Five Days on the Shogun

The second annual Braid Products 5-Day trip on the Shogun (http://www.shogunsportfishing.com/) departed Fisherman’s Landing August 31, 2006 with legendary owner and skipper, Norm Kagawa in the wheelhouse. Hurricane John just south of Cabo San Lucas had to be considered as Norm made plans for our fishing destination. Guadalupe Island was our first destination until John’s path could be determined.

Norm’s crew included Mike King, Sean, Jessie, and Tommie with Paul and Bill in the Galley. The safety seminar was first, followed by the tackle seminar. “Fish nothing less than 40# line at Guadalupe” was the seminar instruction. “We enforce Mexican limits so no more than 15 of any species and a maximum of 30 fish for the trip. You will have 15 tags on a ring and the boat has another 15 tags on a board on the back of the bait tank. The boat has a board with everyone’s name on it and each fish put into the hold is recorded by the anglers’ name. Once your tags are gone or you have 15 of any one species, you either catch and release, give your fish away, or quit fishing.”

Norm also gave the jackpot rules and talked about the separate Rollo jackpot and the Shogun’s release contest. The Rollo jackpot is a $20 buy in with $10 going for kids fishing programs. The other $10 goes to the person with the biggest yellowtail of the trip. The release contest is won by the person releasing the most “legal sized” fish. The prize is a crystal tuna with the Shogun’s name engraved on the crystal. Braid Products initiated the release contest last year on this trip. Since it was so popular, the Shogun and the Royal Polaris have continued the contest on each of their trips.

We had an early dinner the first night. After dinner I distributed Braid Slammer jigs and hats. Passengers were excited to receive freebies.

We arrived at the south end of the island to find the Royal Star, Top Gun, and Excel already in prime spots one, two and three just behind the large rock at tuna alley. Norm set us up in tuna alley (the gap between the island and the big rock.) The weather was calm and quite hot. Fishing was very slow. We only had 16 tuna and 5 yellowtail for the day. I had one tuna that went to the galley for sushi. At dinner we celebrated Norm’s 53rd Birthday. After dinner, we made bait. The tuna may have had lockjaw but the bait sure didn’t. We were finished in an hour.



Conditions were good the second morning for fishing the bobber balloon. I picked off 3 fish on balloon before the conditions changed and the current and wind were in opposite directions and I had to put the balloons away. The fish bit only slightly better today producing 37 tuna and 5 yellowtail. With tuna fishing so slow, many passengers fished the bottom instead. They came up with the largest catch of 8 to 10 pound sheepshead I have ever seen. There were over 40 of these big fish put in the hold even though the crew reminded them they were using their tags on small fish.



Hurricane John decided to turn inland towards the Sea of Cortez and slowed its path north giving us the opportunity to fish Benitos and Cedros. We arrived at Benitos around 9:00 a.m. in the morning and ended up fishing along side of the Pacific Queen. Both boats experienced a wide open bite on 12 to 15 pound yellowtail. A cast of a nose hooked sardine to the starboard corner ensured a hook-up. After two hours of non-stop action, the bite slowed.

Norm made a move to the north end of Cedros for some larger yellowtail. These fish preferred a Spanish Mackerel on a long soak. These baits are notorious for being non-swimmers. They just sit motionless after being cast out. I ended up butt-hooking the bait and casting it as far as I could then working the line continually to irritate the mackerel enough to swim a little until a yellowtail picked it up. These yellowtail were the 20 to 30 pound variety and we caught just a handful in all. Between Benitos and Cedros, I caught 13 yellowtail and released 10 which earned me the release award.



Reports from offshore were still poor so Norm traveled overnight up to San Martin Island to drift for Reds. The weather was clear and hot with only a slight current making for long drifts. Norm made 5 drifts in all before we had limits of 6 to 8 pound reds and a handful of lingcod. Norm moved the boat in close to the island and made a couple drifts for halibut before calling it a trip.




We arrived at the harbor early the morning of September 5th. The Royal Star was in first so Norm used our wait time to load bait for the Shogun’s next trip. We were at dock at 7:30 unloading our gear. The fish came up next and Norm weighed up the jackpot fish.

Young Yi of Rosemead won first place for a 78.4-pound yellowfin. David Tracy of Encinitas was second, for a 65.6-pounder, and Brandon Friend, 14 years old, won third place for a 65.2-pound yellowfin tuna.



Norm turned the boat over to second Captain, Bruce Smith, (http://www.bigfishhappen.com/) to run the next trip and headed home. When Norm is not on the boat, he loves working in his shop crafting tackle boxes or equipment out of wood for his boat. Norm crafted a boot rack for the wheelhouse, cup holders for the galley and even spiking tools (to kill the fish) with polished wood handles for each of the crew members. Norm is very low-key and probably one of the most underrated skippers in the fleet. I learned from Papa Ted (Norm’s dad) that Norm has a degree in marine biology - which may be one of the reasons the Monterey Bay Aquarium charters the Shogun to collect fish for the aquarium. I always enjoy my time on the Shogun and in the wheelhouse getting to know Norm.

Guadalupe Island on the Searcher

The long-range fleet has made Guadalupe Island a destination for 4 and 5 day trips this summer. Why? Because the 45 to 100 pound yellowfin tuna have been biting well along with some trophy yellowtail up to 50 pounds.

The Braid Products 4-Day trip on the Searcher departed August 18th with 28 passengers and 7 crew members on board. Art Tayler, Captain and owner of the Searcher (http://searchersportfishing.com/) was at the helm, assisted by Aaron, Kevin, Reese, and Joe with Randy and Eric in the Galley.



The island is 220 miles from Point Loma and more than 100 miles off the coast of Mexico. We traveled all night and arrived in the morning at the north end of this mysterious island that is known to create its own weather. Art searched for a good spot to put the anchor down and selected an area at the south end of the island. Art suggested 30# or 40# line. It was a slow pick on the tuna as we ended the day with 39 yellowfin from 40 to 65 pounds and 2 yellowtail.



We experienced many knot failures during this trip. The fluorocarbon, especially 30#, kept breaking regardless of who was tying the knot. Crew members as well as passengers had trouble. Our best connection ended up being 40# fluorocarbon tied to either 30# or 40# monofilament with a back to back uni knot using lots of water before cinching the knot down.



Our second day of fishing produced 57 yellowfin and we managed to get at least one tuna for each person. I had a very good day. I caught 7 yellowfin including 4 on balloons plus an 81.2 pounder on 30# line using a Shimano Torium reel with a 6 to 1 retrieve. I sent two fish to the galley and handed off one to a young man that didn’t have a fish for the trip.



Our last day we traveled towards home looking for fish under kelp paddies. The weather was rough which made spotting kelps difficult. Art and the crew worked hard all day, however, the fish just didn’t show for us.

We arrived back at dock early to unload gear and fish. Bernie Rubacalba split first place with Todd Keehan, both with 73# yellowfin, and third place went to Dale Bunting for his 70.4# tuna.