August 10, 2022 Fib’ers Cortez 1.5 Day Trip Summary
The Fib’ers second 2022 charter trip was a 1.5 Day trip aboard the Cortez Wednesday, August 10th. We departed Seaforth Sportfishing around 7:30PM. There were 20 of us, plus crewmembers. The weather around the dock was pleasant, and not too windy. It was a clear, full moon night.
After departing the dock, Cortez Captain Jim Hughes held a meeting in the galley, explaining the boat safety and emergency procedures. Captain Jim mentioned we would be heading about 70 miles south, and fish in Mexican Waters. Our target fish would be yellowtail and dorado. Captain Jim mentioned if a school of tuna were spotted, he would stop, and we would fish for tuna. The bait acquired was large sardines. Captain Jim suggested setting up our fishing rigs with 2/o, 3/o, or even 4/o hooks, and suggested a fly line setup. He said we would be kelp paddy fishing, and trolling. Trolling would be on a rotating basis, rotating four trollers every 30 minutes. After Captain Jim finished his seminar, Charter Master Bernie Clayton led the group in prayer, thanking the Lord for the opportunity to fish together and fellowship, also petitioning the Lord to guide us safely as we traveled, and that we would have enjoyable trip, and catch fish!
The ride down to the targeted fishing area was fairly rough with the Cortez rocking to and fro. It was quite windy, with 3-4 foot swells. We started trolling around 5:30AM. Around 6:00AM a dorado hit the trolling rig. Immediately we started fishing. Tom Hinmon caught and decked the first fish, a nice dorado weighing about 10 lbs. A couple minutes later, Dave Shill decked the second fish, a dorado, similar size to Tom’s. A few other dorado (8-12 lbs) and medium size (12-16 lb) yellowtail were caught. We rotated trollers, and started trolling again. About a ½ hour later, another dorado hit the trolling rig. We started fishing, but the dorado caught on the troll by Bob Beyer was the only fish caught that stop. We started trolling again (rotated trollers), and found a nice kelp patty. As we neared the kelp patty, a dorado hit the trolling rig. This time there was some chaos. As the trolling rigs were reeled in, and we casted out, there were multiple hookups. A good number of fish were hooked and caught. We fished for about an hour. The stop yielded a good bounty of yellowtail and dorado. Shirley Bruhl caught a nice dorado that ended being the largest dorado on the trip, and weighing 14lbs. Robert Gist caught an 18lb yellowtail, that was the largest yellowtail caught on the trip. All fish were being caught on the large sardines. It was windy, and the boat was rocking back and forth, but we were catching fish!
We started trolling again, but this time we didn’t find any kelp paddies or have any jig strikes for the next three hours. With the windy conditions creating white caps, it was getting harder to see, or find, the kelp patties we hoped to fish. It was around 1:00PM when we had a trolling jig strike. A dorado was quickly decked, and we started fishing. A number of nice size (8-13lbs) dorado were caught.
Around 4PM the Captain spotted a school of Bluefin boiling. We didn’t get a jig strike, but as the boat got close to them, we tried our luck. Unfortunately, no hook ups. The school disappeared. The Captain slowed the Cortez, and we stayed in the area. A little time later, the Captain spotted the school again. We got to the school, and they were boiling again. Trolling rigs were reeled in, and we casted sardines. This time Rob Whittaker hooked up, as did Bryan Franco. Crewmember Justin casting a Popper also hooked up, and quickly handed his Bluefin off to Brian Chichi. Dan Shultis also hooked up. All four decked their tuna. Rob’s Bluefin was the Jackpot Fish, and weighed 42lbs. Bryan Franco’s Bluefin weighed 36lbs, and Brian Chichi’s Bluefin weighed 28lbs. Dan Shultis decked a yellowfin tuna that weighed 27lbs.
We started trolling again, but no more luck. It still was windy, with whitecaps, although the wind seemed not as strong as earlier. We finished fishing around 7:30PM. Captain Jim started heading North for home.
Our final trip fish count was 26 dorado, 9 yellowtail, 3 bluefin tuna, and 1 yellowfin tuna.
We arrived back at the dock at 5:30AM. Before departing the boat, Crewman Jeff took our group picture. Although we experienced adverse weather conditions, we caught some nice fish. Cortez Captain Jim Hughes, and his crew, were friendly, knowledgeable, and did an excellent job. In fact, we are planning to Charter the Cortez again next summer
