Well our annual 4th of July trip turned out to be great.
Alan, Roy, Ernie, and I experienced some great albacore fishing. The first
day we scratched out 43 fish. Starting on the second day we had great
weather with greasy flat calm waters for the rest of the trip. The second
day we ended up getting 369 albacore. One stop yielded 240 fish! The
stop lasted about 3 � hours with us taking a lunch break in the middle to get
the decks cleared off of fish and blood. We started the morning all by
ourselves but by mid afternoon we had lots of company. Since we had limits
of albacore we went to San Martin the last day. We caught 12
yellows, 2 halibuts, and lots of reds and lings. I caught a white fish
that was almost 7 pounds! It doesn�t get any better. Sign up for
our July trip now!
Norman Fujimoto
12-20-2006 - Hello again, We have just returned from our Huntington Beach Fisherman's Hardware 10 day trip. The fish we weighed in were huge with the top three fish coming in over the 300 pound mark. We had a total of 15 fish over 200 pounds, the top fish were as follows: 1st place fish was taken by Daniel Taketa and weighed in at 356.2 pounds and this is the biggest yellowfin to date on the Independence. 2nd place fish went to Curtis Kamada at 350.8 pounds and 3rd biggest fish was caught by Joe Armstead and tipped the scales at 302.8 pounds. Others to catch yellowfin over 200 pounds were Curtis Kamada with another tuna at 220.3, Daniel Taketa also with a 210.8, Dale Hustrulid with a 228.6, Jim Kirkemo with a 268.2, Sean Freeman 240.2, Modesto Alcala 210.2, Ronnie Lancaster 248.2, Craig Ronholm 295.6, Chris Landcaster 209.6, Andy Baldwin 258.0, Jim Ruch 206.8, and Phillip Howard with a 209.8 to round out the cows taken. Just about everyone on board the trip had a new personnal best yellowfin and everyone onboard caught a fish over 100 pounds. Hot stick for the trip was Bill Lescher with 6 fish over 100 pounds.
The 4th of July Izorline trip on the Searcher was very successful. In the orientation seminar after we had gotten our bait for the trip, Art Taylor informed us that he had gotten a phone call that there were bluefin at 22 miles and we would try for them in an hour and a half. Everyone was excited as we got ready to do battle. We found major tonnage of fish. You could see them shining in the swells. Unfortunately, they really did not want to bite. We ended up with 2 jig fish and 2 bait fish. Even though they were only around 10 lbs we were disappointed that we did not get more. We headed down the first night and stopped around 130 miles. This is the area we fished for two days. The first day lead to some quality bluefin up to 75 pounds, yellowfin to 60 pounds, albacore to 35 pounds, yellowtail to 25 pounds, and 1 dorado. It was strange as you never knew what you had till it was on the boat. Very few small fish were caught. We ended up with over 170 fish. The quality was unbelievable for a 3 day trip. Alan, my two boys and I had a great trip pulling on big fish. Hint: Fluorocarbon and ringed hooks definitely made a difference. Fish were caught on 25-40 pound line. They would not bite 50 and were tough to hook on 40. The best ticket seemed to fish 30 with a fairly tight drag. Great weather and great food! If you�re looking for a trip, I know the Searcher has a few opening the next few trips. Give them a call and I think you�ll find they have a good operation.
An Izorline trip left the dock on Oct 14 for a 4.5 day trip. The weather forecast was for gale force winds on Sat. and Sun. at Guadalupe Island with 10-20 knot winds down the coast. Even though we were suppose to go to Guadalupe Island, Shawn Trowbridge decided to head down the coast. It turned out to be a great decision. We traveled to Canoas which was about 200 miles down the beach. We caught some yellowtail up to around 25 pounds. We traveled that night down to Cedros. The first spot was kind of slow so we made a move. The next two spots produced a lot of yellowtail on the sardine, yoyo jig, or surface jig. It was a lot of fun as I caught a 3 day limit of yellowtail up to about 35 pounds mostly on the yoyo jig. It was amazing that we were getting rocked on the jig or bait with 50 lb. line. Lost 3 good fish in the rocks. On bait, fluorocarbon made a big difference. We moved back to Canoas and a couple of other spots the next day and caught a number of yellowtail, big whitefish, big sheephead, log barracuda on the jig, and 1 black seabass. It was a great trip since the wind never blew and it was basically glass most of the trip. It even rained two nights with no wind or swells. Great trip with only 16 guys on the boat.
Here is a report of our 17 day trip.
Club members Tom Jackson, Roy Yoshida and I left on the Red
Rooster III on Feb. 9 in search of big yellowfin tuna and wahoo.
Our first stop was Cedros for bait. Right away we were on the
20 lb squid and got enough in a few minutes. After a move, it
didn’t take long to fill up the tanks with mackerel and we
were on our way to Hurrican Bank. That night and the next day
was rough. We had 3 of the spray shields broken on the bridge.
