A short version: We drove to Illwaco Wednesday, reported to the boat 3am
Thursday morning. AJ tried to surprise us by showing up, he hadn't confirmed
to any of us that he would be there. A 4 hour run got us to the spot. The
deckhands let out lines, 10 in all, for 8 anglers. 4 of the lines were
handlines, attached to the rail with a rope and a rubber snubber. We trolled
"tuna lures" at 6-7 knots, which is fast enough to skip them across the
surface in spite of their weight. We drew numbers for angler order, ensuring
equal chance for all. AJ of course was lucky #1, ensuring him of a more
equal chance than unlucky # 8. The action was erratic, sometimes hot with
multi-hookups, sometimes slow while the skipper circled the area to locate
our school of fish. In the end, we all got plenty of tasty tuna flesh, a
great day on the water.