Trip #2:

Boat: Thunderbird 2 day
Departs: Thursday, July 9th
Fishing: July 10th & July 11th
Returns: July 11th PM

Not a Bad Trip

The day came for trip # 2 on board the Thunderbird. This trip would provide us with excellent weather as the cast of D.W.R.R.C members waited to see what the future held. A new component to the week leading up to our trip was the introduction of sardines at the Newport Bait Receiver. These had been largely missing throughout the Southern California Bight in recent weeks so the potential of having them in the bait tank helped add to the excitement of the trip.

Joining us on trip # 2 would be Capt. Chris May, 2nd Capt. Steve Raby, Carmelo in the galley, and the three deckhands were Jose, Jared, and Austin. A slightly different crew then the club had become accustomed to having on board, but a very worthy bunch of skilled individuals none the less. The members on this trip were:

1. Bill Parks
2. Dan Schumacher
3. Jason Trask
4. Robert Pearson (Pat & Mike A. guest)
5. Jim Bertella
6. Ryan Burson
7. Luke Burson
8. Mike Barton
9. Rowan Nolan (Ryan’s guest)
10. Ron Shroud
11. Kevin Kom
12. Bryan Upcraft
13. Gary Thompson
14. Andy Sienkiewich (Welcome Back!)
15. Brian Drazba
16. Patrick Thunyakij
17. Mike Allen (Scribe)
18. Chris Lund
19. Paul Morgan
20. Paul Casillas
21. Michael Harris
22. Frank Monzon
23. Brendan Hanley 

Day 1: The club members boarded the T-Bird in our normal organized manner, and we were at the bait receiver at 9pm loading up on a nice grade of lively sardines. We made our way to San Clemente Island in nice and calm seas and arrived at the West Cove at 3:45am. As I approached the deck to a dozen or so members working through their morning rituals of coffee and conversation. Capt. Steve had a mild squid float going where he was able to capture 10-15 pieces a scoop. As the morning would go on Capt. Steve would eventually plug the bait tank with Squid as a legitimate float eventually came to the starboard side of the T-Bird. Joining us at the cove were 3-4 private boats, a Squid boat that I heard was Greg Obymako, and no other Sportfishing operation was in sight.

As the group would belly up to the rail with dropper-loop squid, the first bite of the morning would be Paul C., who proceeded to lose the battle due to a knot failure. Next up would be Jim B. and the fish on the other end would earn its freedom after a short fight ending in it becoming unbuttoned. At this point the club members then got with it as both Frank M. and Kevin K. would get bites and land their fish. From their my notes indicate that Gary and Jim landed their fish, and it was time for me to forgo my scribe duties and start focusing on fishing. The fish coming over the rail were a very nice grade of Yellowtail! Most were 30+lbs. and a few were pushing toward 40lbs. Fishing in the dark allowed for heavy lines, many were fishing 50lb-60lb. Capt. Chris would call out when a school would swim through, and the club members kept the crew busy with directing traffic on the deck and working through the occasional tangle. It was not a ripper bite where everybody was bit at once, but the action was steady enough to keep everybody engaged and waiting as the next bite could be theirs.

