Hulicat Mothership.

I hope this is the right thread to post this. I PM'd Tom, captain of the Hulicat asking if he'd be down with a mothership albie trip (looking to the future, next season, if they come into range, unlike this season so far). Tom is a great guy, with a can do attitude, who thinks outside the box, so i thought he was a good place to start. seems like i was right. He PM'd me back, and because this nutty idea would involve a bunch of us, and i dont have the answers to some of his questions, and you may i thought id post his reply to me here...any input, especially from those lucky enough to have done this would be great. also to test the waters to see if there is any interest.
this was his reply.
I spoke to the folks at the HMB Kayak Compnay about this. They were supposed to go check out the boat to see how many we could fit on and details stuff like that. No, I am not against it at all. I already tried to get it going. We played with other angles as well. Take Kayakers out 10 to 15 miles to the NW and paddle back with the wind? Find out who is in shape, etc. Small trips, then longer trips? The world is our oyster. What we do with it is up to us. Farallon Island? Hhow to get off the boat? The Discover divers broke my good ladder, weight of person, tank and weight belt and the ladder bearly gave a groan, just snapped. Buddy deals may work to make a better ladder that is stong and stowable e.g. make one out of stainless that hooks over the rail/gunwhale. Kick some ideas around. It may require an additional insurance rider on my part. Maybe a liability release or both. Theonly thing stoppingus is no one set a date, no one gave me money, sorting out how much it costs and detail stuff.

I'm listening.

Tom

Niko~

Do you have any photos of the boat???

http://www.hulicat.com/

   http://www.hulicat.com

http://www.hulicat.com/

 

Not at ALL what I was expecting...SWEET!!!!!!!!!

The Farallons are known to be one of the GWS's favorite snack bars. I remember watching a special filmed out there by a guy I knew in highschool that spent a couple months out there filming sharks and them attacking seals and sealions. Then he used a surfboard on a rod to troll em up for some spectacular top water action!!      They were blasting right out of the water, nailing that board time and again. Like kingsized bass fishin'!! Can't say I'd recommend that area, but it's an interesting idea just doing the mothership thing.

Nobody is doing it up here... yet.  I think Swell Rider has something in Humbolt... Have to use their kayaks for insurance reasons...

 It's just our fishing sucks, or is restricted.

 Should maybe send this guy a pic of the Islander to give him ideas, even though he has a ton of room on the top.  Just what i noticed on the Islander was those guys knew exactly what they were doing and it's  still a tough operation getting yaks on and off the boat.

 they have a Kool ladder set up too

I would be down for a multi person trip down south. Caravaning all the way to San Diego or ? An entourage of us with our own boats would be a blast!

Jonez,
Ive already survived one serious GWS, nearly cost me an arm and a leg (literally). you wouldnt catch me anywhere near the Farallones during GWS season( any month with an "r" in it, i think thats what scallen told me) on a yak. Once bitten twice shy...
Danglin, thanx for the pics, im gonna drop Tom a link to this thread so he can digest the feedback. he dosent need to sign up to see the thread, right? he can see it as a guest?

"Jonesz,
Ive already survived one serious GWS, nearly cost me an arm and a leg (literally). you wouldnt catch me anywhere near the Farallones during GWS season( any month with an "r" in it, i think thats what scallen told me) on a yak. Once bitten twice shy..."
Yeowh!!! Only thing I can say positive about that is your odds of getting hit again are even way higher than the first time!!...

Sharky.... thanks for taking the initiative on this.  I've been curious about the interest and feasibility of mothershipping around here.  For me, Albies or salmon (if and when a have a season again) would be worth chasing from a big boat if the price was right.  I'm cheap and can't see myself spending more than $100 to fish for salmon and $200 for an all-day albacore trip.

Chuck,
I think regular salmon trips last year were $90, and tuna was like $300 full day. How about Giant Squid. If we did it at night we could put a light inside our bright colored boats and turn em into oversize jigs.
Those Humbolt Squid would be a challenge on  a yak.. if not downright dangerous..But if anyone could put us on them it would be Tom, aka "Captian Calamari".

I'd be DOWN for albie-- and would expect that the cost would be essentially the same as his full day cost/ # anglers.

I'd be down for a recon trip to suss out launching and landing from the hulicat

I'd be interested in this too, whether for albacore or bottom fishing or whatever. Sounds like fun...

I couldn't make San Diego this year but this has definitely perked my ears.

Here's a couple of different angles of our mothership trip.I would venture to say that without a platform it would be challenging. frankfishing