American Angler 7 Day

I arrived at Point Loma Landing at 4:40 am November 5th.  Gary was the only one in line.  Usually there are many in line when I arrive.  By the time we boarded at 10 am, there were 24 of us.  

We were already baited up so we headed straight down to the ridge, a day and a half ride.  We spent the travel time getting to know each other.   

One of the passengers happened to be the chef at the Root Cafe on Google Campus in Mountainview - and my son Chris said it was the only cafe on campus that offers healthy food.  Pauline also turned out to be a great fisherman and a fun person to spend time with.

Pauline

Ray was our Captain for the trip with Rocko, Austin, Trevor and Justin on deck with Josh and Nick in the Galley.

We arrived on the ridge at the 13 spot around 1:30 pm on the 7th and began trolling.  Our fist hook up was a big rope.  Justin had to dive to cut it off the props.  Once we got back to fishing, the 15 to 25 pound yellowfin tuna went into a 90 minute wide open bite.  We put 189 tuna on board before we headed down the ridge towards the 23 spot.  I fished my Penn 12T spooled with Berkley Pro Spec 80 pound spectra topped with Berkley 40 pound monofilament and a 3 foot leader of Berkley Pro Spec 40 pound clear fluorocarbon.  This ended up being the rig for the entire trip.

When we awoke the next morning, the yellowfin were already biting.  I caught my first fish around 4 am.  Once it was daylight, we began trolling for wahoo.  By day's end, we had 34 wahoo and only 3 people were without a wahoo.  Ray took us to San Pablo to make bait for the next day.  The mackerel were very cooperative.

Friday morning (the 9th) was a slow start.  Just a couple yellowtail before daylight.  We began trolling again with just our three anglers without a wahoo on troll.  Just a few minutes before mission accomplished - at least one wahoo for everyone - half of which had never caught one before.  The wahoo continued to bite until we had another 33 to add to our catch.  Amazingly these ono were big logs, some up to 50 pounds.  I had 5 of these big gators myself.

Late morning Ray anchored up on the bank and I cast out on a long soak and hooked and landed a nice yellowfin that brought a big school with him.  Many skippies came along too.  Once we switched to mackerel it was game on.  Every cast off the Starboard corner with a mackerel turned into a yellowfin tuna.  These fish were a better grade - 20 to 40 pound fish.  We were all at or over limits when Ray handed the school off to the Polaris Supreme.

Saturday morning found us in calm seas close to land fishing for yellowtail.  We caught 84 nice yellowtail then headed north around 4:30 pm.

Sunday morning dawned with calm seas.  Our final day of fishing and we still had calm seas.  It wasn't very long and Ray found a kelp holding dorado.  We managed 17 dorado before Ray said we had to call it a trip.  Our catch for the trip was what you would expect on a 10 day trip.  67 Wahoo; 357 Yellowfin; 89 Yellowtail; 17 Dorado.

Great group of people to fish with.  One of the most enjoyable trips I have had.

When we arrived back at the dock, we unloaded our catch and weighed up jack pot.  All three places in the JP were wahoo.

I gave most of my fish to Shig then sent the rest to Fisherman's Processing to fillet.  When I picked up my fish, I also bought some of their seasonings.  They are terrific especially the Sesame Spice on tuna.

The next three days were spent canning tuna.  I ended up with 8 cases of pint jars of tuna from my catch.  These should last me and my family for a couple years.  Thanks to Ray and the crew of the American Angler for the great trip.

Cabo 2018

Just had a wonderful trip to Cabo San Lucas for a few days of fishing and fun.  I met Linda and John Williams (my hosts), Barbara and Bob (also guests) at LAX Sunday October 21st for a flight to Caba.  A shuttle picked us up and delivered us to John & Linda's home on a hill overlooking the arch at the end of gulf peninsula.  They have a gorgeous home and view.

Monday morning John and Bob delivered a new steering column for the boat to the mechanic.  It was a miracle the Mexican customs didn't tax them for bringing it in.  By noon, the boat was ready for a sea trial.  Linda and I joined Tony for the trial.  Everything worked well. 

Later in the afternoon, we attended the memorial and spreading of the ashes of Bob Bisbee, founder of the Bisbee's tournaments.  John and Bob picked up Mark and Laura at the airport and took them to stay in the Presidential Suite at the Bonita Rose, John and Linda's time share.  Later we all went to dinner for Chicken and Ribs.  Back at the house, Barbara and I shared a bottle of wine before bed.  The Harbor Master closed the harbor to all traffic due to potential problems from Hurricane Willa headed towards Puerta Vallarta.

Tuesday morning the harbor opened and we all boarded the boat at 8 am.  Tony was our captain and Wilson our deckhand.  No bait since the harbor had been closed to all traffic and no one could make bait.  We trolled all day instead and managed 1 wahoo (my fish) and 1 dorado.  Laura lost her dorado when she dropped the rod and reel overboard.

The Harbor Master closed the port again for the night.  I went with John for groceries and bought wine for Barbara and me.  Pizza delivery for dinner. 

Wednesday John had guests on the boat for the day so Linda, Barbi and I went to the glass shop and out to lunch at the Hacienda then to try to mail Barbi's escrow documents to the U. S. overnight.  The stationary store employees utilized a translation app and when Barbi asked to overnight mail the documents the translator said "over  night MALE" and the employees laughed.  We headed for drinks at the Tiki bar.  We met the rest the group at Panchos for a wahoo dinner - our wahoo.  What a fun evening.

Thursday we were back on board by 8 am and headed up the pacific side looking for more dorado.  We found 4, 1 each for me, Linda, Laura and Mark.  Wilson knocked Bob's dorado off the cedar plug trying to gaff it.  Linda, Barbi and I decided to stay on the boat for the night so we could get an early start the next day.

Friday morning we found the fuel dock crowded and didn't get away until closer to 7:30 am.  We traveled 2 1/2 to 3 hours to Finger Bank.  We trolled all day for nothing.  At 3 pm we called it a day and pulled lines in.  Before the last line was in, it went off with a striped marlin.  My turn to bring it in.  Tony killed it for his family to eat.  We got in late so we all met at Soloman's for dinner then Linda and I stayed on the boat again.  Barbi had to fly home to close the sale of her late husband's business.

Linda and I bottom fished all day at the Gordo Bank on Friday.  John, Bob, Mark and Laura played golf.  We had good fishing for whitefish, bonita, chiwillie, reds and grouper.  The big sea lion came for fish while Tony filled our catch.  We met the group at Mi Casa for dinner then picked up our stuff at the boat and headed back to the house for the night.

Sunday morning we all headed out fishing again.  We fished all day for 2 dorado and half a dozen rock fish.  We processed the fish when we got in and I tipped Tony and Luis our deckhand as this was our last day of fishing.  We had dinner at Nicsan - Sushi.

Monday was spent washing and cleaning up the house and packing.  We went to dinner to watch the sunset at Sunset Monalisa.  What a beautiful venue for dinner.

Tuesday we flew home.