Islander 11/11 - 11/13 Yellow Fever

Here are a few more pics, I will let Zilla give the full report. He and Brook are still going hard on the drive back up, they nailed the stripers and cats last night. My feeling on the trip... Just flippin amazing! PAL did such a great job pulling it all together, thanks so much. The crew on the Islander is the finest there is. The work so hard and have the best attitude the whole time, just a great group. totally willing to do what it takes to put us on the fish. NorCal guys, what a great group! I look forward to doing it again.

Kaimana (Harry)

Harry...the chow...OMG!!!

Paul -

Sorry about losing the YT. When you hook them close to the bottom, there is always a good chance you will get "rocked" even on 50-60# test. I am thinking about bumping up to 40# for the jig and bottom rigs next time although I had a blast on the 30#, I was lucky to hook mine 50' off the bottom. With the number of calls and PM's I have been getting, I don't think we will have a problem filling the boat next year. In fact, why not 2 fall trips? I know I already thanked you and Sean, but I will say that I can't remember ever having so much fun. So thanks again.    I still can't get over BAM followed by the Islander.

Scott

Kaimana, great pics and unreal grub!!!!

Z

Harry...the chow...OMG!!!

I have eaten some pretty good tail (YT that is) in my life. I must say that this was the best I have ever eaten. The quality of the fish taken out there was SOLID, seemed that none went under 20lbs. They were all pretty thick as well. The belly meat was sooooo buttery, like really good toro.

Shit howdy, where do I sign up?
Nice work and happy BBQ'in- yellowtail is one of my favorites for the grill.

Mike

Wow  ….. I think it would be almost impossible to match a trip like that. Thanks for sharing

Pat R

Great report guys! Looking forward to next year's trip.

Couple questions:

1) Seems like the butterfly jig was the hot ticket for the yt. Were these primarily the Shimano variety, did the ones with the treble hooks on the bottom work also?

2) I never caught a YT, were you able to mark them on your FF?

3) I heard everyone brought their kitchen sinks - anything different the next time around?



Thanks!

~Elric

Quick link for anyone that was on the trip & wants a copy of the video from the last night

http://www.bluewaterjon.com/

Great report guys! Looking forward to next year's trip.

Couple questions:

1) Seems like the butterfly jig was the hot ticket for the yt. Were these primarily the Shimano variety, did the ones with the treble hooks on the bottom work also?

2) I never caught a YT, were you able to mark them on your FF?

3) I heard everyone brought their kitchen sinks - anything different the next time around?



Thanks!

~Elric

Elric -

3 YT's were caught on Shimano butterfly jigs. Danglin was using the new flat sided one in blue and pink. I was using the regular in the mac pattern rigged with 2 owner stinger hooks. I was using the 5 inch size, I am not sure about danglin.

The other 9 YT's were taken on Tadys, Salas, Sumos, and Knife jigs mostly in blue and white or blue and chrome.

I did mark some fish on the bottom as did others but the ones in the mid column are on the move and hard to mark. The FF was helpful mainly to identify depth, structure and bait.

Next time I will bring..
Only 4 rods and reels, not 8
A couple of plastic hangers to hang my wet suit and jacket outside to dry at night
Less clothes
Leave my hoop net at home, PAL brought many
More wine, we had lots of beer
More money to tip the crew, man did they work hard
More butterfly jigs, less trolling lures
More 8 oz weights, we were fishing as deep as 250 ft
A power strip for my rechargers
3 inch bait tube instead of 4 inch, the 4 inch was great for the bait but a ton of drag

scott

They came on butterfly jigs and yo-yo jigs, I think they were equally effective.  Everyone was raving about blue/white, but mine came on a blue/chrome mackeral patterned jig with a glow-in-the-dark back.  I don't think the type of jig mattered too much - the bite wasn't WFO and it wasn't like guys with the butterfly jigs caught 10 fish and everyone without had to go home empty handed.

I never marked anything in the area we were catching the fish in, no bait, no reefs, no fish. 