Andy said they had never had one broken before. Unfortunately
we also lost the monitor to the computer which limited the reports
to the web. On the fourth afternoon we arrived and got the anchor
set. We did catch a few tuna and wahoo the first afternoon.
I caught one that was really fat but short. Andy thought it was
180-190 but it ended up being 200 lbs, my first one! The evenings
bite never materialized for the trip. We ended up with 63 wahoo
and 68 big tuna for the trip. Lost of small (20-30 lb) tuna were
also caught. Baits that seemed to work the best were squid and
small tuna or skipjack. The helium balloon was very productive
for the trip and is how I caught my big one. In the end Tom
had 2?200lb fish. Roy lost his big one right at gaff when the
9/0 hook pulled. What a heart break. I ended up with 2-200lb
fish with the biggest being jp at
256.
We picked up our bait at the receiver. We received great sardines
that had been cured for 2 weeks. The weather downhill was actually
rougher than anticipated. The weather had been nice and I thought
going down hill would be nice. The wind and swell made it a rocky
with spray coming over the bow. It laid down overnight and the
ride improved as we made our way toward Guadalupe Island. We arrived
at the island and began fishing around 11 a.m. Bites were tough
to get. You had to get a bait out over 100 yards with 40 lb line
and fluorocarbon. You couldn't get bit without the fluorocarbon.
Make sure you have some on any trip that you go on. In tough times,
it'll make a difference. This made is tough as the YFT were up
to 75 pounds. There were lots of casualties but everyone had at
least 1 fish thanks to the numerous hand-offs from Captain Shawn
Trowbridge. It was amazing to see him hook over a dozen fish.
The next day the bite started early. We had 1-3 fish going all
day but they were still hard to hook. This year many of had great
luck with ringed hooks. I could not hook a fish the first day
with ringed hooks. Shawn told me to get rid of the jewelry and
fish a straight hook. After that I hooked 10 of the nice Guadalupe
YFT to 70 lbs. All fish were hooked on 40 lb. line. As everyone
else I suffered 3 casualties that day. On the third morning we
fished for yellowtails and calicos. We caught a number of great
calicos and a bunch of small yellows. We threw most of them back
but kept a few of the nicer ones. We left them biting to head
for home around 9:30 a.m. You might want to think about this trip
next year. It will be changed to a 4.5 day trip so get almost
2 ½ days of fishing in at the island. The best part is
that the load will only be 13. We ended up with 11 on this trip
due to cancellation because of a car accident. We ended up tagging
60 tuna and 24 yellowtail. It was a great group of guys and most
plan to try to go again next year.
Here's a report from a trip that Alan and I went on.
Alan and I went on a 3 day trip 7/27-29 on the First String.
We knew that fishing had been tough but tried to remain positive.
We woke up the first day in the dark at 78 miles with a number
of other boats. We lucked out. We got 52 nice albacore before
we had to move. The first day yieled 118 albacore and some yellowtail.
All the fish were caught in the morning. The afternoon was dead.
The second day we got 50+ albacore, 1 bluefin and a lot of yellowtail.
We were going to look inside but the water got cold and dirty.
The third and last morning gave us a couple of albacore and lots
of yellowtail. We finished the trip with around 300 fish. Not
bad considering how the other boats did. Albacore were up to 45
lbs with yellowtail up to 30 lbs. The bluefin was 45 lbs.
Here is the report from my 16 day trip. I'll try to find time
to scan some pictures besides the one you have.
Tom Jackson and I left on Feb. 12 for a 16 day trip on the Red
Rooster 3 skippered by Andy Cates. We got a great load of sardines
but it took 3 hours at the receiver but it sure paid off in the
long run. We ran till the next evening and found our selves at
San Benitos Island. We tried to make mackeral but did so with
limited success. We got half a box and left. At this time the
plans we to fish the outer banks outside of Cabo San Lucas. As
we went down the line we received reports from the Royal Polaris
who was headed for Puerta Vallerta. His reports were not real
favorable and Andy received a report from a seiner at Hurricane
telling him to get there fast. The Excel was a day ahead of us
headed for Hurricane but we pointed the bow in that direction.
The 4 day ride down was very comfortable since we were going down
hill. The first two days at Hurricane were a bit rough but tolerable
as we were on the anchor. Since the Excel was there first they
had a good first day on wahoo and tuna. When we arrived they were
anchored on the alpha position. We tried various spots around
and found scratch fishing. The tuna seemed to bite at a different
time every day while the Excel had a good morning and evening
bite that was very predictable. We ended up with a lot more wahoo
than they did since we trolled around almost every day looking
for wahoo. We had 134 wahoo for the trip. My biggest was 60 pounds.
