2015: Trip #3 on the Fortune (1.5 Day)

7/9/15 - 7/11/15

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DWRRC TRIP #3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: 9-11 July 2015; 18 Club members and guests aboard the FORTUNE out of San Diego. Excellent bait, boat, crew, weather and food. It was an outstanding fishing trip -- especially from the fishes’ point of view.

Everybody headed for Fisherman’s landing Thursday PM with the intension of arriving between 5PM and 7PM. Note to self: four accidents on the southbound I-5 does not promote speedy travel! The FORTUNE was available for boarding all afternoon so all got settled as they arrived. The soul collection consisted of Captain Bruce and his

crew, Roy Patterson, Ryan Burson, Ron Shrout, Hayden Claisse, John Wilson, Luke Burson, Joe Stassi, Nick Burson, Gary Thompson, Mike Trunk, Bill Parks, Brian Wynne, yours truly; and five guests - Kevin Kom, Michelle Burson, Randy Beebe and father and son Mario and Mario C. Cleared the slip and made the bait barge by 2000 hrs. David

(first time cook with us) made cold cut sliders to keep the hungries at bay. The bait was good - both the ‘Chovies and ‘Dinos - so expectations were running high. Bruce gave us the safety briefing and outlined the fishing plan. Fish were close, only 22 miles away, so Tuna was the target with a nice easy run to get in the area. He did note that while fish were present, catching was spotty; some boats doing well, others not so.

Friday morning gray found us on the west side of the San Diego Trough along with 576 other boats. It appears the reported location of the Tuna was not exactly “closed hole”. Bruce wanted three trollers only and at 0545 we started our rotation. Thirty minutes later, a meter mark stop and we started boating YF Tuna. Most were in the 20#

range but they didn’t stick around too long. We put ten down the chute. After a couple uneventful stops Kevin tied into a nice YFT with the right gear. He put a beefy, close to 50 lb fish, onboard. At 0900 Bill and Hayden each hooked up using a bit of lead to get down to the six fathom area. YFT for Hayden and a 45 - no, 30 - no, 40 - yes, pound Blue fin for Bill. At 1545 Ron lands the first and only troll fish of the trip, a YFT. That catch closed the door on targeted fish.

Bruce did his best to put us on fish, many meter stops and we ran up on breezers a number of times, but the fish would neither come to nor remain on the surface. At the end of Friday’s fishing he decided to spend the night on the water and run the “nines” Saturday morning to get us one more shot at some fish. It was not to be, we fished

Saturday until 0915 but no takers.

As usual the crew of the FORTUNE treated us well. David’s meals were super, mixed fresh fruit early AM followed by breakfast of French toast or burritos; cookies mid morning, stylish hamburgers at lunch, quesadilla mid afternoon, chicken breast with a chorizos sauce for dinner and ice cream to top it off. We ate well (had a bit to drink also).

A few items of special note:

- Gary set a personal best in ventilated T-shirt fashion.

- Michelle sports a Tommy Tippy-Cup wine glass.

- Joe dabbles in origami using sandwich wrappers.

- Luke joins the ranks of the retired.

- Set a Club record for the number of “chickens” requiring hook removal.

- All the Club Officers were on the trip -- Ron caught fish.

Think about it!!

Final tally was 13 Yellow fin Tuna and one Blue fin Tuna.

Kevin’s big tuna earned him the Jackpot dollars and Bill got the Club patch.

George Miller -- First Supernumerary Scribe

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