4 Days on Cinnabar
Kind of a report(late), & more of a story.
I've looked forward to the annual 3 dayer, since last years epic trip.
After the season we've had so far this year, getting to pull on a rod, instead of the net or gaff, was to be a welcome break.
Not sure how much time I've logged on the water so far this year, but it's been a bunch, & 99% has been working the deck, not fishing from it.
We lined up a great crew for this trip, consisting of Bruce, myself, Mark (Capt.2nd class) Capra, Ben (Kamikaze)Bailey, Mike(animal) Boros, John(Dead bait) Brooks, & (Madd)Max??.
The beginnings of the trip didn't start well for me, with a blown U-joint & trashed drive shaft in my truck on Thursday afternoon, after a day that was bad enough for a week!
Not to be detered, I got the truck fixed, got my gear together, & shopping done, by around midnight!
Caught a few hours of sleep, loaded up, & checked the weather forecast......... not looking great. But, I was on my way, knowing we were going somewhere, come hell or high water!
I know Bruce & Cinny, & feel safer on that boat in the worst conditions, than I do driving to work.
I got to the boat around the time everyone else was showing, & my first realization should have come soon after, as opposed to 3 days later.......... I'm a deckhand!
As soon as I saw everyone coming down with 3 weeks worth of gear for a 3 day trip, it kicked in............ "Stop!, Leave everything on the dock, so we can sort through it, & if you don't need it, take it back to your car!" Ok, so maybe I'm a "Deck Nazi", as I would later learn I was dubbed with.
We sorted through gear, got everything loaded, stowed & or secured, & it was time to leave.......... 500+# of ice, probably as much in beer(I'm guessing about 8 cases), + enough food for a month, not to mention gear.
Bruce waited until we were away from the dock to break the news to me.......... we're going for salmon! ARRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!
I've fished enough salmon this year! I'm sure that he knew I'd jump ship with that news, & I considered doing it anyways. Then I thought about the fact that I haven't personaly fished for salmon, since around the openers. What the heck, I'm fishing, not decking on this trip!
We made a quick stop at Dynos for bait, & when he heard we were going for tuna, & were going to be on the water for 3 days, I think he double scooped our "Full Scoop"! The tank was loaded with great chovies! Thanks Dyno.
Off to the northside we went, with me strongly hinting at rockfish or butts, but relenting to salmon.
Once again, the deckhand in me kicked in, & I found myself sticking baits on the crowbars, & rigging rods. Some wanted to run junk, & others FBR's, but I was going to run straight bait........... you'd think they'd learn that we don't put that much work in sticking baits for no reason, it's because they work.
Lines in the water, & in 5 minutes, I had the first fish on. I brought the fish to the boat, but just out of net range I farmed it!! Lack of practice I guess? Maybe 5-10 minutes later, Max hooks up(on the crowbar again), with a nice 20# hen. I was much better on the net than the rod, & this one made the box.
A while later, another rod hooks up(can you guess which bait?), & a shaker comes to the boat.
That was about the end of the action for a bit, & I went to take a nap, something that I never get to do. The nap was great, & I only woke up, when I heard the RPM's going up, signaling a move. I asked Bruce where we were going, & he said HMB........ cool, another nap in the works! I think I woke up next, as we turned into the jaws
We end tied on G dock, & were promptly met by Pence, who rode down for a tour of the boat. Pence also guided us to slip G13, where we would spend the night, since Guy wouldn't be there until the next night.
We spent the rest of the evening, trying to cook dinner.
We put Marks stew in the microwave, & 5 minutes later it quit working! Pulled out a pot to warm it on the stove, & it wouldn't light(propane tank empty)! Finally pulled out the electric grill, & grilled sausages that Mike brought, & then heated the stew on it as well. Of course there were a few "sodas" consumed in the meantime.
After dinner, Ben decided to wander the parking lot, & visit........ when he hadn't returned 2 hours later, I thought it best to go find him(& maybe stop at the Harbor Bar on the way).
