Fishpatrick's Specialty Canned Tuna

04/02/2026

Take note of this great recipe!!

12/08/2025

This is cool!!

Readers rank the 5 best food and drink products in Oregon

11/27/2025

We made this list. It is from those who saw it on Facebook and who have eaten it in various places around Reedsport Oregon or in their homes all around the USA. THANKS!!

If you want to give a taste of Oregon for the holdidays, our readers have several suggestions.

Last week, we asked our readers to nominate their favorite Oregon food and drink products for our Readers Choice Awards. Now, it’s time to open up the voting to determine our winners.

https://www.oregonlive.com/food/2025/11/voting-opens-for-oregons-best-food-and-drink-products-readers-choice-awards.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=app.dashsocial.com%2Ftheoregonian%2Flibrary%2Fmedia%2F612276210

11/19/2025

Our son Zac is shown here while selling our whole albacore from the dock in Wi******er Bay. This holiday season consider giving the gift of canned tuna and salmon direct from the fishermen who catch them. Goto fishpatrick.com and see your options. Just put the recipients address in the ship to section and write us a note about the gift. We will include a beautiful Oregon Albacore brochure created by the Oregon Albacore Commission, and a holiday card to them from you free of charge. 6 packs shipped as gifts will be wrapped with a bow!

Oregon Albacore are naturally higher in omega 3 fatty acids than many larger tuna species harvested elsewhere. 🧠 💪 Omega 3s are known to support heart health, brain function, and help reduce inflammation, which means Oregon Albacore is a healthy choice for everyday meals.

As we are heading into the holiday season, keep your body and mind strong and ready for the extra travel, gatherings, and long days ahead. A well stocked pantry (with a stockpile of canned and pouched tuna) makes it easier to stay nourished when life starts moving fast. Oregon Albacore is shelf stable, versatile, and ready to go straight into warm grain bowls, hearty salads, pasta dishes, or simple toast with a squeeze of lemon.

Source Oregon Albacore online (with nationwide shipping) by searching the directory on our website: https://www.oregonalbacore.org/buy-folder?category=Online

There are over 50 brands of micro-canned Oregon albacore to choose from!

10/26/2025

2025 "Journey to 100 Tons"
When we purchased the James Lee in 2018 I got a new log book and wrote on the front cover of it "Journey to 100 Tons". With the previous vessel Manatee II, the annual goal was always 50 tons. I hit that a couple of times. Manatee II was an ice boat and all trip plans were for about 5 days at sea. These frequent turn arounds create a lot of delays, and weather was always a factor for this 41 foot overall length vessel. The largest albacore tuna load I ever delivered in the Manatee II was 10,800 pounds. About 5 and a half tons.

The James Lee has a fish hold capable of 18.5 tons. 54 feet overall length gives the chance to go to sea with 25 day trip plans. I know a lot of Oregon Albacore Troll fishermen and some are considered highliners. The annual goal for many of them to have a "great" season was about 100 tons. So as far fetched as it seemed, I made that a personal long shot goal. For the first 4 seasons of operation with the James Lee, I always had either one or two deckhands and really went for it every year.....But the most I ever delivered for a season total was about 50 tons! Either crew problems and requirements to return them to port, or vessel problems with the same result....Gotta go in!! Costing a lot of time away from the fishing grounds.

I stopped purchasing crew insurance in 2023. Crew insurance does not cover immediate family, and my sons were interested in fishing with me. I do not want to take any other person. No more deckhands other than my own son or sons. They began to participate in a more meaningful manner, however sometimes they declined to come, and Seanna I would go solo. Zac and I filled the boat with albacore and I decided to park at the dock in 2023 and sell our catch directly to the public. It was a great decision which gave an opportunity to interact a lot with the public, work with my family, and spend more time at home. This also led to a fairly important life changing event. The My Outdoor TV network show Fishmongers with Tommy Gomes attended one of my dock sale events and ended up putting us on their TV show. Season 4 episode 3 titled "All About Albacore". When that hit the air, our can sales really exploded throughout the entire USA people were ordering our premium canned Oregon Albacore. Lots of it! However it worked out, that season of 2023 total was only 28 tons! My son made the decision to purchase a boat and fix it up for dock sales of my albacore tuna. This allowed me to immediately return to sea each time I came in for offloads.

2024 gave a total landing of 72 tons!! This was a great year, and most of the time at sea was spent "solo", just my ever present companion Seanna and I. My older (19 years old then) son Zac was in port on his vessel selling a portion of my catch from each load. Wyatt would go on ONE trip, just to earn enough money for a new (to him) vehicle. He wants to hang out with his friends in the summer and be a kid. Not interested in the entire summer at sea doing the intense work of harvesting Oregon Albacore.