We had 104 tuna for the trip with my largest being 170. Just couldn't
crack the 200 pounder. The Excel had more big fish than us due
to their position. We had 3 fish over 200. One was 200.1 and one
heartbreak at 199.9. The weather was great! It was so good we
did suffer from lack of current and wind. Overall it was a trip
where you had to put your time in at the rail if you wanted to
catch fish. Overall I tagged 5 tuna and 10 wahoo. Tom I think
had more tuna and a few less wahoo. It was a trip where I learned
a lot fishing on the kite and several different forms of balloon
fishing. We also fished at night with big sinkers for the YFT.
It seemed the bait of choice was the sardine followed by the flying
fish. Other baits like squid, mackeral and puffer fish did not
produce well. Hopefully I'll get to go again next year and try
for the 200 pounder!
The guys, Roy, Ernie and I, have been fishing the Huntington
Beach area with mixed success for Barred Surfperch. Last weekend
was really good! Not as productive this morning. The spawners
are getting active, biting good for the first time this season.
I fished both the morning and evening tides on Presidents Day
for occasional flurries of a fish on every cast. Just have to
find the 'honey' holes. Most of the fish were in the one pound
range, one or two a little larger, a few dinks, but not many.
I can't wait for the big ones to show up. Hopefully in a month
or so.
Roy and I fish only plastic grubs, rigged Carolina style. All
fish released unharmed to spawn and catch again.
John Grabowski was on the bridge for our trip. That's a name
out of the past that some of you might remember. We filled 4 deck
tanks and two slammer full of nice sardines for our trip. We headed
toward San Benitos Island knowing that there was a good stretch
of water before we hit the island. We started trolling around
11 with no success. We reached the island around 3 and immediately
began to catch a nice grade of yellowtail-20 lbs +. We spent the
next day still catching yellows up to around 40 lbs. Late in the
day I hooked a nice fish on 30 lb line that turned out to be 53 pounds and 3rd place in the jackpot.
We spent the 3rd day fishing at Guadalupe with 60+ yellowfin coming
over the side with one being 112 lbs and the other 96 lbs. The
last day we fished offshore for albacore and boated 90+ for the
day. They were also a nice grade of fish. We had almost 500 fish
for the trip. The albacore and yellowtail were an excellent grade.
Out of the usual, we had a man overboard. A deckhand went in after
a rod. He saved it but drifted away from the boat so we had to
start up the engines and go get him. All worked out well.
Greetings all!
Just wanted to say that I'm sorry I missed the Daiwa meeting.
It sounds like
it was a wonderful event.
Now on to fishing stories.
Just got off the Daiwa Pacific from a Wide Open Albie bite.
Roger Enomoto
and I fished with a nice group of folks from West Covina Anglers.
We were
about 85 miles out. Left the dock at 9:30 out of H&M Landing
and picked up a
nice mix of baby Sardines and some 6 inchers. Off we went into
the night.
Woke up at gray light to a rolling swell and temperature in the
low 70's. I
was the only one up along with Ken the second ticket. Then a few
others came
topside. Ken advised us to put the trolling rigs out. 4 of us
wound up with
our jigs in the water. After no more than 5 minutes, Ken, the
captain (not
to be confused with Ken the second ticket) made a sharp right
hand turna and
2nd Ken hollered at us to wind in the trolling lines. 3 minutes
later the
boat straightened out and one guy put his rig back in. It seems
that as soon
as the line straightened out behind the boat he got slammed!
HOOK UP!!! was the call and the boat slid to a stop. Everyone
was up on deck
by now standing by the bait tank in eager anticipation. Baits
went into the
water and the frenzy was ON! My bait hit the water and before
I could put my
thumb on the reel, off it went. We had bent rods everywhere. People
running
up and down the rail. The usual pandemonium ensued. These fish
pulled like
crazy. Not like I remember from last year.
We started fishing 30# and lots of people were getting busted
off. The usual
tangles were there. I distinctly remember that there were something
like 10
bent rods, spread out on the stern and both sides of the boat.
Somehow a
bunch of them wound up in the port side corner on the stern. What
a mess.
Miraculously, the crew was able to untangle a 4 way without anyone
losing a
fish! I couldn't believe it and wouldn't have believed it, if
I wasnt' part
of that mess. We had a few like that, but overall, considering
the fact the
the majority of us were bent at the same time, we had very few
miscues and
mishaps.
After about an hour, captain Ken hollered,"Go to your
heavy gear, put away
the 30 and 40 and go to 80 if you have it!" I ran to get
my 50#, the
heaviest I brought for this trip and pinned on a 6 inch dine,
and no sooner
did it hit the water than BAM! Took me down the stern and up the
portside. I
could not believe the way these fish pulled. Some guys were fishing
80# with
the drag buttoned all the way down and just muscling these little
bruisers
in to gaff.
