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Limited Load Long Range Sportfishing
Limited Load Long Range Sportfishing
Aug. 10
Well, I can't say we caught very much today. I can say we saw plenty of schools, we just couldn't get more then one of them to bite and on that school we caught one 70 pounder. I'm thinking we saw about a dozen schools of tuna today but like I said, it was the wrong day for biting fish in these grounds. The weather though today, man o man is it nice out here so at least we got to look at non biting fish in good weather.
In other fishing news we got the word from the higher ups that Mexico has lifted the ban on recreational bluefin tuna catching and keeping so with that news we're going to roll on down into some traditional Mexican bluefin tuna grounds and give that a go tomorrow. We'll be looking for yellowfin tuna as well tomorrow. We've heard they"re in the area too. Wish us luck.
Drew and crew
Aug. 11
We had a great morning today. I'd have to check with the big guy but I believe we had around 60 of the 15-25 pound yellowfin and 9 of those big 60-80 pound bluefins on our first drift. I'd call that a good morning. It wasn't full speed either. It was just a nice scratch over a period of a few hours. Nice drifting along there in beautiful weather once again. I sure hope this weather lasts a while along with the fishing.
After our first drift we did some others of course. None producing as well as the first one but throughout the day we scratched at some more yellowfin and a few more of those big bluefins. It was just what we needed after a day of mostly driving around seing a lot and not catching much. Needless to say we'll be hanging around here tonight and trying it again tomorrow.
On a sad note, one of the greats in the sportfishing industry passed away today. Most of you reading this wouldn't know who I'm talking about because he was a behind the scenes guy. I'm talking about the great sardine fisherman Joe Machado, and if you've been fishing in the last 35+ years, you were using bait most likely caught or found by him. As you all know, no bait no fish, so we'll be throwing some sardines over the side for him tomoorow. RIP Joe.
Drew and crew
Aug 12
Today was awesome. We woke up drifting catching fish and that's about what we did until dark. I'm not kidding you. We moved the boat just a handful of times but never for more then 10 minutes. It was drifting with always at least one on the hook. In the morning until after lunch it was mostly bluefin in the 30-45 pound range with the occasional 60-80 pounder. I have to tell you that that's a much more manageable grade. It's a much better fish to start off on than those 60-80 pounders. Don't get me wrong, you know I love catching those beauts but they make a much better cherry than ice cream if you know what I mean. We had that kind of day where if we catch them tomorrow it will be the cherry on top. The rest of the day we got into yellowfin tuna mode and it was game on for those fish. Tommy decided to save our sardine on board it being they were feeding on the anchovy that went over the side so that's what we used. Chovy baby. I can't ever remember fishing anchovy for tuna on this boat. I have to go back to my mission bay days to remember that but I didn't forget how to do it. I wrote this in the beginning of the season and I'll write about it again. If you're coming on a future trip, please remember to bring the lost art of anchovy fishing skills. A big part of that is an anchovy rod and reel. Something light that's meant for 20-25 pound test with a nice free spool to help you toss those anchovies away from the boat. I hate to say it but if that means you need to bring your coffee grinder so be it.
The weather is still good! Man I hope this can hold up for at least my buds on the upcoming Heil 5 day trip leaving the day after tomorrow. We're staying put right here for our last day fishing tomorrow. We're hoping we can get more of the 60-80 pounders tomorrow but we will be stoked with the 30-45's as well.
Drew and crew
Aug 14
As I write this, it's the morning of the 14th. When I was awakened for my watch and day at 3:05 this morning I couldn't tell if we were running or if we were anchored up in the bay. You can't really hear the engines from where I sleep but I couldn't tell from the ride because it was so nice going up last night. I seriously asked Tommy as he was still up reading.
The fishing slowed down for us today as fishing does from time to time. The bluefin didn't bite as well this morning nor did the yellowfin. There was still yellowfin to catch this morning and there were some good scores had in the afternoon away from the bluefin zone but we caught enough yellowfin yesterday and hung out in the bluefin zone for a chance at some more of those trophies in the afternoon/evening. We still had a decent morning. I mean we still caught 14 nice bluefin and some yellowfin, but the bf's never made it back around for the afternoon snack fest. We had a great trip and will be off loading a nice catch tomorrow morning at 6:00 and turning right back around shortly after that for 5 days.
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was the amount of these toad bluefin being caught on jigs. More then I have ever seen ratio wise but that could also be because more people were doing it but that could be because it was working well. The shimano butterfly jig is the jig that caught most of our jig fish. But that could be because that's what most people were using but that could be because it was working so well. And 90+ percent of those were caught on the sink. No retrieve necessary except to bring it up to sink back down. They loved it. So if I were coming out this year I would throw a couple of those in my box.
Drew and crew
PS- Shimano gave me nothing to write that last paragraph. It just worked.
