Friday evening 9-25-09
Fishing with Ron Bowers on his magnificent 60’ private yacht “Salt Fever”, Sat. and Sun. with crew of, Steve, Michael, Glenn, Vincent and OJ. I left from my workplace in San Bernardino at 3pm, arriving Harbor Island around 5:05 pm.
We left out of Ron’s slip in Harbor Island West, San Diego at 7:00 pm. We stopped at EB for 6 scoops of very nice sardines in various sizes. We cleared the Point just before 8pm, and quickly ran into a thick fog bank, narrowly avoiding a Sporty entering the harbor. It was nervous time, as most of the fleet was returning from their day at sea, plus a few private boaters and yachts. No further close calls, and the fog lifted shortly thereafter, as Ron set our cruising speed at 8.5 knots, heading to our numbers at roughly 85 miles, 183 degrees south.
The ride out was extremely pleasant, as the stabilizers kept the rocking to a bare minimum, the seas were grease calm and it was balmy out, with some cloud cover, which eventually opened up to a full view of all the star systems, with a half moon to light our way. I had the 1:30am to 3:30am watch, and I am happy to say I had no encounters of the wrong kind. Ron popped up and checked everything out, to ensure all was working properly and to see if I had any questions or concerns. He also showed me his new toy which was a laptop computer that displayed all kinds of weather data from XM Satellite. Wind models, sea temps, storm warnings, wave height etc., basically live, as it is updated every hour. That was a fun session with Captain Ron and made the time pass quickly.
Most of the fleet caught us during my shift, and were all on a similar course, yet a little bit to the east of us. No one early on worked west of us.
Saturday 9-26-09.
I awoke to the wonderful smell of fresh brewing coffee, right at grey light. Ron indicated we were at 85 miles down, and told me to put in the trolling gear. Pouring a cup of hot coffee, and selecting a glazed donut, I stepped outside to somewhat choppy seas, an 8 knot breeze, and only a modest semi hazy sunrise.
We started trolling with one large B/P and one Anchovy color mid-sized Rapala, short on both sides, a pink jet head down the middle, a B&P cedar plug, long to the port side, while we ran a Zuchini Broom Tail long on the starboard side. It was still dark enough outside to not be able to see very clearly, as Steve joined Ron in the upstairs fly bridge to look for paddies.
It wasn’t a minute later, before the sweet sound of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ rang out, a double, with another short biter. Steve hustled down from upstairs, while I grabbed one of the hooked fish, and Steve the other. Ron cleared the other trollers, as the other crew were still stumbling out of their bunk or in their sleep stupor. I was first to bring the fish to the surface, hollered gaff, as I yelled out, a big Albacore, and Captain Ron made a dandy eyeball gaff! Wow what a slug . Steve’s fish had taken a lot of line and wasn’t even close to being landed.
A dandy jig fish!
I pinned on a slimy green sardine to my 30 lb. 6’ Cal Star tuna stick, with 3’ of Seaguard Fluorocarbon leader, a 3/0 mutu circle hook, a ¼ oz sliding sinker, and Trinidad 30 reel. My sardine hit the water, a boil exploded right on it, set the hook, and I hollered fresh one!!!!!!!!!!!
Yikes, this fish wanted no part of that sting of the hook, and high tailed it away from the boat some 100 yards before finally coming to a halt, then began to slowly sound. About five minutes later, just after Steve’s fish was landed, I let Ron know I had deep color, a few quick short pumps, then Ron stuck the pig Albacore right in the head, so sweet!
This was my biggest Albacore of the year so far, 35 lbs. which is always extra special when caught on bait.
There were several other hooks ups on bait, but none landed due to the combo of light line, and big fish, or poor knot tying, pulled hooks, etc.? I’m reasonably sure that if everyone had been up and ready to go, we would have had a better showing of fish on the deck, bummer.
Here is a picture of the three slugs on ice!
We continue trolling. The Rapalas are being eaten alive by the skippies, which were as thick as flies! After reaching 90 miles, Ron elected to head east, hoping to get away from the skipjack tuna, to no avail. We stopped on a number of paddies, most were dry, yet some had fish, guess what, more skippies! Listening to the radio, several sporties reported already having found the Magic kelp paddy, catching limits of Yellowfin tuna before 7am, and were heading west for the albies or something else besides Yellow Fin Tuna?
Glenn rings the chow bell, and we take turns enjoying a delicious sausage and egg sandwich.
We finally find a decent kelp, with terns and gulls diving on it. The first few hookups resulted in micro yellowtail or micro Do Do’s, then the yellowfin tuna showed up! After releasing a micro tail, my next bait gets inhaled by a little better model Yellowfin, compared to the others caught ranging in size from 6 to 10 lbs., maybe this one was 12+ lbs.
Myself with a Yellowfin tuna.
Here is picture of the six Yellow Fin Tuna caught on our first decent paddy of the day, that is one which was holding fish.
We picked away at a tuna here and there, now with 10 in the bag, and stopped on some huge paddies which only had bait or micro tails on them. It was getting late in the afternoon, about 1:30pm, just after filling our faces with an enormous deli sandwich, washed down with a cold Modelo beer, when the mother of all paddies was spotted by Steve in the tuna tower. Folks how many of you have been waiting to come upon a Magic kelp Paddy? Well here is what a Magic Kelp Paddy looks like?
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
Magic Kelp Paddy!
And this picture doesn’t really due it justice, as it was easily 100’ long and 25’ wide, much larger than our 60’ boat and the camera could not get all of it in.