It was a phenomenal time of fishing. The first jig stop was
the only jig
fish all day. We drifted on top of the fish for 3 hours and only
made one
short move forward. That consisted of Ken starting the engines,
putting it
in gear and going forward about 100 feet. That's right 100 feet
to get on
top of a huge bait ball. Shut it down and bendo we were again.
I asked him
to look around as he was standing on the bait tank and give me
an estimate
of how big this spot of fish was and he replied "about 40
square miles"
There were boats fishing all the way to the horizon it seemed.
Roger tied for the jackpot with a 35# Albie that took him about
20 minutes
to put on the deck. What a great day on the water. Great group
of guys to
fish with and most of all, a crew that was friendly, courteous
and very
experienced. I liked the fact that captain Ken kept in constant
communication with us and was on the bait tank for a long time
calling out
the numerous boils we saw. We drove away from the fish as they
were still
foaming and left them biting. If you're headed out there anytime
soon, bring
some heavier gear.
I hope to see you guys in September, schedule permitting.
Eric Vanpraag
I went out on the Mustang last week on a day and 1/2 trip.
Except for yours truly, everyone was killing them. We started
fishing around 9 and from then until around 1, we were almost
constantly in fish. Very few jig fish since all we had to do was
to move a few hundred yards to the next meter mark. We were out
over a hundred miles and in the afternoon we started heading back
so the fishing slowed down. We ran out of bait around 6, so headed
in and arrived at the dock around 4:30 in the morning. For my
part, I did my best to keep the boat within its legal limit. The
skipper and crew were excellent; although the bunks were tighter
than the Fortune.
Alan Sasai and I just returned from a 4 day on the Searcher.
Weather, boat and food were great. We ended up with limits of
albacore and over 200 bluefin tuna. The largest bluefin was 118
with one at 80 and two at 60. The others ran from 20-40+. The
albacore ran from 25-40 lbs. I hooked a bluefin on all the right
gear- 50 lb., two speed and circle hook at the end of the first
day of fishing after landing 11 bluefin and several albacore.
Even though I was getting my butt kicked, I pulled as hard as
I could and saw a 100+ bluefin coming closer to the boat. Well
you know how fishing goes, I was chewed off at color. What a heartbreak!
July has been a fabulous month for fishing!
Hi Curt ! Shig and I miss you guys a lot. We don't miss Tanaka's
tugboat.
Fished this week with Sharon down in Ensenada. Somebody advised
us to try Sergio's sportfishing and we fished two whole day bottom
trips around Todos Santos Island and one albacore trip (Friday).
As always in Mexico, the experience was both wonderful and horrible.
Plus side+ We got to hammer the bottom fish- something you cannot
do in CA or Canada any more. We caught red snapper, rock cod and
at least six lingcod with about half actually 28" plus. Not
too rough out there and for $50/day we never had more than 12
persons aboard on Wed & Thurs. Wed was the 85' clipper II
and Thurs was seven people on a 46' six pack w/ lotsa room. We
stayed at the El Cid Best Western for $50 a nite and the restaurant
cooked our fresh lingcod of the day in a veggie soup and grilled
the filets with butter and lemon. tasted like king crab. Sharon
would add a red snapper to the menu steamed in tinfoil with garlic
and celantro.. Hotel restaurant only charges $6 a dish cooking
charge !! - what a deal. Lorenzo (the fish-eater) ate two bites
of everything watched the ole lady gorge herself and then got
asada tacos on the street later. Drank no local water there, no
got sick. showered with my eyes and mouth shut and brushed my
teeth with Evian. Albacore: Despite my best effort to dissuade
my angler wife, Sharon elects to chase albacore on thurs nite.fish
are 30 miles out- just south of Todos Santos and it is allegedly
wide open. Sergio's sportfishing oversells the 36 pass clipper
II and packs 40 guys on the 85 footer / 4 guys don't even have
bunks ! Cost $120. I beg the ole lady to bail out before I rack
the rods and let's go bottom fishing in the AM but she is adamant.
She is now a macho lingcod- killing angler desirous of longfin
and scoffs at a meagre 30 mi of ocean. We leave at 3 AM and I
awake at 5:45 to find the crew has put my trolling rod in the
water. We join the SD fleet at 7:00 AM. I never dreamed I could
take a 3 1/2 hr. boat ride to albacore again in my lifetime..
the last time I did that was in 1977 when the old man and I went
35 mi out of SD on the Apollo -opened a nite bite at 4:00 am -ran
out of bait by 9AM and hit Pt. Loma at 1PM with 150 fish for 18
guys. I pulled 13/ my ole man got 12 /before the bait ran out.
I broke our trolling stick trying to bounce a 26 pounder and he
is still pissed -off about it. But hey! Jimmy Carter was president
then and Bill and I were actively hunting the Monica Lewinsky
types like mad dogs .. Anyway we slide into the offshore marina
aka albacore grounds and I hustle and put two bait fish on the
deck right away -so I can then help Sharon. I proceed to hand
off the next couple of hookups to her and weave her in and out
of traffic up the rail-like a pulling guard- but to no avail.
