16 minute read
Pooch Perfect
from STABIMAG 03
by stabimag
WORDS & IMAGES by The Captain
SEE THE VIDEO AT YOUTUBE.COM/ STABICRAFTNZ
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GARY AND JULIE PALMER RUN A COMMERCIAL FISHING OPERATION IN THE WATERS OF THE AMERICAN PACIFIC NORTHWEST — USING A STABICRAFT 2250 ULTRA CENTRECAB.
Winchester Bay is a small village on the Oregon coast in the American Pacific Northwest. In the heart of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, this is a scenic wonderland with miles of empty beaches against a backdrop of forest and the peaks of the Cascade Mountains. It’s
outdoor heaven, offering hiking and ATV trails, abundant wildlife — and lake and offshore fishing.
It’s where the Umpqua River, known for having some of
the best coho and chinook salmon fishing in the US, meets the Pacific. In fact, all the fishing is pretty good in these
parts, with tuna, albacore halibut and rockfish also plentiful offshore. Crabbing and digging for clams are popular local pastimes, and oysters are available year-round courtesy of Umpqua Aquaculture.
MEET THE PALMERS
Winchester Bay locals Gary and Julie Palmer are semi
retired. They’ve lived in the village for 10 or so years and
like the scenery and the climate, but above all, they like the fishing. And they happen to run the only Stabicraft in these waters — a 2250 Ultra Centrecab, which just might be the only thing they love more than fishing.
“We’ve both been fishing since we were little kids and
both love the ocean,” Gary says. “I had a software consulting business and Julie was in property management. We knew
we wanted to live in Oregon coast and came here in our RV for six years before deciding it would be our permanent
home. It’s our favourite place in the world. We go fishing pretty much every day.”
Julie’s ties to the region go back even further — she fished
here with her dad as a child. “We love to fish and all our
friends and neighbours love to fish,” she says. “We live one block from the harbour and half a mile from the nearest
boat ramp with access to the river to fish for salmon or go
crabbing or clamming. If we turn the other way, we can head out into the ocean.”
WINCHESTER BAY, AMERICAN PACIFIC NORTHWEST: It’s where the Umpqua River, known for having some of the best coho and chinook salmon fishing in the US, meets the Pacific.
Winchester Bay, Oregon U.S
TUNA TAKERS
Gary and Julie run a low-key commercial fishing
operation, catching what’s in season and selling locally
and in the nearby town of Roseburg. “We’re the only day
boat (out/back in a day) fishing this stretch of coast. Julie has a list of local people she sells to,” Gary says. “Many have become our friends.”
Business is good, the couple catching about 4000lb
(1814kg) of tuna this year. “We caught 442 tuna,” Julie
says. “It’s good to give people juveniles that don’t have the amount of mercury the bigger fish do. We catch anything from 6lb (2.7kg) peanuts to 30lb (13.6kg) albacore. The
average changes, but this year the warm currents came in
much closer to the coast so we didn’t have to go out as far and our average was around 11–13lb (5–6kg).”
Julie also has a canning operation on the side. “I can more
than 300 (142L) pints each year,” she says. “We pretty much eat fish all the time.”
As do their two golden retrievers, Sprocket and Lily, also
prone to barking at the sound of a reel going off. “The dogs
ABOVE: Julie employs her secret weapon
— cut plug herring coated in a
get so excited if we catch a salmon,” Julie says.
Commercial fishing in what many would consider a
recreational boat was initially something they were dubious about since their previous vessel had been 31ft (9.5m).
“We’re probably the only smaller commercial boat that goes offshore in this area,” Gary says. “We didn’t think
we’d commercial fish with it, but we realised we can do everything we did with the bigger boat.”
Julie says she was amazed at how well they could fish out
of the Stabicraft. “It can easily carry as many tuna as our
old boat — and carry them better. We’ve got our tuna bags on the walkaround — one on each side of the cabin. That
way you keep the weight in the centre of the boat. We have
a half-tub and two big coolers and we make it work. We can open it up so we can move around quickly.”
