Travel
We arrived at the dock early as usual to be greeted by many anxious anglers. There were many familiar faces from last year. The dock staff had everyone’s carts lined up by loading order and the loading went smooth.Once all the gear was on board we were on our way to the bait receivers to take on a nice load of bait.
We cleared the point around 11:30 and headed south towards Hurricane Bank. Roy gathered us all in the galley for the usual safety meeting and briefing on how the trip will run. Now it is time to just relax in the beautiful weather and cruise towards our destination.
Our first day of travel included the usual seminar on leaders we will be using on the kite. This is an SDLongrange.com trip and we gave away lots of goodies. We had Super Mutu hooks from Owner Hooks, Fluorocarbon leader material from Blackwater International, Top Shots and kite leaders from BHP Tackle, Jigs from Salas Lures, Shirts from SDLongrange.com and hats and visors from all the manufacturers mentioned. Accurate Reels donated a Boss Extreme 600 to give away for the first 200 pound Yellowfin Tuna caught on bait. I would like to thank all the manufacturers for their continued support of our trip. The remaining days of travel went the same with some very detailed seminars on rigging and fish fighting techniques. We also held a few knot seminars at the bait tank to fine-tune everyone’s knot tying kills. Everyone is excited to get fishing and we arrive in the morning.
Wahoo Fishing
We started our fishing at Hurricane bank, no one has been here in over a week so hopefully the Wahoo will bite and bite they did. We had excellent Wahoo fishing for the entire time we were at the bank. Every troll stop would produce 4 to 6 nice skinnies on the iron. While on the anchor we were also able to pick a few off on the light gear using 27# wire. We would have this success the entire time we were at the bank producing limits of Wahoo for the boat. The fun part of the Wahoo fishing for me is after I had my limit I started throwing the surface iron for them, for some reason this makes them very frisky and they would fly out of the water for them. Some of these jumps were spectacular, 6 or 7 feet out of the water with the jig in their mouth shaking it free. Remember this can be dangerous so use with caution, stop the jig far enough from the boat to avoid luring a un welcomed Wahoo aboard the boat.
Tuna Fishing at the Bank
The Yellowfin fishing at the bank started slow with most of the bites coming on the kite. The first day it was squid or double trouble. We did land a few nice ones but no real giants. With the full moon we weren’t sure how the flyer fishing would go but with a nice cloud cover at sunset we were able to fill a tank in about and hour just after dinner. The following nights were the same on making bait, just after dinner we would be able to make 70 to 100 pieces in no time at all. The next two days at the bank the kite was the key using the flying fish. The sardine bite was very tough as the current kept switching around and we had no real flow. We did have some sharks and they did take a few fish and a few baits but you just had to fish through them. I consider the sharks as structure, they are just part of the game. If you move from the sharks you move from the fish so you just have to deal with them. The tuna fishing at the bank is really slowing down so we are headed to the buffer zone to try for the last 5 days of the trip.
Tuna Fishing the Buffer Zone at Clarion Island
We arrive at the island and proceed to check in with the camp, all goes smooth so it is offshore in search of giant Yellowfin tuna. Every day in the buffer zone produced excellent fishing we had 30 plus fish days with fish to 300 pounds and 12 over 200. The rest of the fish came in a wide variety ranging from 70 to 175 pounds. The sharks here were also very difficult to deal with they seemed to travel with the tuna or visa versa. We probably would have filled the boat 2 days earlier had we not had so many losses to the sharks. Like I said earlier you just had to keep fishing. We ended our trip with over 200 Yellowfin and limits of Wahoo. We have a lot of very happy anglers on board and many with new personnel bests.
The Stories
Every trip I’m on I always try to remember a great story, we had quite a few on this trip.
First Timer
My mom before she passed away gave a gift to a friend of the family; the gift was a ticket on this trip. Steve would be my guest and fish out of my tackle box and us my gear. Steve was a quick learner and listened well, he caught Wahoo on the troll to start the trip then got some on iron then got some big Yellowfin on the kite. Then I see him headed down the rail with a sardine fish. Steve learned fast and got to experience every aspect of a long-range adventure. The story starts here on the last day. Steve is about 5 turns from his on the kite and we are running out of time. I inspect the rig to make sure all is sano in case he gets another shot. We have a lot of fish going and activity on the deck. I start running the kites to keep it all moving, we start hooking some good ones and the kite is ripping in and out, I see Steve is next so we run his double trouble out I am doing the adjustments from up top to keep the baits perfect then I see this sliver and yellow flash on his baits, this was a big one, I tell Steve to get ready and then there goes the clip towards the water. Yell out the usual “wind wind wind” the line comes tight and he is on. As he comes down the rail I yell down to him “that is the one you are looking for”. After a long battle Steve is standing by the gate and the crew drags aboard a beautiful 267 pound Yellowfin Tuna. Nice job Steve! Thanks Mom R.I.P.