She gets sawed off twice and bellows her unmitigated contempt
at the idiots who late-wrap her two fish at color. I slink away
and deck another baitfish.. With 40 guys speaking two languages
and a wide-open bite- you gotta be half cat -burgler (sliding
and sneaking up the rail) be able to rabbit-punch with your left
and hold a bait knife in your right pocket -in case homicide is
the only way out..One taco-bender shoves me from the backside
, I spin , hit him square on the nose with an overhand right and
jump into my best Bruce Lee three-point stance complete with knife
and oooh-aaaah scream while lifting one leg with toe pointed !!.
Welcome to open party fishing Mexican style. Fortunately we went
on the boat with a big half-homeboy construction guy from La Crescenta
who shared my jigstick and our taxi from the hotel and he helped
watch my backside for the duration. Skipper intervenes calls me
some spanish name with pinching in it at least 4 times (obvious
reference to my praying mantis kung-fu stance) and proceeds to
hook 3 albies and hand them off to Sharon who finally decks one
! and then she lands another ! I manage to recover two of the
three albies I put on the deck (Bean-eating wrestlemania II and
his boys stole my other fish and put it into their bag.) OK the
boat quits at noon out of bait and we have 80+ on board. the short
boat ride is my undoing. I go below to rest, fall asleep below
deck on the way back, and the greasers raid my tackle box and
steal every lure I own including all my trolling jigs/ jetheads,
daisy chains, zukers/tadys about $300 worth.- Worse they didn't
even have the decency to abduct the the ole lady- . ..just my
luck.
LARRY TAN
The Izorline 3 day on the Searcher was a wonderful trip. A
light load of 23 and a prime parking space started the day out
well. Skipper Art Taylor announced that the plan was to travel
220 miles before we started fishing. We started fishing about
11:30 the next day under clear skies and beautiful seas. In the
next 1 1/2 we caught around 70 fish. We were off to what looked
liked a great start with jig stops coming quickly and one stop
worth 56 fish. The next stop was on some breezers. People were
immediately hooked up. By this time we had already given up the
20 lb and were fishing 25 or 30. In short order we were soon fishing
40 lb with 50 lb after a couple of fish on 40. My son actually
ended up fishing 80 lb with a 5/0 hook. Within 3 hours we had
approximately 300 fish. At this time we were informed by Art that
we had limits and needed to do something else. Some had released
a number of fish during this time. Fish were everywhere and it
was impossible not to get bit! One fish even came out of the water
to take my bait before it hit the water. This had to be one of
the best schools of Albacore that I've ever seen. It was definitely
worth the long ride. We looked the rest of the day for bluefin
but with no luck. Art checked with many skippers and found San
Martin and other places dead with cold dirty water. The game plan
was to move upthe line 50 miles into an area where some bluefin
were seen earlier in the week. We looked until about 10 with not
luck on the bluefin. A few more albacore were hooked and released.
At this time we headed home as we had a long ride. Beautiful weather
all the way home with a wonderful group on the boat. This trip
was definitely an A+!
P.S. The fish were 20-35 lbs.
Norman Fujimoto
Fishing Tale from Tad:
Hi Curt:
Boy what a trip!
Our trip was cancelled but my friend Juan Ruiz and I dicided to
to go anyway. We went down to H&M and took the Producer out
on a day trip. ( The Fortune was still at the dock) Juan (first
time deep sea) caught 6 Alabacore, 2 Yellow tail, I caught 6 Albacore,
1 Bluefin and one Yellow tail. The boat count was 95 Albalcore,
11 Skip Jack, 18 Yellowtail, 3 Bluefin. There were 24 anglers
on board, 2 or three did not fish. Overall the fishing was great,
sea calm, and bait fresh and lively, and plenty of pretty good
quality fish. Let's think about a change of boats next season..
see you at the next meeting...tad
Chartered the Live-Bait out of Waianae on Friday July 12th. This is our second time out with Shannon on the Live-Bait, last time Jo Ann got a nice ono. We spent time at the FAD catching aku for bait. The day before they got a 150# ahi right at the FAD on a live aku. We got a nice 2# aku and harnessed up. We dragged the bait about 1/2 hour and bingo, the rubber band broke right in my hand, it's a lot like fishing sardines for tuna, the bait gets real excited just before it gets eaten, only difference is that it takes a lot longer to get eaten, I think the marlin take a couple of good looks before eating the bait, that aku just goes nuts while that marlin is looking. Long story short, we broke this one off at the crimp, we were fishing straight tied 150# on a Shimano 130 on a broomstick. Second bait lasted about as long, but the hook turned into the bait. Third time is the charm? It took a lot longer for the third strike, this time we hooked up, I fought the pacific blue marlin for about 45 minutes, had it to the swim step and the line parted. The bill went across the line one too many times. It was about 135#. The hazards of fishing straight tied line on live bait. I have 15 minutes of the fight documented on tape and one jump. Shannon said it was a good live release...
