Turd Cirkus 2009

Fabulous trip! Good friends, good fishing, good food, good crew and good weather!

Twenty-one good friends boarded the Excel September 9th for the second annual Turd Cirkus (Cirks/Turis) charter. Tim Turis, Ken Cirks (chartermasters) were joined by Dan Felger, Ralph Mickelsen, Al Scow, Jack Carlisle, Jim Carlisle, Tom Carlisle, Don Burnside, Joe Schlater, Bergie, Tom Trainer, Chas Shoemaker, and me. Our expert crew consisted of Captains Justin Fleck and Mike Ramirez, deck crew of Brandon, Derrick, Josh and Rudy. Galley Chef Jason Fleck was assisted by Vince Otani.

First night after dinner we sang Happy Birthday to Don Burnside who was celebrating his 74th Birthday. Captain Fleck gave us the next day’s plan and instructions for rigging. A quick stop for yellowtail and rockfish for the galley in the late afternoon. Then we would be on our way to the Ridge to fish small tuna the following day.

Thursday afternoon we stopped close to Benitos and caught 6 or 7 yellowtail and half a dozen reds for the galley. My first drop for reds using a 3 hook gagnion with Kenji flies produced a big red on one fly and a big yellowtail on another fly.



Friday we arrived at the Uncle Sam Bank around 11 am. We fished the 13 fathom spot for 10 to 30 lb. yellowfin tuna and small yellowtail. We checked out the rest of the bank and came back to the 13 to finish the day on tuna. The tuna were biting so well that the fly fishermen on board broke out the fly rods. Tom and Jim Carlisle, Tom Trainer and even Jason were catching yellowfin tuna on the fly rods. They claimed it was the best day of saltwater fly fishing they ever had. We had over a hundred tuna tagged for the day and at least as many released.



Jason with a tuna on the fly rod.



Tom with a fly rod tuna.

As evening came, Justin anchored up the boat on the ridge setting us up for yellowtail at night.

I was just getting up at 3:20 am Saturday morning when Kenny came to tell me that they were biting full speed. Every drop produced a yellowtail. They bit dropper loops with sardines for bait or the yo yo jig. Great fishing! Captain Fleck woke the rest of the passengers so they could catch their limit as well. Easy pickings on 20 lb. yellows.



We had a visit from a whale shark - a very large one. Jason decided to go in the water to photograph him and took my camera to do the job. We only wish we had a person in the water for perspective. Notice the yellowtail around.




Whale Shark.

We caught 97 yellowtail before Justin moved offshore to look for kelps.

Tim with a nice jig fish yellowtail.

Tim and Kenny on the bow.

Captain Justin looking for kelps.

Late afternoon we hit one kelp for 13 dorado. A voracious 30 lb. dorado inhaled my bait and Kenny’s at the same time. We fought the fish side by side then sent the bull to the galley for Chef Jason to turn into Ceviche.


Our voracious dorado.

Joe with a nice dorado.

81 year old Jack with a nice dodo.

Sunday morning we awoke with Alijos Rocks on the horizon. What a sight.

Alijos Rocks.

After trolling around an hour for wahoo without success, Justin anchored the Excel and put out the Yummie Flyer on a helium balloon. First up – Ken Cirks followed by me then Tim Turis. All three of us hooked and landed nice 70 lb. class yellowfin tuna. The next two fish hooked on the flyer were fought by Ralph and Jack but were lost when the brown sharks arrived. There were many, many sharks making it impossible to fish tuna or anything in the stern of the boat.


Kenny's Alijos Rocks Yellowfin.


Mike gaffing my fish.

Tim pulling on his tuna.

Tim's Yellowfin.

Jim's Wahoo.

One of Kenny's Wahoo.

Ralph with a nice wahoo.

Don with a giant wahoo caught on the troll.

One of Jason's dinner creations.

I fished the bow and for a while we were able to hook wahoo until the sharks moved to the bow. We managed 35 wahoo before taking off back to the ridge.

Monday was Game Day. Jason decorated the galley with Chargers banners and baked a special cake to celebrate the anticipated Charger’s win.

The morning found us back on the Uncle Sam Bank fishing for yellowfin. We caught 20 before it was time to head for home.

We broke down gear, napped or watched movies for the rest of the day. Jason put out brats, hot dogs, chili and Ceviche for the tailgate party. Good times were had by all.


Tail Gate Party!

Ralph waiting for the trolling jigs to go off.

One of our sunrises.

Crew with Brownie & Ice Cream Dinners.

The great sushi spread created by Chef Jason.

Tuesday morning we awoke to rougher weather. Most everyone spent the day catching up on sleep. We were traveling slower than hoped so our ETA Wednesday morning was 7:15. Justin gave the “dock arrival” speech and Tim recapped the trip and thanked everyone for coming on the charter. With so many friends on this trip, saying “goodbye” was difficult for all.