Long Range Tuna: Aug 4 - 9

Another adventure on the Royal Polaris Queen of Hearts charter to Guadalupe, Cedros, and Benitez islands. It’s called a long-range tuna trip although tuna have been somewhat scarce for the past three trips. More better called the Yellowtail experience or monster dorado on kelp. No way of knowing what was in store as the trip began. Checking out the previous trip’s catchlent no comfort in knowing what was in store for us. In this case, the largest fish on the trip that had just ended was a 138 yellowfin tuna.

Even with the slumping economy, the boat easily handled the capacity load of 36 fishermen (pic 1). Because of lumpy weather, the boat was a couple of hours delayed in docking. Eventually, everyone and his gear was loaded and the boat moved over to the bait holders (pic 2 & 3). While waiting for the bait tanks to be filled, a line formed for a mid-morning snack (pic 4 & 5).

Once the trip was underway, the skipper Aaron gave an intro of do’s and don’ts and what type of gear to expect to be using for the trip (pic 6). It seems that, no matter how much one prepares, they’re always wanting you to use tackle you didn’t expect to use, based on previous years’ trips. On this trip, his words proved true. I loaded up heavily on 30 pound topshots but, for most of the trip, we were to use 40 and 50 pound gear tackle.

The decision was made to head first to Guadalupe island which meant no fishing until afternoon of the next day. So the first day was spent reading, watching movies, sleeping, or watching the Jim the cook conjure up some of his delicious appetizers (pic 7 & .

On the second day, we reached Guadalupe around 2 pm and, after a brief search, began to find the fish. The yellowfin tuna were out in force, with no signs of the Landlord anywhere to be seen. We learned later that the Excel had drawn away the attention of the sharks (great for us, bummer for them).

Marie (pic 1, holding fish) was one of the first to hook up and land a YFT after approx a 30 minute effort. She was followed shortly by her dad Bob (pic 2), Tyler (pic 3), yours truly (pic 4), and Sherry (pic 5).

Bob landed another one (pic 1). Like a broken record, Sherry and Bob were the top producers on this trip, just as they normally are every year. So I choose to show others with their catches. To be sure, everyone was hooking up, as shown by John (pic 2), but not everyone was necessarily successful in landing a tuna. 89 YFT were caught over 2 days. It would have been nice if others onboard were willing to break out their cameras and take carnage shots but, understandably the trip isn’t cheap and most concentrated on the fishing. The day ended with approx 35 fish landed (pic 3). Action resumed quickly on day 3, with Richard (pic 4) and Lance (pic 5) very happy with their catches. Mike (pic 6) struggled for his fish which took him around boat once before giving up.

I was constantly amazed at the beauty of the fish (pic 1) as well as how much blood they could shed. Noah (pic 2) managed to land his YFT without losing his cigar. Guadalupe island had some awesome structure to view (pic 3) in between bites. Ben brought his daughter Brenna and son Michael along (pic 4). Both kids fought big fish, although Michael did spend most of his time watching movies. in the galley. Corey (pic 5) scored his first fish ever on a long range trip and allowed crewmembers to talk him into eating the heart of his catch. Austin (pic 6) was very stubborn about using only jigs instead of live bait and eventually proved successful.

The picture of Doug (pic 1) is noteworthy, in that he never saw the fish which took on a tour around the boat a couple of times. Even using the rail (pic 2) wore him out eventually. No sooner does he take in 20 feet of line that the fish goes off on a line-screaming dive. After approx an hour, his 40 pound line snapped from the strain and stretch. Aaron (pic 3) gaffs a fish for Owen (pic 4) who is all smiles. Bog (pic 5) reflects the mood of everyone after 2 days of fishing for tuna.

Day 4 was spent at south Cedros island, in the hope of finding yellowtail. Wind and current had the bite off; so afterhalf a day, we moved a few miles over to Benitez island where we had a mixed catch of yellowtail, calico bass, barracuda, sheepshead…nothing spectacular.

Day 5 was spent moving northward back to port but keeping an eye out for any decent kelp beds.The first two kep beds yielded baby yellowtail, YFT, and dorado. The third, and last, kelp yielded provided a wide-open bite for yellowtail, dorado, and YFT for more than three hours. I’m always amazed at how badly people freak out during a wide-open bite. I had fish burned off at least six straight times due to crossed lines by inattentive fishermen or ones who knew nothing about unwrapping lines and simply became statues in place at the rail.

Still, it was a good way to end the trip. My biggest fish were a 48 pound YFT caught on 40 pound test and a 58 pound YFT caught on the kite. What a rush to hook up on the kite. While taking up the slack, the fish eventually caught up and took off on a run, almost pulling me overboard if a deckhand had not been hanging onto my rod belt.

Next year’s trip will be a 7-dayer to Alijos Rocks. Maybe I’ll finally have a chance for a bluefin and maybe a wahoo.

WOW! What fun you must have had Hojo. Thanks for the pics it was almost like being there.

alright hojo!  thx for sharing, now bust out the fish, the smoker and the police tape!   (inside joke)

Sweet trip Howard. Hope you were able to recharge your batteries... but with fish like that being caught... I'm guessing you need a real rest.

Freddie

Thank you for the wonderful report and great pictures of the fishing trip Howard!

Very, very nice pictures, Howard.

Thanks for bringin' us along!

Awesome report and pictures Howard. Thanks for the great read this
morning and making my day. Big congrats on the tuna.

Jedmo

Terrific report of the trip. Way to keep snapping the pics! Even though you loose a little rod time, the pics will last a life time...

Howard. 

What a great looking trip.  You got into some nice fish.  The boat looked really nice.  LIke the kitchen.  I have to do this some day. 

Thanks Howard.

  Awsome report man!  Love that blue water and those are some fatties!  Thanks for the detailed report and great pics. 

Howard that must have been an awsome trip! Thanks for the report and I will be looking foreward to trying some of your yellowtail!!! .....