They take 500lb (227kg) of ice with them on each mission
and Gary says the care they take with their catch pays off in
the quality of what they sell. “We take good care of the tuna. We never let them lie on the deck — we brain spike them, bleed them out well then pack them in ice.”
glittery metallic dye.
BELOW: The 2250 tames the notorious Umpqua River bar.
ELECTRONIC DREAMS Formerly a Garmin guy, Gary is a big-time convert to the church of Simrad. Julie says he’s an electronics nerd, carrying the manuals around until he knows everything back to front. The 2250 runs a Simrad Halo radar, a Simrad NSS12 evo3 and Simrad radio, and two transducers — SideScan and DownScan — and Gary says he has total confidence in his gear, especially the Simrad autopilot. “I’m able to adjust the autopilot when we’re fishing the river so it’s very responsive,” he says. “I can set a course, click the button and it holds us there so if we catch a fish I can throttle down and go help Julie. If we’re offshore, I can set it so it’s not so responsive. I can put it on a halfcircle, full circle or even a zigzag and it will come back around. It operates the boat for us. It’s our driver and we’re back there fishing.”
LEAD-FOOT: Power comes courtesy of a 300HP Yamaha and 9.9HP “kicker”.
BOAT SPECS STABICRAFT 2250 ULTRA CENTRECAB
Length: 6.85m (22.5ft) Beam: 2.55m (8.4ft) Deadrise: 19° Max adults: 8 Dry hull weight (approx): 1787kg (3940lb) BMT weight (approx): 2520kg (5555lb) Fuel capacity: 300L (79gal) Standard HP: 225 Maximum HP: 300 ENGINE SPECS Make: Yamaha Model: F300 Type: 24-valve DOHC V6 Displacement: 4.16L (1gal) Weight: 259kg (571lb) SUPPLIED BY Y Marina 1307 Newmark Avenue, Coos Bay, Oregon US 541 888 5501 www.ymarinaboats.com MORE INFORMATION Stabicraft Marine 345 Bluff Highway, Invercargill, Southland NZ. +64 3 211 1828; www.stabicraft.com
LOVING THE STABI
Despite having previously run much bigger boats, Gary and
Julie are sold on the Stabi’s ride quality and safety features, rating it the ideal boat for what they’re doing. That Stabi
versatility was a biggie as Gary had back surgery a few years back. “It started to kill me doing stuff on the big boat,” he says. “I had to brace myself when I was driving.”
“With the Stabicraft, he can take the seat bottom off
and stand up to drive,” Julie says. “So he can take the
shock of the bouncing with his legs and his back has never been better.”
Gary can’t keep the grin off his face when he talks about
how well the Stabi rides, driven by a big 300HP Yamaha.
“The power is unbelievable,” he says. “This boat flies — you have to be hanging on when you put that throttle down. It’s
crazy how fast it goes. It’s got a different way of turning and
when you go over a big swell it comes down gently instead of nosing in and hitting hard. If we’re going across wind chop, I can just bring the bow down and the Stabi ploughs through.
With the Arrow pontoons and the deep vee hull, when you go over a big swell, she just settles down into it on that cushion of air. It makes for a much smoother ride.”
“It doesn’t have the bang, bang, bang of our old boats,”
Julie adds. “Even with really big swells, you don’t get the splash coming over.”
Those 300 Yamaha horses also come in handy when Gary
and Julie head offshore across the notorious Umpqua River
bar, which has claimed several lives. “Every year, a few boats don’t make it across,” Gary says. “This boat handles the bar
so well, even in a larger swell I feel like I have control — and with 300HP there’s enough power to get us safely across.”
“You have to pick your day to go out,” Julie says. “And
always use the south side because the rest of the bar gets really rough breakers.”
The Stabi has an 80gal (303L) fuel tank, but despite the
big Yamaha, fuel consumption is more than reasonable. “We use only a third of the amount of fuel — 30–40gal (113–
151L) — in a day of tuna fishing as we did on our old boat,” Gary says. “We’re usually 40-plus miles out and trolling all
day long, but the most we’ve used is 40gal. Most trips we use about 35gal.”
