The Sportsman
by John Chamberlin
Edwards Press, Inc. May 3, 1983
Three- to six-pound black rockfish (or sea bass, as some Westporters call them) were flipping all over the deck, and besides that, the boat’s big fish box was about half full! The action was furious, even though just 20 minutes before, we hadn’t even seen a fish!
We were aboard The Moonlighter, about umpteen miles out to sea from its berth at Westport. Its young skipper, Scott Lafferty, is unique. He’s the only Westport charter boat operator we’ve heard of who never fishes for salmon, and never has. He goes for bottom fish only, and has honed his skills to a fine edge.
The Moonlighter is far from the sleekest looking craft around. It appears to be missing some parts and needs some paint, and Lafferty says, “It’s the slowest boat at Westport.” Also, it’s small by charter boat standards, carrying only six fishermen at a time.
However, it proved its met tle the day we fished. A strong wind had created quite a chop even within the harbor. We probably hit the famous Westport bar at a good time and rode over it well, then chugged along smoothly among sizeable waves the balance of the afternoon.
In a sense, The Moon lighter is a one-man show—a Lafferty show. He furnishes hefty six-foot rods and Penn Senator reels, and discourages anglers from bringing their own tackle aboard. He wants to know the tackle will fit his mode of fishing , best, and doesn’t want to be slowed when fishing’s hot. He pours his own sinkers and ties his own jigs. He told us he had poured an entire ton of lead into sinkers the previous weekend, in molds he designed himself. When we first met him in Neptune Charters’ office, he was seated comfortably at a table in a back room tying jigs. “Oh, I do this all the time— sometimes even in my sleep,” he mentioned casually.
Lafferty told us The Moonlighter had limited 86 times in its last 90 trips. He’s so good at finding fish that he often goes out twice a day, and says he has limited on 30 consecutive “double trips.”
That makes it nice and relaxing, except for the few frantic minutes of fishing! The morning excursion leaves the dock at 7 a.m. and the afternoon trip at 2 p.m. Thus, one could easily sleep in at home in Woodinville or environs, enjoy a late leisurely breakfast, motor down to Westport, spend a few pleasant hours on the saltchuck, drive back home that evening with a, couple of months’ supply of tasty seafood for the freezer, and still have plenty of time to watch the late news!
As mentioned, The Moonlighter doesn’t look all that great, but it’s plenty efficient and is loaded with several pieces of magical, modern electronic equipment. Reading his instruments, Lafferty not only knows exactly where he is on the big Pacific Ocean and whether there are fish below the boat, but insists he can also tell whether those fish are in a mood to snap at his homemade jigs!
After our trip, we see no reason to doubt him. We left the dock at 2 p.m., headed for midocean, and stopped occasionally over one of Lafferty’s choice spots. He’d say, “See those fish on the chart recorder? Well, they’re not going to bite.” A couple of times, he jumped out on deck and lowered a line to prove his point. “See?” he asked, and with that, jumped back to the wheel and took off at top speed for another spot.
About four o’clock. after two hours at sea and no fish, he slowed the boat again, glanced at his recorders, and exclaimed, “This is it. Everybody fish!”
Within seconds, the quickest fisherman hauled a sea bass aboard. I grabbed my camera, and action was so fast, I didn’t want to put it down. After a few minutes. Lafferty cautioned that I’d better start fishing, “before those other guys have your limit!”
With that, I tossed my three-hook setup over the side, spooled it to the bot tom, felt something hit it, muscled it back up, and hoisted three big sea bass aboard!
Just 20 minutes from the time the first jig hit the water, 15-fish limits for all aboard were in the fish box.
If you’re interested, Neptune Charters’ phone number at Westport is 1-208-0124.