With reports of some of the best fishing in years, I was excited to get ready for the FIBers first trip of the year.
I am very slow in getting ready so I started a week in advance. Off to Sports Chalet for some fresh line 30# and 50# P-Line. My other reels are filled with Spectra. Now matching reels to rods, why leave any at home? I took 5 but still left 2 of my favorite outfits at home. Ok now it’s time to add the Fluorocarbon to the Spectra. Did I remember how to do it? With the help of my IPad I was soon tying the TonyPena knot. Now it was time to check out the tackle box. The big thing was to find some number 2 size hooks as we will be fishing with anchovies and not sardines as we have done for the last several years.
As I am now ready it was time to call all 15 FIBers and give them the info and find everyone a ride down to Seaforth Landing. I had called Todd Myer, the skipper of the Voyager and he said that we could leave at 7:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm. With the idea that we could get to the bait barge earlier than the other boats and get some of the best baits. So the group all showed up at 6:00 pm and we were off by 7:10 pm. My wife earlier said that it would be nice to place mints on everyone’s pillows. So I bought Ande mints and Julie made up name cards with the FIBers logo on it, and I got on the boat earlier and everyone got 2 mints and their name tag on their bunk.
As the boat was leaving the harbor, Todd gave us an idea of what to do for the next day. He said to use a number 2 hook. That most of the fish were being caught on the troll and maybe try Mega bait, iron, plastic and live baits. The key was to get in the water as soon as the trolling lines went off.
In the morning Casey(the cook) made a nice breakfast, we ate as the trolling lines were going off. Most of the time we would only pick 1 or 2 fish after the trolling fish were brought in, so everyone was sure to keep their trolling spot. From 6:00 am to 11:00 am we had about 20 fish on board. At 11:00 I was using a Megabait, dropping down about 200 ft as Todd would say that he is marking the fish deep. On my retrieve I got hooked up to a nice fish. I fought it as I went twice around the boat. After about 30 minutes I saw the fish at deep color, and about 5 minutes after that my line broke. My body was all spent, my strength was gone and so was my jackpot fish (well maybe).
From noon to 4:00 pm it slowed down to just a few troll fish.
God gave us a nice treat as we were all looking on the water for fish, we saw a Fin Whale. It is the second largest whale being beat out by the Blue Whale which is larger.
The first time the whale jumped straight out of the water head first then right back down. The second time was a nice jump with the side of the whale showing then it was gone.
From about 5:00 pm things started to pick up. We were getting as many as 3 hook ups on the trolling lines and a few more fresh ones. Most of the fish to this time had been Yellowfin. But now as we went by some kelp patties we had started to get more Yellowtail. By this time everyone on the boat had at least 2 fish each. At times now we had 4 or 5 people hook up at the same time. Over the last few hours Todd was seeing a lot of schools of fish everywhere, so we all fished really hard.
It was great to see Bob Bennett out on the water again with the FIBers.
Chuck Wheeler was all smiles as he landed the only Dorado, a very fine 16#6oz fish
Rene Atilano had a nice 17#11oz yellowtail.
Mike Kaneen at the end of the evening landed a yellow fin at 18#110z to claim the jackpot.
Merrilee had a yellowfin at 14#12oz.
Our youngest angler on our trip was Luke Vanderyacht at 10 years old. He was very excited to be fishing and with a little help from Grandpa (Ken Kunkel) they accounted for 10 fish. Luke’s big fish was 15#4oz.
Our totals for the trip where 80 yellow fin, 19 yellow tail and 1 dorado.
God blessed us all with a great trip, thank you everyone for making my job as Charter Master an easy one. It was truly a blessing to be with you all, some old friends and new faces, new friends. Rick
