Seasons All Day Fri 9/26, 371, 425 - No Love

cbreese · Sep-27-2008, 08:21 AM

Short report: Went out with Capt Jamie Thinnes on Seasons for full day Fri. Tried the 371 and 425 looking for yellow fins. Worked one pod just north of the 371 that never really formed, for nothing. Working down from the 371 the water temp dropped a bit and got one small albie on a blind jig strike, to get us off the skunk. No other signs of life, very few paddies, no birds, no whales...quiet. Weather was snotty at times, sometimes it would lay down, but overall it was white capping most of the day. After it got too snotty, Jamie got us some tails and bones at middle grounds to fill up our bags, turning a long boat ride into a very fun day.

Long Report: My Tues 1.5 day got cancelled so I hooked up with Cpt Jamie Thinnes, Seasons for a full day on Fri. Seasons runs open charters on a 26 Parker, rigged to the max for serious fishing. Jamie wanted to avoid the rest of the fleet and try to find our own fish down at the 371, based on some intel. Met him at the Mission Bay docks at 4:00 am, he had already filled the bait tanks with some really nice bait before we even got there, which I thought was a classy move. Got to a little north of the 371, around 6:30, the weather wasn't bad in the beginning and we found the porpoise right away. We tried and tried to get to the peak of the pod, slow trolling dines, but the pod never really formed and the marks were few and far between so we evenutally gave up and moved further down the line, trolling along the way. Looked for paddies, birds, whales, anything, but the place seemed devoid of life. After a while, Jamie gets a feeling that with the water temp dropping a bit, things started to smell like Albacore. 15 minutes later one of the feathers is hit, and we boat a small albie! Jamie spent some time boxing in the area but nothing else doing. Weather kept changing, it would lay down for a little while, then pick back up again. Headed to the 425, kept looking for paddies, found a few that were not holding, but paddies were still few and far between. Still no real enrouaging signs of life and the weather really started to get snotty. Jamie had plans to try a few different things, and with the weather turning sour we got over to the Islands to get out of the wind. The fleet was there, but it was getting late and Jamie was working super hard to try to get us a bag of fish so we got into the thick of things at the middle grounds and started taking drifts. The bait was still holding up great and we ended up with a couple of hours of great fishing for yellow tail (6) and some nice size bones(15). Out of the 6 tails, Jammie hooked 3 of them, the guy has the magic touch. Headed for the barn at 6:00 pm or so, after almost 12 hours of solid fishing, I mean 12 solid hours of lines in the water fishing. It may not be over yet, but it sure was quiet out there today, we didn't hear anything from anyone on the radio and the weather was pretty tough throughout the day.

Jamie at Seasons is a fantastic alternative. He runs open charters for up to 4 people, the boat is a fishing machine and has the speed to get around, we covered 120 miles. For 11 or 12 hours of fishing, you would have to book a 1.5 day charter on the cattle boats. I am not saying anything bad about the cattle boats, because they can be realy good, but for a little less money you can get an awesome FULL day of fishing on a fast boat that can get in and around quickly, with a guy that is really going to go the extra mile for you to get you on something. He is well connected on the radio, the boat is unbelievalbe, and Jamie is just a class act. The guy was just not going to quit until he got us a bag of fish. I'll be going out with him again for sure. Check him out:

www.seasonssportfishing.com

kenny · Sep-27-2008, 11:18 AM

thanks for the report. We were lucky enough to buddy boat with jamie when the Yellow Fin Tuna were full speed. Great guy and great fisherman.

ramiro · Sep-27-2008, 01:32 PM

nice write up Cary... Great fishing with you.. Those long soaks at the middle grounds really paid off. Nice to see you have some fun out there after a long day of work. You earned em for sure...

babachu · Sep-27-2008, 01:43 PM

you can't go wrong fishing with Jamie. Every time I've fished with him he works his butt off to get you on the fish. Having those 2 big outboards really maximizes your fishing time too.

seasonsfishing · Sep-27-2008, 06:26 PM

cary... very nice report and thank you for the kind words... it was my pleasure and enjoyed having you on board with us... we worked our tails off and thank you for sticking it out... like i said , it is not over until it is over... looking forward to doing it again in the near future...

