Bright and Morning Star, 7 day

NESSIE HUNTER · Oct-14-2009, 11:49 AM

Left Monday morning Oct 5th, from H & M on the *Bright and Morning Star*.
105 X 22 ' ..
22 anglers on board..
had a private room to myself...

Got the crappiest bait I have ever seen, all looked skinned and bloody. Of course it was mostly dead before we even started to fish paddies on Tues...

Still heading south toward Cedros Isl...
The Lupe was/is still closed..

Paddies produced some football size Yellow Fin Tuna and Y/T and a couple of Dodo.

Got to The Isl and went Wide *Stupid Wide Open* on smaller grade Y/T.. Bait (dropper loop), Iron anything you threw.
?? S/W area of Isl???

Example: I hooked and landed FOUR (4) Y/T in one cast...
More on that later.. ?????????????

I got a couple and went in the galley to watch the carnage.. Wasnt to interested in 12# to 20# Y/T.. I was looking/wanting for the BIG fish....

Big mistake on my part, they never showed up...
I ended up with one more decent Yellow around 25#.. for the whole trip.
Couple small footballs Yellow Fin Tuna (4) and a few smaller Y/T (5) one decent Y/T about 25#..

7 days is a very long time to rock & roll out there for me...
Didnt/dont get sick at all, but bored and nothing to do......

Still not a bad trip, enjoyed the company, every one aboard was great, nicest passengers I have ever been with on a party boat.. Not even one dick in the bunch...
Deckies & cook were a pleasure to travel with... Thanks Guys!!

Im still rocking and rolling, sea sick at the computer!! ??
Jerry should have some more pics & a Video of me catching a Y/T and screaming like a little girl !!

For some reason, I dont have a lot of pics??? Guess You can only take so many pics of smaller grade fish, when your heart is set on the bigger ones...
Biggest fish were 'a few' to Almost 30# (27, 28 & 29#), and smaller jackpots winners... Most in the 10# to 20# range...

A few details..
Had a pretty good time, just to much dead time for me. 7 days is to long for my old arss out there.. I get impatient and irritated and want to kill something.. Did a lot of sitting in the galley and eating everything in sight. Great food and snacks out all the time, cookies, Mellon's, etc ..

I wanted to save a few $$ on fillets and would stop fishing on the smaller fish..
Got a few football Yellow Fin Tuna on the way down off paddies and a few Y/T on the WFO bite of smaller ones, then One larger Y/T the next day. Jerry should have a video of that?? (ill stick it in if I can later)..
Kind of funny.
I saw the bigger fish coming in as I sat in the Galley, ran out and threw the trusty Scrambled Egg Iron out.. Jerry was down the rail and said "I know your gonna hook up, and Im gonna Video it" ..
Damn, first cast and WHAM, hooked up.. Vid running, I started to act stupid for the Video.
Funny stuff (I think, havnt seen it yet).. Good Yellow also.. My biggest & last one for the trip.

Jerry ran out of patches, they kept falling off several people using them?? WTF??
He began using the pills and they tore him up.. Felt like crap the last 3 days.. :down:
I felt bad for him.. He was one of the Hot Sticks on the boat till then..
Bill (Jerry's co-worker, we carpooled together in his Crew Cab Diesel, Sweet ride) Bill Was another hot stick...
They slayed the smaller WFO Y/T!!!!
Jerry shared his catch with me to bring me up to a pretty full Ice Chest from about 1/2 (I took 4 chests in anticipation of all the GIANT fish??

..
Thanks man, appreciate that a lot...
Had promised a lot of people some Fillets and was worried I wouldnt have enough to go around.... :love: :woot:
No major highlights that I can think of, just a long boring trip with nothing to do..
Went to Jerry's on the way home to Vacuum pack fish..

Quan (fishtaco) & Ralph (Wildhorse) came by to help, and add a couple extra Vacuum Units to use. That made the job pretty darn quick and easy for all of us..
Big thanks guys..

For those that are questioning the 4 yellow tail I caught in one cast!

We hit a paddy and saw some bait, threw out the Sabiki rigs and low and behold, baby Y/T all over..
I had a 6 hook #2 rig and was bringing up 4 at a time to about 6/8".. Funny shiat I tell ya...
Even the babies pull hard as hell!!!

We did hit some rough water Fri though Sat, Looked like Deadliest Catch stuff.
Waves busting the Bow, while on the troll, the waves would rise way above our heads, cool shiat man!!! :agh:

That night I was going to bed, taking off my sweatshirt, as sweatshirt was over my head **BAM** face plant right into the upper bunk edge .

