Eight Days of Laughter

June 27th we left on the annual Braid 8-Day trip with 33 passengers, most were regulars. Our Captain this trip was Mike Ramirez with Oscar as second with Jason and Stan in the Galley and Brandon, Johnnie, Derrick, and Kevin on deck. It was great to see regulars Frank, Rolland, Kim, Sean, Steve, Big Daddy Burnside, Jim, George (and his son), Chris, Allen, and the Weisenhutters (Curt, Craig and Erick).

We had just finished settling into our rooms when Captain Ramirez informed us we would be fishing albacore before sundown. Not only did we fish but several folks caught – 22 in all. As usual just a few anglers caught all the fish. Offshore water temperature ranged from 66 degrees to 66.7.

Next day, we were off for yellowtail at Hippolito but met with a current pushing hard north so we stopped short and ended up fishing reds at Jeronimo instead. The water was a cool 61 degrees with 15 knots of wind. We caught 40 to 50 reds, enough for lunch and a few to take home. Since fishing was slow, Frank went to town early and had a great time – so great that he tired himself out. Rolland put him to bed at 5:00 p.m. so he would be well rested for the next days fishing.

We got to Hippolito around 8:15 the third morning and found green 58.8 degree water and no yellowtail. After working the area all day we caught a total of 8 yellowtail. We headed towards the ridge.

Day 4 found biting yellowtail at Thetis bank but the giant squid kept moving in just when we got the bite going. The squid kept eating our sardines. We finally ended up at the 23 spot and caught 200 yellows. They bit the jigs and bait. It was nice to run into biting fish. We even had a couple amberjacks one of which was mine. Our water had warmed up to 69.8 degrees.

We fished Day 5 offshore on our way to the rocks. We found many big kelp paddies but nothing associated with them.

We finally made it to Alijos Rocks the next morning and found 69 degree water and biting fish – small fish. We had a good bite all day on 18 to 25 pound yellowfin tuna. We never saw anything larger. A seiner came through the area and sent its helicopter up but eventually left the area. Mike said the fish were on the shallows where they couldn’t wrap the fish. The Royal Star was with us at the rocks and their refrigeration had leaked into their bait tanks and they lost all their bait. When they fixed the leak, we passed over a box of bait leaving us 1 ¾ boxes of bait for albacore fishing the last day.

We traveled north the next day and began albacore fishing the last day 90 miles from Point Loma in 70 degree water. We picked up 34 albies for the day and I finally put one on the deck.

We check back in to the landing July 5th and weighed up our catch. Jackpot winners included Mike Livingston with a 38.2 lb. yellowtail, Curt Wiesenhutter with a 36.4 lb. yellowtail and Steve Alexander with a 36 lb. yellowtail.

Now you may be wondering why the title. If you have ever fished with Frank and Rolland you would know. They kept us all entertained. It began with Kim trying his new propeller accessory for a trolling lure. After being teased about it tangling other lures, Kim put it out anyway. If you check the photos carefully, you will see that Rolland found a good use for the propeller. It only got better from there. I’m already looking forward to next year’s trip.