Feb 8
Departure day, today we depart on the Accurate Fishing Reels 15/18 day open aboard the Royal Polaris. Our host Jack Nilsen as brought the full Accurate package, which includes over 50 reels and matching Calstar rods. All reels are loaded with either Blackwater Braid or Jerry Brown and Izorline Spectra. Our passengers are excited and eager to get underway. After a smooth loading of the gear we are off to the receivers to load up on bait.
We have now taken on a nice load of bait and are clearing the point. After Frank’s safety seminar our host handed out Accurate tee shirts to all.
Feb 9
Today we awoke to windy conditions with a pretty good northwest swell. We had our first fishing seminar at 9:00am on top shots and kite leaders we will need. Jack Nilsen went over the giveaways we will have during the trip. The rest of the day the crew was busy preparing the boat and helping our anglers rig their top shots and building leaders.
Never fall alseep at the table!
Feb 10
Today is another travel day with the weather starting to warm up. We still have windy conditions and a west swell, which adds a little roll to the ride but not bad. Our second seminar today was on fishing Wahoo and some other techniques to try while fishing Hurricane bank. No boats have been here in a few weeks so our hopes are high for some off the hook Wahoo fishing. The rest of the day was spent prepping tackle, watching movies and playing cards.
Feb 11
Final travel day today, we should arrive at the bank tomorrow at 8:30am. We had our third seminar this morning on fighting giant Yellow fin tuna. We discussed using the rail along with when to be in and out of your harness. The word is basically fish 130# and we will see what happens. Everyone is ready to get to the fishing and the rest of the day is spent talking about trips past and the ones that got away.
Feb 12
We arrive at the bank at 8:45am to lots of wind and a small swell. We start with a troll around checking the current and looking for some Wahoo. The Wahoo are not to be found and we only catch 1 for the day. We get the anchor down and start our tuna fishing, fishing was very slow with a few coming on the kite and some 100 pounders coming on bait. We end up with 11 tuna for the day with 1 over 200 pounds. Tonight we will try for some flyers, which should help with the kite bites.
Some Dorado came through the bank
Bob bags yet another one
Feb 13
Last night was a good night for the flyers; we were able to make a full tank. We still have windy warm conditions with some sprinkles moving through the area. There is better sign of fish today with them jumping around the bank and some good ones coming on the kites. We had 11 tuna and a better showing on the Wahoo with 30 for the day.
Mike gets another
Feb 14
Valentines day started with the wind coming down and plenty of sunshine. We had nice sign of Yellow fin that turned into a good morning bite and a few over 200. We also had some real heartbreak’s today due to some tackle failures. These fish can really test your gear and strain it to its limits.
Jeffy with a good one
Jack manning the Tractor
Mark with a beauty
Feb 15
Today was a good day on the bank with a few more big tuna; wind is coming down, which makes it difficult to get the kites out. Double Trouble tied to straight spectra was the ticket. We ended up scratching away a few tuna along with some Wahoo on the anchor on the tuna gear.
Jack is on again
Our host with a nice one.
Little Frank gets his!
Nice Wahoo for me!
Feb 16
Today things completely turned around with little sign of big fish and the Wahoo a no show. At 11:00 Frank has the RP headed for Clarion Island and we will arrive in the morning, the weather is great for travel so the afternoon was spent just relaxing and gearing up for the offshore style fishing Clarion buffer zone has to offer.
Snacks in the Galley!
Feb 17
Offshore clarion was crazy; we got on a nice school of 80 – 100 pounders. We checked in at he camp at 9:30 and all went smooth. We then headed back offshore to find some more biters, at around 11 we found the school you dream of, they would stay with the boat until sundown. This school would produce 3 to 4 fish going all the time; it was some really excellent fishing until dark with 5 or so over 200 and 2 that might be over 300. We completely filled one hole with this school. Epic fishing is the only way to explain the day we had.
Shameless Plug!
Gary with a good one
Mark gets yet another
This one looks big
Penn with a 304 at the dock!
Yea baby!
Mark with a 301 at the dock! That is a 300 pounder two consecutive years!
Feb 18
After great nights sleep on the anchor we head back offshore to do some looking. We can’t really get on anything that wants to bite so we are off to Smokey (San Benidicto) to try offshore there.
Feb 19
Today we have great weather for travel, it will be a full day for travel and we should arrive around 4:00pm. After a quick look around there is nothing really here so we head in tight to the island for some sight seeing and picture taking then off to the beach to see if the bigguns are still around, the conditions on the lower banks are still good so the excitement is high. We will have 2 full days to look and with a great catch on board already I am excited about the move.
Feb 20
We are headed to the Lusitania Bank and will travel all day. We have excellent weather. We spent the day re tooling for the lower bank style fishing and some broke down there smaller gear. This is a fly home trip so when we are done fishing we will only have 10 or so hours to pack up.
Feb 21
We arrive at the bank in the dark and get the anchor down and soak a few baits but the giant squid are on us so we just wait out the darkness so we can go looking for the black Porpoise. We find many schools of big fish today but not many biters. These fish put on a great show today with some real giants blowing out all around the boat but could only 6 to bite, with 2 of those over 200. With this great sign everyone is looking forward to tomorrow. On another note we did pull up on some breaking fish that looked to be straight 300 pounders feeding on the giant squid it was quite a sight almost as much fun as catching them (ALMOST). You see some awesome sites out here and if you look past the rod and reel you can be treated to some really special sites.
Jack never has any fun!
Jeffy with another
Everyone is bent, Chris with 2 200's in a row!
Feb 22
Last day of fishing, today we would find large schools of giant yellow fin tuna and at times they would bite good. We would end up with 33 of these fish all going over a hundred with many in the 175 class. The last two hours of the day we had a school that would stay with the boat and would be boiling right in the corner but wouldn’t bite, I must have casted 100 baits to the spot and would finally get one to bite, it was very frustrating and then again very exciting to watch this awesome display. At sunset we called it a trip and headed for the Cape.
Feb 23
After travel all night we are in Cabo dropping of the passengers that are flying home, we should start up the line around 9:30 am. We have beautiful weather with a light breeze and flat seas along with plenty of sunshine.
Feb 24
We have 5 passengers riding home this trip and they were treated to another beautiful day of sunshine and calm seas.
Feb 25
Well the weather has changed a little; as I write this I am holding my laptop with one hand as we go airborne in the galley. We have 30 knots and about 8 foot seas. Most of the passengers are sleeping as I watch the spray fly past the window. We are not making the best time right now and might be a few hours late. With the weather and current our usual stop for some reds is out for this trip.
Feb 26
Arrival day, we will make our stop at customs then to the dock for the unloading of the fish.
Thanks to Jack Nilsen of Accurate Fishing Reels for the use of all the great products Accurate has to offer along with the photos, Dharyl Shelbourne for the Videography and photos and the excellent crew of the Royal Polaris.
