Turd Cirkus Charter

Tim Turis and Kenny Cirks were our Chartermasters for this 5-day trip on the Excel. As for the title above, well Tim Turis, a pilot in the Navy, was given the nickname “Turd” and – yes it was painted on the nose of his aircraft. So his name continues and one day Mike asked me when I was leaving on the “Turd Cirkus Charter.” Needless to say, that name stuck as well.

We got up at the early hour of 2:30 a.m. and departed for San Diego at 3:45. When we got to Pt. Loma, we drove through McDonalds for a quick breakfast. Mike helped me unload my gear then returned home (and presumably back to bed).

Everyone is issued a Boarding Pass with their loading number for boarding the boat on it. This number is based on the date the trip deposit was received by the boat. Based on the Boarding Passes, Fisherman’s Landing employees (the guys in the red shirts) got all our carts in numerical order for loading. Loading of the boat went quickly then we went about putting our gear away and assembling our rods and reels.

Chartermasters Tim Turis and Kenny Cirks

The bait was loaded next. We were jugged with great sardines plus a tank of anchovy as well. Justin came down and did a safety seminar and shortly thereafter Derek did a fishing seminar. Pizzas were made and served for lunch, thanks to Stan and Johnny.

Listening to Seminars

This would be a travel day as we were making tracks for Benitos. Mostly travel through the next day as well. We arrived at Benitos (to an area called the bush) at around 3:30 pm. After a few drifts for not much, we took off for San Pablo.

We arrived in the dark and Justin metered around for a while. About 6 a.m. he set up a drift to check things out. As soon as we cast out our jigs, we were all bendo. I was in the bow and as soon as I landed my fish I heard several cries for gaff. I looked around and there was no crew available to come to the bow so I grabbed a gaff and started sticking fish. I must have gaffed a dozen fish before a crew member returned to the bow to help. Before grabbing a gaff, Justin kicked the anchor over the side to keep us with the biting fish.

It was truly "WIDE OPEN!” Every bait and every jig had a fish on it. We finished the job in no time and by 7:30 we were done. We had 15 fish limits for all the anglers so it was time to go. The air and water were warm so Justin allowed passengers to take a swim. About 16 or 17 too the plunge to cool off.

Tim gaffing fish

During the hot yellowtail bite, Jerry Therguson had tied on a swimbait and caught and released a limit of nice calicos. So Justin when we got ready to leave, Justin said he would make a pass or two over the shallows so we all tied plastics on hoping for bass. I used a large Berkley Gulp Shad in Nuclear Chicken color and nailed a couple big calicos.

We split for the Lupe. The water was 80 degrees so we trolled wahoo lures on our way out. No wahoo but we did find a kelp that was loaded with small dorado. I released three that were too small for me to keep. There were 50 of these tagged and put in the hold with a few larger ones in the mix.

We arrived at Guadalupe Island Wednesday morning.

Approaching Guadalupe Island

Justin headed down south of outer rock. We got boils in the chumline on our first pass through. He made a drift t first to get an idea of current direction then put the anchor down. Once the anchor was down, we cast our baits. The wind and current were pulling hard. I noticed it was pretty good conditions for the bobber balloon so I set one out. I was bit instantly. It wasn't long before there were 4 balloons out. Before I could land my fish and get another balloon out, Justin had decided the balloons would be on a rotation basis only since they were the best way to get bit.

We had a lot of good bait but getting one to swim into the "zone" was the trick. Some bites came 5 seconds after your bait hit the water others not at all. The tuna were nice, averaging about 20-30 pounds, with a few larger ones thrown in. Our Chartermasters donated tuna so Stan could make a nice sushi spread for our afternoon snack. It was delicious.

The Sushi Spread!

A few yellows bit from time to time and they were all nice quality. David Choate and I both caught yellows in the 33-35 pound range.

My Guadalupe Yellowtail

We picked and scratched for the day. Tim and the crew were busy putting passengers out on the balloon to make sure everyone got at least one or two tuna. Tim jumped up on the tank and chummed for awhile. Tim finally took a break to try to catch a tuna to take home. He hooked one on the bobber balloon on 50 lb. test. It was a good one. No sign of the white shark until after Tim hooked his fish. I thought Tim might have a chance, as the Taxman was in the stern, and Tim was making gains in the bow. Brandon was throwing dead mackerel in the stern trying to attract the attention of the shark. Tim turned his tuna, and had it coming. But unfortunately whitey came and his fish was gone all in one bite. We think Tim's tuna would have been well over a hundred pounds - maybe a 140 or 150, but it was simply a snack for the man in the gray coat.

Tim on his big fish

Just before Whitey feasted on Tim's tuna

We lost our current so we headed up the island but didn't see much. Justin opted for offshore fishing our final day. We caught 70 yellowfin tuna and 28 yellowtail for the day. Not a bad day. Todd Therguson got the largest yellowfin, an 89 pounder. Good going Todd.

Todd on his fish

We started trolling offshore on Thursday about daylight. About 10 a.m. we found a little strip of 70.8 water that we got a few strikes from. Some stops were yellowfin tuna some were albies. Gramps (Dan Felger) got a 43.5 albie caught on 20# test that was the best fish of the day. We fished offshore until about 4 p.m. then Justin called it a trip.

As we broke down our gear we learned that Johnny, Stan’s helper in the galley, had come down with the stomach flu. We sent him to bed and Tim, Kenny and I helped Stan prepare and plate the last night’s dinner – prime rib. Justin served the dinner and Brandon, Derek and Rene helped Stan get the galley cleaned up after the meal.

Kenny and Tim on KP duty

It really was a great exhibition of teamwork. Actually teamwork was really the underlying theme of this whole trip. It was a fantastic trip. Tim and Kenny put together some wonderful giveaways that included tackle from Braid products, Mustad, Berkley and Catchy Tackle. We all got a few things at the start of the trip, then there was a drawing each night at dinner until everything was given away.

The Excel crew for this trip included Captain Justin Fleck, 2nd ticket Mike Ramirez with crew members Brandon, Derek and Rene on deck with Stan and Johnny in the galley. All did a superb job of keeping things running smoothly even though they were down one crew member for the trip and two crew members at the end of the trip. The crew was fantastic as were our Chartermasters, Tim and Kenny. I look forward to this trip next year.