Trip 4 Report: Thunderbird 2 day, July 28-29, 2022

With bleak reports from San Clemente Isle and the tuna grounds, the group as a whole(with 7 guests filling in), opted to chance the" not so great" weather forecast and head to the infamous Cortez Bank. That option was really what Capt Jeff  was recommending, fore he had been there recently and had seen masses of Yellowtail that didn't want to bite.

Arrived about 7am to the bank after a pretty bumpy ride into the weather. Again, seeing lots of fish, the first stop yielded only one Yellowtail, for Paul Morgan, landing a nice 25lb Yellowtail on the yoyo iron. Michael landed a nice coffee grinder fish on a slow troll into the next drift, followed by an attack of 10lb plus Bonito, fun but not what our crowd of "fish snobs", as Capt Jeff called us, wanted to sack.

We continued this routine, for the remainder of the day, with the group landing 13 out of a probable 30 hookups. Fair numbers for the quality of fish we encountered on that rugged terrain.. Captains Chris and Jeff put on a clinic on the surface Iron, landing 5 of the 13. Impressive, although the sonar showing the approaching mass of fish, in their wheel house, is pretty helpful. At one point Jeff was announcing over the PA, that he was seeing the biggest volume of Yellowtail he had ever seen, in one school, at Cortez, we stopped on that school, and no love!! Jeff's comment was about the "year of dissapointment". Lots of fish showing, very few bites. The weather turned out to  be very fishable, better than forecast.

A couple quick drifts for Reds, and we were on our way elsewhere.

I don't think Hayden's drinking light ever appeared, but that didn't seem to matter much, the adult beverages seemed ample, before, during, and after the indulgent teriyaki chicken breast, white rice and broccoli dinner(pretty sure that was the same basic dinner as on the last trip.) But most all were ready and anxious to get up during the dark hours to fish flat falls and knife jigs in hopes of a big Bluefin.

The JP went to Brian Wynne for a Yellowtail right at 30lbs.

Day 2
After motoring from Cortez, thru the evening to the North, looking for Bluefin that were absent, for a night bite, we were off on an "audible", by Capt  Jeff, to the Butterfly Bank, motoring from 5pm to 4am.( We are pretty fortunate to only be charged $30 for a fuel surcharge, with $6 diesel) Waking to nearly flat calm seas on the Butterfly Bank, with the intention of a kelp patty search.

The first patty encountered, was right at the Mexico border,  the bite went stupid, and so did the anglers. Wide open pandemonium. Lots of saw-offs, tangles and 'fishermen' with blinders. Dodos, Yellowtail, and even a peanut YellowfinTuna.

2nd patty. One Yellowtail for Jeff Hinrichs, better quality, close to 20lbs.

3rd stop went wide for Yellowtail. Huge volume of Yellowtail, quality fish, mostly 12 to 16lbs, (San Diego fleet calling these fish 15 to 30lbs.)  Time to head for the barn, with 80 miles to travel. Everyone is happy, left em biting.

Final score for day 2: 129 Yellowtail, 7 Dorado,1 YellowfinTuna.

Ron shrout gets JP with a 20lb Yellowtail, edging out Jeff H for the honors.

Bill Parks