Pêcheuse: January 2006

The legendary Excel with famed Captain Shawn Steward went into the history books again by catching 78 tuna over 200 pounds with one of those reaching 301 pounds. Another 63 tuna over 100 pounds were released by 23 anglers in 8 days of fishing on the annual Braid 17-day “Thanksgiving” trip. What is it like to be one of 23 anglers who catch 78 tuna over 200 pounds? Inside Sportfishing sent two cameramen to film “Big Boat, Big Fish II 10 years later. The show will air on Fox Sports West sometime later this year and will tell the entire story. We can get a glimpse of the trip through the photos that follow along with a brief introduction to the trip.

The trip began Thanksgiving Day with Master Chef Jason Fleck preparing a traditional Turkey Dinner on board the Excel. Passengers, crew and family members enjoyed the pre-departure celebration.

We cruised past Point Loma early Friday morning after filling the holds with lively sardines and mackerel. Four days of travel took us to Hurricane Bank. After a day and a half of fishing produced 58 tuna, 40 of which were released and 18 tagged with only 2 over 200 pounds, Shawn kicked up the engines for another two days of travel. Our travels brought us to the fishing grounds off the coast of Baja, Mexico where the rest of the long range fleet was having spectacular fishing on 200 pound yellowfin tuna (YFT). We joined the fleet catching our share of yellowfin and releasing more than we kept.

We fished tuna under porpoise schools. This type of fishing is not wide open with action unless you are the one hooked up. As we approached the school, a rotating slide team would drop back baits (usually with a sinker to get a bait down to the fish). Most the hook-ups came in the first 5 minutes. The rest of the time was spent waiting for the lucky anglers to bring their fish to gaff. If you were the one bit, it was spectacular! We also had some terrific sunsets followed by gourmet dinners from Jason’s repertoire. Quite a selection of excellent wines brought aboard by the passengers accompanied the meals rounding out the already perfect days.

Our tagged fish counts for the next 7 days were as follows: 34 YFT (23 over 200 lbs.); 40 YFT (24 over 200 lbs.); 14 YFT (7 over 200 lbs.); 18 YFT (16 over 200 lbs.); 0 YFT; 7 YFT (6 over 200 lbs.); ) 0 YFT (however we did catch and release 47 striped marlin before heading for Cabo San Lucas where passengers and crew spent a night on the town celebrating before flying home the next day.

75 year old Dan Felger nailed 7 over 200 pounds with one of those being the 301. Jamie and Kenny also had 7 over 200, Dennis had 6 over 200, and Tim had 5 over 200. Most the rest of us had between 1 and 4 over 200 pounds. How did I do? I managed 4 over 200 pounds with a 203, 207, 224 and a personal best at 245 pounds.