Tucked in beside the big 300 is a 9.9HP Yamaha “kicker”
Gary and Julie mainly use when trolling for salmon in the river. “If it gets rough offshore, we use the bigger
motor,” Gary says. “Trolling tuna, we’re probably at around 4500RPM using about two gallons (7.5L) an hour.”
SNAP PURCHASE
The Palmers’ 2250 Ultra Centrecab was the first to be
sold in the US. They had done a bit of online investigation and discovered footage of the Stabi being hammered by
the Tasman Sea. “I was impressed by videos showing the
Stabicraft in the rough Kiwi waters.” Gary says. “I didn’t know a boat could handle such unbelievable swells. We have rough oceans, but not like that.”
When he heard through the grapevine that a 2250 was
available through Y Marina at Coos Bay, Gary was waiting outside when the doors opened.
“As soon as I saw the walkaround, all this access, I knew it
was what we needed,” he says. “Four or five people wanted to buy it that day, but I was determined to have this boat.”
“It was the first time we’d ever bought anything that
quick,” adds Julie, who normally handles all their big-ticket purchases.
“Our boat stands out like a sore thumb,” Gary says proudly.
Everywhere we go people think it’s so cool. They always ask where it’s made or if it’s a Coast Guard boat.”
Once they started fishing in their new Stabi, Julie was
sold, especially on the Centrecab’s all-round versatility. “We can fish and feel comfortable 50 miles (80km) offshore in a
rough ocean, but we can also take it to a lake,” she says. “Last
summer we had eight people on board, our grandchildren, and we were fishing the river for pinkfin perch. We were able to
spread out and everyone caught a fish. The kids were jumping off it.”
The Stabi is easy to use and handle, Gary says. “We can
open it up so you can move around quickly and it can carry all the ice and fish we want. It launches and loads on the trailer
easily, and it’s easy to clean, I just hose it out — it’s all metal.” Julie finds the boat easy to handle by herself at the docks
and feels safe offshore. “The railings are nice and high, a
handhold everywhere you need one — on top, on the back of
the cabin. And the step makes a perfect fishing seat when it’s a bit rough.”
She’s also a big fan of the Stabi’s Arrow pontoons. “With our
old aluminium boats, if it filled with water, we’re going down,
but with five separate air chambers, it’s basically unsinkable.”
SALMON QUEEN
On the hunt, Gary and Julie function like a well-oiled
machine. Gary drives the boat and operates the Simrad
electronics. Julie does all the gear, ties the lines, sets the bait and cleans the fish — except the tuna, which she outsources
to a local. Gary loves the Game Chaser transom. “It’s amazing what we can do with just the two of us,” he says. “I can put it in reverse and go back and help Julie fish — it holds us right on the spot. With other boats you’d have to have someone at the helm all the time.”
This year hasn’t been the best for salmon — something
Julie blames on growing seal numbers. However, she says her
secret “blue herring” recipe gives them an edge. She uses cut plug herring coated in a glittery metallic dye. “I use a little jig and put a whole herring in. I cut it at a specific angle to
get that perfect spin, use a triangular flasher. For the river I
use three barbed hooks. You have to use different weights — anywhere between 6oz and 1lb (170–453g) — depending on
the state of the tide because there is a huge change of depth.
We might go from 15ft to 60ft (4.5–18m) to catch a chinook or coho. I want my weight tapping the bottom from time to time. So I’m constantly asking Gary, how deep are we?”
“Just like in the bedroom,” Gary chuckles.
“Knock it off,” Julie says, laughing. “I have a speed control
for the trolling motor, which makes such a difference. In the old days I’d be telling him to speed up, slow down.”
“Like I was saying…” Gary says, before collapsing into
TAKE ME TO YOUR DEALER Y Marina has provided a full-service marine dealership at Coos Bay on the Oregon coast for more than 50 years. In the outboard department they carry Evinrude, Mercury and Yamaha Marine. Y Marina’s 22,000sq ft facility also stocks quality second-hand boats and spare parts. The factory-trained certified technicians in the service and repairs department can fix whatever problem you’re having with your current boat — or fit whatever goodies you need on your new purchase.
FISH FOOD: Julie cans more than 300 pints of tuna every year. She says, “we pretty much eat fish all the time.”