Mike & I headed up that way, & found Ben on his way back to the boat. When he heard of our concern for him, he offered to buy us a beer. Who were we to turn down such a generous offer? A few rounds later (& a couple of Kamikazes for Ben), I decided that we needed to head back.
Almost back to Cinny, I look over to see the lights on Fishing Luhrs on. Well, I've never had a tour of this magnificent machine, so off we go.
Chris & Pierre see us coming, & I know they tried to kill the lights, but were too slow, so Chris graciously invited us aboard.
What a ride is all I can say about this boat! Great salon, nice sleeping accomodations, full head, & a real shower stall(highlight)!
The green beers were good too!
Chris & I visited, while Pierre & Mike talked Nawlins, & Ben started to nap. The snoring was a cue that it was time to get back to Cinny, & get some rest for all of us.
Thanks for the hospitality Chris.
Saturday morning, wayyyyyy too early(2 am), Bruce Mark & I check the weather. It doesn't look good at all(10X10), & we decide to go back to sleep.
We wake up again a few hours later, & the buoys have come down a bit......... a quick consultation of the group, & we decide to go for it. It's going to be sloppy, but we want tuna! I went back to sleep
When I awake next, I look at the gps, & tell Bruce that we are about to a warm plume on the Terrafin shot. He tells me to get the rest of the gear out, even though we're still in gray water.
Great thing about a boat that cruises at 7.5 kts, is that we can troll all the way out & back if we want.
I tell the guys that we are close to this plume, & everyone pitches in to get the gear set. We mark the rods & holders, & then the lines, when I get them where I want in the spread.......... I think this is where the "Deck Nazi" came from, since everyone wants to run different stuff, & different distances, in different locations, etc., from what I set. My response was something along the lines of: I'm on this deck every week, & know how the gear runs on this boat......... Don't mess with it!
I did leave the corners open, so guys could throw some goofy stuff back there if they wanted, & Ben proceeds to pull out one of the ugliest clones I've ever seen! I give him grief about it, but somehow know that it's going to get bit. Ben sets his line back where I suggest, we mark it, I turn around, & it goes off ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! Fish on!! Rod out of the holder, & Fish Off! Not a good way to start, with a busted line already!
We get the gear back out, circle around, & another rod goes off, then another........ Double hanging I shout.
Bait gets thrown in the wash, but no boils. By the time the gear is cleared, we have John(or maybe Mike?) on one, & Max on the other. John goes to Marks gaff, & Max brings the fish to my gaff, while the others fling bait & swimbaits. One of us misses the gaff & breaks the fish off, while the other makes a head shot.
Me being the consumate deckhand, I never grabbed a rod. WTF?? I thought I was fishing?
Ok, we're on the board with 1 in the box now, but our batting avg. is down!
Gear back out, we go a ways, when the same rod that Max was on goes off again. Bait out while gear is cleared, & this time we get boils! The troll fish breaks off, but soon we have 3 fish hanging.......... only to lose every one of them before they get near the boat! There aint enough time in the day for these things to happen!
We troll the area a while more, with no action.
On towards the main body of warm blue water. After an hour or so of no action, I take a nap(this is getting to be habit forming
.
I wake up a few hours later, to the same thing I left......... no action.
I did notice a course change(not hard in 6- 8'+ seas), & look at our track, to see that we are heading back towards the dirty water.
I wander out on deck to see the crew working on a mess, 5 of the 9 lines are tangled, and appear to have been that way for a while! What can you say, 5 hours of trolling without a bite, you don't pay nearly the attention to the gear that you otherwise would & should........... heck, I was napping! It turns out that 1outside line picked up a kelp leaf, & planed across the others.
I still chastized them for not watching the lines
Everything cleared & re-set, we get close to the morning spot.
I check the track again, & we're almost right on the spot.............. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Fish on!!
The standard fire drill, & the fish comes in to a head shot. Nothing on the bait , so off we go.
