"Fishin and Boatin"   By: William Wandke

Kris with his 29 pound Ling Cod	Mike holding his 40 # King
Me holding a halibut	Kris and Mike with our catch of Kings

Mike is my youngest son and Kris is my daughters oldest son. They have both fished with me since they were small boys. They are my current boating partners and motivaters to go fishing. They both have families and jobs to that makes it difficult for them to find the time to make the long drive out here. Neither live on the Olympic Peninsula. That's dedication! They are very good fishermen and both have become reliable boatsmen. They can operate the electronics and navigating equipment and I feel comfortable to now sit back and let themrun the boat. Kris, also has a fishing boat that he takes out on the Columbia river. He fishes salmon and sturgeon there and has had some real good trips.   Fishing and boating has been a big part of our recreational activities for the past 37 years. I first got salt water in my veins when I would go to Anacortes and spent the summers there with my aunt and uncle as a young boy. My cousin, Ken, who was 8 years older, was already into the things the sea had to offer, so I seemed to just fall in right behind him. For several summers we cruised the San Juan Islands, drank beer and fished. Lots of all three! Then he got interested in crab fishing and selling them from a road side spot out of his pickup truck. That is pretty well covered in other stories that you can find on this website so I won't go into any of that here. When I moved to Forks in 1967 I was right where I should be. I couldn't have found a better location for work, and play. In 1969 I bought a 16 foot wooden boat from my cousin, and after replacing the motor with a new 40 horse Evinrude, I was ready to tackle the Pacific Ocean and to learn how to catch salmon and bottom fish. The first year turned out to be mostly boat rides. We watched other people boat a lot of salmon, but we mostly drug bait all around the ocean. The next year we caught a few fish, and the next we caught even more. My sportfishing future was looking up. My two, sons, Steve and Mike, who lived with their mother, spent part of each summer with us. They soon were hooked on fishing as much as I was. I think Steve was about 9 or 10 and Mike 6 or 7, when I took them out fishing the first time, but they handled the sea really good. They both became very good fishermen. During these years I would also take Helen's son, Carl, and nephew, Don fishing. We didn't get many pictures of fish, but we did get one of Don and his Silver salmon. This may have been his first ocean salmon.

Our first Esso-B (1969)

Nephew Don with his Silver, about 1971

We ran that boat, the first "ESSO-B", for three years, and looking back I can't understand how we survived. The boat had no backup motor, no depth finder or radio, yet we made it back every time. But I have to admit that we never went farther than 4-6 miles from the mouth of the Quillayute River where we launched the boat at La Push, and we watched the weather pretty close too. Of course, that's good advice for anyone who goes out there, regardless how big their boat is. The real worry for me has always been fog. It was very important to stay within hearing distance of the fog horn, but that isn't always guaranteed because if your're out there in the fog and there's a heavy drift one could drift out of the sound of the horn pretty fast.   In 1972 we decided it was time to upgrade our boat, so we bought a brand new 18 foot Olympic with a hard top. It had a new 65 horse Evinrude moter with a depth finder. I added a CB radio so now we was in a little safer boating package. The new boat became the ESSO-B II.

Mike and Steve standing by the new boat in 1972	Running up the Strait!!!!  Early 1970's
Mike and Steve with friend Jack Iotte, in the San Juans about 1973	Helen's only trip in the new boat fishing for black bass
A happy Helen sometime in the 1990's	Helen with a nicw Silver in the early 1970's

With the new boat we felt like we could venture farther from La Push, so now we found ourselves going about ten miles up or down the beach and maybe that far out to sea. We now was catching salmon and bottomfish a lot easier, because the new range we felt we could handle could put us in a lot more hot spots that we didn't dare go to before.   Not only did we fish the hell out of the waters out of La Push, but we fished Sekiu and Neah Bay as well, both located on the Strait of Juan De Fuca. That first year with the new boat we got real brave and we started vacationing in the San Juan Islands. We had running partners, that made us feel a little safer, but we were still on our own. We had to cross the strait and that can really get rough. We got caught in bad water there several times. The boat always handled great. We even took the boat up into Canada a couple of time. I can tell you that the 1970's provided us with a lot of fun.   Even though the 18 foot boat was a nice boat we finally got the desire to have a little bigger boat. So, in the spring of 1976 we bought a 21 foot Starcraft aluminum boat. Even though the boat was 4 years old we had a new 135 horse Evinrude put on it. We now had the "ESSO-B III". We was to go on and have this boat until the fall of 2004, a grand total of 27 years.   With this boat we continued to do everything we did with the previous boat. We didn't venture out much farther, but we had more room and it had a cabin that was useful for sleeping in on our boating trips. The problem with this boat though is it leaked. I'm not talking about a small leak, this boat became a big time leaker. But I fought the leaks. I patched rivets, had split seams welded and kept on fishing and taking trips. She always leaked some, even after I would repair a split or replace rivets that had popped. Seemed like I could never get all of the leaks at the same time. Everyone else was concerned but they still would go out with me. I guess that shows you that my friend and some family members don't always have good sense. I always told them to not worry until they saw me worrying.

Young Mike with some seabass about 1976

At anchor Hood Canal 1980

Helen with a limit of Silvers

Family gathering at the North Shore dock at Lake Crescent 1977

Helen likes to fish but......

.....not eating them!

