Super Fun 2.5 Day 10/15/18

[sasquatch]

Don't even know where to begin.

Thanks to Charter Master Extraordinaire Tommy, the crew of the Pacific Voyager, and the great people I shared the deck with.

Arrived at Seaforth Friday afternoon. Skies were a little cloudy and rain was in the forecast along with some good wind. Everyone was a little concerned, but, we were all prepared for whatever may come.



Had a great potluck while waiting to board. My favorite was the venison pastrami. Dave did it all himself from harvest to final product. Amazing.

As we boarded, there was lightning in the sky and light rain was falling. Uh oh, is this even a good idea?

We assembled in the galley, Capt. Mark went over the options, said not to sweat the weather, it was beautiful offshore.  Game plan was BFT at Clemente Saturday with a backup plan to head to Tanner bank if things weren't happening.

We never got to Tanner.

After a somewhat bumpy night, we arrived near the zone. Skies looked a little ominous, but the weather had laid down some and there was no lightning or rain.



We began looking for fish. Some boats had caught some, and we were a little late to the party, but hopeful.

It didn't take long until we began to get some bites on bait. A few fish came on the flat fall, but mostly bait. Chum was key. We had a mix of mostly small dines and some large. We chummed with small and fished with the large. Worked great. They threw75% of the bait we had before the day was over. "Whatever it takes" was the call of the day.

Most fish were in the 20-30lb class. Light line was the key 20-25 was getting bit. 30+ was not. Tommy went down to 17 and did well. I had a hard time getting bit on 20 so I dropped down to 15. I got bit. 20lb fish, no big deal. Got another a little later.

Things slowed down and after a tasty lunch, I grabbed a quick nap. Woke up to the motors winding down as we stopped on another meter mark. Hit the deck, grabbed my 15lb set up and put a bait out. Instant bite. Still groggy, I couldn't believe my eyes when fish boiled around us. These weren't 20-30lb fish.

Well, I resigned myself to getting chewed off. It didn't happen. There were about 8 of us hooked up. Being dragged around the boat. Several times. 8 for me. Everyone else had 20-25. I finally got my fish in, the first of the group. Several were lost. I was all super proud of my big tuna until Dom, the cook, landed his. It was much bigger than mine. Then all the others came in. Bigger too. They were 50lb fish. Mine was maybe 30. Crazy thing is, I fought that fish at least an hour on 15 without getting chewed off and the hook was a foot down its throat. Go figger.


My fish

The other fish. Nicky had this one on longer than I had mine.

Conditions just got better as the day went on.




Great dinner of rib eye steaks, and we made a big move down the beach overnight to fish YFT and dorado.


A little windier, but a nice day. Not a cloud in sight most of the day.

We started off trolling and looking for paddies.

Lots of cruising, not lots of paddies. A couple jig strikes that didn't amount to much.

There were a couple stops that were WFO. Skippies mixed with YFT. The water was so clear you could watch the fish rocket toward your bait and sometimes pull it away before the skippies ate it. One of the paddies was holding dorado. Probably a dozen of them came off it. That paddy was a three second bite. Cast, count to three and set the hook.  Sometimes you didn't get to three. Super fun. The sacks were stuffed, deckhands gaffing fish right and left. Popper fish, colt sniper fish. I even got 6 on a swimbait I tried just for fun. I scored two on a colt sniper, and a bunch on bait. Not big fish but WFO footballs is a blast.













We even got intel on satellite marked kelps, but when we got there, we found just the beacon. It came off the kelp.



Cool to see. Capt. Mark said they go for around a grand.

Even with the pandemonium of a hot bite, we all worked together. Very few fish were lost to tangles. I can think of two or three, but many bluefin were chewed off after long battles, Some right at the boat.

After all was said and done, these people,


Came home with this,


61 BFT, Limits of YFT some dorado and a few yellowtail.

Capt. Mark, 2nd Charlie, Mitch and Cody on deck and Dom cooking. Great crew for a great trip.

[Latimeria]

Well damn!  Thanks for all the fresh tuna!

I'll revisit this later after work.  I've just been pulled into some more work and meetings to attend.

That sounds like a fantastic trip!

[xjchad]

Holy smokes that looks like so much fun!
Glad it went well for you Steve!

[sasquatch]

Well damn!  Thanks for all the fresh tuna!

I'll revisit this later after work.  I've just been pulled into some more work and meetings to attend.

That sounds like a fantastic trip!

Thanks for taking so much fresh tuna off my hands.

[Latimeria]

Well damn!  Thanks for all the fresh tuna!

I'll revisit this later after work.  I've just been pulled into some more work and meetings to attend.

That sounds like a fantastic trip!

Thanks for taking so much fresh tuna off my hands.

Since I have so many things going on this week, I realized that I would not be able to clean and process them all in the next few days, so tried something for the first time....  Seaforth Seafoods Fish Processing.  The 10 tuna weighed in at 88 pounds and will all be ready for me on Wednesday.  I didn't realize they were closed today (or at least closed to more fish cleaning).

Thanks boss.  That's more YFT and BFT than I caught all year on my boat! (Although I missed on some epic BFT crashes in my spread earlier this year)

[vdisney]

I am absolutely stoked for you Steve, this trip turned out much better than the last.  I hope you are rejuvenated after this one   

[sasquatch]

Verne, this trip is the highlight of my fishing year every time I go on it.  Good friends and good fishing in a good boat with good food. Can't be beat.

What really rejuvenated me was the 3.5 hour nap when I got home. That much fun is hard work.

[Eric H]

Great read.

Trips like that are a blast, im sure your still stoked..

Glad you got yours

[1morecast]

Way to go, Steve! No one like a show off! 

[Pinoyfisher]

Heck yeah!! Tom, that's too much for you to eat...