Trip #7: Boat: Thunderbird 2.5 day Departs: Tuesday, September 16th Fishing: September 17th, 18th Returns: September 19th am Thunderbird Crew: Jeff Markland- Captain Steve Raby- 2nd Captain Carmelo in the Galley Jose & Nate on deck The fishing schedule for 2025 has two 2 1/2 day trips and Trip #7 was the second one. Historically the 2 1/2 dayers fill quickly at the Annual Sign-Up Meeting. This was not the case this year as this trip only filled to about half during the Lottery and the rest of the spots were taken by guests. Here are the members who were on the trip: Gary Thompson, Steve Morgan, Mike Barton, Alex Mesko, Mike Higa, Bill Parks, John Lenker, Steve Lenker, Kyle Shimigawa, and Luke Burson (trip scribe). That is 10 members and the other 13 were all guests. The Club owns the following a big thank you for committing guests to this trip because without them this trip would have put a financial burden on the Club of $8,125. And the Club simply does not have those funds so the trip would have been cancelled. A special thank you to Mike Barton with 5 guests, Steve Lenker with 3, Mike Higa with 2, guests, Steve Morgan with 1 guest, Bryan Upcraft with 1 guest, and Luke Burson with 1 guest. And all the guests fit in perfectly and made it a good group to fish, sleep, and eat with for 2 1/2 days. As the trip approached Gary sent out information a week before with information about the trip. At that point the weather looked good and the fish counts were encouraging. As the trip got closer Gary sent out more information with the weather holding plus the Thunderbird getting limits on their weekend 2 1/2 dayer. All were feeling pretty optimistic about two things that had been missing on previous trips……nice weather and good fishing. On the day of departure, the usual members arrived early to ensure that they would board first to secure the tackle spots that are important to them, Others started to drift in throughout the afternoon. All were challenged with parking because of the local Wednesday street sweeping. Some were luckier than others but everyone found a parking spot. And then to our surprise the Thunderbird arrived close to 4 PM and it was obvious why…..very good fishing. To be specific they had back-to-back multi-day trips with limits of BF. And the buzz for all on the dock was pretty strong. They caught the fish at the Cortez, some at night near SCI but most during the day on bait. We asked about the bait and the group did not have good things to say. We quickly put two and two together that the fishing must be pretty good to do that well with poor bait. And another important item……NO STINKING FULL MOON! Jeff indicated we were headed back to Cortez and to save a little time we were going to take the direct course line around the east end of SCI. We’re expecting a flat smooth ride, we quickly learn that our course line had us in the rolley trough. It turned out to be anything but smooth. Our crew for the 2 1/2 trip was Jeff as our Captain, Steve as the 2nd Captain, Carmelo in the galley with Jose and Nat on deck. We have fished with them many times before so we knew we were in good hands for the 2 1/2 days. We stopped to load bait and to our surprise, that bait looked pretty good. The size could have been bigger as it was all medium to small-medium baits but it looked good. That even increased the anticipation of what was to come. As it turned out about 60% turned red while the rest was good bait. For the next two days, you really had to pick through what was in the hand wells to find the good ones. As we rolled into the “Bank” there was a pretty good electrical show to the west from about 3 AM to 5 AM plus some slight rain. And we could see some boats in the distance. We would learn that we would not be alone at Cortez Bank but because of the way the fish were spread out it would not make a difference. Jeff got the anchor down close to the position that they had success on the last trip and it took a little time for the fish to find us……and they did. It was a slow pick for the next 4 or 5 hours. Occasionally we would have 2 for 3 going but most of the time it was one at a time. The conditions were perfect, a strong current in the right direction and some