Turd Cirkus 2010

The day before this year's trip departed we learned Turd would be sans Cirkus. Disappointing and difficult for the boat but the remaining 16 passengers would have a fish catching trip as good as it gets.

A great load of bait was picked up at the receiver and we cleared the point by 11:05 am.

Captain Justin Fleck gave the safety seminar and said we were heading directly to Alijos Rocks bypassing the short range fleet fishing tuna 37 miles from the point. Crew for our trip included second Captain Mike Ramirez, Chef Jason Fleck assisted by Jake Fleck. Crew on deck included Derrick, Josh, and Renee.

Our first and second day would be spent traveling, eating, rigging tackle, playing cards, and eating again. Chartermaster Tim Turis gave away a variety of tackle donated by Mustad Hooks, Longfin Tackle, Fisherman's Landing, etc.

Dawn of the third day we spotted the familiar peaks on the horizon announcing we had arrived at the Rocks.

Justin trolled around the first hour where Tim caught the first Wahoo and sent it directly to the Galley. Jason turned it into a fantastic Wahoo Caesar Salad for lunch.

Once the anchor was set, we began fishing for yellowfin tuna and Wahoo. Conditions were ideal! We had a strong current running off the stern, water temp of 72.8 and nearly every bait was a swimmer.  We caught 97 yellowfin most of which were 40 to 75 lbs.

         

Bruce caught the largest fish of the day - his kite fish weighed 133 lbs.

I had a spectacular day catching a dozen yellowfin tuna from 40 to 75 pounds and one nice Wahoo on mono.

I sent my first tuna to the galley for sushi.

We had a total of 10 Wahoo the first day and 8 dorado plus 6 yellowtail to go with our tuna. What a great day of catching. It was the best fishing I have ever seen at Alijos Rocks.

The next day fishing slowed a little but was still good. We caught another 45 yellowfin, 30 Wahoo, 14 dorado and 1 yellowtail before we took off at 3:30 pm towards the beach. Most the fish came on 40# line with fluorocarbon leaders. There were many Talicas on board that performed very well on these fish. I love my Talicas but I also like my Penn 12 T's - at least I did until the dog spring went out on one while on a fish. That reel will be going to Cal's to fix. I fished the new Mustad Offset Circle Hook (R39941BLN) exclusively on this trip. They performed very well.

Monday morning we arrived early at Abreojos and found green, cold water. We caught bonito and small barracuda before we took off for Cedros. We travelled all day and arrived around 6:30 pm at the south end of the island. After dinner it was bait making time and squid was the target species - something different for a long range trip. Oh we usually make bait but not market squid. Squid was needed if we were going to have a shot at the white seabass the next morning.

 

Next morning I was up early and on deck fishing by 3:30 am. By 4 am there were half dozen of us fishing dropper loops baited with squid and that's when the fish showed up. It wasn't very long before everyone was bit and Justin made an announcement to the rest of the passengers that the fish were biting. Yellowtail arrived first then an occasional white seabass. The yellowtail were all quality fish - 30 pounders. The white seabass were all over 28 lbs.

By 5:30 am the white seabass were gone and an hour later so were the yellowtail.

I caught plenty of yellowtail but no white seabass. The seabass were selective. Tom and Jim Carlisle each caught two; Al Scow caught one; Bubbles caught three and Jesse caught one that was mutilated by a sea lion (which still contained enough meat for fish tacos one night).

We put 9 white seabass and 114 yellowtail on the boat before moving to Benitos where we experienced a spectacular sundown bite on big calico bass all due to the tank of squid. What a great way to end a trip.

 

Justin informed us the weather was up off shore so we were going to hug the coast all the way home to avoid being beat up. We were all so thankful he chose to do so as we experienced a wonderful ride home - slow and smooth - with an early arrival.

Jackpot was weighed up after sorting fish. Bruce had first place with his 133 lb. yellowfin and his son, Jesse, had second place with a 69.7 lb. yellowfin and Bergie was third with his 65.5 lb. tuna.