I just returned from the Izorline 3 day trip on the Searcher.
Weather was pretty good but the fish seemed to be very scattered.
The fish were also on the small side. Most of the fish were jig
fish with a minimal amount of bait fish. Fish on the slide were
not happening. Trip ended up being a slow trip. Ernie and my son
Darren were the hot sticks on the trip. The small Tady jet heads
were still the best performing lures.
A three day trip on the Legend produced 270 albacore for an
Izorline trip. Fishing was tough in that most stops were only
1 or 2 fish. Very few bait fish. Best stop was for about a dozen
fish. The hot ticket is the small jet heads from Tady. The rep
gave me some at the landing and I rigged them with 80lb fluorocarbon.
Worked great. Fish were at 50-80 miles. The best bite was the
few hours before sunset. Fish were 10-15 lbs. A few yellows were
also caught.
I thought that I might share my report on a recent Albacore trip that I went on.
Since the Albacore have been showing up, I thought that I should
go and give it a try. We booked our trip with the Prowler, which
was to leave Friday night for Saturday fishing. After looking
for parking and ending up in the overflow lot, we managed to check
in. We boarded the Prowler and was greeted by a very nice crew
and a great group of fishermen and women. The
Prowler had been in since 6:30 that night, they had come in early
since they had limited out earlier that day. After hearing this
report our expectations rose. Another great factor was that there
was on a load of 19 anglers, this was almost as nice as fishing
one of our trips. One thing that I would like to point out is,
while setting up my gear and rigging up; the deckhand were going
around and checking to see if anyone needed help, also they were
recommending hook size and lead amounts. All of this was
happening before we left the docks, this took the guess work out
of setting up.
Soon after leaving the docks and grabbing bait we ran down
about 50 to 60 miles. Some of the group attempted to fish bait
in the gray with no luck. So, Buzz the captain fired up the diesels
and we were off. I was on the first trolling rotation and about
15 minutes later we had our first Jig strike. Unfortunately someone
else's rig, so I reeled in and grabbed my bait rod. Thirty seconds
later, I had my bait in the water and was getting bit. Bendo!
I was on, I was using light tackle and 15# mono and
Fluorocarbon. This fish was taking some line, so I stuck it to
him. Soon, I had color and saw that it was a Yellowtail. At the
gaff the deckhand snagged a good head gaff and I had the second
fish on the boat. On that stop we had 5 Yellows. The fishing was
rather scratchy for a while. We would have a jig fish or two and
no bait fish. The word on the boat was that the bit did not pick
up till the afternoon. As it turned out I was able to pick two
Albacore on the troll. Bait fishing was difficult for all
of us. The best stop for bait fish was 6 Albacore. So at the end
I ended up with 2 Albacore and 1 Yellowtail. Not bad for the first
trip of the season.
Our final count was 47 Albacore and 5 Yellowtail. I really think that this year will be one to remember. So if you are looking for additional trips for Albacore this year, think about catching a ride on the Prowler.
Robert
Hi Curt: Well the Tan and Jhono families went to B.C. again
this July. Sharon kicked my butt again and got a Jackpot 20 lb
King
and her daily 2 king limit to my one six pounder.(photo) . Anyway
the halibut were virtually non-existent this year. We walloped
the black sea bass , legal in Canada, (steamed black sea bass
is da kine !! ). Chinook (king salmon) was real good with our
best day 33 fish for 20 people. Shig had to return early when
a biopsy on a tumor in his mouth required immediate surgery. The
tumor was removed and just now his speech ability has returned.
So far the prognosis is pretty good . He is one of the younger
(under age 60) Kichigai members so it kinda strikes close to home.BTW
It's been pretty much limit fishing on the Calico's on the Horshoe
Kelp Trick is to use GPS to anchor right on the favorite spots
of the partyboats before they get there. You go thru the washing
machine as they anchor in a huff all around you (within 75 yds.)
spewing backwash and diesel fumes, tossing you like a cork as
they chum across your deck. It's kinda weird to yell at a partyboat
" Parking kinda close !! huh ? " Ever hear 45 people
curse all at the same time at you ?? Two weeks ago I parked alone
and within 30 minutes, five of them surrounded me throwing bait
- They can't do much 'cause you got there first, after all. If
they wanna throw chum on your head and deck OK. We just kick it
overboard, it only makes fishing better and .we got 30 calico
keepers in two hours- Larry Tan
Norm's report from his trip on the Searcher July 1-4:
Trip we just got back from was real slow the second day.
First day 126
albacore at 190 miles. Second day at 140-110 miles was real sad.
It
was a mix of yellows and albies. Total for trip was around 173.