In speaking about the T-Bird crew, I feel obligated to share a story that happened during one of my bites. I was unfamiliar with Jared, the deckhand, as this was my first club trip of the year. As my fish started working its way up the port side and towards the bow, I couldn’t help but hope that the fish would not go near the anchor. If you haven’t had the pleasure of working around the anchor of the T-Bird, it is not for the faint of heart and is very difficult to do in the daytime, let alone at night. Due to the placement of the anchor under the bow the practice of navigating around the anchor rope usually requires a pretty lengthy stretch while holding on to the bow rails and hoping you don’t miss the transfer of the rod and reel. Well, my fish wrapped around the anchor rope, and I was ready to let the fish earn his freedom when Jared grabbed my rod and dove over the bow of the T-Bird and hung his entire body weight by his feet on the bow rails. It all happened so quickly that I watched in utter bewilderment as to what I was seeing. My mind immediately went to me having to yell for the Capt. and let him know his deckhand just went overboard. I started thinking back to the safety speech and where Carmelo said the throw ring was. The next thing I know, Jared is yelling for me to grab the rod and get the fish as far away from the bow as I could. I grabbed the bow rail, reached as far as I could, and grabbed the butt of the rod and reel. I asked if he needed help getting up and he just yelled to get the fish away from the bow, so I listened and ran the fish back down the port side. I looked over for a moment to see Jared doing a reverse sit-up and getting himself practically to an upright position and off the bow rail. Still in shock to what I saw, Jared quickly got to the gaff without hesitation and proceeded to gaff my fish and bring it over the rail. By this time a few other members had made their way to the bow while fighting their fish, so I dragged my Yellowtail like a dog down the starboard side and to the bait tank. On the way by Capt. Chris said that the Yellowtail was all of 30lbs. Bill Roecker once said that you call tell the merit of a deckhand by how hard he/she works to land your fish. I have heard stories of deckhands swimming underneath the boat to untangle lines and I am sure everybody has an amazing deckhand story they could share. That was by far the most daring and incredible thing I have ever seen a deckhand do and something I will likely never forget. Some people are just built differently, and Jared is certainly one of them!

Ok, now back to the West Cove bite. As the night turned to gray light, the consistent bite continued. The grade was still nice, but more of the easier-to-manage size were now in the mix as the club continued to keep the crew busy and the deck littered with SCI Yellowtail. Ryan B. and Brendan H. both landed Yellowtail while switching it up and throwing the Fluke. I am sure a few others were able to connect with something other than a dropper-loop squid but those were the only two that I saw and jotted down in my notes. When the smoke cleared, we had 50 Yellowtail in the RSW and were off to do a couple quick drifts.

The drifts ended up being uneventful despite Capt. Chris seeing decent marks. The highlights were the random Red that Bill P. pulled up in 110’ of water, and the Sheepshead that was caught by Jason T. From there Capt. Chris pointed the T-Bird towards “The 9” and we were off to try our hand at fly-lining some sardines. We were debriefed about the rocks and kelp on the high spot of the 9 prior to arrival, so we knew that some combat fishing was on the horizon.

We arrived at the 9 at 7:05am to a water temperature of 67°F and dropped the hook along with the Freedom and Pride. Mike B. was the first to get bit around 7:25am and landed his nice grade Yellow while fishing 30lb. on a 2/0 J-hook. From there Michael H., Jason T., and Luke B. would follow up with bites and we kept a constant 1-2 fish going throughout the stop. By 8am Frank M. was 5 for 5 on the Yellowtail, and Ron S. was 6 for 6! The club had 12 more Yellowtail on deck by 9:30am, and 19 on deck at 10am. By 10:15am another 5 more were boated and the hook was pulled from the 9 at 11:00am with a total of 77 Yellowtail in the RSW! The 9 is notorious for taking anchors according to Club President Gary T. and the crew had their hands full for the next 15 minutes trying to free the anchor from the grasp of the structure. Meanwhile, the military was hard at work blowing up the island giving the members something to watch.

The crew prevailed and Capt. Chris made a move for a quick stop that didn’t work out and we were off at 11:55am to make a run down the island while Carmelo served up a Pork Chop, Eggs, and Potato breakfast plate in addition to the traditional Breakfast Burritos.

As we made our run to the next spot, the Seagulls were getting a little too close to the bait tank and Jim B. managed to grab one. Once he had it in his grasp, he had to decide what to do with it? Of course, Jim felt the best thing to do with it was to run it into the galley and throw it into the wheelhouse while Capt. Chris was navigating the T-Brid… Apparently Chris has a bit of a fear of birds and did not appreciate the gesture to say the least. A bit later while Jim was wearing his typical jeans, flip flops, and a tank top, Chris decided to show how much he appreciated the Seagull visitor by spraying down Jim with the deck hose after a little bit man on man wrestling. The bout lasted longer than the latest McGregor vs. Holloway fight…

We arrived at Spot #4 of the trip at 12:45pm. The stop would become short-lived as Gary would hook up only to have it eaten by a dog and we were off to seek our entertainment elsewhere by 1pm. The move was to head back to the 9 as Carmelo served up the ever popular and traditional Boat Burgers for lunch.

