Fishing Report Late Post - 8/29 on the Sea Watch - Epic Fishing

[Talljk]

If ever there was a "you should have been there yesterday trip", it was this one.
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The boat was brought online late and we ended up with only 21 passengers out of a 35 max load for sale. No rent rods on the boat.

The captain was Nick, whose last name I never did get, with Matt splitting the cooking and decking and the redoubtable Bob Williams as the other deck hand.

The day started off with a 90 minute boat ride out to the southwest from ffice:smarttags" />Mission Bay. We were first on a pod of spinner Dolphins (on the order of 100 or so), got out in front and got our baits in the water.

We were hooked up instantly, got 8 or 9 25-30# Yellow Fin Tuna off the first pass, repeated the process several more times till the idiocy factor of some private boaters drove the tuna down to stay. We ended with 21 Yellow Fin Tuna on this series of stops, what some would say is a pretty good day for a 3/4 day boat.

After a few more tries, Nick got fed up with the privates and we headed out west to the border.

We trolled around rather fruitlessly till about 12:30-12:45 and found a small paddy. As we came up on it you could see a lot of life on it, a couple of small Dorado and what turned out later to be a lot of Skippies. These fish mostly spooked off the paddy, and several of us started to drop some deep jigs on the fish that Nick was metering.

The hot stick on the boat, a gentleman named Russ, hooked a small Albie on iron and landed it. Then, with nothing else going on for the moment, as Nick was deciding to leave the paddy as unproductive, Bob Williams spotted a school of breezing fish just down swell. Nick bumped the boat forward 100 yards or so, Bob brailed a couple of scoops, AND IT WAS ON.

Mixed Skippie and Yellow Fin Tuna started to boil on the corner of the boat, and I mean it was foaming. Bob held them in the corner with a carefully applied amount of sardines, and they bit!!!!

Dows the term "Chewing the paint off the bottom of the boat" mean anything to you?

For nearly an Hour it was full bore WFO, with baits barely hitting the water on 40# before being inhaled by a seriously aggressive tuna.

It was so open that Nick threw a troll feather on 80# and had it bit instantly.

I personally pulled in 6 fish in less than an hour and sat down on a wide open bite. Talk about completely trashed, soaked and bloody, with a grin a mile wide. That was my day.

Russ was top on the day with 10 Yellow Fin Tuna and 2 Albies, I ended a close second with 9 Yellow Fin Tuna and a serious state of elation.

Sea Watch 3/4 Day 21 anglers
28 Skipjack Tuna, 4 Dorado, 2 Albacore, 72 Yellowfin Tuna

With very few exceptions, everybody was moving their feet, and talking their way up and down the rails in the true spirit of tuna killing, er fishing.

My huge thanks to Nick, Matt and Bob for one of the truly great fishing trips.

TallJK

Jim in SD

[geno machino]

SWEEEEEEET!

[SDSUWarren]

Nice! It's cool to see the 3/4 day boats getting in on the tuna action.