Summertime Blues! And Yellows and Dodo’s!

We all convened at Peter’s Landing Tuesday evening excited to board Rail Time one more time this summer.  Our anglers this trip included Tom and Jim Carlisle, Mark Fujimoto, Jeff, Steve and me.  Andy and Jake were back to assist Gary.   The “A” Team was back and we were thrilled to see them.

Once we got on board, Gary said we would be traveling to an area that bluefin had been caught that day.  We set up our gear accordingly while on our way to the bait receiver.  Gary and Jake loaded some healthy sardines while Mark and I set up a couple Sabiki rigs to catch mackerel.  After loading bait, we remained long enough for Mark and Andy to catch some mackerel for bait in case tuna prefer them to sardines. 

Gary headed the boat to Catalina first to make some live flyers then headed out to the bluefin grounds.  It would take all night to get there.  I awoke when the engines turned down and the hunt for a school of tuna began.  Once Gary found a school of bluefin, he turned off the engines and put out four outfits, two with live flyers and two Flatfalls with squid.  Jake and Jim got up and the three of us stood watch.  Unfortunately, the tuna didn’t stay with us.

We were all alone in an area between Catalina, Clemente and San Nicholas Island.  Gary told us to be ready with our 30 pound outfits with a small hook tied on.  He told us that when he finds a school we should bait up with a sardine and be ready to drop our bait back into the school. 

We spent the day dropping baits back on schools of tuna.  Occasionally we would stop on a kelp paddy too.  We managed to pull four bluefin in the 40 to 60 pound size range out of one school.  I caught one, Gary hooked one on 25# test that he had Andy bring in, Tom caught one and Sheepie caught a 55 to 60 pounder after a two hour battle on 25 test.  Jeff pulled for over an hour and a half on another big one when his hook broke in half.  When my fish hit the deck, the point of the hook broke too. I was lucky.

Eventually we found a second school that wanted to bite and we managed 5 fish out of that school.  Four of the fish were in the 20-pound range and one was a 60 ponder caught by Tom.  One of the 20 pounder’s were caught by Tom,  Jeff, Jim and I caught the other three.  The two kelp paddies yielded one yellowtail for Jeff and a dorado for Jim.

We fished until sundown then Gary headed into Clemente so crew could make squid and we could have a calm area to eat dinner and spend the night.  Dinner was great, as usual.  Ziti and Lemon Chicken with ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

I don’t know how long crew stayed up making bait because I hit the bunk early and never heard anything until I awoke the next morning and found we were anchored in Pyramid Cove.  I got up at 5:30 am just as Gary was making Coffee.  He said we were going to Paddy hop and look for porpoise schools all day.  Everyone got up when the engines started up.  The weather was nice and perfect for spotting kelps.  Andy asked if anyone had something to troll for tuna.  I said "yes" and put out my Little Speedy on my 80 pound outfit.

We did a lot of traveling.  We started day two looking for kelps between Pyramid Cove and the Mexican border then traveling up to Catalina looking for porpoise schools.   

It was a beautiful day – sunny with calm seas.   There were many Navy ships all around the area.  Some were very strange looking.

We stopped on several kelps catching a few yellowtail and dorado on some of them.  In addition to fish, we also found what looked like an electronic beacon sitting in the middle of one of them.  We left it there.

Around 3 pm Gary called it a trip and we broke down our gear.  Jake and Andy pulled fish out of the hold and filled them for us.  We had managed a trip catch of 9 bluefin, 10 yellowtail and 12 dorado.

It was great having Jake and Andy back.  The dynamics between them and Gary gave us constant entertainment.  I had forgotten how much fun they make a trip.  As usual, Gary was phenomenal.  He is tireless and never gives up looking for fish.  I don’t know how he does it.  Thanks Gary.

And thanks to Jeff for organizing these trips and providing our delicious dinner.  I feel so fortunate to be included. 

What’s next?  We get to witness Sheepie’s sushi skills and taste his creations.  Samurai Sheepie displayed his skills and served us creations that included halibut sushi, Japanese Amberjack, Japanese yellowtail, scallops, snapper, Scottish salmon and local bluefin tuna.  Jeff brought Pot Pies - Key Lime and Caramel Apple, and Jim brought ice cream for dessert.  Thanks Samurai Sushi Chef Sheepie!