We arrived back at the 9 (Stop #5) around 1:45pm and by 2:15 we had added another 5 YT to our count in ripping current. Those who elected to drop to the bottom were treated with plenty of Whitefish and Sheepshead. As the stop continued, we were getting more Seagull and Cormorant bites than anything else, so the hook was pulled around 3pm and the decision was made to make the 40-mile run towards the Tanner Bank where the plan was to fish BFT in the dark. Our Yellowtail total for Day 1 AM run was 82, and Patrick T. was in position for the patch with a beautiful PB high 30lb+ Yellowtail! Patrick’s Yellowtail was just shy of the largest Yellowtail from trip 1, held by Michael H. Speaking if Michael, his fly-lining game was strong at the 9 as he seemed to always be hooked up.

On our way to the BFT Zone we made a stop on some foamers around 4:20pm. This stop would be quick as the “Bluefin were being Bluefin” and did not want to cooperate so we conituned on our way. Capt. Chris had communicated the game plan for the remiander of our trip. The plan was to fish for BFT at night until 1am then leave the grounds and head back to the West Cove to fish early AM squid ground bite then move on to the 9 again in hopes of adding to the Yellowtail count. As we continued toward the Tanner, we joined up with most of the fleet around 6pm. By 6:15pm we were working our first drop with marks at 180’-240’. We hung around for about 10 minutes then continued our search while Carmelo served up the first call for dinner in the galley. Dinner would consist of “Sunday” Pot Roast with mash potatoes and a freshly created salad as the sun started to work its way below the horizon.

At 8pm Capt. Chris called out that he was metering fish at 240’. That stop didn’t materialize but we were definitely in the zone and our time would come. And that bite would come around 9pm when a lone cry would come from the bow where Kevin K. was hooked up to our first BFT of the night. After a nice battle on the right gear with the crew at his side managing any potential tangles, Kevin’s fish came to gaff and was brought on-board. The nice grade BFT taped out with a length of 59.5” and a width of 41.5” that calculated out to 128.1lbs and a new personal best for Kevin! Congrats!

We would continue our search for about another 20 minutes and club members Ryan B., Luke B., and Jason T. would come tight on this drop. Ryan would land his fish first and it would tape out with a length of 58”. The width was never measured on Ryan’s fish due to it being 1.5” less in length compared to Kevin’s. Jason’s fish would hit the deck next and taped out at 59.5” length x 40” width giving it a calculated weight of 122lbs. Lastly, Luke’s fish would come to gaff with a 60” length and 39.5” width calculating out at 117lbs. So here we are, it’s 9:30pm and the club is 4 for 4 on the better grade Bluefin! Of the four BFT, 2 were caught on a 300g tungsten jig, and 2 were caught on 300g lead jig (West Coast Jiggerz, I believe).

Our next stop would come about a half hour later at 10pm. This would be my lucky stop as I would connect shortly after Patrick had connected just 10’ up the port side from me. Jason T. would connect once again and Rowen joined the fun on a hook and hand from either Luke or Ryan (my notes didn’t say which). All 4 fish would come to gaff on this stop pushing our total to 8 for 8!

Patrick’s fish would measure out with a length of 58.5” and a width of 40.5” which would calculate out to 120lbs and another PB for Patrick!

Jason’s 2nd BFT would eventually come to gaff. But it would take the first gaff and clean break the hook off. Jason was quick to recover after the fish went apeshit and would eventually hit the deck with the broken hook still connected. Jason’s fish would tape out at 57” length!