A few minutes later, we've got another hanging, & soon in the box. ]
Again, no bait fish, even though they're agressive & hitting the short lines, & we can see some running deep as the fish come up. I shorten the short lines a couple of cranks, & let the ones behind them out a few pulls. No sooner do I let out one line, & it goes off! The guys insist I take this one, & I bring a nice 36# in, & John gaffs it for me.
Back on the troll, Bruce starts telling us to throw bait! He makes a turn, & we hook up a double in short order, & get boils going! This is what we're after! We get lines cleared, while the deck dance goes on, then I hear "Fish on on the bow", then another Fish on. We've got 4 rods going bendo, & fish running around under the boat as I throw a bait here & there.
The 2 troll fish are still deep, so I grab the 2nd gaff & take it to the bow so someone else can get them up there.......... about the same time, I hear "COLOR!", & see Bruce head to the back. He gaffs his, & I look over to see deep color on the other troll fish........ I run back & gaff that one. Part of the dance is over, but we still have 2 hanging. I throw a couple of more baits, but no more boils
Pretty soon, we get another to color, & it comes in. In the meantime, John is pansying around with his fish.......... Finally he brings it up, & I stick it. It later goes 34# on the scale. Very nice on the light gear, & a semi dead bait that Bruce told him to change for a livlier one(John's glad he didn't).
Back in gear, & off we go. Lines all set, & a few minutes later, Bruce starts telling us to throw bait again. Again he goes into a turn, & we get another fish hanging. Nothing going on the bait, we get this one in, & it brings us to 9 total, the smallest at around 20#, & most high 20's in to the 30's.
We troll a while longer, without another bite, but 8 fish in that last hour has everyone smiling. We head to the barn.
On the way in, Fishing Luhrs calls & asks for our report. We give it to them, & they say they'll have burgers waiting for us when we get there. I don't think they realized that we were still 3 1/2 hours out! We roll in at around 11:30, & the lights are out on the Luhrs......... where's the love? Not even a doggie bag on the back deck for us!
I think we all just kind of scrounged around for dinner, Bruce had a PBJ sandwich, I had a turkey sandwich, & I think the rest just kind of passed out.
Mark & I butchered the 9 fish in short order(it was a bit sloppy to cut them on the way in, & they were in slush), with Max helping out by bagging & getting the bags on ice.
No sooner do we clean up, than Mike stumbles out(half asleep), knife in hand, & asks if we're ready to start cutting......... I think he timed it!
We drank a couple of celebratory beers, & racked for the night.
Sunday, we woke up bright & .......... well it was bright anyways.
Everyone started stumbling to life, & we made the call to walk up to Ketch Joanne for breakfast.
What a great call that was. That nice sit down breakfast hit the spot for everyone.
A look out at the water told the story that we would hear on the radio the rest of the day, we were a day too early. The water was glassy, & the bite was off the hook.
Ben decided to jump off in HMB, since he'd gotten a ride to the boat Friday, & he had a friend that was there that morning, that would give him a ride home.
We left the dock, & hit the reciever on the way out, where Craig gave us a very generous 1/2 scoop of killer dines.......... wish we had those on Saturday! Thank you Craig.
We just kind of bounced our way up the coast, catching rockfish along the way, with a few short lings & a decent cabezone.
All the while a few of us begged Bruce to turn West about 30 miles, knowing that he wouldn't do it with a charter booked for Monday.......... but we could hope.
Up at Pedro Pt., we made a rockfish drift, & picked up a few. We tried for butts, but the leftover lump wouldn't let us get in where we wanted.
Bruce made the call to head up to the North Bar & see if we could pick up a few there.
We pull in the lines, & as we're heading out, I hear a bunch of shouting from the flybridge......... thinking someone lost a hat or something, I run out & they're yelling "White Sea Bass!"
I tell Bruce, he stops & he & I both think they must be seeing things.......... still, we make a circle around the area, & see nothing.
