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View Full Version : Rpt 1.5 Day 07-25-12 Tails and Limits of Wind!



Tunaslam
07-26-2012, 05:00 PM
I went fishing on a two day private boater trip out of Ensenada with Jason, on his 25’ Davis, who called out of the blue early this week announcing his plan to slip his boat at the Marina Corral in Ensenada, Tuesday 07-24-12. I haven’t fished with Jason in several years as he has concentrated on teaching his kids fishing and diving at the Channel Islands over that time.

I left my work in San Bernardino at 5:15pm Tuesday afternoon; arriving at Bill’s Trailer residence on a cliff overlooking the water, some 10 miles south of Rosarito at 8:15pm Tuesday evening. Bill was going to join us, but decided not to go, as he preferred to fish locally on his boat. Jason gave me a holler and said the bait barge in Ensenada does not open until 6am, so be there at 5:45am. That’s when I arrived and the bait guy showed up at 6:15 am. We got several scoops of slimy green Sardines of all sizes, too cool!

Being that it was already late morning, where to go? Jason had motored down his boat from the Channel Islands and fished the 295 and 238 banks for nothing on Tuesday. He talked with Louie, on Its For Reels about their charter Tuesday, which resulted in 3 Tails for the whole day. The bite shut down for the local high spots, plus the wind was playing havoc.

The forecast for Wednesday had originally been for favorable conditions, with a bit breezier conditions on Thursday. I told Jason that the best fishing was way far south, and the Bluefin Tuna were really going off in that area, according to reports. Jason had only fueled the boat to go to the 238, and the pumps didn’t open until 8am. We all decided, Charles and Tito included, that we would go for the gusto, head south for 100 miles and spend the night and return on Thursday evening. So we needed more fuel. With all of us being hungry, we elected to enjoy the Breakfast buffet at the Corral while waiting for the fuel dock to open.

Fresh hot coffee, sweet tasting fruit, made to order omelets, a variety of side dishes, re-fried beans, home fried potatoes, Chile Verde, beef Colorado, pasta and desserts, so we were well nourished to start our trip.

At 8:15 am the fuel dock opened up and we topped off the tanks. Jason has a range of about 350 miles with a full tank. We left the harbor at 8:45 am and set a course for offshore. The water temps in the harbor were 70 degrees, as we passed Todo Santos Island it dropped to 67, and then as we passed the Banda Bank, it dropped to 65. We had been told the Peanut Bank; some 20 miles further south was even colder, you bet, it was, dropped to 61 degrees.

Ten miles south of the Peanut Bank, the water temps began to increase, although the water was a dirty green color. About 20 miles further south, the water temps had risen to 66 and the color returned to blue. We continued south and the water temps rose to 67.6 with a beautiful clear blue color. We had already stopped on three Kelp Paddies for nada. Then Charles spotted a bigger Kelp, half the size of our boat. It was game on, as Tito was the first to hook up, then Charles and I also got bit. We all landed our Yellowtail, between 8 to 12 pounds. Captain Jason elected to just gaff the fish hooked, instead of tossing a bait.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jason/100_2241640x480.jpg

A picture of Tito and Charles:

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jason/100_2244640x480.jpg

Jason ran back up to the Kelp and I was bit instantly, as the fish was brought to gaff, I elected to release the 6 pounder. Tito also released his. The drift was extremely fast as the wind was blowing over 15 knots now. Jason again returned to the Kelp Paddy. This time Jason decided to throw a bait and was hammered immediately. I also got bit and could tell this was a bigger fish. At first it ran out to sea, them sounded, and then decided to head back to the kelp paddy. I saw that it was going to make it, unable to slow the Yellowtail down on my 25 Lb. outfit. So I put my rod deep down into the water to hopefully avoid being kelped. It was a tussle, but it worked and slowly I inched the Yellowtail away from the Paddy.

Meanwhile Jason landed his Tail, a decent 10 pound fish. My Tail came to color and Jason stuck him in the head, a nice 12-13 pound Tail.

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jason/100_2246640x480.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jason/100_2242640x480.jpg

We returned to the kelp for the last time and I released another small Yellowtail with no other bites. We continued our journey south some forty miles to the tuna zone. The water remained very blue and clear for the whole distance. We stopped on numerous Kelp’s for nada, except I landed one more 8 pound Tail, which was bleeding, so we kept it. Six Yellowtail kept, six released.

Conditions were deteriorating, 20 plus knot winds, bigger seas. We reached the Tuna Zone some 100 miles down from Ensenada and 160 miles south of Point Loma, San Diego. There were no signs of boats or Tuna or birds or bait? We trolled thru the area for several hours and cried uncle. It’s not going to happen, and our thoughts to run east and anchor up overnight at San Martin did not look promising. It was supposed to blow a bit more on Thursday, well if it’s this bad on Wednesday, what would Thursday look like? Besides it would be stupid to run another 20 miles east to return to a zone that contained no tuna or signs of tuna.

We all agreed it made sense to head north. It was now 7:30 pm and the run up hill torturous. At 8:15 pm, we pulled in the jigs and could now only make six knots uphill, and still got slammed. Winds were easily 25+ knots, with 5 to 8 foot seas at 3 seconds. The spray was covering the whole boat, batten down the hatches, it was a treacherous uphill battle. Captain Jason refused to relinquish the helm and drove all night.

No one got any sleep, as the boat was tossed and turned and hammered in the gnarly seas. Finally at 3:30 am the winds backed off enough to increase our speed to 12 knots, still creating quite a bump and grind!

Reaching Point Punta Banda and heading inside the bay we were able to reach 20 knots, arriving at the Corral at 7am. A 12 hour ordeal. Great job Captain Jason, for returning us safely to the dock in unfavorable conditions. We all took showers, enjoyed another great Breakfast brunch and I headed north for Diamond Bar with crew Tito, who was picked up by his lovely girlfriend at my house. We went through Tecate and only had a 17 minute wait at the border.

Jason, you gave it your all, no one could ask for more. I still had a blast, thanks so much for the invite, and hope we do it again soon. Nice meeting you Tito and Charles.
Hook up!
Cory

JapanRon
07-26-2012, 05:58 PM
Hi Tunaslam,

Boy what a battle with the fishys and weather/water conditions. With weather like that ... don't guess the federalies are out in force to board and check boaters paperwork or fish ! ha ha ha

WTG on the great Hamachi and know you'll enjoy it !!

Thanks for sharing the adventure without any of the bumps or scrapes !!

JapanRon