Great
weather. Still got enough to give some to relatives put some in
the
freezer.
Ernie Seko hits the surf:
hey guys....i went beach camping at cardiff, just north of san deigo......using tiny sandcrabs did ok on corbina, perch.....even caught a small sand bass.......bloodworms worked well too......all this on a minus tide in the morning.....later in the day i was still catching corbina and perch.........none of the corbina were big but it was fun.........ernie
Here's a fish story from Al Jackson:
curt,
we did run from the hurricane. on a 15 day trip, we only get 8
days fishing.
we were at clarion and were ordered to vacate the aea by the mexican
navy.
we ran 250 miles north, which takes about 22 hours. we then ran
back to
clarion, losing 2 days fishing. the water was dirty and the currants
were not good
and we could not find any fish, using 1and1/2 days. we then went
to roca
partida find dirty water, sharks, 4 hoos and sharks. left for
socorro arriving late
in the day. 3pm had to check in with the navy base, which took
3 hrs. next
day we found only a few hoos and lots of sharks. last day: trolled
all
morning and got nada. afternoon we had a good bit and got 29 nice
tuna with
all about 100 lbs. for the trip, robbie
cought a nice fish on the first day . 185lbs. his
first fish over 30lbs. he got the third jackpot with that.he wound
up with 6
hoos and 5 tuna and i had 2 tuna and 8 hoos. not good ....jackpot
was 302,
second was 280, and robbie with 185. the boat had 70 tuha and
170 hoos. not as
good as last year, but we lost at least 3 day to the weather.
we also had a lot
of rain. we had a good time.
al
Larry Tan's report from the Sierra's:
Hi Curt:
Just came back from Crowley lake from 3 days of fishing with spouse
and kid. The algae bloom is going and trolling is impossible.
Right now trout are an afterthought or by-catches. I had my 19ft.c.c.
alum there in dry storage since opener. The last trip we got a
couple of bright red 3 lb fish with big hook jaws which I immediately
misidentified as Arctic Char. I found out they were cuthroats
(male) that they had started planting last year. Trick this time
is fishing in no deeper than 10 feet in the shoreline weeds on
South end of lake. Pretty much a wide open perch bite with the
biggest over 2 lbs which I'm told is big for Sacto perch. We used
1/8 leadheads with Berkely powergrub tails in pumpkinseed color.
You had to narrow the hookbend with pliers so the point stays
inside the grub to pull thru the weeds cleanly. At least three
stupid trout were surprisingly in the weeds with the perch &
ate the grubs also ! There is no limit these perch (unlike those
oversize Tomcod found off our coastline ) and right now you can
catch as many as you are willing to clean and they are better
eating than the trout anyway.- Larry Tan
Alan and Ernie have been prowling the surf again, down Surfside way. They've both given me reports that the perch were willing biters on their last trip. I think it's a secret spot, so you better call them for the spot and what they were using.
3/3 Ernie reports-Went fishing Sat. morning....bad tide but still got 10 in two and half hours............the tide got to low.......but it was ok........ ernie.......
September 2000, I just got back from a great vacation in Hawaii. We tried some fishing while we were on Oahu. I tried an outfit that I located on the internet, Live Bait, over in Wai'anae. I've added a link to their site and can highly recommend them if you're interested. I didn't catch anything, but what did you expect? Jo Ann, however, caught a nice 40# Ono (wahoo). Shannon and crew worked hard to get us on some fish, but it just wasn't meant to be. I learned some new techniques and passed a few on, don't laugh too hard when you see how I rig up next time, I might surprise you!!! Anyway, give them a try, you'll like fishing on the leeward side.
Here's a report from Larry Denson, Larry Tan's friend:
Due to the Thurs/Fri cancellation of the "Fortune" ,
5 of us scheduled -Larry Tan, Tan's son, Benson Ting, Shig Jhono
and myself decided to go to 22nd St. Landing anyway and go out
that very same night on the 'Freedom". Only 17 anglers on
a 100' boat. Nice light load.....We went to the East side of San
Clemente Is. and fished for Yellowtail and Calico's.
Larry Tan got the only boated "tail" in our group and
we all got the Calico's, so everybody got fish.
Weather was perfect ...................Sunny and warm--a little
rough on the crossings, but nice in the lee of the Island.
We saw the Fortune "dead in the water" as we departed
Thurs eve; but as we docked Fri eve, she was boarding anglers
and pumping engine cooling waters, so she was ready to go out.
Sorry I missed the fishing with the group and maybe next time.
All the best,
Larry Denson
Correction:
Larry Tan e-mailed me( which I forgot to mention) to say that
Shig Jhono also boated a nice Yellowtail and in our groups side
bet, Larry edged out Shig, but it was close. If you can add this
that would be great and set the record straight.
Thanks ,
Larry
Hey Curt: Here's a copy of an e-mail sent to my delta airline
pilot fishing buddy Larry Denson: You may find it interesting.
