I felt fortunate to be onboard this huge, luxurious yacht styled long range boat. I was on the 2nd trip ever made on this boat, but I don't remember it being this nice.
Got ahead of myself there a little. First, I had to check in with Betty and Kathy, who met us in the tackle shop for sign in, permit fees, all that stuff. I was impressed with their genuine friendly welcome. Nice to get a start like that.
Shortly after we all signed in, off to board the boat. All hands were on deck to take our gear, a few last minute items placed onboard, and off we went to get bait.
We arrived at the bait receiver, tied up, and loaded some sardines on, and had our safety seminar. The cooks had a nice surprise for us, chili dogs, which we scarfed down while Shawn gave us a very thorough lesson in safety, firefighting, and how the boat routine worked.
After loading bait, Joe,(formerly 2nd ticket on the Q 105), gave us the rundown on gear to be used, and rigging up for the day ahead.
After that, I hit the sack, and didn't feel a thing until 5:15 am when my roommate Josh got up. I can sleep great on this boat. The staterooms were extremely nice.
The weather was great, a little fog, but Shawn kept us just outside the fog, due to the fact it was almost all eyeball fishing. Mostly kelps, but we did troll the entire day, just to keep them honest.
Bonito were most of our jigstrikes, and we finally started skipping them in to keep rolling.
Here is Mike Rameriz, chief engineer of the Excel, unhooking and releasing a trolled up bonito.
Rumor had it, even though the water was puke gree, there were some BFTs on the kelps as well. Well, my roommate, Josh Buller, put his bait in front of a hungry one, did a fantastic job on his Penn 975 and 20# test to land this jackpot winning Bluefin tuna.
Although most of the yellows were small, if you gear down, as I did, using a Seeker Inshore model 809-8' with a Accurate 870 narrow with 20# test, these fish were fun. I had to release a few under the "code of Ethics" size, but ended up bringing enough home for a nice BBQ meal.
There were a few nicer models, here's one.
Meals were fantastic, served up by Jason and Shane. Crew were great guys to spend the day with, as I had loads of laughs with them. It is a beautiful boat, wonderful ammenities, rides well, and is really really BIG!
Kudos to the Excel, next time you see a chance to jump on a day and a halfer the try out this boat, run, don't walk. It is truly a experience of the nicer side of fishing life.
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