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Incey Wincey Spider

Kip Ward

Posted: 07.19.2008 / 4:05 PM EDT

The Charter Fishing boats are doing pretty well.  Most people going out are fishing the ocean’s bottom for sea bass and lingcod and they are limiting out. I hear that there is plenty of Dungeness crab to be had as well.  At seventy-five dollars for a five-hour trip, it’s a bargain. 

Around here the place to go to charter a boat is just about ten miles south to Depoe Bay.  About forty-five years ago a man by the name of Stan Allyn settled there.  He captained his boat, the King Fisher, into the world’s smallest harbor and soon after opened Trade Wind Trollers.   Stan Allyn was a wonderful man, small in stature, pale blue eyes, and blond hair; his slight physical presence belied the depth of his incredible character. 

When I would see him I would always ask him how he was doing and he would say with enthusiasm “ Top deck! ”  That was twenty years ago, but once in a blue moon, I’ll catch myself using those same words.  I’ll never do them justice.   

Fifteen years after his death, Depoe Bay still remembers Stan with Stan Allyn Day, and Trade Wind Charters is still the place to go if you want to “Quit Wishin’ and Go Fishin.”

Depoe Bay partly relies upon the charter boats for survival.  The fishermen not only spend money to fish, but they and their families also fill the gift shops, motels, and restaurants. 

The slow economy and high gas prices have left their mark on the charter boat industry.  In five hours a fishing boat will use a lot of diesel.  That’s added to the fuel that the fishermen have to use to get to Depoe Bay from the valley.  Fuel and more fuel means storm clouds on the horizon for our tiny fishing industry. 

There was a ray of hope this last week as the price of a barrel of oil tumbled.  Is the oil bubble finally bursting?  I hope so, because most of us have felt like we are caught in a spider’s web.  And as the spider eats, we get thinner and thinner. 

Three days of good news has put a bit of a hop in everyone’s step.  But that hop hasn’t turned into a dance quite yet.  Spiders have a way of coming back.