breeze to keep the boat a little crossways to the current. Jeff said the conditions were perfect. As the morning continued there were two ways to get a bite: 1) hot bait close to the boat, or 2) long soak behind the boat. Although detailed records were not kept it seems that the hot baits close to the boat got 4 to 5 times the bites compared to the long soak. This getting bit close to the boat with hot baits was shared with all as it was working great for a few: light line (20#), small hooks (#6 or #8), the best bait in the well, and then give that bait 30 seconds, and if no bite wind in and do it again. And if the bait did not “swim” then cut your losses and wind in to do it again. Some fished that way and were rewarded, others continue to soak their baits. It was a little frustrating that so many were locked into soaking baits when the other method was working so well. It just must be too much work to change baits every 30 seconds and it is easier to soak them behind the boat. The few anglers who changed baits quickly did pretty very well while others did not……that’s fishing. The fish seem to leave us around 2 PM so Jeff decided to go looking in the direction of SCI. By heading back toward SCI we would have a shot at bigger fish at night. We ran all the way back to within 5 miles of SCI and never saw anything on the electronics. When it got dark the effort changed to working the area where the BF had been at night but after about 5 hours of looking without a single mark on the electronics Jeff decided to head back to Cortez to fish the same location we were in that morning. Carmelo prepared an excellent dinner of marinated chicken, basmati rice, and a Greek-style salad. And of course, it was finished with Klondike Bars. Jeff turned down swell to make it easier to eat but once dinner was over he reversed course and it was pretty bouncy. Most stayed up hoping for a shot at bigger BF but that never happened so everyone went to bed for the ride back to Cortez. Day One - 46 BF, 12#s to 49#s, JP to Todd (guest) 49#s and Patch to Mike Higa 33.4#s. The ride back to Cortez seemed to flatten out but it started to rain and would continue until about 8 AM. We also again had a “Mike Castillo” special event…… dragonflies, thousands of dragonflies. They were everywhere including some in the bunk room. The two heads had more than you could count. All commented that it was good that Mike was not on this trip. It was the most anyone had ever seen on the water. The morning of day two started similarly to day one. The short soak with a hot baits was again working but so was the longer soak. The fish catching was spread out among all fishing. And there were some consistent bigger models in the mix, still the 12-15 pounders but more of the 20 pounders and 30 pounders. Jeff moved the boat a few times, we drifted some, and also anchored in deeper water. While drifting and in the deeper anchored spots a few fish were caught on the “drop shot rig” but most were caught flylining. At times time guys fishing 25# and 30# got bit as well as the 20#. We worked this well into the afternoon when it was ROCK CODDING time. And we did not have to travel but a few miles. Jeff set the boat up on a spot that produced for the last trip and it was good. Almost solid Reds, just a few other fish mixed in. Most guys fished bait (fresh dead squid), some fished jigs. The bait clearly outfished the jigs. We did this until it was time to head home to Newport. During the course of the day, the weather got better and better. Our ride home was very smooth. Carmelo prepared Tri-Tip, mashed potatoes, and a green salad. The desert was ice cream. After dinner, all broke down gear and went to bed pretty early. Day Two - 34BF, 12#s to 33#s, JP and Patch to Mike HIga 33.#s (same size as day 1). Also 92 Reds! Note: Mike won the patch both days and also won one on an earlier trip……3 patches this year for Mike Higa, well done! We got back to the dock about 4 AM, did our standard offload, distributed the fish and everyone went home happy with BF and Reds. It was an excellent trip. Trip total - 80 BF and 92 Reds (four short of boat limits). This was one of the better trips of the year for the DWRRC. Luke “Just one more cast!”

