July 29, 2018 1.5 Day trip on Fury – Report by Ken Kunkel
Our trip did not go to San Clemente as planned. We voted as a group to go south and chase kelp paddies and schools of Bluefin Tuna.
We departed at 9:30 P.M. on a warm evening heading south in our pursuit of the elusive Bluefin and Yellowtail. Our load of Sardines was of descent size but low energy. Our ride down to the fishing grounds was on a very smooth ocean, but the bunk house was really warm. We found our first Kelp paddy at 6:30 A.M. and Mark Gist landed a 20 pound Yellowtail. Our second kelp paddy was spotted and fished at 8:00 AM. We picked up 6 or 7 Yellowtail of descent size. Then ventured for many hours looking for a producing kelp paddy, but found none. We stopped on a metered school of Bluefin where Walter Valk picked up a 31.5 Bluefin and Mark Gist landed a 38.3 Bluefin. On our second stop Ed Waites caught a 43.5 pound Bluefin. We also had the excitement of Jerry Kulik and Brad Masters hooking up the same Marlin which went south very quickly after making a few spectacular jumps!
We spent the rest of the day chasing kelp paddies and stopping on metered schools of Bluefin. During one of our stops, Joe Cameron picked up his 8.75 pound Dorado. Joe had to weave his way through a web of monofilament line to land the fish. Richard Ramos landed a 15 pound Dorado in a more conventional manner. The rest of the trip was spent chasing schools of Bluefin with no luck. We called an end to the fishing day about 8:30 P.M. We enjoyed a delicious dinner with your choice of either grilled chicken or steak served with potato, salad, vegetables, and a roll. The dessert featured ice cream and cookies.
We arrived back at Dana Point at 4:15 A.M. Although the trip did not produce the fish counts we wanted, all enjoyed the companionship and Christian fellowship. We want to give a special “Thank You” to John Olsen for all of the “leg-work” he did for the trip. He was missed and we all hope and pray that he is now feeling better. A special “Shout Out” to Val Handzus for being my personal nurse and Assistant Charter Master.