Short Version:
Saturday morning 9 yellows from 22-29lbs then a bluefin offshore
Sunday morning 2 more sluggo yellows and a 15lb flattie
Long Version:
Got an invite to fish the Dana Angling Club tuna tournament this weekend on Dave Peter’s sweet 30 foot Rampage “Teaser” with Herbert and Larry Marble. How could a man pass that up? The game plan was to hit the morning yellowtail bite in Pyramid then head out in search of tuna, then do it again on Sunday.
Provisioned and headed out Friday night. Got a nice scoop of dines from the bait barge. They did a great job loading us up with light passes. Made the crossing at 10 knots, arriving at Pyramid around 2:00 am. Got a scoop of squid from the only light boat there, and set up inside for a quick nap. Moved outside to 125 feet just before grey light and dropped the hook in the armada. Options sportfishing was just inside us.
Put out the dropper loops with 10 ounces of lead and two squids pinned on. It didn’t take very long until they moved through with shouts of “fresh one” ringing out. Herbert was up first bagging his first ever yellowtail going 29lbs. Not a bad way to pop the cherry, eh? Then Dave and Larry were on fire with three each. I managed to scratch up two. When the dust settled around 7:30 and bite shut off, we had 9 sluggo yellows from 22-29 lbs on board. Oh yeah, what a sweet start with lots of big grins and high fives going around!!!! That was way too much fun and we didn’t dump a single fish.
Stowed the fish in a nice icy saltwater slurry and headed south in search of the bluefin that had been holding in the area keeping a close eye on the meter for deep marks. Checked out a few nice kelps with nobody home, except for a small dodo that didn’t want to play. It was slow and we didn’t seem to be alone, based on the radio chatter. Just above the Condom bank, the birds were working and a foamer of small bluefin popped up. Crept up within 30 yards and cast on them. Herbert gets hooked up on a dine with a rubber core and lands a 15lb fish. Once again he strikes first, and this was yet another first, popping his tuna cherry. Chased them around for a bit, tried chunking, but no more joy for us. It was pretty sweet watching them jump out the water working the bait ball, Blue Planet like. Saw an Albatross too. Water temps were 68.9 and clean blue water.
Conditions started to deteriorate with the wind picking up on top of a big short interval swell so we headed back to pyramid to set up for the night. Took it on the port beam and had water dripping from Teaser’s tower……..it was a bit snotty. We found a sweet spot and dropped the hook. Cleaned the fish and set aside some sweet himachi for appetizers with soy and wasabe. Dave BBQ’d tri-tip and made a most excellent dinner with microwave mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. What a great way to finish off a great day on the water with friends.
Back up before grey light to move out and drop the hook in 120 feet for the morning bite. The armada of boats had grown. Guess who was up first with a fish…….that’s right, Herbert, on a 30lb stick. It took him to the bow and seemed a lot bigger than the others. 20 minutes later at deep color we see why, it had a holdfast rock attached to the sinker. Larry got the next one, yet another sluggo yellow. Herbert’s up again, this time with a 15lb flattie. I managed to catch about 100 lbs of kelp then got a decent bite on a flattie that came unbuttoned…..arghhhhhhhhh…..farmed the first fish of the trip. There wasn’t nearly as much activity on the other boats either. That was it so we headed out again in search of tuna on slightly different more easterly heading.
Put 2 daisy chains back on planers to work deeper in the water column. It was like groundhog day offshore again with not much life. Water temps remained at 68.9 until we headed east towards the 43 where it bumped up a bit around 71 with better signs and more dry kelps 4 miles above it or so. Dave dropped back a marlin lure and we kept trolling. Had some excitement when a stripey jumped on it but it didn’t stick. Oh well. Called it a weekend at 3:30 and headed to the barn in nice flat seas.
It was a most excellent weekend on the water with friends. Thank you Dave for having me and showing us the ropes for light line angling. It looks like a blast. Hopefully our lone tuna is worth something in the DAC tourney. Time to get the marinade going and the smoker fired up!!! Hmmm…..some fresh poke and spicy yellowtail rolls sound good for dinner too.
For whatever it’s worth, just got the scoop on the bluefin bite down south. A friend was down there with no joy and watched a nice Mickleson whacking them. He asked what they were using and the fellow floated him a spreader bar with small teasers. They started whacking them too. We couldn’t put out a full spread since the tourney was IGFA. I make them at reasonable prices if anyone is interested……….
Bio: We have seen Indians in immense numbers, and all those on this coast of the Pacific contrive to make a good subsistence on various seeds, and by fishing.
Posts: 456
Nice job on those bad boys. Looks like you guys had blast. Congrats!!
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