2015: Trip #6 on the Thunderbird (2 Day)

9/10/15 - 9/12/15

Download the PDF here.

Trip 6 Write Up

Thunderbird 2 Day

September 10th – 12th, 2015

Scribe: Ryan Burson

Crew

Captain Jeff

Captain Mike

2nd Captain Bob

Brian

Steve

Goofy in the galley

Club Members

Roy Patterson

Bill Gardner

Ryan Burson

Charlie Sanchez

Mike Allen

Andy Woodfill

Brian Upcraft

Andy Sienkiewich

Dave Moritz

Stewart Finley

Brian Wynne

Paul Casillas

Gary Thompson

Mike Trunk

Joe Stassi

Bill Parks

Club members began to arrive at the docks around 3:00 p.m. The first arrivals showed up to wait patiently in the heat and 100% humidity. It was pretty brutal. Early arrivers included the usual: Brian, Roy, Bill, Andy S and myself. The rest of the gang trickled in over the next few hours.

While waiting dockside, Mike Thompson announced that he had a conversation with a club officer (who was not in attendance on this trip) who demanded that the club go fishing for yellowtail as it was completely unacceptable for a 10-pound yellowtail to warrant a trophy.

We watched hundreds of whale watchers come and go as we enjoyed libations at the dock. The Thunderbird got back in to the dock around 7:00 p.m. and Mike Trunk got off the boat. He was on the overnight trip where he caught 4 of the 31 tuna. After the boat unloaded, the crew let us load up our gear. We had to return to our dock libations as they fueled and iced up. Some club members went into the Pavillion to watch Thursday Night Football. By 8:00 p.m., we were on our way. We were told to rig up mackerel snaggers as we were heading north for bait. The libations continued. Many nice craft beers were brought out. Mike Trunk provided the music for the evening, complete with Trunk karaoke. Mike Trunk also enjoyed a romantic slow dance with Roy for a few moments.

We arrived at Long Beach harbor where we filled up on sardines on mackerel. We also put another 60 mackerel on the sabiki rigs.

On Friday, folks started rolling out of their bunks around 6:00 a.m., some more foggy-headed than others. We were a few miles off the back side of Clemente where Jeff was looking for meter marks. At 6:30a.m., the first Coor’s Lights were popped by Andy and Mike Trunk. By 7:00a.m., the anchor was down and we were fishing for yellowtail.

It didn’t take long for the fish to get with it. The fish were biting the fly line sardine and mackerel very well, but we were having heavy casualties due to the pinnacles on the bottom. At 9:00 a.m., we had 46 yellows. By 10:00 a.m., we had 80. The Dana Wharf Rod and Reel Club did not have a good batting average on these fish, except for Andy W who went 8 for 8 in the morning on 25 pound test. They were deep, mean and knew every rock on that reef.

Dana Wharf Yellowtail Casualty List at 10:00 a.m. with 80 fish on the boat

(fish caught/fish attempted):

Mike A – 6/10

Paul C – 1/3

Bill P – 7/10

Ryan B – 7/12

Charlie S – 4/9

Joe S – 5/6

Andy S – 2/4

Roy P – 4/9

Mike T – 7/13

Bryan W – 8/10

Gary T – 5/6

Bill G – 4/10

Stewart F – 7/8

Andy W – 9/13

Dave – 5/11

Brian U – 3/5

Mike T – 4/6

This works out to a 60% average.

Jeff really wanted to catch 100 fish on this spot. At 10:30 a.m., we had 90. By noon, we had 111 and left them biting.

During the bite, Mike Thompson was enthralled to see a blue footed booby. He reminisced on seeing them in the Galapagos and how interesting of a bird they are. After I accidently snagged the booby, we were all able to get a better look at the bird.

Goofy prepared tri tip sandwiches as we looked for kelp patties. We stopped on a few, but nothing was there. We continued our run home to go get more bait. Yes, that’s correct. We went home all the way from Clemente on a two day to fill up on bait for tuna fishing the next day.

At 6:00 p.m., we rolled onto a kelp where Gary hooked a dorado, but lost it when it broke off during a jump. We found one kelp where we were able to pick off a few small yellowtail, skipjack tuna and 12 yellow fin; the largest of all the fish was less than 10 pounds. After that stop, we headed for the dock.

Bill Parks received day one patch with a 25-pound yellowtail, which also happened to be his first fish of the trip. No cocktail light was needed. We all knew what time it was. By the time we were back to the dock, we were out of wine and liquor. A quick run was made to refill.

After filling up on booze, bait and ice, we were on our way in search of tuna for day two.

Day two started at the Osborne Bank by Santa Barbara Island. There were quite a few boats at the island, but we stayed away from the fleet at the edges. One of the boats around the island just so happened to be the Amigo.

Fish started biting in the dark with Mike Trunk catching the first one on a flat fall jig at 5:45 a.m. The fish got with it real fast and made quick work to get our daily limit by 7:15 a.m. By 9:00 a.m., we had two day limits, plus crew limits, and were done fishing. They were mean little fish. If you hooked them on 20-pound test, you’d be on them for a while. Mike Trunk was hot with the flat fall and got six.

The day two patch went Dave Moritz with his 34-pound tuna. This was first patch.

Memorable moments from the trip include:

Mike Thompson hooked and handed a fish to Joe S. Immediately after passing the fish off to Joe, Brian W. hooks and hands a fish to Mike Thompson. Mike Thompson fights and lands the fish and Brian W. gaffed it.

This wasn’t the only time a club member gaffed a fish. Throughout the whole trip, members helped other members out with the gaffing of fish when the crew was on other fish.

Bill Parks caught a fish that had someone else’s flat fall in the gill, so he was stoked to get a free jig out of his fish.

Mike Thompson almost got spooled while fishing on Joe’s outfit. He managed to get a 37-pound blue fin tuna on 25-pound test after about 45 minutes. This was the big fish of the trip.

If you were going to do one trip this season, this was the one to be on. Everything we targeted bit, everybody got fish and it was an incredibly fun two day trip.

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