Chartermaster’s Report:
The final FIB’ers offshore trip of the season went out on Wednesday night, Oct. 12th to fish all day Thursday. It was one of the smoothest rides I can remember aboard the Pacific Voyager as we ran 13 hours into Mexican waters. Having heard reports of 50# plus Bluefin tuna, we were all quite excited, to say the least. We never found the big boys, but spent the day paddie hopping for school size Yellowtail up to 10.5#, blue fin tuna to 14#, and Dorado to 20.5#. The big dodo took the jackpot for the day. The most spectacular event of this trip had to be the heroic effort of Capt. Todd. During a stern tangle session on a Yellowtail bite, rods were being passed over, under, over under.One FIBer who was on a fish missed the pass. As I looked down into the water and saw his Trinidad on a custom Calstar sink out, he asked me “where’s my rod?” I replied “in the water dude!”, and at the same moment I yelled out “rod overboard, we need a gaff!” Without hesitation, Capt. Todd (who was on the bait
tank chumming,) jumps down,and says “I’ll get it.” He hops up on the rail and dove into the water after it.
By now, the rod with a fish attached had sunk out at least ten feet. In a matter of seconds, Todd reappears, rod in hand, fish still on, and proceeds back to the bait tank to continue chumming. No big deal!Needless to say, we who witnessed this whole thing were quite amazed at Todd’s fearless, selfless deed. Capt. Todd, you are THE MAN!!! We motored home witnessing one of the most beautiful sunsets on the water I had ever seen. Final count: 50 Yellowtail, 3 Dorado, 2 Bluefin Tuna, 1 Skipjack. We thank the Lord for such a wonderful trip to end the year with.
Report by, Dave Shill