Trip #6: Boat: Thunderbird 1.5 day Departs: Firday September 5th Fishing: September 5th - September 6th Returns: September 6th, AM Thunderbird Crew: Jeff Markland- Captain Steve Raby- 2nd Captain Jose & Nate on deck Carmelo in the Galley To everyone’s surprise the first to arrive on Thursday to get head of the line privileges was of all people Tony Beall! Damn! As the afternoon wore on into the evening, the remainer of the group made their way to the dock. The Thunderbird rolled in around 6:30pm and it was clear, fishing had been thoroughly trashed due to poor weather offshore. They fished San Clemente Island for two days for a handful of yellowtail, but good calico bass fishing. After I wandered down to the boat, and speaking with Jeff, confirmed the weather was forecast to be poor where the tuna had been, and they disappeared, and we would be relegated to fishing “an island or two”. So what did that mean? Well a very reliable squid light boat source had reported to Jeff that day that he had seen a large volume of yellowtail at Santa Barbara Island that same day. So Jeff said we will head there first and check it out, then scour the previous tuna grounds west of San Clemente Island later as we head to San Clemente Island to fish for bass and hopefully some yellowtail there. So off we went. We already had a few scoops of squid on the boat and the sardines we got were very good. Travel out was rather sporty as we had wind and swell and were traveling at a poor angle due to the course line required. 60 miles of shit weather does not make for sleeping very well. We arrived at Santa Barbara Island around 4:10am on the squid grounds and fished a couple areas in the front and back of the island for nothing. Screaming current- Dropper loop needed 16 oz to hold bottom in only 100 feet of water. There was no sign of the yellowtail from the day before. It figures. Around 8:45am Jeff said he had enough, pulled the plug and we headed to the next island via the tuna grounds. An interesting note was the wind had backed off and by 9:00am, it was actually pretty pleasant on the water. Spent the next several hours traveling and scouting the tuna grounds where the fish had been. Stopped on one spot on the sonar and had some fish under the boat for one missed bite on Luke’s drop shot rig. Arrived at the “9” on the west end of San Clemente Island to start. Heavy current and every sea lion at the island were there. Saw a couple Yellowtail boils but no bites. Moved to the north kelp at Northwest Harbor and the bass bit well for 20 minutes or so until the current backed off and the kelp floated. After that fished a number of spots “spot hopping” down the front side the rest of the day, a couple good bass bites and some pick bites, but no yellowtail to be found. A couple boils here and there but no volume or any biters. And all the sea lions we wanted. We were the only sportfishing boat there so we couldn’t “share the wealth” with anyone. The wind had come up again around mid-afternoon and made things pretty difficult as it was wind against the current all afternoon. Ended up in Pyramid Cove and fished in there until it was time to head home. Carmelo put out a very good dinner of tri-tip, potatoes, asparagus and salad, topped off with our usual Klondike Bar desert. Left for home at 10:00pm and another “sporty”, no sleep ride until inside Catalina. Arrived at around 4:15am, everyone unloaded and that was it! Trip total-NO “gamefish”, near boat limits of calico bass, some kept and most released, 1 really micro bonito, 1 barracuda, TWO Blue Perch! Also some miscellaneous whitefish and sheephead mixed in. Needless to say the old fixing axiom does apply to this trip: “You should have been here yesterday, wait until tomorrow” JP & Patch winner- Bill Parks- 4.5 lb Calico Bass One item that I find encouraging is the calico bass fishing at the island. The percentage of legal (14 inch) and above fish is way up from the past, and although the bite is not fully consistent, if you work at it, you can get some decent ones. Also, it seems the quantity of calicos is increasing as compared to the last couple of years. I am convinced that the 14” size limit which allows the spawners to grow enough to spawn may actually be contributing. Time will tell. Well that’s it! Next up, 2.5 day trip leaving Tuesday 9/16 returning Friday early morning 9/19.  Your Scribe (Again)- Gary Thompson

Trip #5: Boat: Thunderbird 2.5 day Departs: Tuesday August 19th Fishing: August 20th, 21th Returns: August 22th am Thunderbird Crew: Jeff Markland- Captain Steve Raby- 2nd Captain Jose, Jared & Nate on deck Goofy in his usual form in the Galley The usual suspects, newer club members and a slew of guests began gathering for the upcoming 2.5-day venture on board the Thunderbird on Tuesday afternoon/evening, a lot of discussion occurred around where will we fish, what is our bait, are we going to fish for tuna, and more importantly, the weather. Forecast was for pretty breezy on the outer banks and tuna grounds with somewhat better at the island. Thursday weather looked much improved everywhere. As it turned out, the weather turned out nice the first day, and even nicer the second day. Also the good news was we would have sardines for bait. When the boat returned from the fuel dock around 7:30, I wandered down to the boat and sat with Jeff and discussed our “options”. There was