HEY LD: Sharon & I jumped on Grande at SD last Saturday. owner
is Dick Langlois, capt. is Scott of old Pegasus. Dick was member
of our Coachella duck club you met him at DU Now he's got 2 blinds
at bridgestreet. . 32 people on 85ft. Started just south of Coronados
at daybreak. scratchy bite and I lost my first 2 fish (pulled
hooks at color) thought I was snakebit and the boat had about
a dozen on board at the time. finally about 10 am I boated my
first one about 10 lbs. Sharon had hard time w/ 32 people and
flyline and no casting skill. Often I would cast for her but she
still got into a lot of tangles and got a little seasick. After
my first one she takes my rod, figuring it must be the equipment.
She hands me her rod and when I take it back to the rail, it slips
and goes overboard. damn! fortunately it is the cheapest outfit
I brought about $180 replacement cost. About 11 am one guy on
board boats a short white sea bass. I get a wakeup call and ask
skipper how deep we are. Tells me 20 fathoms. Hello.I put a half-pound
w/ dropper loop on sharon's (replacement) rig and tell her to
go to bottom to go after sea bass. Instant no tangles no problems
for her due to line nosedive and line under her w/o drift. Also
instant hookup to 11 pound yellowtail on bottom.tough fight from
140 ft. of water. Up comes the yellow w/ half pound weight dangling
below jaw. Then she does it again and hooks another. meanwhile
surface action has slowed and captain goes on P.A. to announce
that the last two yellows were decked by a young lady fishing
the bottom. Mad stampede as every macho guy who has zilched that
morning scrambles to add lead and go dropper loop,I meanwhile
I got two in the bag and the old lady has tied me in 30 minutes!
Sharon then hooks-up again. looks like a jackpot fish. She's one
up on me and we only got another 45 min. to fish. It's getting
embarrassing. At 2:30 everyone is down to their last sardine,
well empty and I'm soaking this dine that is gasping just to stay
alive as he has had this 2/0 hook in his nose for about 20 main.
thank god the yellow that eats him believed he was alive. I boat
the last fish of the day. We get 60 on the boat and the old lady
and I got 6 of them. She got nudged for JP by a
14.1 lb to her 13.9 lb. ( used my digital scale). Meanwhile the
entire boat ( except me) agrees that if I had her on dropper loop
at daybreak, she would have about a dozen. crew takes her foto
for their scrapbook & i refuse to take a picture. LT
Sand dabbing trip. For anyone interested in soaking some bait, try sand dabbing. I took a trip on Thursday, 1/6, aboard the Sea Angler out of 22nd Street Landing. They run on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. They leave at 7:00 a.m. and the cost is $35, discount for seniors. There is no limit on the sand dabs and they are small, some about the size of a playing card up to about 10". The trick setup is 30lb spectra, 4-10 hook ganion of 1/0 long shank Kirby hooks tied on dropper loops of 30 lb mono. Tie the loops about 4" long about 6" apart, use an 8-12 oz torpedo sinker also add a 1 oz rubbercore sinker at the top of your ganion. You'll be fishing in 300' of water near the center oil platform off of Huntington Beach. It's a lot of dropping and winding for little caloric value but it's fishing.
1999 Trips The September 18-19 trip was great. The seas
were calm and the fishing, I would rate as very good. I think
I heard a final count of 165 Albacore and 1 Yellowtail caught
by yours truly, on the troll. We figured it was lost and hungry
since it was a open water strike. The fishing was the typical
tuna troll, jig strike and a few bait fish. There were a few stops
that were a little longer. We could not locate the Bluefin and
ended up with zip.
The report for the October 1 trip is that the fish were there
but did not want to bite. The few fish caught were troll fish,
Albies and Bluefin. There were Dorado on the paddies but they
weren't willing to bite. The final count was less than 1 per angler
for 22 on board.
Not much happening in the local fishing reports, I went surf fishing with former member Alan Sasai and Shig Makino. We threw some plastic grubs at the surf perch north of the Manhattan Beach pier. Not a lot of action but enough to keep you interested, all were small and were put back to grow up. The hot setup was 6# test with a 1/2oz egg sinker with an 18" to 36" leader, hooked up like you would fish PowerBait for trout, I have heard it's called a Carolina rig. The hot grub was a 1 1/2" clear with red flakes. They were ripping the tails off of 'em. It was fun and I'll be back soon. Tip: bring a lot of quarters for the parking meters.
Message from Tad Nakase-Bill and I are planning our annual
Alaska Silver Salmon fishing trip for the middle of September...
are you or anybody else interested??
Give me a call.... tad
Message from prospective new member Charlie Okamoto: Also, I've been fishing some of the Spotted Bay Bass in Newport Harbor in the evening. Caught some larger Spotties on 3 inch AA's Tuesday night. Nice fighters.