trip report - spirit of adventure 6/16-21/2014

trip report - spirit of adventure 6/16-21/2014

the short version!

first annual alantani.com charter
spirit of adventure - june 16-21, 2014
five star fish processing
16 loaner rods from phenix
12 loaner reels from okuma (forgotten at home!)
demo reels from jigging world, omoto and okuma
50 lazer minnows from p-line
fluorocarbon and hollow thunder from alan chui/prochallenger
spectra from jerry brown
200 cedros yellowtail, a half dozen yellowfin, two white sea bass, one grouper
anchovies at the receivers, had to make macks
26 really happy guys!

ok, so most of you know how this started.  mel makes a post on the website and says, "hey, we should all go fishing!"  and i'm thinking, dude, you have no idea how much work is involved, but it really would be alot of fun!  then i go on my long range trip last year on the spirit of adventure and i'm thinking of how much mel and all of you guys are like family.  there is no way that i am going to bring you guys on a boat that i am unsure of.  if i do this, it means it has to be this boat, the spirit of adventure.   i talk to mike, the captain, at the end of the trip and i ask, "so what is actually involved in putting a trip together?"  smart man, he says i've gotta talk to his wife.  i call annemarie and she starts running through the numbers.  you almost never see open dates on the spirit because they are always booked with charters, but they have one slot open in august.  the dates won't work, so she says, "well, you could be trip number one.  we will start a week before our normal schedule and it's no problem if you have to cancel because we can just go back to our regular schedule."  ok.....

so now we are trip number "zero."  we do not become trip number "one" unless i have 24 checks in hand before april 1st.  sonofagun, by april 1st i actually had 26 checks and another 10 guys over the next few weeks that also want to go!  now, i've been thinking about how to put this together.  first, to me the crew of the spirit of adventure is also like family.  i will not allow these guys to get stiffed on their tip monies, so the fee for the boat, the crew tips, the permits and licenses are all going to be included in these checks.  annemarie said that these guys would be money ahead if i collected 15% from everyone ahead of time, so that's what i do.  and now the real work starts.

half of these guys signed up have never been on a long range trip before.  to keep it fair, it will be set up with no jackpot and no tags.  if someone catches a nice one and wants to throw a tag on it, that's fine, but otherwise all the fish are going into the pot without numbers and they will be divided up at the end of the trip. i set it up to have five star pick up our fish at the boat and take them straight to their facility for processing.  they will have to figure out the details.  the rest of the trip will be the same as all my other trips.  so now we have a boat, we have a two captains, we have a full crew, we have a processor, we have gear, and we have a full charter.  all we need now is bait and schools of fish willing to die!

sunday, june 15th, 2014 - it's going to be a long drive from saratoga to san diego.  all loaded up.  hmmm, it feels like something is missing......







ed is 2 hours late, so lee and jack take off ahead of us and are involved in a rear-ender in los angeles. 



if you're not driving 80 mph, you are getting passed.





we finally get to san diego and we are too late to hit the shops, so we just checked in at the vagabond.  hmmm, it still feels like i've forgotten something......





we had dinner at miguel's cocina and 15 guys were able to make it.  a certain somebody (named david) bought us a round of tequila shots that sort of set the pace for the week!



back at the vagabond, we had a few more drinks with david and wes, then hit the rack.  funny as hell, i woke up at 2am to hear ed and mel snoring in stereo!!!!



monday, june 16th, 2014 - woke up at 5:30 (to ed and mel's snoring!), had an early breakfast at denny's, then loaded up all the gear.  now i know what was missing.  there are 16 phenix and no reels to go with them!!!!!!!  yup, the reel bag was left in the garage.  this actually worked out ok.  i was able to pass around the rods and let guys try them with their own reels. 



i told the guys not to bring too much gear.  shows you how much pull i have!



meet mike, shao and loo.  bernie is in the back.



now this is interesting.  anchovies?????  i've been going on this boat since 1997 and this is the first time i've seen anchovies!



meet rob vanderhyde!  i thought this stuff was all supposed to be done ahead of time!



meet ken.  he's one of the fresno guys.  there were four of them and they were all ringers!



our first full meal is a rack of ribs with cole slaw and corn on the cob.  meet dean.  you've seen him before working the galley.  he was not supposed to be on this trip, but he showed up a week ago to say hi! and mike twisted his arm because there was an opening.  i was really glad to see him.



meet ernie (doc), another one of the fresno guys!



meet mel and my brother, ed.  i don't think that's coffee in that cup.



meet tim (another fresno guy), my brother ed again, jack and keith in the back.  it was funny as hell, talking to tim.  we went to the same high school!



gary is local, but jim is from minnesota.  jimmer was hot stick on the yellowtail for the week. 




june 17th, 2014 - our first day of "fishing."  meet our chef, cory.  breakfast is hash browns, eggs and bacon!



if you want to eat light, there is always an assortment of fresh fruits and cereals.



meet the last guy, number 26, bernie. 



tim, david (senor tequila) and active duty usn cpo ron jones (chief!).



the first fishing day is basically trolling prison.  we scratched up a few bonita, a few yellowtail and one very lost yellow fin tuna.





pastrami sandwiches for lunch.



dolphins provided some afternoon entertainment.



we even saw a pod of killer whales.



dinner was chicken, green beans and rice pilaf.





we made bait at ranger bank, outside of benitos, but basically headed straight down along the coast and arrived at cedros in the evening.



me and ed on the north end of cedros.



