Guadalupe Island

We left Saturday October 7th on a 7 day trip to Guadalupe Island.   I hadn't been there since August 2009 when the yellowfin tuna were only 50 to 60 pounds.  That was before Mexico closed the island to fishing for several years.

We picked up bait at the receiver and headed south.  We checked in with Ensanada (part of the new regulations that opened the island to fishing again) then continued our journey to Guadalupe Island.  Tim Ekstrom was our Captain with Brian Simms as his second.  Galley chefs were Alex and Cameron while the deck was covered by Blake, Paul and Drew. 

We arrived at the island around noon on Sunday.  Captain Tim drove south along the island until he found the fish.  We were advised to fish 80 pound line and pull like hell if we hook a fish or we would never get them through the white sharks.

The weather was perfect - warm with calm seas and blue, crystal clear waters.  The sharks were brutal, taking 75% of hooked tuna.  I hooked a big fish that headed straight to the beach rocking me. Jeff landed a 135 pound yellowfin - much larger fish than were here on my last trip to Guadalupe.  I managed to catch a 75 pounder and gave it to the galley. Later in the trip we had sashimi and a seared ahi dinner from my fish. We ended our first day with 11 yellowfin and 5 yellowtail.

Tuna I sent to the Galley

Monday morning Tim took us south to Tuna Ally to fish for yellowtail.  They were slow to bite but we put 11 on the boat.  Around noon, we headed back to the tuna area as they are an afternoon bite.  The tuna started biting around 1:30 p.m.  We picked at them all afternoon for 20 tuna from 120 to 138 pounds.  A little less lost to the sharks today about 50% plus equipment failures.  I managed to land a 130 pound tuna.

Tuesday was the same routine - yelowtail in the morning and tuna in the afternoon but a slower day.  I hooked another big tuna on my Penn 12VSX on 80 pound and the reel had a grinding sound when I turned the handle then the fish took a big run and the drags seized up and popped the fish off.  Sharks took 85% of fish hooked.  We boated 22 yellowtail and 12 tuna. 

At this point I should mention that fishing for these fish is not like fishing for them anywhere else because of the white sharks.  There are over 78 great white sharks that they've identified as residents.  Tim and the Royal Star crew have a system to boat these fish that works better than letting passengers pull on the fish.  As soon as a tuna is hooked, the angler pulls hard and fast until he slows and a crew member takes over until he shows and its handed to another crew member - and the crew pulls harder than any of the passengers.  Most of these fish were hooked on 80#.

Another interesting fact about catching fish on the Royal Star is that all fish are spiked, wire down the spine, gill and gutted (without cutting into the belly) and in the RSW hold within 5 minutes.  All fish are top quality.

Each morning the Pangas arrived for the fish heads and guts from the previous day to use in their lobster cages.  The crew also gave them breakfast burritos and sodas.

Wednesday started with 22 yellowtail but the afternoon only yielded 12 tuna.  I had 2 yellowtail and no tuna.  Thursday found the fish unwilling to bite.  Captain Ekstrom tried very hard but the fish didn't want to cooperate.  We fished hard until 6 p.m. when it was time to head up the line.  We only had 9 yellows and 3 tuna cooperate this day.  Fishing Guadalupe is brutal - the sharks relentless even with 3 other boats fishing the island.

Black Seabass released

Friday morning greeted us with glassy seas and sunny skies.  We broke down all the heavy gear while the Captain looked for kelp paddies.  We stopped on a few but none were holding fish.  At 11:30, Tim called it a trip.  We had a total of 50 yellowfin tuna from 75 to 154 pounds and 49 yellowtail 20 to 50 pounds.  Big fish honors go to Hugh with both the big tuna and yellowtail, however, Captain Tim said since crew pulled on everyone's fish that to be fair they will refund jackpot money to everyone.  I had two tuna and two yellowtail for the trip.  I gave the two yellowtail to Steve who had no fish for the trip and we ate one of my tuna leaving one 130 pound tuna to take home.

We packed everything up so the crew could wash down the boat.  At 5:30 p.m. we rolled into Ensanada to check in with customs.  Saturday morning at 5:30 we checked into U. S. Customs and arrived back at Fisherman's Landing by 6:30 a.m.

Landing lot full so Mike had to double park.  Fortunately, 4 of us shared a cart so I had help getting my gear to the car.  I also sent my fish for processing directly off the boat and told Sean I'll pick up my filets when I return from the Excel 10 Day in November.