Sorry Rowen, but unfortunately I was busy dealing with my BFT, taking photos, and helping with measurements and I did not get any pictures or details on your BFT…

It is now 11pm and the 2nd Capt. Steve decided to come tight on BFT #9 of the trip. He made quick work on his BFT, showing what countless hours on the deck of a Sportfisher can bring to your fish fighting technique. It also doesn’t hurt that he is a larger individual. Luke also hooked up on this stop and his fish was doing the long horizontal run away from the boat indicative of the characteristics of a larger model. With much anticipation we we waited to see what Luke had connected with only to find a 60lb grade BFT come to gaff. Still a nice and manageable grade of fish and I am sure no one would complain about sitting down to sashimi, poke, or a seared helping from that BFT. My notes indicate that the club was now sitting at 10 for 11 BFT landed. They did not indicate who that angler was that busted our perfect record but I am sure they know who they are

as they are reading this. ^-^•●

So far our stops had been very manageable with no more then 3 hook-ups coming at any given session. That was about to change come our 11:30pm stop! On this particular stop the club members would hook 6 BFT, and the deck would become much more chaotic. The lucky anglers who drew strikes were Bill P., Patrick T. (fish #2), Michael H., Rowen (on another hook C hand from either Luke or Ryan), Jason T. (now on fish #3), and Club VP Brian U. Thankfully the grade of BFT at this stop would be in the 60-70lb. range so we were able to limit the madness in terms of casualties. BUT, we were not without any casualties as our club VP would ultimately come unbuttoned. All other members who were fortunate to hook BFT landed their respective fish to bring our total to 15 for 17!



Day 2: As we left that nice and sucessful stop, we were shortly rewarded with another announcement from Capt. Chris that we were upon another meter mark of fish. It was now midnight and here we go with another 8 hook-ups! The lucky anglers were Brendan H., Frank M., Ryan B., Michael H., Capt. Chris, Luke B., Jason T. (weird…), and Rowen on a non-hook C hand fish! This stop would take us a bit longer to navigate as the the grade in all was much nicer pushing into the low 100lbs. It was at this time that I looked at my cell phone to note that the time was midnight so I mentioned to Jose that it was time for him and the crew to hit the rack for the night and not to worry about the 8 BFT that we had going. He laughed and immediately got to work with Jared, Austin, and 2nd Capt. Steve on controlling the deck of the T-Bird. This conversation would prove to be important as any of the BFT landed on this stop would fall into Saturday’s record for the patch.

As the BFT from this stop would begin to start hitting the deck, we would end up going 6 for 8. The fish on the other end of Ryan and Brandan would earn their freedom. I saw Ryan’s spit the hook while at color with the gaff ready… such is fishing I suppose. All others would land their respective fish which would bring our team total to 21 for 25! Before I get into the details of the three larger models, I would like to make a comment about the great crew of the T-Bird. They all worked hard through the stops and Jared and Jose would act like surgeons shortly after the BFT would hit the deck by bleeding and removing the gills of the catch before sending it into the RSW.

As for the three stand-outs from that stop, Frank’s BFT would tape out with a 60” length and 40” width, calculating out to 120lbs! Next up would be Luke’s BFT which taped out at 59” length with a 41.5” width. That would calculate out to 127.01lbs! And lastly, Jason’s BFT would tape out with a 62” length and 40.5” width, calulating to 127.11lbs! Jason’s rod would suffer a broken tip during the battle but the glory of the catch will live on. That would make both Luke and Jason a top the board with each utimately landing 4 BFT each. Luke did hook and hand an undisclosed amount to Rowen but I still count them against his total. Well Done Gentlemen!

A quick shout out for Rowen’s fish. This would be his first BFT that he would hook and land all on his own! A special moment that I am sure he will not forget anytime soon. Landing a fish on a hook and hand is one thing, but to earn the title of angler one has to do all on his own. Congrats Rowen, and welcome to the life!

