We had a great 2-day charter trip on the Aztec!!! The trip started on a Tuesday night at Seaforth Landing in Mission Bay, San Diego, when 24 FIB’ers waited anxiously to board the boat.
We boarded the boat around 10:00PM and after we recovered from the sticker shock of the meal plan, all gathered in the bow to hear about rigging for the days ahead. The plan was to fish 20# test set ups for Yellowfin Tuna below the Mexican Boarder. Excited about limit-style fishing, everyone got their set ups ready and headed for their bunks. The next morning, we woke to partially cloudy skies, a textured sea surface, and a significant combined swell that had the boat moderately pitching and rolling…nothing extreme, but definitely noticeable. At gray light the trolling rods went in the water and we were on the hunt for the right school of biting Tuna. It didn’t take long for 2 of the trolling rods to get bit and shout’s of “HOOOOOK UUUUP!!!!” promptly stopped the boat. Almost immediately one fish came unbuttoned, but as the boat slid to a stop, Walter Valk began to battle a bigger-grade fish. It took him to the bow, where he fought it valiantly. About 10 minutes later, 2 gaffs brought aboard a beautiful 75# Bigeye Tuna!!!!






Within a few minutes of getting the big fish on board, Captain Gregg had us on the move again, on the hunt for a big school of biting fish! It didn’t take long before Captain Gregg told us to reel in the trolling rods because we were going to stop and fish a kelp patty. Within a minute of coming to a stop, fish after fish were hooked up and the melee ensued. Dozens of Skipjack and Yellowfin Tuna in the 8-13# range were landed.






After about 2 hours, the bite started to taper off, and we went looking for another school. About an hour later we got on another school of fish and had similar fishing for another 45 minutes or so. The rest of the morning and mid after noon were relatively slow, but Captain Gregg and crew worked hard searching for schools of tuna that mostly would not stay up long enough for us to catch them. About 2 hours before dark Captain Gregg located a great patty that bit really well for us, and everyone caught their share. Dinner was served and all headed to their bunks for some much-needed R&R from the day’s fishing.


Day 2 didn’t start with any Bigeye Tuna, but we quickly found a few kelp patties that yielded epic fishing for more school-sized YFT and Skipjack.




On one of the stops, Valerie Handzus caught a beautiful 8# Dorado!


The remainder of the morning was pretty slow, and around 1PM Captain Gregg pointed the Aztec back to Mission Bay, and most went down for an afternoon nap. We had a really fun trip with plenty of delicious fish to take home. Despite what some say about Skipjack Tuna, they are really tasty when handled with care and eaten fresh.
Thank you Lord for another blessed trip. We look forward to fishing with on the AZTEC again in October. {Report by, Jayson Quimby}