Trip #4:

Boat: Thunderbird 2 day

Departs: Thursday July 20th

Fishing: July 21st & 22nd

Returns: July 22nd pm

(Note: the assigned Scribe had to cancel, a replacement was not assigned, and this is from memory without the benefit of notes.)

We departed on Thursday, July 20th for our 2-dayer with high expectations. The fishing had been good and the weather looked good as well. The group gathered like usual with some getting there before noon, others just after noon, and bulk around 4 or 5 PM. The group consisted of: 

Luke Burson / Bill Parks / Ron Shrout / Jim Bertella / Bob Wheeler / Brian Drazba

James Harris / Tom Hill / Paul Casillas / Jake Chutney / Ed Chutney / Oscar Ochoa

Hayden Claisse / Paul Morgan / Michael Harris / Cory Reinmiller / Ellanie Reinmiller Gary Thompson / Pastor Dave / Kevin Kom /Mike Barton / Dan Schumacher / Jeff Allen Oscar's guest

Jeff would be our Captain with Steve as the Second, Goofy and crew on deck.

As we loaded bait everyone geared up for bigger fish in the dark. The bait looked good but the focus was on heavy gear, heavy jigs, and the anticipation of bigger fish. 

It was a smooth ride to the area north of SCI towards San Nicholas Island. It was not a secret where the fish were the day before. In the dark, it was easy to count over twenty boats. It seems we were a little late to the party, some boats that got them got them earlier in the night. We did get one small shot at fish in the dark landing a couple. They were school-size fish, they liked the “sinker bait rig” which was a sign of things to come.

Jeff started looking and I really do not know exactly how long it was before he found a school that wanted to stay with the boat and bite our bait. It was good fishing. You had two choices to get a bite: 1) find a good swimming bait that went out and down, or 2) use the sinker rig down about 150’. It turns out the sinker rig was pretty automatic……at least for Jim Bertella. The flyline baits were getting bit on 25#, 30# and 40#.

We did some severe damage on that school of fish, made a move and Jeff found another that played the same as the first. Jim continued to put on a clinic with his sinker rig. Some others tried it with success. After a few hours of catching ~100 BF all around 25#s, we had our 2-day limit. There was a stand-out 57# BF caught on that “Jim Bertella” special, congrats Jim. Bill had another standout he hooked on lighter line that took him around the boat many times and unfortunately, it picked up some loose flylined spectra that when trying to untangle things the wrong line got cut. Bill handled it like a pro but he was disappointed. We had our 2-day limits on the boat so we headed to San Nicholas Island to finish the day. 

(For those on upcoming trips, how good was Jim Bertella’s sinker rig?? He got close to 40 bites, not all stuck, and many bit the sinker. Jim was high with close to ~15 BF……something to think about. With fame comes responsibility, feel free to ask Jim questions about his rig, his hook, his leader, his sinker, his depth markings, how he holds his mouth, the color of his socks and if he wears boxers or briefs……..it all plays into his success.)

At Nic we started drifting for halibut and we caught two…….I only wish I knew who caught them. One was just legal and the other was bigger….hopefully the pictures will tell a better tale. We then went coding and it was good. Everyone got as many as they wanted including some 2-day limits. We ended the day anchored at San Nicholas where Goofy and Carmelo served what I think was the best dinner we have had on the Thunderbird – Pork tenderloin with scalloped potatoes. All agreed that it was excellent.

Day 1 Jackpot / Patch – Jim Bertella, Bluefin Tuna 57#

About 2 AM we started for Tanner Bank to target Yellowtail. We got there just as the Shogun was getting there. We anchored next to each other, close enough to hear their group every time they hooked a fish. We had great current but there just was not a large volume of YT. There might have been as many Bonito as YT. We worked hard to get 10 fish, all on flylined baits. We had 4 that were in the mid-20s’ with Paul Morgan getting the largest. At 11:30 AM it was time to head for home.

Day 2 Jackpot / Patch – Paul Morgan, YT 25#

It was an excellent trip with outstanding weather. 

Now for the highlight of the trip, as part of our new program of bringing a junior angler on all trips, having Cory Reinmiller’s daughter, Ellaine on the boat catching her first tuna was special. She was a good addition to the group and was the last person fishing Friday night on anchor catching whitefish after whitefish. She handled the BF just fine and was a pleasure to fish next to at the rail. Sometimes we make changes that work, this one, bringing junior anglers is working GREAT!

Your anonymous scribe