Day 1 – Thursday 11/8/2007
Well today is the day we depart on our 10 day adventure aboard the Royal Polaris, we arrive at the landing early as usual to watch the previous trips catch unloaded.  The rumors are already running wild and what we will be doing.  After talking to a few passengers that had been there for awhile and figured out what Frank meant when he said “ready for a boat ride” as he greeted me. At this point I’m trying to explain to my friend that I brought along on his first 10 day what might happen.  I immediately do a mental survey of my tackle in the truck and wonder if I should chance the ride home in the traffic to top it off with some different gear just in case.  I convince myself that we will be fine with what I have and just enjoy the morning knowing what might take place.

The loading goes smooth as usual and we pull away from the dock and head to the receivers.  At this point I am hearing mixed feelings on what might be put in front of us.  I talk to my buddy about it and he seems excited.  As we are loading on some beautiful bait Frank calls everyone in to the galley for a mandatory meeting. 

It’s true! He is offering us a vote to go to Hurricane bank.  Frank does a very thorough job of explaining both sides and the ups and downs of making a move like this.  I know I want to go to the bank but have already decided to be happy to go fishing where ever we decide.  The vote goes up and we are headed to the Hurricane bank!   I can totally understand someone choosing not to go as we will only have 2 ½ days to fish but having been there and knowing how good it can be I was very excited at the opportunity.

Day 2 – Friday 11/9/2007
Today was our first travel day.  Around 9:00 am we had our first seminar covering what to expect at the bank and how to set up our reels and make our tackle work for this type of fishing.  Remember we have some people under gunned and pushing their tackle to the limit for this type of fishing.  The crew and our regular passengers really pulled together to make sure everyone had something to fish with that would do the trick on these fish.

Frank with our day 1 seminar

Mike Stanton had some great giveaways along with t-shirts for everyone from Davis Boats along with some gift certificates from YO’s tackle and a custom rod for the first Wahoo on the iron with no wire.

Brook working on some connections.... Nice shirt!

Day 3 – Saturday 11/10/2007
The second full day of travel started with a seminar on Wahoo fishing and the making of kite leaders that we will need.  We have some squid on board but are hoping to make some Flying fish upon arrival at the bank.  The rest of the day was spent playing cards and watching movies. Frank held a mini seminar on the bow then the stern for Zackary and Maryanne and anyone else that waned to listen on using the rail,  we would go over this again in the morning but just a head start for Zack and Maryanne. I was showing a few passengers some different knots today after lunch, which turned into a mini knot seminar which turned out to be a lot of fun for me.

Frank teaching the rail technique

Zack learning how to apply the pressure

I think he has it figured out

Day 4 – Sunday 11/11/2007
The last day of travel and you can really feel the buzz around the boat.  Our seminar today was on fighting big fish and how important it is to be ready for your kite turn.  After lunch we had another short meeting recapping all that we had been over. I made one final check of my gear and am ready to go.

We should be there around 3:15am

Gear is ready!

Random Boobie shot

The cigar lounge on the promanade deck

Day 5 – Monday 11/12/2007
We arrive at the bank right on schedule.  Most of the boat is awake in anticipation of the fishing and most have never seen how we catch Flying fish. The Flyers are coming aboard at a pretty good pace.  We make 1 tank in no time and start looking around.  Frank makes a check of the entire bank and gets the anchor down. It is still dark so we are all winding the PL-68’s a few small ones are hooked but now keepers.  As the sun starts to rise we start soaking sardines and get the kites outs.  We have a reverse current then usual and it is weak at best.  All we can manage are some small tuna.  After an hour of pretty much nothing we pull the anchor and troll around the bank for a bit trying to mop up some Wahoo, we mange 17 and that brings some smiles to some faces but things are starting to get tense.

Jesus with another Flyer

We get back on the anchor and get the kites out, no one is really saying much at this point but you could imagine what they are thinking as only smaller tuna are being caught and the kite is dead.  In the late morning we finally get a huge blow out on the kite, then the other kite goes off, then another.  When the first fish came onboard the mood changed rapidly. Some passengers where in awe of the size of these fish and some even nervous about catching one.  By lunch time is was game on and a steady bite on the kite produced 83 tuna for the day.  Bait fish were tough to come by as the smaller tuna were all over the baits. The conversation now was all about what a great move it was to come here and we had some very happy anglers with many breaking their personal bests. After dinner we loaded up with 2 tanks of flyers for tomorrows fishing.

Cole brings aboard the first hoo

Lift Lift Lift!

Kurt with a beautiful fish

I'm pretty sure we got this one!

MaryAnne with a nice one!

Oh yea I caught a few also

After landing the fish above I see a few guys in the corner struggling to stay on tangled. The boat is bent so I jump in to help. One angle is beat so I take over his fish in the final circles and kill it then I get kens rod as he is spent, this was a tough one on the 80# gear

Get Ken back in action only to have the line part. That is the price of fishing 80 as many learned.

Day 6 – Tuesday 11/13/2007
On our ride down here there was lots of talk about fishing all night and making the best out of the short fishing time. Well I got up early to grind the iron and there were only a handful of us up.  The fishing yesterday really took its toll on us and we were feeling it.

We had the same slow start today as yesterday so we headed off looking for Wahoo; we caught 3 and ended up with a nice Dorado bite to break up the slow morning.  After we got back on the anchor things started to turn on again much like yesterday.  The kite is still the ticket with the flying fish and the 20/0 Mustad hook.  We are starting to see a few more bait fish now which is keeping more people at the rail.  Today finished much like yesterday with tired anglers and 72 big tuna.  We should have a few over the 200 mark as well.

My buddy Mark on his personal best

Had a little break in the action so the polar bear plunge is in order as the second tank is ready.

Don't say it

Frank running the kites

Keep the bait on the surface

This turned out to be my toughest fish landed to date. Here is a brief moment he was straight up and down.

This is how it was for the entire battle, out away from the boat with the rod in my gut and just having to pull. This shot was moments after I nailed Ole in the head with the foregrip (though he would get a little lower)

The prize!

Zack with the fish that will cost him


Day 7 – Wednesday 11/14/2007
Our last ½ day of fishing.  We were plagued with the slow start again but things picked up along with the current which would produce some bigger bait fish. At 11:30 it was wind em up and head for home.  We landed another 17 tuna and 2 Wahoo today to add to our impressive total for 2 ½ days of fishing.

Day 8 – Thursday 11/15/2007
Today was a take it easy travel day with lots of stories on what just happened.  We broke down some tackle but kept one rig ready in case we found something floating to grab a few more Wahoo or maybe some Dorado. At 3:30pm we find a small patty and top off with a wide open Dorado bite you could catch them on anything.  I was using my fish tags for bait and it produced quite well,  The snickers wrapper was another favorite.  We got what we needed and continued for home

Day 9 - Friday 11/16/2007
The weather for traveling has been flat calm and beautiful skies. I caught some nice photos of some flyers in the glassy conditions today.

On the way down young Zack had said “If I catch a tuna over 100 pounds I will shave my head” well today was the day to pay up.  Zack is a great kid and his father Kurt and family should be very proud.

Before

During

After

A great family to fish with

Day 10 - Saturday 11/17/2007
Our weather is up a bit today but not bad our ETA looks like around 7am

Home – Sunday 11/18/2007
Today was the usual unloading with a lot of high fives and personal bests.  I had a great trip with 5 big tuna. This was a great group to fish with and I hope to fish with all of them again.

Go get some
Brandon
www.sdlongrange.com