Almost every bait that hit the water was instantly slammed. We had boils all around the boat, and it was an outright wide open bite on yellowtail, Dorado, and Yellowfin tuna for well over an hour. It was soon catch and release on the Yellow Fin Tuna, as limits were made in short order. I grabbed my 40 lb. outfit, armed with a Mega Bait lure, and just tossed it in the corner, it didn’t make it down 10’ as I saw tails, Do Do’s and a big mass of dark brown/yellow bodies of tuna all charging the lure or any bait put in the water, an incredible sight to remember. There had to be a thousand fish on this paddy?
I hooked and released all three species on the lure, keeping only a few bigger models of tuna, a 7-8 lb. yellowtail, that was gut hooked, and a similar size Do Do that was also bleeding from the gills.
Michael hooked and landed the only decent size Do Do, about 15 lbs.
Vincent with a nice Yellowfin Tuna
Michael with a Yellow Fin Tuna.
We left them biting, as Ron set a course northwest to spend the night on the sea anchor. The wind had increased to over 10 knots by mid morning, then declined to around 6 knots, until about 3pm, when it reached, probably 15 knots, and blew all night!
The filet board was brought down from the bridge, and all hands pitched in. I volunteered to filet, Michael was my skinner, and gathered the fish to the filet board, Steve and OJ deboned and removed the bloody meat, while Vincent rinsed the fish, as Glenn bagged it up and marked it, before storing in the fish hold under a solid pack of ice.
Final count for Saturday’s fishing was limits yellowfin tuna, 3 Albacore, several Do Do’s and Yellowtail with dozen’s released.
I was first to shower, and man that was a million dollar shower. Cracked open a chilled bottle of Chardonnay, took a sip and thought out, oh how sweet it is! Steve fixed up an appetizer of the smoked Ahi and Albacore I brought along from my smoker on previous trips, mixing it with creamed cheese and placing it on an Italian cracker of some brand I can’t remember, yum yum!
Dinner consisted of pasta salad, corn on the cob, and grilled Mahi Mahi! After dinner Ron turned on the Satellite TV and I was thrilled to find out he could retrieve the USC vs Washington State college football game. I have been an avid Trojan fan for over 45 years now, and go to most home games, and many of the bowl games in the Rose Bowl and elsewhere. Am I dreaming, or is this Heaven?
OJ woke me up for my two hour deck watch shift at 1:30am to 3:30am, yuk, I felt like a Zombie, having stayed up late to watch the football game, and observe the placing of the sea anchor at 11pm. Also there were a few more hitches in my giddy up, after a busy day on the water.
Sunday 8-30-09.
Again I woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, boy did I need it? Pastries and fresh fruit were on the table to hold us off from what was to be a breakfast special of Bacon, and waffles, smothered in blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream, oh yeah, life is really really good!
The skies were in a deep overcast condition, the winds were a blowing and already capping, yet the swells were not too bad early on. We began trolling at around 6:20 am, a bit after grey light, and it wasn’t very long before we had a double on the jigs, Glenn and Vincent manning the jig fish . These were bigger fish, as the drags screamed out in agony!
I chummed some bait, and pinned on a nice sardine to my 30 lb. outfit. One, two, three, the line gets that thump sensation as a fish inhales the bait, and begins a fast retreat. I wind down until the line comes tight, and lift my stick, hollering fresh one, yeah baby. Yikes this rascal has a motor on it and feels real heavy. A great run on the surface, I gain a little line, then another good run all the way up and around the bow, then the fish sounds. The huge tuna goes into its death circle, slapping its tail as it lays sideways, while I attempt to gain a few inches at a time. Deep color, and it’s obviously a big’n. Ron is there with the gaff, but this fish does not like the side of the boat and takes a good dive. I bring it back to the surface, and Ron sticks it in the high belly, then grunts, asking me to help him lift it a board, as the gaff is slippery with the weight of the big tuna.
My second biggest of the year fish on this trip, a 35 lb. Yellowfin Tuna. A month ago I caught my biggest bluefin tuna of the year with Ron, a 45 lb’er.
Glenn with a solid 25 lb. yellowfin on the B/P Rapala.
Myself, Vincent and Glenn with our early morning catch of Yellowfin Tuna.
Similar to yesterday, we only caught skippies the rest of the morning, and I caught a single yellowfin on the slide, about 9 lbs. Vincent later caught a similar size Yellow Fin Tuna off a paddy. The winds blew all day, and only relented when we approached North Coronado Island. We worked through several schools of ponies, with good tuna marks under them, but no hookups.
For lunch appetizers, Steve became sushi chef extraordinaire, and fixed up some fantastic spicy tuna rolls, wrapped in seaweed and sticky rice, cucumbers, and crab meat, absolutely to die for. Of course there was also freshly sliced ahi tuna sashimi to dip in the wasabi mix. After we stuffed our gullets with Sushi and sashimi, Glenn grilled up some of my company’s manufactured jalapeno sausage, served on what else, a tasty Jalapeño hoagie roll. Wow does it get any better than this?
Ron heads us north to home at 2:30 pm. The filleting and boat cleaning begins. Another incredible adventure at sea with Ron on the Salt Fever.
Arrived in Harbor Island at 6pm.
Final count on Sunday: 5 Yellowfin, and a dozen skippies released.
The Salt Fever Crew-09-27-09
Ron thanks so very much for the invite, can’t wait until we do it again. A pleasure to share a rail with you again Steve, and great meeting you Glenn, Vincent, Michael, and OJ.
Hook up!
Cory
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