Thanksgiving Braid Trip 2007

We boarded the Excel at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Excel Chef Jason Fleck made the passengers a traditional Turkey dinner including pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Special thanks to Bill and Ingrid Poole, Betty and Kathie in the Excel Office for making this early boarding possible with the TSA. Bill and Ingrid even brought their grandchildren to the boat on Thanksgiving to wish us a happy Thanksgiving and good luck on our trip. What a great way to start the annual Braid charter!

Passengers this trip included regulars Dennis Braid, Tim Turis, Ken Cirks, Chris Forster, Andy Marcum, Al Scow, Jim and Tom Carlisle, Tom Howe and me. Joining the regulars were Dennis Saylors, Jeff Bollet, Michael Stiny, Bergie Bergman, Bob Kelley, Mike Lovelle, Armen Ghazarins, Karl Clarich, Groden Seward and Alan Petrasek. Regulars missing this year were Basil Pappas, Dan Felger, Grover Sinsley and Jerry Thergesen. We hope to see them back next year.

Crew for our trip included Captain Justin Fleck, second Captain Mike Ramirez, Jordan Richard, Oscar Marroquin, Chris Pharo, Brandon Wilske, Johnny Ewart and Chefs Jason Fleck and Stan Paurzas. A fabulous crew that were fun to fish with too.

At 5 a.m. Friday morning Betty and Kathie arrived to check in all the passengers while the crew loaded all the dairy products and vegetables. Captain Justin Fleck eased the Big Boat away from dock at 8 a.m. stopping at the bait receivers to load the holds with beautiful healthy sardines before passing the point.




A short video of loading bait.

Captain Fleck informed us that we were heading south and we were the only boat going to Hurricane Bank. The rest of the fleet were headed to the banks off Magdalena Bay.

The last boat at Hurricane Bank had fabulous fishing on 150 to 250 pound yellowfin with a decent catch of wahoo too.

Four days of travel awaited us until we reached Hurricane Bank. The trip down was blessed with flat calm seas. Battle preparation began immediately. The wheelhouse found Captain Fleck rigging Yummie Flyers and making kite leaders.



In the galley, passengers were busy making wahoo and tuna leaders, rigging baits etc. I was busy making top shots of 130# Berkley Hi Test with 180# Berkley Hollow Braid for the loop. After making 30 top shots I made a dozen 200# fluorocarbon leaders - 3 feet long, 4/0 swivel at one end and an Eagle Claw 2004/2005 9/0 hook.


Fluorocarbon Leader

Forty hours down the line, we stopped at Alijos Rocks to try for yellowtail and tuna for chunks. The water was cold and the fish were not biting. I scaled down to 40# Big Game and put a Berkley Aqua Blue 40# fluorocarbon leader on with a Mustad 3/0 92677 hook and hooked a yellowtail just as we were pulling away. It was the only fish we caught at the rocks.



Putting reels on rods, adding top shots occupied another day. Reading and watching movies managed to fill the rest of the long ride south. Outfitting Big Al with a set of wings for his new boots managed to occupy Jim and Tim for an evening.



Dennis Braid spent the time riding south setting up the 60 bottles of wine entered into the traditional wine contest. Each bottle was catalogued then covered with a paperbag so none of the participants would know what they were drinking. It worked out that we tasted and rated four bottles of wine each night. Jim Carlisle was the big winner this year (winning a Penn Reel) and Basil took second (and the Maui Jim sunglasses) and Big Al took third honors (and miscellaneous tackle).

We rolled into the bank Tuesday morning about 7:30 and quickly put 30 wahoo on board. Even Tim caught wahoo.




Justin anchored up on the bank and I hooked up immediately on a 190# yellowfin using a bobber balloon and sardine. We picked away all day at the tuna. At one point both Tim and I were fighting kite fish, mine being hooked on a squid. My tuna weighed in at 223 lbs. and Tim's went 248 lbs.








Yellowfin on the meter.

Right at dark, Chris decided to drop a sardine down and try to catch a fish for chunks and ended up hooking this 283 lb. tuna that ended up taking first in the jackpot.



We had good fishing for the first two days before the weather came up a bit and the fish backed off. After Three days, Captain Fleck decided we would spend a day fishing outside the buffer zone of Clarion Island. We had a wide open bite on smaller tuna but failed to find the big ones in our search.

Somehow a falcon ended up out at Hurricane Bank and decided to take up residence atop the crows nest. He spent the day hunting - catching storm petrals and taking them to the crows nest and eating them flinging the feathers everywhere.



When we arrived outside Clarion Island, the falcon took off for land.





We headed into the beach to fish the bank off Mag Bay. The fishing was slow but several 300 pound tuna had been landed on other boats in recent days. We were in search of the trophy fish.

Bergie got his trophy and personal best - a 280 lb. yellowfin that snapped up second jackpot. Way to go Bergie!

Everyone pulled on fish - some were 60 pounders and others were cows. All were fun. We made bait every night in Mag Bay from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. We were back on the fishing grounds by 6 a.m. every morning - tired but ready to fish.

Ken Cirks hooked a big fish on 100# straight tied to the hook and after three trips around the boat, the beast chewed through the line. Ken is sure that was the trophy fish he's been chasing for years. He hooked another big fish our last day - this time using 130# top shot that was only 15 feet long. It was a mean fish so Justin put him out in the skiff to fight his fish. He returned an hour later towing a 262 pound yellowfin that nailed third jackpot. Great going Ken!

We headed up the line and found flat calm seas the first day. The second day was just the opposite.

Check out the video taken from inside the galley on the way home.

We had a loads of fun with friends and we caught fish too. In summary, we ended up with 10 tuna over 100 lbs. I had a 210 and a 223. Andy Marcum had a 235, Mike Stiny had a 210, Mike Lovelle brought home a 203, and Gordon Seward had a 216.

The Jackpot Winners were Chris with a 283, Bergie with a 280 and Ken with a 262.

Photos are courtesy of Jason Fleck, Ken Cirks, Jim Carlisle and myself.