From Black and BlueFIN to Mellow YellowTAIL
“One of the best trips ever been on”, said Ed Waits. “It went from the perfect storm to paradise”, said Mike Ricigliano. “From black and Bluefin to mellow yellowtail”, said Larry Swift who holds the current club record for his 229-pound bluefin caught a few years back, and was Larry going to top that on this two-day extravaganza on the FIB’ers trip aboard the 55-foot Voyager that departed the night of August 3rd. We were told to bring gear to catch everything from big bluefin to smaller tuna and yellowtail. The big blues were here right off our coast in Orange County. Anticipation was the feeling all the FIB’ers had when we piled into Seaforth Landing. Handshakes and greetings were shared as we were getting ready to embark on what we hoped would be an epic two-day fishing extravaganza. The reports were rough weather, and we were greeted with chop, wind and immediately got wet as we turned the corner from the harbor and headed west between San Clemente Island and Catalina. A windy and rough night indeed and all through the next day, but everyone still had the look of determination on their faces as they settled in for a bumpy ride.
Day 1 started out with the 2nd skipper, Matt, immediately hooking and landing a 50lb class bluefin on a flat fall rig. It was still dark out and we could see the lights of other tuna hunters everywhere. The Red Rooster III, the Vagabond, Shogun were a few of the longer-range boats also chasing the Bluefin. Matt made short work of his fish and showed the Bluefin the way to the kill box. We started the process of seeing the foamers, stop up wind and throw bait. Everyone threw everything they had at them with guys on the bow practically hitting the jumping bluefin with their lures with no success. After around 2 hours Tom Handzus hooked and, after 20 minutes, landed what ended up being the jackpot fish, a 65lb Bluefin on a 40lb bait setup. Good job, Tom! One other angler hooked and broke off a fish at one of the stops. This process continued until 2pm. Did I mention it was rough yet? That was putting it mildly. It was hard enough navigating around the boat along with trying to get your line out. Around 2pm we threw in the towel and headed to Pyramid Cove off the east end of San Clemente Island. The rest of the multi-day fleet had the same idea. Captain Todd anchored up around the corner from Pyramid cove around 5pm right where you turn left to go to the front side of the island. Soon after we were greeted by smaller swells, a lot less wind and we started picking away at the yellowtail. This was much better than chasing a bunch of tuna that teased us all day and didn’t want to come out to play. Mike Ricigliano hooked into something big and got stuck in some bottom structure. Captain Todd helped him get it out after pulling for what felt like an eternity. Mike ended up reeling in probably the biggest Black Seabass this charter master has ever seen. What an amazing and beautiful creature. We ended up fishing until around dark and huddled in with a few other boats in Pyramid cove for the evening. Josh the cook made some boneless ribeye for dinner. It was nice to settle in on a calm beautiful night with the stars out. It was a relief not having to wrestle with the chop, wind and swell. A few guys picked at the Calico Bass for a while. Rick Chalmers and I watched a flying fish fly right next to us and smack into the inside rail. The day ended with 2 nice grade bluefin, one giant Black Seabass (Released) and around 8 or 10 quality yellowtail. Todd said we were going to fish the island for yellows and stay away from the rock and roll party which made all of us tired FIB’ers very happy.
In the early morning dark hours, we made our way back to the same spot as the night before. The west swells were breaking on the boilers (Wish I was able to sneak in and chase some Calicos). As soon as grey light hit the show started; the Yellowtail were awake and greeted us with a flurry of hookups. Fresh one! Hook-up! Bendo! We were starting to hit our stride. Pretty soon the long-range fleet came in to join our party. The odd current was making all of the fleet face in different directions, but you could see the yellowtail boiling everywhere and heard the faint hoots and hollers of fellow fishermen in the distance. This is really happening. We are catching quality Yellowtail and a lot of them. It seemed like we had fish going all day long with very few down times. Rob Whittaker ended up getting one of the biggest bonito I have seen in a long time. Mark Ross and Val Handzus got a couple that were in the 9-pound range. There were also a few barracuda in the mix. There were no small firecrackers in the mix and ranged from around 12 pounds all the way to around 23 according to the WON Big Fish Challenge Scale Val used to weigh her big Yellowtail. Ed Waites and Val Handzus ended up with the two biggest twin Yellowtail of the trip. Shoutout to Val for winning the Western Outdoor News big fish award for the week in two categories. She won for the biggest Yellowtail and Bonito. Our 2nd day of fishing ended around 12:55 and we started on our way back to Seaforth Landing and the happy, satisfied FIB’ers had a gentle rid down swell which was a huge relief. Day 2 was a day of mellow seas and 75 quality Yellowtail.
I’d like to close this report off by saying how much I appreciate everyone who was able to make this trip. I truly enjoy the FIB’ers and the fellowship we have together. I’d like to remind everyone to stay safe on the ocean. We had one unfortunate angler fall pretty hard and injure his knee. This was the first time an angler had more Yellowtail in his bag, than most of the other fisherman, and he didn’t even soak a line on the second day. The FIB’ers and crew made sure that Mike Kaneen went home with fish because he wasn’t able to fish the 2nd day. Mike stuck around in the galley and always had a smile on his face. I ended up driving him home in his truck and my brother (Yellowtail Killer, Mark Ross, did his usual high stick of the boat with 12 yellowtails for the two days) followed us to Mike’s house. Mike’s family came to get him and is recovering. Mike called me the next day to let me know he went to the hospital to get looked at and was recovering. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike so that he can get back on the water soon. We had a few other slips and bumps too. Please be safe and remember that the ocean can provide amazing memories, but these fun times can quickly be taken away in an instant. The FIB’ers club has a long lineage of memories and fishing legends and some are still with us and making more memories.
Until the next time, stay safe and tight lines!

Dan Ross