keith and his son kevin.



mike, loo and shao.



my brother, ed!  we made some bait, then had a few drinks, then had a few more drinks, and finally called it a night. 




wednesday, june 18th, 2014 - eggs benedict and a headache.......



somebody had a little bit too much to drink last night, but i wasn't feeling much better.



ken is hooked up!



jack is hooked up!



rob is hooked up!



david is hooked up!



loo is hooked up!



kevin is hooked up!





and mike!  we would land 60 yellowtail by 10am and nothing afterwards. 



tostadas for lunch. 



meet warren!  that would be mr. hamachi to you!



the bite fizzled in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day hunting. 



meet joel.  we had a light afternoon snack because we were looking at a late dinner. 



rob and his brother-in-law, terry.



david and terry.



deckhands evan and shawn.



meet wai!



captain mike keating.  he's smiling, in case you can't tell!



randy, the last of the four fresno guys, enjoying a little down time.



ernie!



cpo jones and me!  i found a big coil of anchor line to stand on for this photo!



dinner was fresh yellowtail.



chief with fresh yellowtail and mango salsa. 






thursday, june 19th, 2014 - missed breakfast altogether.  i woke up and guys were already hanging fish.  we would land 140 yellowtail before lunch.  this is what it looked like in real time.



lunch was some of the best homemade chili i've ever had.



the afternoon was a real treat.  the yellowtail bite had been fizzling every afternoon, so the skipper let us goof off a little.  most of us targeted calicos  and caught a bunch of toad calicos with light tackle and the lazer minnows that i had given out.  some guys still fished baits.   jack landed a nice yellowtail on bait. 



lee caught a nice white sea bass on bait. 



and i got lucky.  i was using one of the okuma cedros 55 spinners and a matching cedros rod.  i had straight tied a laser minnow (basically a megabait) to the spectra.  i was casting out, letting it drop and sticking small calicos and snot sticks (baracuda).  it was great fun.  then something grabbed the lazer minnow and took off.  that poor little spinner was singing like crazy.  i buttoned down the drag a little after the third or fourth run, and started working it back.  this is what brian gaffed for me!  it was a 39 pound broomtail grouper. 



i kept casting and hooked into something else that was really big, but the hook pulled and i found that the thin wire treble had bent out.  i replaced it with a 4x treble and kept casting. i saw the skipper poking his head over the rail of the top deck.  he had mentioned that there was a big rock in the water, so i asked him where it was.  he pointed aft, so i chucked the lazer minnow straight back.  it dropped a little, then i kicked it in gear and something grabbed it on the the retrieve.  again, four to five runs and it ran out of steam.  i eased it back to the boat, tightening up the drag a little more, and evan gaffed this beauty for me.  a 34 pound white sea bass!  um, i was kinda stoked.....



time to go!  we need to head north to be in position to find bluefin tomorrow.  chef has new york steaks on the menu.



open water north of cedros.  it's gonna be a rough one.



jimmer, mark and lee. 



david, warren, wes and finally a shot of joel where you can see his face!



joel, keith and mel.



friday, june 20th, 2014 - we are north, 100 miles from san diego, looking for bluefin tuna.  but right now, it's huevos rancheros for breakfast!



and remember those calicos from yesterday?  there were a few that had a frying pan in their future!



we troll and troll and troll for nothing.  those not in troll prison get a break. 











some are less fortunate. 







ah, fresh calico sandwiches.   they were absolutely fabulous. 





here's where all the tuna are going. 



troll team #3 finally got lucky!



saturday, june 21st, 2014 - back at the dock at 5am.  we got out gear off the boat and headed off to breakfast.  the crew from the spirit of adventure off loaded fish in the carts and the five star crew took those fish straight to their processing facility.  there was no jackpot, no sidewalk show and no seagulls trying to steal your fish. 





it was so nice.  everyone was loaded up and hit the road without delay.  ed and i were the last ones out, and we were on the road at 8:30am. 



ed and i stopped off at the farm in sanger and left the fish with mom and dad.  we had a fresh hamachi lunch and it was the best hamachi that i've ever had.  it was a long drive home, but it was good to be home.  thanks to the captains and crew of the spirit of adventure, thanks to five star fish processing, and thanks to the all the guys on the first alantani.com charter.



oh, and i found my bag of fishing reels in the garage!

Epic adventure, thanks for sharing

I need to get on the next one. That looks like fun.

In 13 years of long-ranging, I only saw anchovies once and they were pinheads. Last year the sardines were gigantic. I wonder if El Nino has anything to do with the lack of sardines this year.

Alan, how long did you all have to wait for the fish to be processed before leaving for home?

That was amazing thanks for sharing.....

Epic adventure, thanks for sharing

Looks extremely fun. Great video too.

I love your reports Alan! thanks for posting this

Wow, what a fishing trip!

Wow thanks for the awesome fish porn.  Great report!  I think I would like to go next year.

sarah from five star had picked up the fish and took them all straight to her processing facility without the usual sidewalk show.  we were last and we were on the road by 8:30am.  now THAT is service.

a great read again sir!
looks like you all had fun

Nice pics and story, thanks for sharing. Outstanding shot of that grouper Alan. Maybe I'll join in on the next one

What? No kayaks?   

Thanks for the report, Alan. Been looking forward to this report 'cause if I ever go on a long range trip I'd like to do it the way you guys set this one up.

Thanks for the wonderful trip report and great pictures Alan!

Awesome!