Annual Thanksgiving Cow Search 2008

We all converged on Fisherman’s Landing Thanksgiving morning ready to load our gear for the annual 16 Day “Cow Search.” Jason gave up his holiday to allow us to board the Excel early and have Thanksgiving Dinner on board. Basil ordered a full Thanksgiving feast from Marie Callendar’s Restaurant for the group and my niece, Michelle, helped me reheat and serve the food while the rest of the group went up to Excel owner, Bill and Ingrid Poole’s home for a drink and tour. Jason and Tim stopped to shop on the way back and brought me a “thank you” gift of a t-shirt entitled “Pole Dancers for a Cure.” Thanks guys!



Betty and Kathie checked us in early Friday morning and we loaded bait and departed the point by 10 a.m. Our crew for this year included Captain Justin Fleck, Second Captain Michael Ramirez, Chef Jason Fleck assisted by Vince Otani. On deck were Brandon Wilskie, Dereck, Rene, and Joel Fleck. Regular passengers Basil Pappas, Al Scow, Tim Turis, Kenny Cirks, Dennis Braid, Tom Carlisle, Dan Felger, Andy Marcum, Grover Sinsley and I were joined by Dennis Saylors, Brad Felger, Joe Huff, Tom Barrett, Vern Huff, John Schneider, Leo Mancinas, James Hassen, Larry Mendoza, Bill Lynd and Jerry Brown of Line One Spectra.

Justin informed us the Red Rooster was headed to Hurricane Bank and the rest the fleet was going down the beach to fish the lower banks off Magdalena Bay. We were going to stop at Alijos Rocks to pick up some tuna for meals and chunks then head down to fish the buffer zone around Clarion Island.

We picked up all the 30 to 40 pound tuna we needed at the rocks then continued our journey.

We checked in with the camp early Tuesday morning, December 2nd, four days after we departed San Diego. The Mexican Navy checked our papers and we were off to fish. The big fish we were looking for weren’t around so we took off for Hurricane Bank as the Rooster was having good fishing on 200 pounders.

Numbers 1 through 5 were up on troll. 4 of us were trolling artificial flying fish and Dennis Braid was trolling a dead flyer. Dennis got slammed by a 209 lb. yellowfin that broke his Braid Products Rod forcing Dennis to bring the fish in winding line directly on his reel.

Bad luck continued for Dennis when a wahoo followed his jig to the boat and right under the rail to hit him in the groin before falling back into the water. After several minutes of shock, Dennis forced himself to assess the damage – fortunately just a large bruise on his upper thigh. We couldn’t even contemplate the results if the wahoo’s mouth had been open.

Wahoo fishing was as good as it gets and soon the boat was filled with all we wanted.

Next we got down to business on the tuna and put 31 on board the first day with 8 over 200 lbs. The bank was alive everywhere you looked with wahoo jumping out of the water, tuna boiling around, skipjack racing around and manta rays swimming up the chunk line and biting my hook one evening. Tim hooked what was later identified as a very large prickly shark. There were turtles, and transparent fish, flying fish and puffers. It was a virtual aquarium.

Crew member Rene kept the chunk line going better than any crew member I’ve seen and I caught several fish on chunk including a 206 lb. and a 194 lb. yellowfin tuna. I used 15 meters of Berkley 130 lb. fluorocarbon and an Eagle Claw 2005 9/0 hook. The best part of the trip for me was catching a skipjack and giving it to Tim to pay back a two year old debt. Tim gave the skipjack to Basil who caught a 248 lb. yellowfin that won him the high roller jackpot and second in the regular jackpot.

Justin put the ladder down one afternoon and let us swim with the wahoo and rainbow runners. I dove off the bow and swam back to the stern ladder. That evening we left to trophy hunt for the super cows on the beach after pulling 23 cows off the bank. We left them biting.

Food for the trip was spectacular as always. Chef Jason served swordfish, salmon, pork loin, steaks, prime rib, sushi, eggs benedict, ribs, etc. What more can I say other than we all ate too much.

We arrived at Finger Bank in 20 knot winds. Justin spent an entire day trying to anchor in the soft soil. We departed for Flathead bank the following day and by noon the weather was ideal. Tom Carlisle hooked the only super cow and lost it 30 feet from gaff due to an improperly closed eye of the hook. The last two days of fishing were an eternal chase of porpoise and lock jawed tuna. Not one tuna would bite.

We traveled up the line on calm seas. We stopped for a couple hours to fish for reds before finishing the journey.

Our last evening was a feast of prime rib and Dennis gave out prizes for various honors. Tom was honored for the biggest fish hooked, and I received prizes for the best four bottles of wine and the best bottle overall as voted on by the wine constants in the trip long wine contest. Tabs were settled up and goodbyes said before calling it a night.

The last 12 hours of the journey was brutally rough tossing us around in our bunks until we entered the harbor the next morning. After 16 days of 80 degree water and 90 degree air temperatures, the 50 degrees we faced on return to San Diego was a sudden reminder that not only was the trip over but so was summer.

Jackpot winners were Dennis Saylors with a 251 lb., Basil Pappas with a 248 and Joe Hupp with a 240. Tim Turis had a 250 lb. tuna but Tim doesn’t enter the jackpot.