Fun without the Fish!

I left January 25th on the American Angler with 17 regular passengers on this annual Avet Charter.  Brian Kyohara ran the trip with Ray as his second.  Crew, which included Bradley, Matt, Bubba, Tanner with Paul and Josh in the Galley, loaded our gear and we were off.  A couple hours at the bait receiver and we were heading south with a mix of small and medium sardines and a few mackerel.

I put my rods and reels together, covered them up then unpacked clothes and set up my Stateroom "K" in the bow.  The rest the passengers were busy setting up the Cribbage Tournament, the grand prize of which is a $500 reel.  Since I don't play Cribbage, I didn't participate.

At dinner the first night Brian informed us that we were heading to Clarion as the RP was having good fishing there.  Obviously things could change as the ride south took 4 days.  The Coast Guard decided to board us on day two traveling south to check all the boat's papers and all the passengers and crew passports.  They were very young and quite polite.  We were allowed to continue traveling south while they did their inspection.

At the end of day two, Brian said we were headed to Hurricane Bank as the Royal Polaris was having good fishing there.  Less than 24 hours to the Bank the boat took a decided left turn change in course.  Brian heard that the bank quit producing and we were headed to Clarion Island buffer zone.  We arrived at the Island around 9 am.  We trolled around then anchored up in sight of the camp as we needed to check in with the camp Military.  The Intrepid and Royal Star were already there.  The Red Rooster III arrived at 11 am. 

We fished until sundown for 3 tuna (166, 171, 177), 1 wahoo and 1 grouper.  I chunked all day and caught a shark.   We checked in with the camp the next morning then fished hard all day.  I continued to chunk as I was looking for a trophy fish. I caught 3 sharks but no tuna or wahoo.  There were 19 tuna, 9 were from 160 to 277.  Very tough conditions.  Almost no current.

Sunday, Day 3, I continued to chunk.  After I established the chunk line, Jake came over and dropped a chunk in front of me and hooked a 279 pound yellowfin tuna.  I told him he poached my fish and should feed the chunk line if he wants to fish it.  Robin said he did the same thing to him last year and caught a 305. Very rude.  I caught another shark this day and the porpoise took 6 of my salamis. Charlie, the best fisherman on the boat, is also skunked.  It's that kind of trip. 

Each night Brian takes us into the lee of the island and crew catches salamis for the next day.  It was interesting how Brian turned the kill box into a bait well for the salamis by having a running hose in it to recirculate the water.  

We would have a comfortable sleep each night then Brian moved the boat at 4 am back to the fishing grounds.  Monday was day four and I caught a hammerhead shark.  At least I changed from the brown sharks to a hammerhead.  Just after dark we had a wide open bite and I still couldn't get bit.  At least Charlie picked up a tuna.  Pat Gallagher caught a kamakazi that was exciting to see.

Tuesday the weather turned very rough, blowing 25 knots and it was difficult to walk around.  My bad knee was acting up even with a brace.  I fished hard again but switched to sardines.  I caught 4 tuna finally including a 183.5 which was tough to land in the rough weather. 

Wednesday ended up being our last day of fishing as the weather was predicted to get worse and we would have to go slowly up the line to get back home on time.  Day 6 was another rough weather day and very slow fishing but I managed another 4 tuna including a 150 pounder.  Some passengers don't have a fish over 100 lbs. on this trip.

Pat Gallagher decided I should learn Cribbage so he spent several hours teaching me.  The group insisted I join the couples tournament on the ride home.  As it turned out, Bubba was drawn as my partner.  He had just learned to play as well.  We had a great time and when it was all over, Bubba and I came in third out of eight teams.

Our last travel day was Super Bowl Sunday.  We all gathered in the salon for the game.  We had snacks and beer to start.  During the half time show, we were served a prime rib dinner.  Great way to end a trip.

Although the fishing was very slow the laughter was fast and furious.  Great camaraderie and whenever someone hooked a fish, the entire boat cheered.  What a great feeling to have everyone on your side rather than the competitiveness of most trips.

We arrived back at dock at 5:30 am on February 8th.  The crew efficiently off loaded our gear and pushed our carts up the dock so we could pack it in our cars.  We sorted fish and put orders in with our processor.  Shig came down and I gave him the big tuna along with 4 of the smaller ones.  I had Fisherman's Processing handle the rest of my fish.

First place went to Jake Waardenburg for his 279 lb. tuna, Second place went to Eric Mulay with his 277 lb. tuna and Third place went to Gordon Brofft for his 226 lb. tuna.

Mike and I went to breakfast at the Breakfast House then picked up my filets from Sean and Rosie.  We were home by 9:30 am.  It took another hour before Thomas and Iggy let me near them.