Epic 10 Day Trip
"Fresh back from a 10
day fall trip on the Excel, working our way up and down the coast. It was truly
fall fishing at it's finest, as we caught variety and quality.
Fall fishing can be known for it's variety, and to show how much variety we caught, Ron Walker won the species contest with 20 different species!!!!!
Ron also showed us how to subdue big tuna, landing the trips largest yellowfin tuna, a 337 super cow tuna!
We had great weather most the trip, just a slight bump during a couple of spells.
Started off fishing for wahoo, we caught a couple, but not what we expected. But we did catch some nice yellows that day, finishing off with a great bite on dorado, very nice sized dorado at that.
Our next day of angling, we encountered some nice school grade yellowfin tuna. If you worked at it, selected a good bait, fished light line and a small hook, you were rewarded with tuna in the 25-40 pound class. Fun fish on lighter line, and Lord knows I love angling. Also found a few more wahoo, very nice size on those we landed.
On to bigger fish land the next day, Jan Howard started us out, landing a gorgeous 245 YFT. Josh Rytz was next, putting the wood to a 208 in practically no time at all. It was a picky bite, but if you stuck with it, you had a chance of a trophy. My roomie Mark Thomann bested a 298!!!!
Day 2 in big fish land produced again, this is when Ron landed his 337, Mark a 321, Josh another biggie, Yuma Rick a couple of cows.
Day 3, more of the same, and again all the fish were over 200 lbs!
When the bite slowed, it was time to start working our way back towards home.
The next day was indeed a variety day: Skipjack, bass, grouper, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, and a few other species. At the end of the fishing time, it was a bite on every bait, but we had to start working our way up.
The next day found temperatures dropping, but fishing was still good. We caught skipjack, bonito, bass, barracuda, and yellowtail.
The wind was increasing and made it tough to fish effectively, and captain Justin called it a trip.
The Excel rode through the weather great, it was a wet ride, but didn't seem that rough to me. I love riding this big boat.
Jake and Nick did a great job in the galley, varying the meals and always on time and tasting great.
The Excel crew was excellent as well, with Mike Ramirez, Sean "Chowda", Jacob Hensley, and Colin Sarfeh helping us keep out of trouble and landing our fish.
Special thanks to Brad Merritt, our chartermaster extraordinaire, for the nice giveaways, and keeping things flowing."
Fall fishing can be known for it's variety, and to show how much variety we caught, Ron Walker won the species contest with 20 different species!!!!!
Ron also showed us how to subdue big tuna, landing the trips largest yellowfin tuna, a 337 super cow tuna!
We had great weather most the trip, just a slight bump during a couple of spells.
Started off fishing for wahoo, we caught a couple, but not what we expected. But we did catch some nice yellows that day, finishing off with a great bite on dorado, very nice sized dorado at that.
Our next day of angling, we encountered some nice school grade yellowfin tuna. If you worked at it, selected a good bait, fished light line and a small hook, you were rewarded with tuna in the 25-40 pound class. Fun fish on lighter line, and Lord knows I love angling. Also found a few more wahoo, very nice size on those we landed.
On to bigger fish land the next day, Jan Howard started us out, landing a gorgeous 245 YFT. Josh Rytz was next, putting the wood to a 208 in practically no time at all. It was a picky bite, but if you stuck with it, you had a chance of a trophy. My roomie Mark Thomann bested a 298!!!!
Day 2 in big fish land produced again, this is when Ron landed his 337, Mark a 321, Josh another biggie, Yuma Rick a couple of cows.
Day 3, more of the same, and again all the fish were over 200 lbs!
When the bite slowed, it was time to start working our way back towards home.
The next day was indeed a variety day: Skipjack, bass, grouper, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, and a few other species. At the end of the fishing time, it was a bite on every bait, but we had to start working our way up.
The next day found temperatures dropping, but fishing was still good. We caught skipjack, bonito, bass, barracuda, and yellowtail.
The wind was increasing and made it tough to fish effectively, and captain Justin called it a trip.
The Excel rode through the weather great, it was a wet ride, but didn't seem that rough to me. I love riding this big boat.
Jake and Nick did a great job in the galley, varying the meals and always on time and tasting great.
The Excel crew was excellent as well, with Mike Ramirez, Sean "Chowda", Jacob Hensley, and Colin Sarfeh helping us keep out of trouble and landing our fish.
Special thanks to Brad Merritt, our chartermaster extraordinaire, for the nice giveaways, and keeping things flowing."
The rest of the story will be told by the photos.
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| Loading Bait |
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| Alijos Rocks - we spent 4 hours trolling for Wahoo before leaving. |
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| Independence transferring to the Excel a mud anchor. |
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| Brad's Wahoo |
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| David's Yellowfin Tuna |
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| David's Wahoo |
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| My 245# Yellowfin Tuna caught on 130# short fluoro top shot on a Penn 50SW, bobber balloon and 2005 Eagle Claw 9/0 hook. |
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| Gail's Cow |
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| Josh's first ever Cow |
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| Josh's second Cow |
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| Marshall's 298 Cow |
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| Mark's 321# Cow |
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| Marshall's cow (a hand off from Choate) |
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| Ron's 337# Super Cow |
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| Uncle Rick's Cow |
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| One of Yuma Rick's two cows (his first and second ever). |
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| The End |
posted by Pêcheuse at 12:30 PM
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