Pêcheuse: Rail Time A-Team on Fire again!

As Jeff’s September charter on the Rail Time approached, windy weather threatened to cancel the trip. Originally, we were scheduled to leave Tuesday evening, then departure moved to Wednesday and finally the weather calmed down enough to depart Thursday evening and fish Friday – just one day of fishing instead of two.

Photo courtesy of Carl (A-Team's Friend) Taken of us Fishing 9-13-24

Jeff , Jim, Cathy, Steve and I met up at 5:30 pm, boarded the Rail Time and put away our gear. We were fortunate to have Captains Gary, Andy and Jake (better known as the A-Team) for this trip.

Gary said the only game fish around were the bluefin out by Santa Barbara Island. Catalina and San Clemente had been dead for days so Gary said we would spend the night at Catalina to make flyers for bluefin then head to the bluefin grounds in the morning.

We made a stop at the bait receiver for a tank of sardines to go along with flyers for bait. As we traveled to the island, we set up our tackle for the big bluefin, then enjoyed a Pizza dinner (thanks to Jeff). After dinner, I settled in my bunk to watch the sun go down.

Around 3:30 the next morning, I heard the engines start and realized we were on our way to the bluefin grounds. I went back to sleep until 5:30. When I got up, it was still dark. Jim was the only other one up. Everyone else enjoyed the calm seas to catch up on some sleep.

The weather was overcast with no wind. Gary found the fish around 8 am and had Jake get us set up to drop flyers back on a school of fish. Jim and Cathy were up first on the drop back. Once their fish were deployed, Gary let me drop a dead flyer down 100 feet on a sinker rig. There wasn’t enough wind to fly a helium balloon.

Jim got bit first. It only took him about 15 minutes to land his fish. What a beautiful fish! Once it settled down, it taped out at 172 pounds. Congratulations Jim! We were all excited to see a fish on deck so early. With only one day to fish, this was a great start.

We kept working hard trying to get a bite. Even though the fish were around, they just weren’t biting.

Around 10, the wind finally came up enough for Gary to put me up on the balloon. I was on the bow watching my balloon when I heard someone say Cathy’s bit. Gary said “The fish are here. Get ready Jan, you’re going to get a bite!”

Cathy was still fighting her fish when I saw a splash and the balloon started to go down. I started winding like crazy then the line came tight – I had a fish on. My fish headed straight away from the boat and stayed on the surface until I got it close to the boat then it went down at the bow and started circling. When I got it to the surface, it reversed directions to avoid the gaff but crew got it as it came back around. My fish wasn’t a mean one so I was able land it in about 20 minutes.

Cathy wasn’t as lucky as she had hooked a mean fish but she prevailed and landed a nice fish, estimated to be 170 pounds. It wasn’t long until Cathy hooked another fish and two more after that, two of which she released. Cathy was on fire! Way to go Cathy.

Sheepie hooked a fish while Cathy was still fighting her first fish. He also hooked a mean fish that drug him around the boat until he was exhausted. Steve asked Jeff to relieve him for a moment and while Jeff helped, the fish chewed through the line! We also lost a couple fish on the balloon when the flyer got mangled by a smaller tuna or a short bite.

Then the smaller fish came through and Gary said throw out your 40-pound outfit! Jeff did and hooked a fish and fought it to color before releasing it. It looked well over 100 pounds. Even though the fish escaped, the joy of the fight didn’t get away. Jeff was jubilant from the experience. Then Gary hooked a fish on 40-pound as well and he landed his fish demonstrating how the pros do it! From then on, it was fun and chaos.

The next fish Jeff hooked was a big one. Fortunately, he was using heavier gear and he landed that one. It taped out at 170 pounds. I hooked a second fish on the balloon and landed it too. It looked like a 140 pounder.

By 3 pm, we had 5 big fish and 3 smaller fish in the hold. More fish than we needed so it was time to head home. On the way, Gary gave our remaining live flyers to a friend who hadn’t been as lucky as we had been. Apparently these bluefin are so smart that they won’t bite an artificial or dead flying fish. They only bite the live flyers. I wonder why? Is it how they look; lack of movement; perhaps the way a live flyer smells or a combination of things. Whatever it is, the live flyer is key to getting a bite.

Andy and Jake processed our fish on the way back to dock. We arrived back around 6:30 and offloaded our gear then Jake brought a wheelbarrow full of filets (the Meat Wagon as Jeff called it) to the parking lot for us to share. I think we sent half our catch home with Andy to feed his hometown of Winchester.

As always, thanks to Jeff for everything! And special thanks to the A-Team (Gary, Jake and Andy) for making it possible to catch these beautiful fish. I am grateful as these trips are dreams come true for me. Thanks. As Jim put it, “Great boat, the best crew, wonderful fishing and great friends!”

The days after the trip are special as well. We get to enjoy our catch and share it with family and friends.