Thought I broke out all my lower teeth?? But only tore up my lower lip on the outside, didnt even cut the inside of lip.
Dam looked like I got my arss kicked pretty good. Still sore and scabbed over!!!!

Sorry I dont have a lot of Fish Porn, I was either to busy fishing or to bored sitting in the Galley to take them....

If this is rambling, sorry.. I am full of DayQuil & NightQuil.. DRUGS!!!

Most of the pics will be self explanatory, so I will just post em up.

CEDRO'S 7 day 09 040

Just a side note:
Had one voice-mail on my phone as I drove home (I found it and turned it on near the 138 turn off).
My close friend who I run around with all the time. George McKenzie.
Had passed away on Thur while I was gone...
I will miss him a lot..

RIP George!!
Semper Fi my brother!!!!!!

I expected it to happen, he had Bladder Cancer and the first Chemo treatment almost killed him 2 weeks ago.
Kidneys failed and heart was working at about 13%, Had Diabetes and organs were all to weak to handle it..
He was taken to Tahachapi for Hospice care...
He asked to be allowed to die.
DNR and unplug him from Dialysis....
He went peacefully and quietly into the night.....

His funeral is Thur in Bakersfield ('Arvin' outside Bakotown off 58) at a new "Bakersfield National Cemetery", with full Military Honors...
I am going to overdose on DayQuill so I can attend and say my last farewell to a very good friend.

.

JJONES660 · Oct-14-2009, 01:00 PM

sounds like a fun time! I did a 3 day when I was a kid on the BMS and boy that thing does suck in the rough weather. On the slide the boat is so skinny that it bobs back and forth and it felt like i was gonna get thrown over

. I remember my first experience with Bluefin on that boat we had some 150-200lb class fish show up crashing on horse sized sardines. Nobody got bit but I got close. I had one chasing my bait way out and remember reeling it in as fast as i could terrified at the thought of actually hooking up

.

Good times!

sorry bout your buddy

NESSIE HUNTER · Oct-20-2009, 11:56 AM

Sorry for the delay, just got some more Pic & info from Jerry.. My post was done on an overdose of Dayquil and was kind of distorted and rambling, this may be somewhat better.. LMAO...
===========

Here's a recap of the trip.
Day 1: Head south no fishing.

Day 2: Trollfor 10-12 lb Yellow Fin Tuna and mid teen Dodos. I keep 10 Yellow Fin Tuna and 2 Dodos
Day 3: Wake up on the anchor at Cedros. First 1 1/2 hours I land 10 Yellowtail to 20 lbs. I was disappointed on the size but they were fun. For the rest of the day I fished a little, took pics, and ate. Very fun day.

Day 4: We go offshore looking for the bigger Yellow Fin Tuna. A couple of 30lbers were caught but again the average were the 10-12 lbers. I keep 5 Yellow Fin Tuna and again 2 Dodos.

Day 5: Back to the island. The wind and waves were up and it was hard to get the iron to the bottom. I didn't get anything this day but i really didn't care or try to hard. I already had 35+ fish in the box so anything else for the trip was gravy.

Day6 and 7: Head north for home. More trolling and kelp paddy fishing. For me it was sit in the gally and watch a movie. The pills were not working and I felt like Quan. I never :puke: but I was counting the minutes to the dock.

Day 7: Woke up to flat calm seas and the guys were fishing for rock fish just south of Coranado Island. I hear some cheers and a guy is happy he caught a Boccaccio. Give me a break. i'm feeling like SH^%*e and we are fishing for Rock fish. Thank god the captain decided to head in early. We docked at 1230.

Quan and Ralph showed up at my house to help bag the fish. Thanks again you guys.

Here's a few more pics & one Video
.

.

**Surfdoc** · Oct-20-2009, 12:12 PM

Thanks for the report. The Nyquil effect was pretty entertaining

Have known Ben and Suzie for many years. Great folks!

Sorry about your friend, but as we all age, unfortunatley it will become more common.

hot tuna · Oct-20-2009, 05:39 PM

Glad you caught something. I rode the BMS way back in the 90's, and remember it as a floating cigar. Narrow boat that rolled all over the place. They stuck my buddy and I with the crew in the bow. I will never forget it!! A long rocky ride to Guadalupe for no fish.
Did they talk about going to Alijos? Do they go to the Rocks? I know they can make good speed, 18 knots. Do they have a RSW system yet. I notice sacks in the background, on a 7 day??
Looks like you had fun.
Steve

NESSIE HUNTER · Oct-21-2009, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hot tuna