This brings us to 2025. Trip one was a solo trip which lasted just a few days so I could grab up a bunch to get Zac's sales off his boat the Colby Lee started in Wi******er Bay. Wyatt wants and needs a new vehicle so he jumped aboard for trip 2 which took us 9 days total to catch near 18.5 tons. He worked very hard and was pretty surprised at me when I immediately returned to sea, and filled it up solo in just a couple hours over 8 days! Wow shat a season going forward! The albacore were spread out and fishing was epic. My second solo trip gave another full load....then another...The season began to blur a bit...WOW!

Weather began to take its toll...Days grew shorter. Once I had my supply for cans and pouches for the schools in cold storage (about 32 tons), I decided to meet a market demand up in Ilwaco Washington. The new Sportsmen's Canning facility there needed a load of albacore. They were paying a great price, so I met their needs with a two (short) trip combination of just over 12 tons. The final trip of the season was 5 days at sea to help out another buyer in Newport Oregon. Samantha Wright with Wright Tide seafoods purchased that final load. The weather just would not allow another day. I watched as the fish seemed to leave the area. Waters were cooling and the swells were building. The days are short. The wind is blowing! I rolled into Newport Oregon on October 17th. My 72nd day at sea for the season. As of today October 26th, the James Lee is still up there in Newport. We wait until the seas offer the 9 hour window of time to come home to Wi******er Bay.

2025 total was 186,700 pounds. Near 94 tons!! My logbook has some room for more entries. Achieving a 100 ton season remains a Journey. 32 tons went into Fishpatrick's Specialty Canned Tuna lineup, Zac sold a bit over 20 tons at the dock. 42 tons were sold to other buyers for the quick paychecks that keep things rolling. What an incredible season!!
www.fishpatrick.com

09/10/2024

Our family at work!
I am out to sea catching more, Kristi is shipping all over USA daily and our son Zac is doing this!
www.fishpatrick.com

08/16/2024

Cool!!

07/01/2024

I see a lot of cool old boats out there when I fish. Here is some of them from salmon season 2024. Lancing was built in 1909.

06/21/2024

Going through my 2024 salmon fishing boat pictures. Lol. I am not the only one celebrating my right to participate!!

05/10/2024

Cool

04/24/2024

A few pics from the past to help explain the story which just happened.
Salmon Trip One 2024
April 18-22

While crossing the bar and headed to sea I was feeling grateful just for the chance to participate. Last years closure left me feeling very fearful of being able to continue as a commercial troll fisherman. The salmon season is incredibly important for the annual overall situation. These nice slow easy days on the water allow an old wood boat to shake loose the long winters grip at the dock. She will talk to you and inform you of her needs. There is always more needed than a man can give…. Better be ready for those 25 days at sea in the summertime! Rough weather happens and 200 plus miles from shore everything better be in SHIP SHAPE!! Now only 40 miles from port in relatively (usually!) calm seas at a mere 3 knots all day…..the boat will reveal its issues at a slower pace. Plus the salmon pay for annual insurance, moorage, licenses and shipyard work.

In the back of my mind, I was kind of cracking up a bit. I was going for it with some little risky issues I was aware about, but did not take the time to address. I looked over at a 6 pak bunch of bananas at the table and thought if anything went wrong a lot of guys would blame it on those…I knew if anything went wrong it would be entirely my own fault. So I was willing to accept that and just see what happens..

Jay on the kelori was right behind me. I knew that he was about as ready as me. I was wondering how it would go for us both. We had made some quick moves and extraordinary measures just to get out here at this point. The weather was very questionable. But guys were delivering some great numbers of fish and if they can do it, we can do it so here we go.

2 pm and I was setting gear. I had these new 75 pound cannonballs for the inside deeps. I used to only use a combination of 60 #, 50 #, and 40 # lead cannonballs for each side. Now 75 #, 60 #, and 50 # for potentially better depth control on the wires. So off went the float line with 4 hooks and leaders, then the outside deep with same and then I set out that 75…I did the other side float, then the 60 #. I was reaching for the next 75 and BUSTO!! (Loud noise!!) The davit with pully that was supposed to be holding the other side 75 had busted and the tagline busted and that wire was straight wrapped down against the port side of the boat. I went over there and looked down and BUSTO (another loud noise!) the 60 # ball I just set down on the other side of the boat busted the davit clamp and it was wrapped straight down the side of the starboard side. I KNEW I should have beefed up those old rusty clamps!….Neither had broke the lead off so no way could I just grab that little wire and lift it back up. I just thought s**t…Now I better pull everything else back in, stack it up, and then deal with these two problems.