We did bring a lot of stuff, and next time I'd probably bring about 25% less.  There isn't much room in the bunks for gear so most of it stayed on the deck.  It's good to have a few rubbermaid or similar containers to keep your gear together and organized in.  Loose stuff like weight belts, fins, anchors, ect, were strewn about.  Wetsuit hangars would be very nice so they can hang from a railing to dry rather than lay on your other gear.  Extra rope (floating) would also be useful.  One thing I would bring is lots of bottled water, they were selling it on the boat and I didn't know how potable the tap water was, having your own would be nice.  A 2.5G jug and a couple bottles would be best due to space restraints. 

I'd reiterate that the diving was spectacular, if you can bring free/scuba dive gear and use it you'll be making the fullest possible use of the Islander, the bite was always much slower in the afternoon and morning fishing followed by afternoon diving got the best of everything.

Great report guys! Looking forward to next year's trip.

Couple questions:

1) Seems like the butterfly jig was the hot ticket for the yt. Were these primarily the Shimano variety, did the ones with the treble hooks on the bottom work also?

2) I never caught a YT, were you able to mark them on your FF?

3) I heard everyone brought their kitchen sinks - anything different the next time around?



Thanks!

~Elric

I'd reiterate that the diving was spectacular, if you can bring free/scuba dive gear and use it you'll be making the fullest possible use of the Islander, the bite was always much slower in the afternoon and morning fishing followed by afternoon diving got the best of everything.

Josh -

Couldn't agree more. The afternoon bite sucked and diving would have been much better. Will be free diving next year for sure. Morning fish, afternoon dive, evening hoop net and sabiki macs. 14 hours of non-stop fun.

Scott

Yeah, the way I figure it is I paid something like $100 to dive off a boat in Hawaii for a day and it was a bathtub compared to the Islander.  The diving at SCI was better too - more fish, larger fish, more inverts (other than coral), sea fans, abalone, lobsters, and of course the beautiful kelp forests.  $300 worth of diving and $400 worth of fishing and the trip seems even more of a bargain.    It's also something that could drag in a non-fishing SO, which may help the WAF considerations work out.

Other than the butterflys the other hot iron was a b/w Salsa 6xJr...a YT classic.  A few heavier knife jigs would have been sweet, the fish on day 3 were WAY down there.

People definitely went nuts with the gear.  I brought 4 rods and never used one of them.  The diving looked great, the vis was nuts.

One thing I would bring is lots of bottled water, they were selling it on the boat and I didn't know how potable the tap water was, having your own would be nice.

The Islander crew was generous in allowing us to bring drinks. Most sport boats rely on drink sales for extra revenue. That said, please don't bring cases of water and soda next time. It's bulky, and really not that expensive on the boat. I looked at the tab sheet. By far I bought the most waters, something like a dozen. My galley tab for a 3.5 day trip was about $15. If you want to bring a little bit, like one big bottle of water or Gatorade or something else that isn't available on the boat, that's ok.

3) I heard everyone brought their kitchen sinks - anything different the next time around?

One thing we want to leave in the car next time is the ice chest. There were several on board - usually a no-no on a sportboat. The Islander guys were very cool not to say a thing. They had lots of refrigeration available in the galley for our beer, wine and soft drinks.

It is a gear intensive sport, then we add the multi-day dimension. We could have found a surface bite, we might have broken some of our gear, who knows? You need to be ready for any potential contingency.

Personally, I think it would be a disaster if everyone brought a large plastic tote. Please, only if necessary (divers), it'll stay full most of the time, and it's no bigger than it has to be. They take a lot of room, and there's only limited storage space on that aft deck.

If your kayak gear can fit in your hull, that's where it should go. I'm talking seats, stringers, rod leashes, and the like, stuff that can get and stay wet.

I'll definitely bring more irons. Sean and I are working on a couple of concepts concerning tackle and a bit more how-to. Our departure was very late, otherwise we would have held a question and answer session or a mini seminar with one of the skippers on hand. We have a clue, but they spend their lives fishing professionally.

I won't bring as many rods. I had extra on hand in case anyone needed something to borrow.