Again, we get underway, & 1/4 mile later, they're yelling again. This time Bruce tells me to get up there & spot. I pick the highest point, & start watching as we cruise. I see alot of bait, & every now and then get a glimpse of a fish running off, but don't get a good I.D.
A while later, we run across a school of fish, that I say are stripers......... they go down, never to be seen again. Then it happens, I see a fish cruising beside the boat, & get a good look at a maybe 30# WSB!
I yell down, but Bruce doesn't hear........ a few minutes later we run over a few more, that scatter.
This time I go down & tell Bruce, & set up a relay. I notice that I'm seeing these fish only in the slicks inside of a rip line, & tell him to aim for them. Not 5 minutes later, we run up on a school of over 100 WSB's, that range from small to probably over 60#! They don't go down, & we circle above them & kill the motor......... we drift right in on them! These things look like carp sunning themselves, & are spooky, but still let us drift within casting range. Bruce rigs a dine on one of my bass rods(good luck landing one), & makes a perfect lob into the school........ they don't scatter from that, but do when a gull swoops in on the bait. Bruce pulls it out, & lobs back in, & they just laze along, with the bait swimming around with them......... no joy!
He makes some Nextel calls to PB skippers, & gets the same response, that they had the same thing a couple of years ago, & these fish won't eat.
Still one of the neatest things I've seen, & it was a blast trying to spot & stalk them.
We finally head up to the North bar, & make a drift. Bruce hooks up a small butt, & lifts it 1/2 way out of the water, while teling me to gaff it........ it breaks off & swims away without a scratch.
A while later, I hook up, & after 3 gaff attempts, my monster(8#) butt is in the box.
1 more drift, & we call it a day. We still have to get back, clean the boat up, & get ready for Mondays charter.
Monday, we both drag out of bed, just before the customers arrive.
Good thing I cleaned up most of the boat on the way in, since I don't remember much after we hit the docks Sunday night, & we had no time before the customers got there.
Get them loaded, & head out.
Bruce & I discussed the salmon bite the night before, & with glassy warm conditions, & a slow bite, it looks to be a long day. We talked to the customers about it, but they were set on salmon all day.
I finally get moving, & get the salmon gear dug out & rigged up, get 1/2 tray of bait stuck(I'm hoping we go through that much), & start hooking balls on the lines, just before we slow down.
The radio bite is weak, & not encouraging.
Lines in the water, we troll for about 10 minutes, when we get the first hookup. This one is close to 20#, & comes in nicely.
A few minutes later, & a circle over the same area, & another nice hookup. This one goes over20# & is hot! It makes several long runs, & everytime it's just about to the net, it heads straight down. Finally it comes in, & goes in the box.
Not 5 minutes later, we hook up again. This one comes in easier, & goes 25#!
Wow, we were hoping for a fish around, have only had lines in for about 30 minutes, & have 3 fish for over 60#
Next hookup in the same area(it's getting crowded now, with both skiffs & Party Boats running in to our nets), & we get a 2nd hanging as we go into our turn. The first fish breaks off, & the 2nd pulls the hook......... no joy! It goes dead in our area, & we only boat 1 more small fish, over the next hour.
We continue trolling around with no luck.
After a while, Dandy starts trolling South of the area we were in, & they hook up a nice pig around 30#, & a skiff about 100 yds from them, gets one that I see & guess at over 25#.
We get in there, & box 4 more good keepers(10-15#) over the next hour or so, with a couple more LDR's.
We picked around the rest of the day, until we are 3 fish shy of full customer & crew limits at 3:30.
I tell them that we're trolling towards the barn and they have 30 minutes to hang a triple........ yeah right!
Then it happens! Fish on, double hanging, triple hanging!
We dance around clearing lines & fighting fish, & somehow boat all 3, with 2 going around14#, & 1 at 18#.
I think we highlined over all of the boats Monday, with several PB's reporting 5 fish or so.
Crowbars did the most damage, with I think 3 coming on Apex's, & 2 more on FBR's.
Great ending to another great weekend on Cinnabar.
Dave
:jo: :FU: 
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