The Long Rod
Things were slow but there were some fish boiling around so I decided to make a few cast off the down wind corner. While I was skipping if back on the first cast and a 100+ boils on it, knocks the jig straight out of the water this was pretty spectacular, quite a few anglers saw it so many had comments like you don’t want that type of trouble, Roy and Arron saw it and we were all excited, well it looked like 100 pounders so I throw again with the same drill, I start skipping it back and about 15 yards from the boat I slow down then clean out of the water comes a well over 200 pounder, every one that was watching just gasps, Arron, Cole and myself are laughing hysterically as the line comes tight. Game on. I fish a 10-foot Ulua with 4 inches off the top for a long rod. It is plenty of rod but the reel will be an issue, I just strapped on the good old Newell 533, it had 50# Izor and 60# braid for the bottom half of the spool, I take the fish seriously even though I know I am out matched. My drag is always buttoned on the reel but it is just peeling off, I could feel the reel just melting. I have the butt stuck in my gut with the full bend in the rod. The reel is against my chest and the tip is pointing at the water to give you an idea. The line keeps peeling off we are now in the spectra, I look at Arron and he says, “your doing all I would do” basically all that can be done. I am starting to brace for the pop as I can now see the spool. To my amazement the line slows down and comes to a nice gentle stop at the knot. I hooked him in front of the bench and he ran to the empty corner so I run to the corner and kept reeling and actually got some wraps on the reel for a split second I actually thought I could pull this off but before I finished the thought he ran again and was gone. The Mono parted. Oh well what and experience, but it gets better. I ran up top with my melted Newell and threw on a Accurate 665 with plenty of line. Came back down and made a cast to check out a new jig and bam I get bit by one just over 100 pounds, this is manageable. He takes tons of line but to make this story short I actually get him to deep color while everyone is shaking their heads in disbelief, then the sharks ate him, oh well good times for sure.
Be that Guy
This story is a continuation of the above story and yes it is about me. Earlier in the day I lost a very large fish on the kite then a good one on the sardine was lost in addition to the two from the previous story. Now I am back on the kite again. I see the boil and it is another really good one probably over 200 well after a 40 minute battle around the boat I lose this one the sharks. So now it is about 3pm and I have lost 5 very nice fish. If you have ever fished with me you know my attitude on this, I just take it as it comes kick back and enjoy the view. I grab a beer or two and hang out up top watching the other anglers, which is something I really enjoy. As I’m sitting there think of trips past I think of all the times I have seen anglers having tough days or even tough trips and just get discouraged and quit then cop an attitude for the rest of the trip, then I remember the guys that never give up and how they always seemed to be reward for the effort with a great fish or a great experience. I thought to my self be that guy. So I grab my 130# outfit and go fish a few baits, by the third bait it was getting close to sunset when I was picked up, this fish took some real line and took it in a hurry. When he settled in I could really feel some weight (this was definitely a good one) once straight up and down it had a long slow tail beat. The sun had just set and the fish starts getting squirrelly I am now in the stern and I know he is getting close, he is making giant figure 8’s across the stern and I cant cut them off so it is back and forth for awhile. Then we see him and he is still swimming upright. Big D is with me and says “try putting it in your gut and short stoke him.” I laugh at first thinking this isn’t a 30 pound albacore. But hey I do know if you pull they will come so once he comes out from the corner I put it in my gut and give it all the pull I have with short quick strokes and he is coming (yes I know how this reads, get your mind out of the gutter) as he crosses the stern I get tons of line, one more reach and reel to clear the corner then I say “he will be high and dry this time” as I clear the corner back in the gut, pull like hell and I cut the circle off and he comes up high and dry under the gafs and we get him, Big D and I are laughing, and he says nice job. High fives all around, then they pull him through the gate, boy oh boy what a fish.
Travel
The Travel home goes as usual with people breaking down their gear talking about our excellent catch and a few stories of the one that got away. The weather is nice for travel until the last day and a half then we had some wind but not too bad.
I would like to thank Owner Hooks, Blackwater International, BHP Tackle, Salas Lures and Accurate Reels for all the great giveaways.
We have a few spots for next year so make the call and come fish with us on what I’m sure will be another excellent adventure!