about 2 scoops of live squid on the boat and the squid at San Clemente Island was available but by jigging. Also, the yellowtail fishing was hit or miss at best early in the cove, and then really nothing to catch the rest of the day unless the bass decided to bite. The tuna grounds were in range to do some night fishing between the days, and daytime fishing was producing smaller fish. The Tanner Bank had the 10-15 lb variety which was spotty, and inside toward SCI were bigger 30-35lb variety with some larger mixed in. Getting bites though would be hard. The Cortez Bank coughed up 100 yellowtail for Jeff a few days before. There was also some white sea bass caught at San Nicholas Island so that was an option. Soooo, one more time, what to do. Jeff decided he will decide when we leave the bait receiver as I said give it your best shot. The final decision, with the weather forecast improving, we would head to the Cortez Bank since there had been some yellowtail there a few days before. And off we went. Travel out was not too bad. Day 1- Arrived at the Cortez Bank around 7:45 am, fished a couple areas for nothing except some of the jumbo bonito, large mackerel and a few bottom dwellers. There was no sign of yellowtail. Where the F**k did they go? Around 10:00am, Jeff pulled the plug and we headed back inside to the tuna grounds, about 30 miles away. Weather was getting much nicer, We ended up picking at the BFT not long after we arrived in the area around 2:00pm and joined “the fleet”. We had one decent plunker drift for 16 BFT, and scratched up 9 more at sundown. As dark fell, we headed into the island to try for the early morning yellowtail fishing at the Lost Point area. Day 1 fish count- 25 BFT, 4 Bonito kept, a few misc bottom dwellers kept JP winner- Bronson Noggle (Cory Steinwand Guest)- 30 plus lb BFT, Patch winner Cory Steinwand- 30 plus lb BFT (it was very close) Day 2- had a few yellowtail bites in the dark and grey light at Lost Point, all nice fish. Headed out after grey light for yesterday’s tuna grounds. Flat calm weather. Worked the area with “the fleet” for a couple of hours and covering a lot of water. Jeff finally pulled the plug and decided to take a gamble and head to the Tanner Bank since there were tuna there a few days before. And the gamble certainly paid off. We were greeted with boiling fish in the chum circle when we arrived, boiling fish on the anchor and steady fishing on the 10-15 lb BFT the rest of the afternoon. We fished a couple deep spots for decent reds and other stuff, one nice ling cod and headed back to the area west of SCI toward San Nicholas Island for some night fishing. We had several stops on spots of fish, and got a few anywhere from 30 plus lbs up to 100lbs. Around midnight, we headed home. We were able to fish that long because by chance, the boat was not scheduled to run a ¾ day trip when we got in, so we got to fish longer. Arrived at the dock around 7:20am, unloaded and that was it. Day 2 fish count- 6 Yellowtail, 40 BFT, 1 Halibut, 2 Barracuda, 100 plus mixed Reds and Rockfish, 1 Ling Cod JP & Patch winner- Cory Steinwand- 102 lb BFT Trip total- 65 BFT, 6 Yellowtail, 1 Halibut, 4 Bonito, 100 plus mixed Reds/Rockfish, 1 Ling Cod The weather for the entire trip was good. Temperature cool both days but very nice. Very little wind to flat calm the entire 2 days. One thing that was troubling was the amount of casualties on these smaller tuna. Seems like most everyone liberated one or two, or more. (We won’t mention my luck!). Small hooks and light line with too much pressure and these little guys were hot! All in all a good time had by all and a very good group of guests on this trip as well. That’s it! Your Scribe- Gary Thompson

Trip #4: Boat: Thunderbird 2 day Departs: Thursday August 7th Fishing: August 8th, 9th Returns: August 9th pm Trip 4 started as usual with people arriving at Newport Landing at all hours of the day with anticipation of fishing. The preliminary reports from Gary Thompson were all too familiar to what we’ve seen this year. Bait was going to be an issue. And last but not least, was the fish seemed to pop up one day and then disappear the next. Nevertheless, everyone was ready to go. Friday morning saw us anchored at the usual cove off SCI. Weather was OK; fishable, but not a lot of fish. But the ones we caught were quality yellowtail and white sea bass. The sea lions provided ample entertainment …err I mean frustration. We hopped around to a few spots picking up the occasional calico but not much. Day 1 jackpot went to Alex Arthur (Justin Becker’s Guest) with the patch going to Nick Burson for some chunky YT’s Day 2 started much as it did Day 1 but the weather was worse than Day 1. We looked here and there with only 3 yellowtail to show for our efforts. Eventually, the Thunderbird turned towards offshore waters to try our luck at some bluefin. Unfortunately, the fish didn’t get the memo and we saw neither sign or had any bites. Mr, “Hey that’s my fish” Tom Hill was the lucky jackpot and patch winner for Day 2 with a 15# YT. So, there you have it, not a, “Hey you missed a great trip” kind ‘a trip but per usual, the members of our club all seemed to enjoy doing what we do. It’s not always about the fish; it’s about the people and the experience. LOL! Who am I kidding…we all want more fish. Until next time, step to the right/left and take up your slack.