The stop had concluded and it was now 12:25am on Saturday and it was time to point the T-Bird back towards SCI. Congrats to all that connected in the night and a special thank you to those who were worn out from the Yellowtail and libations of the day and decided to sleep through the BFT night fishing! Additional congrats to our Day 1 jackpot winner Kevin Kom on his P.B C Patch winning 128.1 BFT. That fish also put him atop the leaderboard for the Club Trophy as it stands while I write up this report.

Capt. Steve placed the T-Bird about 200 yards south of where we parked in West Cove on Day 1 (I must admit that I was not up for the hook drop). I woke up and got on deck around 4:45am to stories of the brief WFO moment that was had by those who were fortunate enough to live it. We were joined at the cove with the El Dorado and Tru-Line and a host of additional private boaters. As the story was told to me by Kevin, Capt. Steve was on the deck by himself till aroud 3:30am and had hooked and gaffed himself 3 quality YT before Kevin could grab a gaff and stick his 4th. Kevin then would go on to drop down himself and get greeted with an immediate dropper loop hook-up! Once I was on deck and a little more awake, I noticed a mild squid float happening off the starboard of the T-Bir. Brian D. would later tell me that he was 3 for 3 on the YT and to quote Bill Roecker again “they were biting like nails”. Congrats Brian! Club guest Bob would also join the early morning action and get another Yellowtail for himself. The bite would ultimately shut-off by 4am and we would hang around till 6:10am before pulling the hook and heading back to the 9 with 19 YT added to the RSW. Sorry for not having all the details on the anglers who would contribute to that total.



For our second shot at fishing the 9, I elected to watch from the top deck and take notes rather then fish. I was still pretty tired from fishing the day before and my freezer would be filled to the max with the fish that I had already caught. Below is a timeline of this 1 hour 20 minute fly-line Sardine stop.

With nice sized Sardines in the bait tank and after much pleading with the Captain, the decision was made to go and fish some Bass until we had to leave for the landing. At around 8:25am we arrived at an area near West Cove and dropped the hook along side a kelp lined area. Some bass started to get with it, but so did the Sea Lions as this spot would become a nice warm-up for the club and we would pull the hook after 25 minutes and continue the hunt elsewhere as we made our way around the corner towards the Northwest Harbor.

We arrived and anchored up at Northwest Harbor at 9:20am. This stop would not produce but we were treated to another show of military action on the island that was pretty close to where we were. So with no fish biting, and the ongoing military activites, we were off to another location.

As we continued our way around to the front of the island we arrived at our next spot around 10:15am (Spot #5). This would end up being another short-lived stop as the Bass being caught were of the younger variety so we only stayed for 15 minutes. The next stop was a short distance away and we would get started around 10:35am (Spot #6). It was on this stop that the sun started to shine through the morning marine layer and the bite would get better with several measuring 15”-19”. It was at this spot that Paul C. would catch and release his P.B Calico measuring 19” in length.



Congrats Paul!

Spot # 7 would be a quick 10 minutes as it did not want to cooperate and we would arrive at our next stop (Spot #8) around noon. We would hang around this spot for 20 minutes as it had a decent pick and strong current. My notes don’t have anything noteworthy beyond that so we would head to our final stop (Spot #9). We would fish this last stop for 30 minutes, until 1pm. We had a decent pick at the Bass here with the Calicos measuring 12”-17”. A Bald Eagle was also calling this area home and could be seen flying overhead throughout the stop. As 1pm came upon us, our quest to take down Club President Gary’s 5.1lb Calico (approximate 22” in length) would have to be left up for another trip.

For those curious, here is the list of current 2026 club records as it stands at the end of Trip 2 and publication of this trip report:

• Largest BFT – Kevin Kom at 128.1lbs
• Largest Calico Bass – Gary Thompson at 5.1lbs
• Largest Halibut – Jeff Hinrichs at 30lbs
• Largest Yellowtail – Michael Harris at 35.Glbs
• Largest White Sea Bass – Luke Burson at 32.8lbs

As we headed back to Newport Landing in flat calm seas, here are a few pictures of the club’s BFT and YT catches. All in all, I think most would agree this was… Not a Bad Trip!