Fishing Report Shogun 8day (10/10-10/18)

Garrettc8 · Oct-25-2009, 07:37 PM

Damn, it’s already been a week since we got back. I’ve told myself I’ll post a report within a couple days but work was limiting me from doing squat. Shoot, I didn’t have a second to pick my nose this week.

Anyways, the trip ran smoothly with a great bunch of anglers. It was a pleasure sharing the rail with fellow BD’ers, John (Redbeard), Steve(Steve K), Dave(Dorado Dave), Andy(Da Big Dawg), Oscar(Chubaca6) and Mark(NCaltunachaser). I want to give thanks to Craig(Shaka760) and the rest of the Shogun crew for doing a fine job on deck.

Here is how the trip went:

Fishing conditions were normal for Alijos. It was never wide open on YFTs on the days we were there. It was a pick bite at best. The grade of YFTs went from 15lbs to 90lbs. Most of them were between 40-80lbs. Majority of my bites came in from LOOOON NGG soaks. Wahoos were around here and there. I don’t believe any wahoos were landing on Jigs. All wahoos caught were on bait. Boo! There was one nice wahoo that was landed by Dorado Dave on trolled Marauder (Pink and Black) when we first arrived at the rocks. Post a pic of that nice catch Dave!

We mainly fished 50-60# line for the most part but at times, I did fish go down to 40# which helped to bargain me a few yellowfins and a wahoo. Oh yea, the kite, how did I almost forget that. It treated all of us on the Shogun well. Almost everyone, if not all, landed a nice tuna on it with live squids, that were jigged up the night before.

Here is a story of my adventurous catch. I was fighting an 80# Yellow Fin Tuna on my Calstar 700H pair with my NEW Accurate BX2-500. As I was fighting the fish up and down while it was doing its circle of death, the reel’s base came off of the reel! Yes, it came off completely! I noticed that the base lost a couple screws from it not having any locktite. (This happened to someone before on the forum). I now only have 2 of the 4 screws. So I now have the reel base on the reel seat of the rod, and I’m holding BX2-500 reel itself with my other hand. Now what?!?! Luckily, Craig, Tommy, and Matt came to the rescue. They got a screwdriver and tightened the screws that were holding the reel base to the reel itself tightly and continued the battle. After about 2 mins, the reel came off again! This is the 2^nd time, and by now, I figured the screw threads on the reel were stripped. I hurried and grabbed another set up off the rack and Tommy cut the line from the Accurate BX2-500 and tied a worm knot to a uni to continue the fighting the fish up. This is all while the fish is relentlessly trying to flee the boat. Miraclously, the fish came up and had a relieving gaff to the fish. Up and over the rail it came! A good THUMP on the black rubber-matted deck with high fives all around for the one that could have and should have gotten away. Big big thanks for the Shogun crew on the catch!

Other than yellowfins at the rocks, there were some yellowtails caught. One notable forky that was caught by Marley, scaled at 42# at the docks. It was on the kite with squid I believe. DoDo’s were everywhere. There were pesky like flies on shit at times. Most of us stopped fishing when we saw a school come around the corner. It was hilarious to witness the school move from our boat to a neighboring boat. You know when they are Dodo’s when everyone on the stern is bent and doing the “Dorado, oh shit tangle shuffle”.

After the rocks, we moved up the line to Clam Bay/ Turtle bay for some jellows! More often than not, it is WFO on the yellows the over there. This time was no exception. The grade was decent, ranging from 15-25lbs. They weren’t Cedros grade yellows, but it was still fun. All of my forkies came from yoyo jigging. After about 15 of them in a row, I attempted the surface iron for a big nada. They didn’t want to come up the water column. Most of them hovered down in the 70ft-100ft depth. After the yellows, we chase a school of porpoise around for some popper sized yellowfins. We did that until dark and called it a trip.

All in all, it was a great trip. It was my first time on the Shogun, which is definitely not my last. The crew worked hard throughout the trip with Randy and Bryan buttering us up some delicious meals and snacks.

