I went out for blackmouth in the San Juans on Saturday. There were quite a few boats out there and maybe even some that were catching fish. I went 0/1 on a nice fish, probably in large part, to the combination of barbless hooks and an unforgiving jig rod but... oh well.

The real drama was in the middle of the day when I looked up across the water and began seeing smoke coming off of the water... never good. The smoke was about 3 miles away from me and I could see that there were 2 or 3 other boats much closer to the scene. As I'm doing 35 mph towards the boat, a huge firewall erupts out of side. After a short pause, I could even hear the explosion over my motor and the wind. As I got closer, I approached a boat floating nearby. I was told the person from the burning boat had jumped into the water and been pulled out with mild hypothermia and a minor burn on one hand. That is the only report I heard of the person's condition. The boat was called the Elana and it was out of Bellingham.

The person was saved by the willingness of normal fishermen to step in and help. Although the USCG was relatively close, they were still 10 minutes away from the scene after I left the scene. At that point, numerous other private boats could be seen heading directly towards the fire. On such a beautiful day, the smoke was striking. From the pics, you can see the boat is a total loss and things actually worked out about as well as possible. It is a reminder to make sure safety gear is up-to-date and functional. It also serves to show how much we are benefitted by others with the shiat hits the fan.

This all took place just NW of Cypress Island. Mt. Baker can be seen in the background.