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!”