Friday, February 07, 2014

Avet Charter 2014

I arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing at 5:15 am January 22nd becoming number 18 in line to board the American Angler out of 19 passengers on the trip. The boarding line had started at 2 pm the day before in order to get a good spot for their tackle box. As it turned out, my tackle box initially got a space where I would have to set the box on the deck to open it. By mid day, the guys had moved tackle boxes around and put my box in a prime spot with easy access. What a great group of guys that look after everyone on the trip.

Boat

It had been two years since I had been on this trip and I was excited to fish again with Ben Frazier (our Chartermaster), Ralph Mikkelsen, Pat Gallagher, Kub, R C, Charlie, Robin, Glenn, Bill etc. Brian was our Captain, Ray his second, Cameron, Brad, and Shawn Steward were the crew on deck and Josh and Denine handled the galley.

We loaded up with bait at the receiver, Brian gave us the safety speech and we settled in for four days of travel to Clarion Island buffer zone.

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Passengers spent the travel time setting up tackle, reading books, watching movies and participating in the Cribbage tournament. Day two of travel, we came across a school of killer whales frolicking in the sun. Around 220 miles from Pt. Loma in 64 degree water, Kub and Ralph trolled up 3 yellowfin tuna which weighed all of 10 pounds each. The seas were a little choppy and the weather gradually warmed the further south we got.

We arrived at the buffer zone around 4:30 am on the 26th. Brian checked the area then anchored up. We started catching smaller fish at first. I caught a couple 70 pound fish on sardine sinker rigs and we used them for chunks. The bite died early morning so we trolled around for a couple wahoo then checked in at the camp with the Mexican authorities around noon. Brian anchored back up for the afternoon. By days' end six tuna from 125 to 180 pounds were landed - none were mine.

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Several guys were already fishing when I got up at 3 am the next morning. Around 4 am the fish started biting. I managed 4 tuna between 60 to 80 pounds (all released). I caught one fish on a chunk and 3 on salamis. The porpoise were a nuisance eating all our chunks and stealing bait off our hooks. R C ended up hooking one by mistake. Randal got a 227 pound tuna this morning. The bite died early morning again so Brian set us on a course for Hurricane Bank where the Royal Polaris was having very good fishing.

We arrived at Hurricane Bank the next morning and started fishing around 5:30 am. No current at first, then it was screaming off the stern all day creating massive spectra tangles. I had a good morning and caught a 159, 150 and 130 pound yellowfin tuna. Robin got a 203 pounder, the second cow of the trip. We had over 80 fish for the day of which over 40 were released.

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Mid day I went to my stateroom (K) which is below the galley and found it completely torn up with several crew members working in it. Apparently the galley drain clogged up and they put the deck hose to it trying to blow the clog out. The water went in but didn't come out so they decided to find out where it went. Yep, into my stateroom. It took two days to get it straightened out. Fortunately only my bedding and duffle bag got wet.

Pre dawn the next day we started catching skipjack for bait. Several 150 pound fish were caught but the fishing was slower. I caught one fish for the day (130 pounder) on a bobber balloon which we released because we were saving the holds for fish over 150 pounds. Fish were very picky and most were caught on 10 to 25 foot, 100 pound fluorocarbon leaders straight tied to a circle hook using a sardine for bait. I stayed with 130# line.  Robin and I vowed to chunk the rest of the day and alternated chunking and keeping the chunk line going all day. No chunk fish.

Robin and I decided to chunk again the next day and I caught a 188 pound yellowfin early morning and a 40 pound wahoo later in the day, both on a chunk. This was the calmest day of the trip with winds down to about 10 K. Weather was quite hot when the cloud cover cleared each day so the breeze was welcome even if the choppy seas weren't.

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Friday, last day of fishing, the gang was at the rail by 2 am. Fish were biting skipjack in the grey, then later it was the short 100 pound top shots again. Ben, Kub, and Doc were all on a hot streak. Robin and I did the chunking thing again and I caught a couple 80 pound fish in the morning and Robin caught a 160 pounder. That was the last bite of the trip for me. Harvey caught a 222 pound tuna for his personal best. At sundown, the holds were full and we put our tackle away. Crew had a fish off providing us an entertaining evening before we left for home.

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I settled into my bunk for the 4 day trip home. Our weather was rough with 20 K winds most the way. I watched Homeland Season 1 and 2 and various movies to kill the time. I skipped most the meals preferring water, crackers and peanut butter to chasing a plate of food around the table at mealtime. I was quite pleased when we made it inside the harbor and the seas calmed. 5:30 am on February 5th, we were tied up at the dock with family and friends waiting.

This wasn't my best trip for catching tuna but the good news is that my new knee worked well and my bad knee worked most the time. At least I was able to fish. The jackpot winners for the trip were Ron Kaufman with a 227# YFT, Harvey Belkin with a 222# YFT and Robin Lemaster with his 203# YFT.

JPWinners