I went to use the hydraulics for the first time since last summer and the strain of the first attempt blew a hose! At first I could not figure out why they wouldn’t work. I did test this system at the dock!! I saw that I had the lever in gear for the 75 # ball that was down and wrapped against the side of the boat. No pully in sight. That strain blew the hose! Then in the choppy sea, I slipped on the deck. WTF!! Hydraulic oil all over the deck on this side and a spurt coming from a hose. I gotta fish on!! Lol…SERIOUSLY the springs on both sides with the gear still out there were pumping and there were fish on and I was all mucked up and started to crack up laughing really at my own situation and fact that it was all my own fault.

Now the challenge.

So I went and got the spare hose and worked the old one off, mopped up the deck with oil diapers, put the new (spare) hose on and hit hydro button….SPURT! No s**t the spare was already blown. WTF!! Why did I keep that?? I have zero way to manually pull those gurdies. (today I had my old deckhand Jeff weld nuts on the end of each gurdie for manually pulling) but at this point I was incredibly screwed with no way to deal other that cut all 5 wires and loose about….295 # lead at 3$ per pound, the wire, and all 5 sets of 4 spreads. Maybe $2200.

I worked hard to dig through everything on that 54 foot boat!
I found a spare!!
I put it on and it held!!
I stacked the 3 wires back in place with the leads all good! And I caught 2 and a half salmon!! One was shark eaten half!! I lost about 6 hoochies and hooks and a couple flashers. The sharks had eaten what I had hooked because the entire event took me about an HOUR and all I was doing was dragging shark bait out there.
Now I had to figure out how to get those two that were wrapped straight down without any pullys what am I gonna do??

I figured out how to stand up there and pull up just a bit with a gaff and put a block in there. Then I hoisted the block up about a foot and tied it off the the davit and pulled those babies up!!
ZERO losses other than a bunch more gear got shark stripped and the 75 actually got one good salmon to the boat! It was bittersweet. Seanna was pretty quiet watching me being so intense running about and fixing/doing all this stuff.

So I got the blocks all beefed up with rope and went to work with 5 wires. The 6th wire could not be put out until I fixed the tagline by pulling up the poles. It never got calm enough for that. The end of day one I had 6 salmon and went to bed at about 1130pm.

Day 2 was better. Everything kept working. The sharks were horrendous. It was really quite rough out! All the guys were complaining of lost gear and half fish. I got a lot of both!! The salmon are HUGE!...The biggest one of the trip is the one ready for sale tomorrow. It is about 30 # gutted and so thick through the middle and shaped more oval like a halibut that a salmon. It is a hatchery fish. Hatcheries work. I might take this one home. My counter now says 31. The day was busy trying to keep up with constant need to tie up new gear because of the sharks, and I know they got more than me on my salmon!!

Day 3 was slow. The fleet around me was never steady. Guys were leaving. Weather was coming up. Jay on the Kelori and I were holding with pretty equal catches. I was wanting to head north a bit, but also wanted to hang out with Jay and try to pin them down tomorrow…I shut down and went to bed with 41 on the counter, and 4 of those were shark raked with one tail gone. Those half fish are NOT 28” long anymore so they must be released. Very difficult!!

Day 4 Jay said…”I’m headed in”
We had been through some pretty rough weather! And rougher coming up this afternoon!. He wanted to protect his fish and get them to market and get across that bar today.

Fine. I’m stayin!

I did one quick troll around this area and immediately decided to run for a new spot. I pulled the gear. Seanna seemed excited like this is very unusual at this time of day are we headed home??

No. I motored about 15 miles north. Wind started hitting me but I wanted to try a spot. I had one fish from the morning…Between 3 pm and 6 pm I landed (kinda lost count and still don’t know) 24 more fish! It was CHOPPY wind and sideways seas and the fish were biting and the sharks were stealing and I was konking and going crazy pulling what I could and climbing into that basket hanging out back and whacking the salmon in the head then putting the gaff in it's gill plate and climbing back onboard and it was the best couple hours of my entire life like forever and that’s what happened. It got too rough to turn around again so I pulled the gear and stacked it all up. I cleaned the few last fish and then sat there contemplating and the auto pilot got screwed up in the following seas with the slow idle and the biggest wave blew across the rear quarter of the portside stern and completely overwhelmed me and soaked me to the bone.

I blamed that one on the bananas.

I got the whole 4 days on go pro cameras. Maybe I will get a chance to prove this story later…….