A younger Bill holding a nice Silver about 1978

Me with my 37# King Salmon!!! about 2002

I'll tell you, we caught so many salmon and bottomfish in this boat that I couldn't even make a close guess as to how many, but I do know I took many first timers out and saw them catch their first fish, had pukers that got so sick they would practically die, (at least they thought they were going to),only to get back up and catch a big salmon or ling cod. Yeah, that boat was part of me, in more ways than one, I loved that boat. We had a lot in common, we were both old and wore out! I hated to see her go.   By the year 2000 Helen refused to go fishing with me any more. I think the time we went outbottom fishing, and the water came up to our ankles in the back deck had something to do with it. Then my friend, Tom, started making up excuses not to go when I would ask him to go out. Hell, my son even started sniveling.   Finally it happened, in August of 2003 we headed out to "The Rockpile" for salmon. My son, Mike, my nephew, Don Whitehead, and I. It was rough that day but we managed to make it almost to The Rockpile when we noticed a hellofa lot of water in the bilge. Bilge, hell, it was covering the floor of the deck. So, I turned on the bilge pump and left it running and that kept things under control, so we put out some gear and tried to fish. It was too rough to buck the waves to The Rockpile so we put our tail to the swell and wind and started trolling back to La Push. We were catching a fish once in awhile, but the water was really rough by now and it seemed like the boat was leaking worse. So we pulled the gear and went in. After we had the boat on the trailer we could see why we were taking on so much water. The chine on both sides of the boat had split. A three foot split at either side lets in a lot of water. Without a second thought I told the boys that this was the last trip, I was getting rid of the boat. I finally had enough, I pushed my luck as far as it would go with this boat.

Checking her out on the Columbia River

Launching on the Columbia River, getting ready to check her out

 

Mike posing with the new boat the day we brought her home from Vancouver, Wa.

Mike getting the new boat ready for a fishing trip

Don says his bass is bigger!!!	Mike doesn't care, he's fishin what else matters?
Trying to hook a big one at Carroll Island!!!	Just a minute, I'll have another one!
Part of catch on the first trip in the new boat!!!	Mike runs the boat up onto the trailer

You may wonder what happened to the old worn out ESSO-B 3, well there's an interesting ending for the "old girl". When I decided to get rid of her I went to the folks I had bought the boat from back in 1976. They own an operate a business that sold boats up until a few years ago, and everything else that goes with boating. They also run a wrecker service and junk yard. Now they service vehicles, repair some boat motors. They got out of the new boat sales but still have a few used boats.   The next day after making my decision I paid them a visitand told my story. Then I asked one of the owners if he was interested in taking her off my hands. He kind of stuttered and stammered. I finally told him to make me an offer an I would take it. He then offered me a few hundred dollars and I said SOLD! Then I told him that if he wouldn't have given me an offer that I was prepared to give it to him for junk. He laughed and that was that.   The boat sat in their yard for months. In fact it wasn't until the middle of June of 2004 that I noticed she had been moved. I figured that they had finally got around to junking her out. That made me feel a little bad, but on the morning of the 4th of July I went down town and lo and behold there she was all decked out to be in the annual 4th of July parade. Man, I was excited! I went home and told Helen and our company that the old boat was going to make her final appearance in the parade. Later while waiting for the parade to start one of the fellows who bought her from me motioned for me to come over where he was. What he told me made me even more excited. He told me that during the Demolition Derby that afternoon in the park that one of his sons was going to crash a car through her as part of the intermissions entertainment.   So after the parade most of us went to see the old girl in her final preformance. When the time came I got permission to enter the arena to take video. I really got some good coverage. Some stills I captured from the event is shown below. They pulled her in the center of the arena and set her up with a rampfacing her stern. The first jump didn't go quite like the driver intended and he sheared the cabin right off the hull, sailing right on by, landing on the arena floor. Then they took a gutted travel trailer and set it up right behind the boat and then re-positioned the ramp on the other side of the trailer. The plan was to go through the travel trailer fast enough to land right in the middle of the boat, hopefully splitting it open. Everything worked perfectly. He shot through the trailer and landed right in the middle of the boat. But she didn't split open so the old girl kind of had the last laugh. Hell, maybe I got rid of her too soon, she may have had a couple more years in her!

Me with the "old girl" one last time.

Great action shot of the first run.

After the demolition derby was over the car that crashed into the old boat was put inside the hull and was put on display for a few days. In a way the boat had the last laugh, because after being crashed into three times the hull was still in better shape than most people expected. Personally I thought she would split in two, lengthways. I guess I should had more faith in the "old girl"!

 

 

This was written by William Wandke on April 22, 2005.

Hope you enjoyed this and will read other stories we have on our website!

 

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You can email us at: bhwandke@centurytel.net

 

More pictures will be added as I run across old ones from years past, 

or as we get new ones from upcoming fishing trips. Bill

Mike with another nice King

Kelly is Mike's girlfriend  holding a nice salmon

Lowell with his nice King on the old boat.	Yes, I got to fish that day too!
Kris holding a nice Sturgeon with his daughter, Katelyn	These Sturgeon were caught on the Columbia River off Kris' boat
	Kris' wife, Janice likes to fish too, she caught this nice Sturgeon on the Columbia River. Janice isn't too tall so the Sturgeon is nearly as long as she is tall!

 

Halibut fishing at La Push, Wa. May 10, 2005

Mike and I with our catch	Kris with his halibut
Mike and Kelly	Kelly working on her halibut
This is Kris' friend Brad	Brad holding his halibut
The fish checker recording our catch	Kris, Brad and Mike
A big smile from Lowell with his 20 pound plus King caught off the new boat!