESN'T HAVE LONGFINS...UMMMM......SHORT FINS MEANS BLUEFIN!!!!! HELL YEAAAAA!"

After this fight it was easy to see why bluefin are king of the tuna family. This little 14 lb. bluefin tuna put up the fight of a 25lb. plus albie and didn't do death circles at the side of the boat.

SASHIMI TIME RIGHT OFF THE BAT!

After putting a few on board, we were back on the hunt.

Many thanks to John for running to Oysterville and transporting bait down for Friday's tourney. The bait was a little beat up, but well worth the $40 per scoop!

As the sun went higher in the sky, the heat was turned up on the tuna bite as well and it went WFO for us and the other Team Defiance Boat (GUNSLINGER).

We were so busy, that blood and salt covered cell phones had to do the job of picture taking. Excuse the fuzz...

Bo and his crew aboard GUNSLINGER were doing the same en route to a 60 fish day...

Friday was WFO in the morning with jumpers everywhere and plenty of opportunity to whack and stack. The bite died for us around noon and never really picked back up.

Kraii with the Columbia River Bait Company really hooked us up for Saturday. He went out and caught some chovies just for all the tuna fishermen in Ilwaco! Thanks Kraii!

The bait on saturday survived a lot better for us. As I have told people, Defiance boats are built around the bait tank and bait is vital to our operation. We arrived at the bait receiver early saturday morning and I am glad we did! The line stacked up after 5AM and boats clogged the marina.

We headed out to the start line and held our position until the countdown.

With the flare from the Coast Guard 47', we were off to the races. Thousands of horsepower were UNLEASHED in a mad dash to get out in front and avoid the washing machine produced by the fleet. We broke loose and were well on our way to the destination, cruising btwn 25 and 30 knots.

Our destination was close (35 miles) and we started off hunting jumpers on Lake Pacific. The fish were a little more skittish than the previous day, but still willing.

MY FAVORITE COLOR....

The fish were sounding well in advance of our approach so we had to deploy some special hardware....the SALAS 7X SURFACE IRON. With one 50-60 yard cast, Arvin reached out and landed his jig in the middle of albies blitzing the surface. 2 cranks and an Albie swung and missed the jig but didn't lose it. He followed the jig with another albie on his "6" and a few more cranks resulted in..............

HOOK UP!!!!!

Arvin brought the school the boat and MADNESS ensued. Like fishing in a trout pound, except with high quality lean SILVER BULLETS eating the gelcoat off the bottom of the boat and kissing the PROPS!

We stayed in the kill zone all day with GUNSLINGER, who saw much of the same, including a 40 LB. Albacore (officially weighed in the next day after being bled at 39.15 lbs)

Steve caught the leviathon, but these pics just do not do the fishes size justice. It was HUUUUUGEE. Like show and tell, everybody had to get their pic with it.

After things slowed down a bit, we had to switch out our troll gear. After two rotations, they really started going bonkers on the Ballyhood Rip Lippers and Albacore Allstars in PINK and WHITE. The birds were even interested in the jigs and we could see why. The fish were puking up squid, one after the other.

And thats not all they puked up. They also offered up a 16" mackeral or sardine and a ribbon fish that was just a little bit longer!

We had a great day and put some serious poundage on the boat for the second day in a row.

Sunday we woke up and cleaned our 66 fish before the awards ceremony. Shortly after 11AM we headed over for some phenomenal food and some great company. We watched as the fish were weighed in and we saw how the numbers fell...

DAY 1:

DAY 2:

BOOYAH! Team Defiance earned biggest fish both days, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes over two days of fishing, with a 1st and 5th overall finish. WHAT A GREAT RIDE! Many thanks to the great guys on board that made this all possible! You gotta have solid fishermen to make it happen and WE DID!