The morning turned out to be cool and overcast as 7 FIB’er volunteers, 26 kids from Olive Crest School, and 8 counselors gathered at Newport Landing to board the Nautilus for a ½ day fishing trip on 8/18.

The kids were excited as we headed out loaded with squid to do some fishing at the “150 spot”. This was the only reported spot that had fish on it, but was 1½ hours away. The coolness of the day lasted as we observed dolphin and birds on our journey. Suddenly, we observed what looked like two 40 foot long logs floating in the ocean. Of course, they turned out to be Blue Whales. That wonderful view turned out to be even more wondrous as we sighted 4 more Blue Whales. Their spouting was magnificent and 2 came very close to our boat. Everyone was thrilled!

Arriving at our fishing location, and with only slightly more than 1½ hours to fish, the kids hit the fishing hard. They were pulling up fish on all sides of the boat (the fish loved the squid). In 150’ of water, it took them some time to reel the fish in because of the current and heavy sinkers. They all worked very diligently at it and were very eager to learn. All of them caught at least one fish. The final fish count, on board, was 53 Sculpin, 1 White fish, 2 Rock fish, and 1 Sand dab. We probably tossed and equal amount of “shorties” back in the ocean. The kid’s worked really hard and a lot of them slept on the way back. However, the hard fishing was worth it to them because many of them took a lot of fish home to eat.

The sun finally came out as we headed back and we praised God for, yet, another beautiful fishing day on his creation. He is so good to us and to Him we give all the glory for the success and enjoyment of the trip.

Thanks again go to the FIB’ers volunteers who so selflessly give of their time and are blessed in doing so; Jerry Bent, David Weeks, Don White, Mike Kaneen, Maynard Poynter, and Rick Chalmers.

Reported by: Del Brunning