With the season coming to a close I decided to take advantage of good conditions and make a long run south out of San Diego to see if I could find some tuna. Last minute cancellations resulted in the trip being solo. Left at 530 from Mission Bay and headed on a 218 course to the 390 fathom bank and beyond to the 213 fathom bank. Ended up being a 70 mile run from MB. It took about 3 hours running about 28 mph. Seas were essentialy flat with some rough spots as I passed high spots. Shortly clearing the jetty ran into a fog bank that stayed with me most of the day. Not real bad fog, the kind where you can see about 50 yards. About 10 miles out from the 390 at 50 miles I came across and area with alot of life. Put in the rapala's and immediately had a double Skippy knock down. These were nice grade fish, fat and sassy just like in Baja. I brailed some dead bait and cast a 500 grain with a deceiver. I let is sink for a 50 count as I coud see the marks 30 feet below in the FFinder. Strip fast and a strong stike. The skippy was fun and after a few I headed on as I was after Chickens (albacore) or Bluefin. Got below the 390 about 3 miles and put in the Rapala's. I like to troll Rapala's to find fish. In fact I have used the same Rapala in bonita colors the whole year and caught/located alot of fish on it. So back down it goes along with it's sister in Dorado color. 10 minutes later another double knock down. Tough to land two fish by yourself. kind of a fire drill. Get one in and it's an ablie about 12 pounds. I set up the fly rod, strip out line ready for the next knock down. Fun stuff. 5 minutes later bzzzzz the left troller goes off, favorite Rapala of course. I grab the bait net and brail some sardines. Reel up on the fish and put the rod in the rack, brail someore bail and run up to the fly rod. long cast strip, strip bam. Big fish, turns out to be a Skippy. Back to the troll fish, turns out to be an albacore, huh? These guys must be running together. Repeat the process again shortly with different results, troll fish Skippy, fly fish Albie. Continue to do this until it is time to head home. At one stop had an albacore on the fly and a school busting around the boat as long as I pitched dines. Released all the Skippys and kept enough Albies for the family to enjoy through the holidays. All the albies were in the 12-16 lb range. There is a big difference in the fighting qualities of Yellow Fin Tuna, skippies and Albacore. Albacore taste great but are not as strong as Yellow Fin Tuna and Skipjack. I had to start heading back around 1 pm, just short of 4 hrs actual fishing. The ride back was not as nice as the ride down. The wind came up and white caps started. I slowed down a bit and pushed through. Stopped at the 9 mmile bank to clean fish and the boat and made it in around 530pm. Ran into some friends at the launch and they asked if I ran alone out there. I showed them my safety system in which I tether myself to the boat with a rope. After falling in a few times in past years, when I'm alone I don't take chances. Nothing better than to spend some time alone with mother nature. Saw Rizzo Dolphins, gray whales and a pod of killer whales. Life is good.
Skippy
Albie
Some of the chickens cooling off
Lucky Rapala. It's just about to fall apart. I will replace the hooks and ride it out. I have two identical ones in boxes waiting to replace this guy but it just keeps on going.
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