Merritt Charter

I arrived at Fisherman's Landing early November 5th to board the Excel and join the Merritt 10-Day Charter. This was their 19th annual charter and I was a new addition. Jason Fleck had recommended this trip to me and I was not disappointed.

Brad and Jeannie Merritt greeted everyone as Jason Gross checked us in and the landing folks loaded our gear on the boat. I met my roommate, Gail Adams, an accomplished angler with the current women's record catch of a 341 lb. yellowfin tuna caught on the Excel. We seemed to hit it off and she turned out to be a great roommate.

We loaded up with bait at the receiver then Justin Fleck informed us we would start our trip the next day at Cedros looking for yellowtail. When dinner arrived, Gail invited me to join her table along with Josh, Russell, Steve, "Yuma" Rick and "Uncle" Rick. It turned out to be a fun table with lots of laughs.

We arrived at Cedros Thursday afternoon and found the island less than ideal. After catching some bonito, junk fish and just 5 yellowtail, Justin pointed the Excel south. Around noon Friday, we reached the Uncle Sam Bank and started catching 10-20 lb. yellowfin tuna, wahoo, skipjack and yellowtail. We ended the day with 95 yellowfin tuna, 72 yellowtail and 17 wahoo. We fished the bank again on Saturday and put another 77 yellowfin tuna, 74 yellowtail, and 11 wahoo on the boat plus a few grouper. I even caught one. The weather was flat calm - like a lake.

The next day we fished the lower end of the ridge catching more school sized tuna and yellowtail. Monday we started the day at Morgan Bank and ended the day at Potato Bank searching for the big tuna. Late in the day, Justin found the big tuna putting on a show. Eventually we hooked and landed two fish; a 110 lb. tuna by "Yuma" Rick and the other a 230 lb. yellowfin by Steve Martin - his personal best!  We also had a guest on board – an Osprey!

Monday night we had to make bait in Mag Bay if we wanted to fish for the big tuna the next day. Justin woke us a 11 p.m. and we fished for bait until 2 a.m. The mackerel just didn't want to bite but we got enough for the next day. We went back to bed while we travelled back to Potato Bank.

We fished hard all day hoping to hook a big one. We have some very, very good anglers on this charter - "Uncle" Rick, Josh, and Russell to name a few. Unfortunately, they didn't even get a bite and neither did I. There were 5 fish landed - Brad and Jeannie caught a 187 lb. and 177 lb. tuna, plus a 205 lb. and 212 lb. tunas caught by others but the big fish of the trip was caught by Gail. She landed a 242.8 lb. yellowfin tuna, demonstrating what a great angler she is. I need to take a few lessons from her. Way to go Gail!

We worked our way back up the ridge the next couple days and finished off the trip at San Martine Island catching bottom fish.

Everyone caught plenty of fish but the best part of the trip was the camaraderie. Everyone came with a good attitude and I never witnessed or heard a negative comment. It was such a pleasure to fish with this group. I'm looking forward to next year's trip.