Cortez Bank Blues

October 24^th, we escaped smoky skies from two Orange County fires raging out of control by departing Peter’s Landing on Gary Adams Rail Time.  Jeff, Steve, Jim, Brian and I set up our Flat Falls while crew were loading bait.  We were fortunate to have both Jake and Andy crew for Gary this trip.

I hit the bunk early but had a restless sleep with the rough seas.  Jake and Andy worked hard to scoop live flyers at Catalina Island.  It was difficult and it took until after 1:30 am to get the job done.  This meant we would be late getting out to Cortez Bank, our destination.

I got up around 6 am, just before Gary found a school of bluefin.  We fished our Flat Falls without success.  The school left us so Gary picked up and went searching until he found another school.  I switched out my Flat Fall for a circle hook to use on a flylined flyer.

The sun was up and the wind had died off.  It was a beautiful day with calm seas and a light warm breeze, just enough to get a helium balloon up.  Gary put out two balloons and two flylined flyers.  The goal was to have Brian and Sheepie (Steve) catch their first 200 pound bluefin tuna.  The rest of us had caught ours on previous trips.

Brian’s flyer got bit first.  Shortly after, one of the balloons got bit and Jim took that one.  We had two fish going at once.  Jim landed his first.  A nice 190 pounder.  Brian landed his next and it was his personal best!  240 pounds.

Shortly after Brian landed his fish, Sheepie got bit on his flylined flyer.  Sheepie’s fish was a hard fighter but Sheepie prevailed.  His fish weighed 229 pounds – his personal best.  Our primary goal had been met. 

In order to get the fish in the hold, Jake had to cut the heads and fins off when he gutted them.

It wasn’t long until Jeff landed a 155 pounder, Andy landed a 190 pounder and Brian landed another fish around 175 pounds. That left just me.  Gary put out my balloon outfit and my flyline outfit.  I can’t use Gary’s equipment because his rods don’t have gimbals which I need in order to use my harness.  Unfortunately, the bite was over.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon, Gary headed the boat into the island for the night.  It took 3 hours to get settled into Pyramid Cove.  Brian brought lobsters for our dinner and Jeff brought Ziti pasta with meat sauce and a Caesar salad.  It was a delicious dinner celebrating our 6 bluefin from 175 pounds to 250 pounds! 

We were all tired so we went to sleep right after dinner.  Everyone except me slept until 6 am the next morning.  Gary worked hard looking for yellowtail around the back side of Clemente without success.  We caught plenty of junk fish plus nearly a limit of bonito which Brian kept for his lobster traps.

Around noon, we headed in search of porpoise schools hoping to catch yellowfin tuna.  Gary found the porpoise and tuna, but they weren’t in biting mode so we headed to Catalina. After working the back side of the entire island without success, Gary pointed the Rail Time towards home.

Jake and Andy pulled four fish out of the hold and fileted them.  Gary would keep the other two fish whole.  Andy would take one fish for his family and friends; Brian would take his own fish home and Jeff, Steve, Jim and I would each take half a fish.  Jeff, Steve and I wanted collars from one fish each and some belly pieces too.

We got back to dock by 6 pm.  We off loaded gear then Jake brought the fish for us to share.  The next day, I gave Shig a third of my fish and the collars.  I gave another third of the fish to Tim Boyer.  I froze some and kept one large piece wrapped in paper towels and gel packs in the refrigerator for sashimi Sunday.

Gary is a great captain and he is a pleasure to fish with.   I  am very thankful Jeff includes me on these trips.  I feel fortunate to have enjoyed this experience especially considering everything 2020 has handed out.

Rail Time Fishing October 2020

Jeff, Steve, Brian, Mark and I boarded the Rail Time around 7:30 pm Wednesday.  Gary Adams (the boat owner and captain) had Mitch and Jacob crewing for him on this trip.  We put away the food then set up our gear.  Gary said we were heading to an area in the center of a triangle  formed by Catalina, San Clemente and San Nicolas Islands.  

It’s the area that big bluefin, yellowfin and smaller bluefin had been caught by the fleet during the previous days.  We stopped at the bait receiver and loaded up on sardines.  Gary and crew would make flyers at Catalina while we slept.  As soon as had my Flat Fall and kite rigs ready, I went to bed.

It was a rough ride out so I didn’t sleep well at all.  It was early morning when we arrived to the fishing area and still dark.  When I got up, Gary had my Flat Fall deployed on the bow using the boat action to move the jig.  We fished until after daylight.  There were many fish crossing the screen of the fish finder but none biting.  Once the fish left, Gary started looking around again. 

Gary moved to an area away from the fleet and found schools of yellowfin tuna under porpoise.  We stopped on several schools of fish and only managed to land two tiny yellowfin that were released. Stopping on the school and fishing baits wasn’t working so Gary said drop down to 30 pound test and a small hook (like a Number 2 Mutu) and get ready to drop your sardine back when I tell you to. Jeff and Steve hooked up first and landed a couple of 40 pound yellowfin.  Eventually I hooked one and landed it reasonably fast.  It was another 40 pounder.  We followed this plan all afternoon hooking one or two fish each time we hit the school ending the day with eight 40 to 45 pound yellowfin tuna.  I caught two, Jeff caught two, Steve caught three and Jacob caught one. 

We fished until dark then Gary headed to Northwest Harbor on the west end of Clemente.  We put dinner in the oven, freshened up and checked all our gear so it would be ready in the morning.

Dinner was great.  Jeff had picked up Ziti, lemon caper chicken breasts and salad from Maggianos and I brought some red wine.  Our meal scenario for breakfasts and lunches was Danish and fruit for breakfast, sliders or tuna croissant sandwiches for lunch.  I brought the tuna salad, croissants, Danish and cookies (Breakfast cookies and Dark Chocolate Chip/Toffee cookies).  Everyone brought something including meats, cheeses, chips and fruit.

Gary was up early the next morning and put the coffee on.  Once he checked bait and the boat, he started the engines and headed back to the fishing grounds.  Since it was a couple hour trip, I went back to bed and got up when I saw the lights from the other boats.

Gary and crew scanned the horizon for fish.  It was another beautiful day but very hot.  Just like the previous day.  

Unlike the previous day, there were no fish.  They disappeared.  Around noon, Gary said we are going into the island and fish for yellowtail.  Again, he recommended 30 pound test line and a small hook. We ended up in an area close to San Clemente Island with a dozen or so other boats fishing yellowtail.

Gary anchored up and we began fishing.  We caught lots of bonito first which Brian kept for lobster bait.  Sea lions were a real problem making it difficult to get a bait away from the boat.  Our bait wasn’t great so you needed a perfect bait.  Jeff hooked a yellowtail first.  Eventually everyone caught at least one.  We ended up with 8 yellowtail before we  had to leave at 3:30 pm.  It was another great trip, as always, on the Rail Time.  Gary seems to have an Ace up his sleeve every time the fish do their disappearing act.

We got back to dock about 7 pm and I was home by 8 pm.  Once our gear was loaded in our vehicles, the fish came up.   We split them up. Mark didn’t want any so I ended up with 2 yellowtail and 2 yellowfin tuna.  Saturday morning, Shig came over so I could give him a tuna and a yellowtail.  He brought me a bottle of Sake and a bag of fresh Yuzu from his daughter’s tree as a thankyou for the fish.  He said he was having his daughter over for dinner to share the fish.  Apparently his wife and daughter prefer yellowfin tuna over bluefin so they were very happy.

As always, I am sincerely grateful to Jeff for including me in these Charters. I love fishing with all the anglers Jeff brings along especially since they all are much better anglers than I am so I can learn from them too.