Foamer Blues!

Rail Time is leaving Tuesday evening; Oh No, Wind’s up, can you leave Wednesday – of course; Oh No, Wind’s bad, can you leave Thursday instead; call from Gary saying the bluefin are biting, can you leave tomorrow?  So Cathy, Fumio, Steve, Jim and I packed up and headed out on Tuesday evening (original schedule) on the Rail Time.  Eric and Jacob were crewing for Gary.  Our first stop was at the receiver for some beautiful sardines.  Second stop, a bit bumpy getting there, was Catalina to scoop live flyers.  I slept through flyer scooping.

Gary was up making coffee and checking bait at 2:30 the next morning.  He pulled anchor and had us in the area the bluefin bit previously.  I knew it was the area because we were not alone.  There were skiffs, local sportboats and long range boats in the area all looking to score on bluefin.   The bluefin had been anywhere from 30 to 200 pounders.  Gary had us prepared for them all.

Gary shut down on a school of fish and we started Flat Falling and deploying sinker rigs.  The school didn’t stay with us so we moved on to another school.  Little did we know this was going to be our pattern for two days. 

A little after day break, Gary found a foaming school of bigger bluefin that he had us slide flyers back as he came around the school.  They sunk out. 

Our weather was a bit rough which kept Sheepie in his bunk most the day.  The wind we feared prior to the trip was blowing 15 knots and it was cold on deck.

Gary said it’s time for our tweeker tackle (25 pound fluoro with a #4 J hook.)  We all switched over and Gary had us slide sardines back into the foamers.  I connected and was rewarded with a 30# yellowfin tuna.  Steve came up on deck long enough to get bit on a long soak but had the hook bit off.  I hooked two more fish, one of which spooled me before biting the hook off.  Then I remembered what Jeff taught me a couple years ago when I kept getting bit off by bluefin:  use a mutu circle hook!  After that, I landed my bluefin instead of getting bit off. Actually I had been using those hooks but Gary said they weren't small enough so he gave me a J hook. Unfortunately, I didn’t have small enough mutu hooks with me.  I'm sure Jeff would have connected with a bluefin if he had been with us.

We headed into Catalina for a calm anchorage to have dinner and spend the night.  Gary and crew looked at flyers but decided not to scoop them as we would  be island fishing the next day.  I was disappointed but understood completely. 

We had a wonderful Veal Lasagna dinner along with a couple bottles of great red wine that Cathy brought.  The fish may have won the day but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves.

Gary was up at 3 am the next morning making coffee, checking bait and then he started the engines and headed up the island and began scooping flyers.  He said we were going to give it the morning on the tuna grounds and if that didn’t work, we would finish at the island. 

We found the boats and tuna in the same area.  We hit foamer after foamer only to have them sink out.  At one point Gary had Fumio cast his popper into a foamer from the bow.  He was bit instantly! And BIT OFF instantly. Gary started heading towards the island looking for kelps.  On one of the kelps, we found dorado and I managed to hook one.  We now had two fish on board.

When we got into the island, we found baby bluefin, sealions and skiffs from the island.  It was a busy area.  Steve managed to hook and land a nice yellowtail on a dropper loop.  Eric was determined to hook one of the bluefin.  He kept trying different combinations of tackle – 20 pound fluoro, down to 12 pound fluoro when he finally hooked and landed a 12 pound bluefin on the anchor!  Then Fumio hooked a bluefin and got it to the boat where a sealion stole his fish.  Time to go home!

We broke down tackle while crew cleaned fish.  We had them split up the fish into separate bags so everyone could take some home.  

We were back at dock by 4:45 and on our way home by 5:15 pm.  I took a small strip of bluefin, half a filet of yellowfin and a small piece of dorado.  It was enough for me to have a seared tuna dinner for three of us and some sashimi and ceviche too.

Thanks again to Cathy for being an incredible and generous friend.  Thanks to Gary for his patience and persistence with the bluefin. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to fish with this great group of anglers!