Hi guys -- sorry for the late post -- not a lot to report from the trip. The weather laid down, but unfortunately so did the fish.
Left on Friday afternoon around 1 P.M. with a boat load of excited passengers -- reports of WFO albacore bites being the first and foremost thought on everyone's mind. Loaded up with big sardines and some chovy, and set course for the tuna grounds. We set up gear, traded war stories, ate dinner, and settled in for the night in anticipation of getting the decks bloody in the morning.
Saturday, we hit the area and started trolling. We metered some fish in the morning, but they just did not want to bite the feathers. Some of the marks were pretty decent, so we brought the feathers in and fished bait, which resulted in some success for several anglers. I started off my day getting sawed off several times, and then could not get bit. Zero fish for me until about 5 p.m. At that point, we finally got into a stop that wanted to play, and it was by no means wide open, but we had steady fishing for about an hour. I managed to put five fish on at that stop, and redeemed myself for not being able to catch a thing all afternoon. I was able to fish one more stop before heading in to play my role as galley wench, and put one more on the boat. Note: a lot of our bait rolled during the day, so finding a decent one that would swim well was tough.
On Saturday night, we made the decision to stay in the area and try to get some more tuna on the boat. There had been reports of yellowfin from 60-80 lbs. down south of us, but one boat that went down there reported they found nothing, and ended up back in our area.
Sunday would prove to be tougher than Saturday. The morning started out with a steady plunker, but it went downhill after that. We were called into an area where some bluefin were caught in the morning -- spent a lot of bait and a lot of time trying to get these things to bite. We metered quite a few fish, and had many jumping around the boat -- in my mind I could just see them jumping out of the water flipping us the bird -- they just would not take bait. Nicer sized models too -- I believe the BMS hooked 10, landed 4, and lost one at gaff they estimated to be approx. 60 lbs. Our bait situation was getting bleak, and thanks to several other boats, we were able to get some more from them. We finally got into an evening bite on the albacore, and I got into a competition with a kid named Nick who was one of the best young sticks I've seen in awhile (and a head full of fishing knowledge which he wanted to share with everyone!). Game was on, tied at 6 fish each -- we both hooked on a bait, went to the stern, cast out, and literally got hooked at exactly the same time -- it was pure comedy. We ended up tied after that stop with 3 fish a piece, bringing our totals to 9. Competition done, I headed off to the galley to get ready for dinner, and a few more stops were made with what would, for the trip, be considered decent.
We headed inshore for fishing on Monday -- not wanting to spend just a couple of hours to repeat what we had gone through most of the day Sunday. The passengers were looking forward to fishing for a little more variety. Unfortunately it must have been that time of the month for Mother Nature, because the red tide would prevent us from getting any fishing in at the beach. We got word of some barracuda around the rockpile area, and decided to make a move -- unfortunately there was no current, and all we managed was a few bottom dwellers (some really nice sculpin though). Made the move into the Islands to try for some calicos -- my friend Steve Shiba caught this nice one once we were about to leave.
Although the fishing could have been better, I count my blessings as the weather cooperated, and I got to spend time with old friends, and the many new that I made. Oh yeah, don't fall asleep in the wheelhouse when the fishing is slow, as we, the crew, love to have a little fun..................
Total counts for 25 passengers:
20 rockfish, 21 sculpin, 25 calico bass, 1 bluefin, 145 albacore
I fished 20 and 25 lb test, using a 2/O to 3/O hook for the sardines. Water temp varied between 64.5 and 65.1 (from what I can remember
) Where were we? Where the other 3000+ members of the fleet were fishing!
The radar was solid boats........................
Brent -- it was great to meet you, and hope to share a rail with you again in the future!
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