Trip #3: Boat: Thunderbird 2 day Departs: Thursday July 24 Fishing: July 25 and 26 Returns: July 26 pm Trip 3 started as usual with people arriving at Newport Landing at all hours of the day and anticipation for fishing high. The preliminary reports from Gary Thompson were not great. Bait was going to be an issue. Anchovies were sick, too hot for squid, and no sardines. Nevertheless, everyone was ready to go. Due to some late cancellations (bummer), there were 21 passengers on the trip. Gary gave the pre-trip update before boarding with the news that we would make the ride down to Dana Wharf, where there were good sardines for bait. That was the good news. The bad news was that it was going to be a bumpy ride out and wind was going to be an issue, and we probably wouldn’t make it to San Clemente Island. Our initial destination would be Catalina. So, at 9pm off we went. Friday morning saw us anchored at China cove at Catalina. I haven’t been with the club long, but my understanding from some of the older members is that the club hasn’t fished Catalina in many years. I was up at 3:30ish and there were a few hearty souls trying to make squid bait. 2-3 at a time on squid jigs, and eventually we had a decent amount of squid to go along with the sardines. Possibly a good sign. Gradually all the fisherman got lines in the water, with most people dropping down by 5am, waiting for the fish to bite. Well, the yellowtail and white seabass were a no show. We did have a pretty incredible black seabass bite. A total of 6 were hooked, 3 broke off, and 3 were landed (all by Jim Bertella) and released. At 7:30 Captain Chris decided to make the move over to San Clemente Island. We looked for kelp patties and bluefin on the way. Again, fish were a no show (there’s a theme happening here). Made it to Clemente about 11:30. We spent the rest of the day fighting winds at Clemente. Most of the fishing was close to the island with catch and release calico fishing, although a few nice ones were kept. A few small yellowtail were caught on bait, and one on a surface iron. On any other trip these probably would have been released, but beggars can’t be choosers. Final count for day 1 was 9 yellowtail. Gary Thompson won jackpot. We anchored at Clemente for Friday night. Overnight the squid came up and we woke to plenty of squid in the bait tanks. We started fishing early Saturday morning by dropping down for yellowtail. Once again, the fish were a no show. It wasn’t for lack of trying. All the passengers dropped lines and were giving it the best effort. Enthusiasm remained high. A small halibut was caught, along with a few barracuda. At 7:30 we pulled anchor and started looking for bluefin. At 8, a small bluefin was caught on the troll by one of our guests. No other fish were willing to bite and we kept looking. No luck. At mid-morning, Chris set us up for some rockfishing drifts. Most of the fish caught were salmon grouper, but people at least had a shot to fill their bags. After the rockfishing, we were back on the troll. We covered a wide area of ground. I believe at one point we may have entered into Mexican waters. We saw no bluefin during the troll. Finally, we had to start heading back to the landing. As we were heading north, we saw one our first and last kelp patty. It would be our last stop for the trip. On the stop, one yellowtail was caught using a colt sniper. Like the yellowtail on day 1, it wasn’t big (generous to call it 8 pounds), but it was a keeper and the jackpot fish (sad but true). Final count for day 2 was 1 yellowtail, 1 bluefin on the troll, 1 halibut, and a couple of barracuda. Brian Drazba won jackpot. Despite the rough weather and challenging fishing conditions. Captain and crew were great as always. Never gave up. And I believe all club members and guests had a good time. We can’t always have great days and it just gets us ready for the next trip. Submitted respectfully, Brian Drazba