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!