Northwest Sportsman – August 2019

82 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com

requires passing an exam, so the

expectation is that the licensed

captain knows what he or she is

doing. Jim had been out on the pond

on a number of occasions, so we

thought he was capable. In talking to

him, you could tell he was confident

of his skills out there.

JIM GOT A call from a client who

wanted to catch a halibut. The best

place to do so in our area is called

the Bandon High Spot. This is an

underwater plateau located between

Bandon and Port Orford and about

15 miles west from shore. The

bottom rises from 700 to 800 feet

deep to 400 to 500 feet deep. It is a

hangout for large halibut and a great

spot to fish, if you can get there.

The downside is that it is distant

from any support such as the Coast

Guard or a safe harbor. Unlike on land,

there are no roads, no tow trucks and

no immediate help if things go wrong

at sea. If you capsize out there, it is

unlikely anyone is going to find you

until much later.

The front of the high spot from

the Coos Bay bar is south, 27 miles

distant. It is 15 miles south of Bandon

and about the same distance from

Port Orford. Bandon is not much of

a refuge if things go wrong since it is

difficult to get across the bar most of

the time. Port Orford is OK but there

is no trailer boat launch; you need to

have your boat lifted on and off the

water with a large crane, provided

you have the appropriate straps.

CHECKING THE WEATHER, it looked to

be sunny with a light wind out of

the north when Jim started for the

Bandon High Spot. Waves were

forecast to be 3 to 4 feet, not a bad day

to go fishing. Actually, it was about as

good as it ever gets out there. Another

friend named Leonard was also on

board for this trip as a deckhand. The

rest of this story is based on what

Leonard told me weeks later.

Jim left the Charleston harbor at

daylight and made the 27-mile run

downwind to the High Spot. Since

he was running with the wind and

waves, the trip was comfortable and

made at good speed. They arrived

about an hour and a half later and

there were a few other boats around.

It is good to have a little company

when you are this far from home.

Fishing 500 feet down with a

hand-crank reel is a test of one’s

endurance. To get to the bottom

requires 2 pounds of weight off the

end of a stiff rod. Herring is usually

the bait of choice. Leonard said fishing

was slow that day but they managed

to get their limit of three halibut over

several hours.

By that time the other boats

were gone. As Jim, Leonard and

their client had fished, the wind had

increased and the waves doubled in

size. In nautical slang, “The sheep

was on the water” by the time they

wanted to leave. This means there

were whitecaps on the waves from

the wind. In this case, the wind was

straight out of the north, the waves

from the northwest. Getting back to

Charleston meant heading north into

the seas and wind.

Jim finally shipped the rods and

tackle and told the others to sit tight

for the trip back home. He said it

looked like it might be lumpy and

slow; four to five hours of running

was a possibility. He turned the boat

into the seas, pushed the throttle but

could make very little headway at

displacement speed without shipping

water over the bow. Keep in mind

this boat had an open bow that was

very slow to drain when taking

water. It seems they never make the

bow scuppers large enough in these

boats; I think they were designed for

rain, not waves.

GETTING ON PLANE did not seem like a

possibility and a long trip home was

becoming more realistic. However,

there is a technique in which one

can put the power to the throttle

and get up on top of the waves and

The Bandon High Spot can be reached from Coos Bay,

Bandon and Port Orford, two of which are subject to

summer afternoon northwesterlies. (NOAA)

ROUGH DAYS

AT SEA