Da Big Dawg · Oct-26-2009, 08:24 AM

Great Report, It was a pleasure sharing the rail with you!

spike · Oct-26-2009, 08:26 AM

Congrats on your trip, nice Hoo, Yellow Fin Tuna, & Yellowtail. Can't beat that.

nick17yz · Oct-26-2009, 09:48 AM

nice report!!!!!!!!!

kml · Oct-26-2009, 09:54 AM

Thanks for taking the time to report on your trip !! Looks like y'all did really well, those are some NICE fish. I'm looking forward to getting out there again !!

CHUBACA6 · Oct-26-2009, 10:05 AM

Best thing about this trip was there was no egomaniacs,"That Guy"was definetely not on this trip.It was great fishing with you guys Garret.Sent a PM

afraser · Oct-26-2009, 12:07 PM

Great trip, but I gotta ask, did you follow up with Avet about the bx2500 on the best way to fix it? That's just awful, for a brand new reel. Since I have the same reel, I guess I'll get some locktite or something before I go on my 11 day trip.

yft1979 · Oct-26-2009, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afraser

Great trip, but I gotta ask, did you follow up with Avet about the bx2500 on the best way to fix it? That's just awful, for a brand new reel. Since I have the same reel, I guess I'll get some locktite or something before I go on my 11 day trip.

That would be accurate Aaron...

Ill have to check all my reels now before I ship off next wednesday. Great report thanks. Cant wait to get my shot at those nice grade fish next week!

Garrettc8 · Oct-26-2009, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yft1979

That would be accurate Aaron...

Ill have to check all my reels now before I ship off next wednesday. Great report thanks. Cant wait to get my shot at those nice grade fish next week!

I'm having the reel sent in for them to inspect it. Let's see what they'll say/do.

NCalTunachaser · Oct-26-2009, 05:59 PM

Garrett,
Nice report and pictures. I really enjoyed this trip, great group of anglers. Early Fall trips are my favorite, best time for a good variety of fish although I could have done with a few less Dorado on this trip.

afraser · Oct-26-2009, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yft1979

That would be accurate Aaron...

Ill have to check all my reels now before I ship off next wednesday. Great report thanks. Cant wait to get my shot at those nice grade fish next week!

You know those guys at Avet just wouldn't help me out. I don't know what got into them. I'm calling Daiwa next. D'oh!

Steve K · Oct-26-2009, 08:59 PM

We had one heckuva trip. I was up in the wheelhouse with Bruce several times throughout the trip, and on the last day, he said he was glad to be able to accomplish two goals.

One, was to give every angler an opportunity to catch a trophy fish. Well, we sure had that chance at Alijos. Between having our shots on the kite and getting some good ones on the flylined Sardine, I don't know how many guys got their personal bests, but I'm sure there were a few. My two kite fish were both foul hooked, making me think I had a good one. The first one was a little football that came in tail wrapped, and the second one was hooked in the mouth with the circle hook from the head of the squid, but the J hook swung back and snagged him in the side. Well, the line was tied to the J hook first so I had to bring him in sideways. It was the one day that we had a little wind and the boat was bouncing pretty good. Took way to long to kill it. When the boat dropped into the swell, I would get a bunch of winds, but when it came back up, I would lose most of it. I did manage a nice 72 lb Yellowfin on the Sardine. Seems to me that the way to go on those fish is a small two speed with good freespool that will allow that bait to swim at the end of the long soak.

The other goal was to get to an area of good biting fish where we could be busy with the bite, whether it be Yellowtail or smaller Yellowfin. What a bonus that we got both at Tutrle Bay. It was amazing that after putting the wood to those Yellows with the yoyo iron, Bruce only had to make about a ten minute move to find the ponies and the schools of tuna. What a way to wrap that trip up! Oh, by the way, the office was open for business. Once we settled into a drift, I would pin on a bait, dash up the downwind side of the boat and cast off the pointy end. I can't tell you how many fish I hooked up there. Almost had the whole bow to myself. Oh, by the way, that's a secret spot. Don't tell anybody about it.

Garrett forgot to mention that the Wahoo that he caught, he also donated to the galley. Brian made a Wahoo salad out of it for an afternoon snack, and that was the shit!

We had a great bunch of guys on the trip. I won't be surprised to see at least half of them show up next year. I plan on being there. How about you?