Pacific Dawn Paradise

Guest blogger, Jim Carlisle, has this report for our August 26th L. A. Rod and Reel Club trip:

Well, our buddy Capt. Peaches really put us on the fish yesterday on our 1.5 day trip. We killed 100 albacore (25-32#) by 12:30. At that point Pat hit the bunk to rest his sore back and turned the boat over to Opie. We then played catch and release for another 100+ fish before we ran out of bait at about 4pm.

Then it was time for the crew fishing contest. Opie would drive the boat up on boiling fish, then run out the back of the galley, grab his jig rod and throw out a trolling jig. I think he did 3 or 4 fish in a row that way casting his tuna close and he smoked the rest of the crew. Was very fun seeing the crew letting off steam for an hour or two. The more we moved inside the fleet in the afternoon, the thicker the fish got. Seemed like the whole frickin ocean was alive in there….. bait, fish, birds, porpoise…...

Fun day on the water and got back to the dock at 6 a.m. this morning. Only bad part was having to go into work today but I made it in by 10 a.m.

Thanks for the report Jim.

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Jeff Fukawa provided some of the photos to which I added my own. By the way, Jeff was the Jackpot winner too. Enjoy the photos!

Here's one of my albacore and this is Lynne's 31 lb. albacore she caught on 20# line. Congratulations Lynne.

Here's Opie in action -bringing in his albacore, gaffing his own albacore and dead albacore on deck.

Mike on his albacore.

Crew cutting fish - which took them until 11:20 p.m.

Searcher Albies

The annual Braid Products 4-day trip on the Searcher departed Fisherman’s Landing at noon on August 14th with Art Taylor, the Searcher’s owner and Captain at the helm. Assisting Art and providing excellent service to the 19 passengers on board were Art’s second, Kevin, deck hands Kenny, Cole, and Corey with Randy and Dave in the galley. I gave out the T-shirts and Braid Slammer Jigs that Dennis sent for the passengers as Celia signed everybody in.

We picked up a great load of healthy sardines at the bait receiver while Randy served us a delicious lunch of pizza and salad. Art informed us we were heading southwest to the albacore grounds and would arrive during the night. The weather was coming up so the sea anchor was deployed when we arrived on the grounds.

I was up by 4:30 a.m. and fished a jig deep in 25 knot winds. Not only was the weather rough but the fish were not biting yet. We trolled around all day while getting thrown around in rough seas and big swells. Around noon we stopped on a meter mark and picked up 27 albacore. We trolled most the afternoon and still no jig strikes plus we all suffered from boots full of water. The water temperature was 67, the skies overcast and with the winds howling; our feet were wet, we were cold – but we had a few fish so it was not all bad. Right at sundown we got a jig strike and put another 30 fish on the boat. 25# mono with a short fluorocarbon leader and a 1/0 Mustad 92677 hook was my ticket.

The next morning the winds were still blowing but were predicted to come down. As the day progressed, the weather changed and the fishing improved. The albacore started hitting the trolling jigs – a Zuker black and purple 6-inch feather was the hot jig. By afternoon, the seas erupted with life. Everywhere we looked we could see fish jumping – bait balls around pods of whales, porpoise, schools of jumping albacore and the albacore were biting. The crew cast out the green mackerel slammer jig and hooked and handed at least a dozen albacore on that jig. It was dynamite.

The news got out fast that the albacore were biting and since we were only 55 miles from the landing, the rest of the fleet arrived quickly. By the end of the day, we were only 50 fish short of limits for the boat. I had hooked and handed fish, sent fish to the galley and given fish to the crew and other passengers and still reached limits early. Randy filled our bellies with pork loin (I had albacore) and strawberry shortcake before sending us to bed. We were all exhausted and sore but content by the time we hit the bunks.
I was up early the next day and had two albacore on board before anyone else was on deck. By the time the sea anchor was pulled and breakfast finished we had 4 albacore on the boat and I had caught 3. We gave all 4 fish to Tony who was having a tough trip. There were 32 boats in the area with more arriving all the time. Art kept us fishing on the albacore grounds for the morning until it was clear everyone had all the albacore they wanted. We were fishing around the butterfly so Art headed East looking for dorado and yellowtail on kelps. The weather was beautiful; calm seas and sunny skies. The water was 70.4 degrees. We enjoyed the weather and calm seas unfortunately the fish were a no show. We didn’t even care.

We had a comfortable ride home and awoke in the morning tied up at the bait receiver. We tied up at the landing at 7:30 in the morning, unloaded gear and sorted fish. Jackpot was weighed up and Don took jackpot with a 42 pound albacore. What a great trip. The Captain and crew made sure all our needs and desires were attended to. Thanks Art.

Dorado and Yellowtail on the Islander

The Braid Products 3.5 day charter on the Islander departed July 29th at 9:00 p.m., baited up at the receivers then headed south to fish kelps. Several of the passengers had migrated from the Pacific Queen 2 day trip to the Islander 3.5 day trip. It was great seeing old friends again. Captain John Coniff was at the helm for this trip and Paul was cooking.

We began trolling around 6:30 in the morning still traveling south and within view of the coast. We picked up 77 mixed dorado and yellowtail throughout the day ending up 110 miles south. The yellowtail were 20 to 30 pound fish and the dorado were 18 pounders – all beautiful fish. These fish bit well on 25# to 40# line and the dorado put on a great show.

We continued further south during the night beginning at 135 miles south the next morning. We continued the same direction fishing kelps. The further south we went the better the fish bit. We had a great day ending at 165 miles south with just over 200 mixed dorado and yellowtail for the day. The flat calm waters certainly made the fishing that much more enjoyable.

Since we had plenty of dorado and yellowtail we headed north to try our hand at albacore fishing. Unfortunately the albacore didn’t want to bite so John anchored us up on the 60 mile bank for some rock cod fishing. The salmon grouper were biting full speed on every drop. We caught over 150 of these fish and only one red and one cow cod.

We spent the rest the day trying for albacore but they were nearly a no show. Only 5 albacore for the trip and they were caught by anglers that only take one trip a year.

We were only 54 miles from home so it was a calm, peaceful ride home.

Albacore on the Pacific Dawn

Kenny Cirks chartered the Pacific Dawn July 22nd to take his employees and friends fishing. We met at Fisherman’s Landing early and had dinner at Point Loma Seafoods. The boat was in early so Pat (the Captain and owner) let us board early. Blue, the regular chef, was off for our trip and Chuck was back cooking.

We left dock, baited up and hit the bunks. Tim and I were up early and at the rail first – typical for us. Shortly after Kenny and Jim joined us. It was great being at the rail with the Thanksgiving group again.

It wasn’t too long until we began hooking Albacore and handing them off to those that had never caught an albacore. After we accomplished fish for the new anglers, the albacore kept biting until we all ended up with our 5-fish limits.

Great trip, great boat and great friends! Thanks Kenny.