Boat of the Month: Ilwaco-based F/V Innisfree makes a ‘pipe dream a reality’

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1/3 Commercial fisherman Kris Griffith, pictured aboard his vessel, the F/V Innisfree, homeported at the Port of Ilwaco. Griffith produces a line of wild-caught canned tuna and salmon, available locally at V’s Coastal Market in Long Beach and 3 Otters Coffee Co. in Ilwaco. (Luke Whittaker photos/Chinook Observer)

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Vessel: F/V Innisfree

Owner: Kris Griffith

Homeport: Ilwaco

Year: 1924, built in Friday Harbor, Washington

Length: 47 feet

Beam: 12.5 feet

Draft: 6 feet

Engine: Detroit 671, 165 horsepower, Mitsubishi auxiliary

Cruising speed: 7 knots

Primary use: Commercial salmon and tuna, with some long-lining for black cod.

Chinook Observer: What’s your favorite thing to fish for?

Kris Griffith: “I like salmon and tuna, for different reasons. I like trolling. I think of salmon as being an elegant, proud fish, then tuna are just eating machines — so aggressive and really fun. I find a deeper spiritual connection [with salmon fishing]. Tuna is a primal battle to catch as many and the biggest as I can.”

Observer: Is there a day that stands out as your most memorable fishing day?

Griffith: “Yes, it was the second tuna trip I ever did on this boat. The first trip, we filled a couple totes with fish, then the second trip it was just me, by myself. I ended up filling about five tons in three days, one of the hardest three days of work that I’ve ever had.

“And it was just such an accomplishment… to buy this boat, then almost die on it immediately, then rebuild it from the ground up, take it down to the bare wood and go through it with a fine-tooth comb… try to build my trust up on this boat and just work on it, work on it by myself, then go out and be successful the first time alone… To be able to fill the boat on the second trip and really make it happen, to make my pipe dream a reality like, ‘Wow, I’m really doing it.’”

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