Glad you caught something. I rode the BMS way back in the 90's, and remember it as a floating cigar. Narrow boat that rolled all over the place. They stuck my buddy and I with the crew in the bow. I will never forget it!! A long rocky ride to Guadalupe for no fish.
Did they talk about going to Alijos? Do they go to the Rocks? I know they can make good speed, 18 knots. Do they have a RSW system yet. I notice sacks in the background, on a 7 day??
Looks like you had fun.
Steve

Steve, as far as I know?? NO RSW system yet.
Im not very up to date on the boats.
105' X 22'....
Morning Star Charters - Bright and Morning Star
Seems comfy and stable to me. We Ran into some rough seas (Fri/Sat) and it rode just fine IMHO???
Although I did do a 'face plant' into upper bunk rail while taking off my sweatshirt that night (busted up my lower lip pretty good)..
But Im old... That was my fault!!!!

I have no complaints about the boat itself.
The Crew was super good.
Young man decky "Robert" was all over, every thing, all the time. Big Hand to him.
The rest were just as good and pleasant to be out with... HE was just Fast..
Thanks Robert...!!!!!
(thats him missing the gaff in the Video).. ROTFLMAO..
Even the Cook was out helping & gaffing when not cooking, all very nice..
5 Crew and Capt for 22 pass...
Crew & galley Service was excellent!!

22 pass on this trip, (was limited load of 28). I had a cabin to myself.

I have not been on any other long rang boats, so my knowledge of them is quite limited..
I would have no problem recommending this one to my friends.
Also has some excellent prices....
Early purchase Price is great...... ($999)
Police & Fireman specials and Veterans Specials... ($750) Cant beat that..
I know I could not have done a trip like this without that Special price..
(retired)....
I can now cross it off my Bucket List!!!!! Maybe even go again???

.

PaDDy Killer' · Oct-21-2009, 10:36 AM

Good report Nessie. Too bad about the quality of the fish, I know I would be a little dissapointed myself.

TurdRoller · Oct-21-2009, 10:51 AM

if you think those yellows are small, you should see what we were catching a few weeks ago. that size right there is perfect if you ask me. great eating, and still have a little attitude. now the Yellowtail's that can be outweighed by a mackerel, those are too small

captsg · Oct-21-2009, 04:40 PM

Thank you for your honest comments. We did the best we could, its tough with
strong winds,and changing water conditions & temp breaks. Thanks for being a
trooper

FishSwami · Oct-21-2009, 08:07 PM

I was on this trip and I'm going again soon,

The Captain is a good guy who worked 20 hours a day to find fish and bait that we would have possibly needed for the trip home. He was also good at listening to passengers, their opinions and concerns.

I have done a fair amount of long range fishing. No Captain is ever going to have the luxury of all passengers agreeing with his style or every decision unless it's wide open the entire trip (never happens).

I myself did not agree with every decision but I knew that the Captain was working hard the whole time. It must be a fine line and quite stressful as well. Since it's their business, it's probably more important to the Captain and crew to catch fish than it is to me so I always keep this in mind as the ultimate concession to my desires. All of these guys have spent waaaay more time than me on the water so their experience far outweighs what I think I know.

I caught tons of nice fish. How could I not come away with a good feeling?

The crew was experienced as well and I look forward to traveling with them again. When I brought my young son with me on a 3 day trip, they were helpful, careful and very attentive.

The customer service is excellent on the booking end and the owner / gals have made very generous efforts to keep everyone happy.

The boat is a bit older but definitely adequate. In fact it's more stable bow to stern than many, even though it constantly takes a verbal beating for what I rated as somewhat minimal lateral instability.

To some extent, it is true that you do get what you pay for. It is a somewhat older boat, the food is not a fancy presentation (but is in fact excellent, on time and very filling), and the crew doesn't wear golf attire. But... if you want a VERY reasonable price this is an excellent option. They even offered law enforcement and firefighters an unheard of price on this trip. Very nice.

If you can afford to live the good life on the Intrepid for a whole lot more dough then do it. (I did and I can't wait to go again!) But... if you want to spend more time on the water, gain weight, have fun and catch fish at a good price then I would definitely consider the BMS.

Looking forward to Guadalupe...

TP

JJONES660 · Oct-21-2009, 08:20 PM

wow! 7 days $999 thats a tough deal to beat!

I think thats how I landed on the BMS as a kid. Could not afford a 3 day on one of the boats I really wanted to be on

.

At 18 knot cruising speed im suprised they dont run mag bay on a 7 day

JJONES660 · Oct-21-2009, 08:23 PM

btw does Ben (owner) run the boat at all? or does he have other guys captaining?