gavin310
10-02-2008, 11:32 AM
I had this trip planned with my brother and stepdad for quite a while. Bought a new little Avet SX 5.3 just for this trip, which I really liked using, although I kinda wish I would've got one with cast control. I'll appologize ahead of time for not having any action photos. Since whenever we'd hook up it was chaos trying to fish while they were there, I didn't get a chance to pull out my camera.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar001.jpg
Boarded the Pacific Star around 8 and left Seaforth around 9:00pm and headed to the bait tanks. The captain said something about getting 120 or so scoops. The bait looked very healthy. This is my first experience with live bait, but the people on the boat were saying these bait fish were top notch. I think we had sardines, anchovies and a few mackerel.
We got signed in, found our bunks (bunks were assigned on this trip), and signed up for the jackpot and paid the fuel surcharge. Called it a night and we spend the whole night heading out.
In the morning we began trolling. Started off getting just skipjacks. When we'd hook up, we would spend a little bit of time fishing with bait seeing if there were yellow fins, but the captain didn't want to waste too much time on the skippies. He wanted to get us out to "the spot". We stopped at a few kept paddies along the way and those produced pretty well. First paddy we hooked up 3 or 4 dorados. It was my first time seeing those in person and they're awesome. I didn't catch one, but I wanted to. Next paddy I think some people got a big yellow fin or two. I hooked up on a smaller yellow fin, but it was my first one ever so I was pretty happy. Eventually we got to this larger paddy which was where we caught the majority of our fish on the trip. I hooked up two big yellow fins at this spot. Most of the people who hooked up at this spot got one, some got two, so I was pretty fortunate. Especially since it was my first real deep sea trip. (My other trip was just rockfishing at the Channel Islands.) We wore out our welcome at this paddy and kept cruising out. The trollers would hook up every now and then, with the "HOOK UP!!!" scream and mad dash for the bait tanks following every time. The trollers would get some yellow fin occasionally, but mostly skipjacks.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar002.jpg
That night while we were ancored the captain wanted to try for some jumbo squid with the glow in the dark squid jig. It was an instant hookup and the squid fishing was wide open.
Mike, an awesome deckhand, with the first squid.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar003.jpg
It had a big bite mark on it. I think it was from another squid with how jagged the bite was. Looked like a beak bite. Any thoughts?
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar004.jpg
Captain Skinny (who was the night shift captain) hooked up next. This guy is awesome. If it were 500 years earlier he would have been captain of a pirate ship. He was pulling up this squid with rockstar style. He looked like Keith Richards wailing away on a guitar. Anyway, I think you had to be there. They asked if anyone else wanted to give it a try and I was quick to accept. I dropped the jig down maybe 40 feet and hooked up.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar005.jpg
I was pretty happy to catch one of these. When you look closely at their skin it looks like a staticy computer monitor.
The next day wasn't as good of fishing as the first. We'd hook up occasionally, but we didn't find anything as good as that previous paddy. We hooked up a nice sized albacore on the troll and then another on bait. The trollers would hook up every now and then and we'd fish the spot. A few people would get a yellow fin, but it was mainly skippies. Towards the end of the day I was on the troll and hooked up a baby albacore. We got off as we were pulling it up into the boat (didn't want to gaff it) but I was kinda glad he got off. It still had some growing to do.
Here's the second days total for the boat:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar006.jpg
We called it a night and headed back, arriving back at port around 11:00am the next day.
So, obviously we didn't find the wide open fishing everyone was hoping for, but it was still a great time and took home lots of fresh fish. The deckhands were awesome (Mike had been a deckhand on this boat for 4 years), the cook did an outstanding job, the captain was a great guy, and all the guys on the trip were friendly and helpful. I'd recommend the Pacific Star any time.
Thank you Ricky-Ray for the tips you gave me. Everything you told me was definitely useful on this trip.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar001.jpg
Boarded the Pacific Star around 8 and left Seaforth around 9:00pm and headed to the bait tanks. The captain said something about getting 120 or so scoops. The bait looked very healthy. This is my first experience with live bait, but the people on the boat were saying these bait fish were top notch. I think we had sardines, anchovies and a few mackerel.
We got signed in, found our bunks (bunks were assigned on this trip), and signed up for the jackpot and paid the fuel surcharge. Called it a night and we spend the whole night heading out.
In the morning we began trolling. Started off getting just skipjacks. When we'd hook up, we would spend a little bit of time fishing with bait seeing if there were yellow fins, but the captain didn't want to waste too much time on the skippies. He wanted to get us out to "the spot". We stopped at a few kept paddies along the way and those produced pretty well. First paddy we hooked up 3 or 4 dorados. It was my first time seeing those in person and they're awesome. I didn't catch one, but I wanted to. Next paddy I think some people got a big yellow fin or two. I hooked up on a smaller yellow fin, but it was my first one ever so I was pretty happy. Eventually we got to this larger paddy which was where we caught the majority of our fish on the trip. I hooked up two big yellow fins at this spot. Most of the people who hooked up at this spot got one, some got two, so I was pretty fortunate. Especially since it was my first real deep sea trip. (My other trip was just rockfishing at the Channel Islands.) We wore out our welcome at this paddy and kept cruising out. The trollers would hook up every now and then, with the "HOOK UP!!!" scream and mad dash for the bait tanks following every time. The trollers would get some yellow fin occasionally, but mostly skipjacks.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar002.jpg
That night while we were ancored the captain wanted to try for some jumbo squid with the glow in the dark squid jig. It was an instant hookup and the squid fishing was wide open.
Mike, an awesome deckhand, with the first squid.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar003.jpg
It had a big bite mark on it. I think it was from another squid with how jagged the bite was. Looked like a beak bite. Any thoughts?
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar004.jpg
Captain Skinny (who was the night shift captain) hooked up next. This guy is awesome. If it were 500 years earlier he would have been captain of a pirate ship. He was pulling up this squid with rockstar style. He looked like Keith Richards wailing away on a guitar. Anyway, I think you had to be there. They asked if anyone else wanted to give it a try and I was quick to accept. I dropped the jig down maybe 40 feet and hooked up.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar005.jpg
I was pretty happy to catch one of these. When you look closely at their skin it looks like a staticy computer monitor.
The next day wasn't as good of fishing as the first. We'd hook up occasionally, but we didn't find anything as good as that previous paddy. We hooked up a nice sized albacore on the troll and then another on bait. The trollers would hook up every now and then and we'd fish the spot. A few people would get a yellow fin, but it was mainly skippies. Towards the end of the day I was on the troll and hooked up a baby albacore. We got off as we were pulling it up into the boat (didn't want to gaff it) but I was kinda glad he got off. It still had some growing to do.
Here's the second days total for the boat:
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/pacificstar006.jpg
We called it a night and headed back, arriving back at port around 11:00am the next day.
So, obviously we didn't find the wide open fishing everyone was hoping for, but it was still a great time and took home lots of fresh fish. The deckhands were awesome (Mike had been a deckhand on this boat for 4 years), the cook did an outstanding job, the captain was a great guy, and all the guys on the trip were friendly and helpful. I'd recommend the Pacific Star any time.
Thank you Ricky-Ray for the tips you gave me. Everything you told me was definitely useful on this trip.