**Jason** · Sep-27-2008, 11:47 PM

Jamie called us in. We were just coming up the backside of the island to take a look as I knew bonies had been around and I wanted to get out of that weather. "Jason get over here"... Saw you guys bent most of the time and Jamie scrubbing the rails...
He's the man for sticking it out so long when other charters were headed in. Can't wait to fish Catalina for the large WSB with him.

seasonsfishing · Sep-29-2008, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason

Jamie called us in. We were just coming up the backside of the island to take a look as I knew bonies had been around and I wanted to get out of that weather. "Jason get over here"... Saw you guys bent most of the time and Jamie scrubbing the rails...
He's the man for sticking it out so long when other charters were headed in. Can't wait to fish Catalina for the large WSB with him.

hey jason , nice to fish with you all day indeed... thanks for calling us in down south , weather just would not permit making the run... looking forward to fishing with you for some WSB next year...

Sciaenops · Sep-29-2008, 12:44 PM

i've only fished w/Jamie & Seasons twice, but I agree 100% with the eval. Great guy w/top equipment who's more than willing to put in the work. Only weakness is his 2nd in the tower... just kiddin you Duane.

Shark Meat · Sep-30-2008, 12:37 PM

We ended up fishing next to you guys inside the islands late in the day and managed to get a few as well. We found breaking fish on the outside earlier -- they just didn't want to bite for us. We worked the ponies for over an hour too for nada. Rough day. Glad you got some.

seasonsfishing · Sep-30-2008, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shark Meat

We ended up fishing next to you guys inside the islands late in the day and managed to get a few as well. We found breaking fish on the outside earlier -- they just didn't want to bite for us. We worked the ponies for over an hour too for nada. Rough day. Glad you got some.

mike.. where did you guys fish and see the breaking fish.? i had the guys on a mission for most of the day looking for life and saw nothing ... i think we had a chance early in the morning with the ponies , but due to wind chop and them not gathering for us .. it was hard to manage the pod..

glad you guys got in and got some fish there at the end of the day too!

Shark Meat · Sep-30-2008, 06:08 PM

Jamie, Not exactly sure where we were, since we were fishing blind (I fried my Raymarine C-80 display as we were launching that morning), but it was between the 230 and the 371 heading inside when we spotted them. We had them breaking right next to the boat and they wouldn't take our sardines. The ponies were just north of there and we worked them for about an hour and a half for nada. DAWN PATROL reported great marks underneath too and still came up empty -- We had a DARK SCREEN -- Damn it that made "finding" so much more difficult. But we didn't get skunked afterall. We may be done for the season though, until I get the DISPLAY repaired. I'm having a hell of a time getting the plastic cover removed so I can uninstall the DISPLAY from the console. Any tips?

Oh yeah! I remember why I hate fishing the islands too. Those DAMN Sea Lions and birds are a real pain-in-the-ASS!

seasonsfishing · Sep-30-2008, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shark Meat

Jamie, Not exactly sure where we were, since we were fishing blind (I fried my Raymarine C-80 display as we were launching that morning), but it was between the 230 and the 371 heading inside when we spotted them. We had them breaking right next to the boat and they wouldn't take our sardines. The ponies were just north of there and we worked them for about an hour and a half for nada. DAWN PATROL reported great marks underneath too and still came up empty -- We had a DARK SCREEN -- Damn it that made "finding" so much more difficult. But we didn't get skunked afterall. We may be done for the season though, until I get the DISPLAY repaired. I'm having a hell of a time getting the plastic cover removed so I can uninstall the DISPLAY from the console. Any tips?

Oh yeah! I remember why I hate fishing the islands too. Those DAMN Sea Lions and birds are a real pain-in-the-ASS!

yea , we were getting great marks on the pony in the early AM... but as it has been for so many weeks , the marks 50 -100. i knew it would take hours , so we made moves south and that was the last i saw of them for the day...

your until still under warranty? i had a garmin that was out of warranty and gave them a call and they still took care of it.. make sure you give raymarine a call before you open it... they might just handle it for no charge..

keep me posted on how it goes... yes, those seals / birds are a pain in the ass at the islands...