Tunaslam
07-26-2014, 09:06 PM
On Sat.-07-26-14, I went fishing with Dave Robinson, on his 28’ Farallon “Hooked”, with friends Ron, Chuck and Chuck’s son Zane. We left Dave’s slip in Newport Harbor at 4:30 am Saturday morning. Our initial destination was offshore to somewhere near the East End of San Clemente.
We stopped for 3 scoops of disappointing Pinhead Anchovies, and as we exited the harbor we found the seas to be very calm, as forecasted; and the skies were cloudy with a deep Marine Layer, however it was extremely humid.
We cruised towards the Island at a good speed, around 21 knots. We found a nice school of Porpoise at about ten miles out and put out the trollers. We metered some Tuna, yet they did not come up?
We continued offshore for another 25 miles before we found a Kelp Paddy. There was no one home and on to the next one, about two miles later, the same result? The seas were grease calm and at about 40 miles out the right Kelp Paddy were found! Dave threw out some chum and there some nice boils. Zane was first to hook up and he had a tiger by the tail, as it was a big Dorado, a bull around 20 pounds.
Zane fighting the Dorado:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3542680x510-Copy_zps58a6ac2c.jpg
Gad, after a valiant fight for over ten minutes, almost to the boat, the big Dorado slammed its tail on the line and it broke?
Meanwhile the rest of us were hooking and catching decent sized Yellowtail. Captain Dave with a nice one:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3548680x510-Copy_zps35121c69.jpg
Myself with a couple of feisty Yellowtail:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3543680x413-Copy_zpse2ab6aa8.jpg
Zane didn’t take long to recover from his loss, catching his first Yellowtail of the trip:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3540680x596-Copy_zpsf88858b9.jpg
We set back up on the Kelp Paddy and drifting off it about 100 yards, the Yellowfin Tuna began to make a show! Both the Yellowtail and Yellowfin Tuna were on the chew:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3544680x510-Copy_zpsbcb8b253.jpg
We had Tuna boiling all around us for an hour, yet only two would take a bait with a hook in it. Chuck and I were the lucky ones this time:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3547680x510-Copy_zpsf2ecece0.jpg
After looking at Tuna boils forever, with no more hook ups, we decided to move on, as the Kelp Paddy no longer held fish.
Working west of the 43 we found a school of puddlers, and trolled through them. I got bit and after a short fight, it unbuttoned. Dave stopped the boat and we spent the next three hours watching Yellowfin Tuna boil all around us, sometimes crashing 10 feet off our stern.
Since we had very few hook bait, as 95% were 1 to 3 inches, we stood at the rail frustrated, as cast after cast of little bait resulted in very few hookups. As Dave threw chum, the boils were incredible. You could look down off the stern and see Yellowfin Tuna charging through the stern of the boat. The clarity of the water was similar to an Aquarium? Every now and then a Yellowfin Tuna would eat a small anchovy.
Zane and Father Chuck had a rare double going:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3550541x680-Copy_zps84619a37.jpg
I managed to catch a few more over the three hour time period:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3549680x510-Copy_zps8879d792.jpg
This was my fourth and the biggest of the day:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3551680x426_zps69a89dee.jpg
At 3:30 pm we ran out of bait, with still plenty of Tuna boiling around the boat? Had we had decent bait we would of plugged the boat! As it was, we ended the fun day with 13 Yellowtail and 13 Yellowfin Tuna! A double Baker’s Dozen!
Thanks Dave, you absolutely know how to put us on the fish, another incredible day on the Hooked!
Hook up! Cory
We stopped for 3 scoops of disappointing Pinhead Anchovies, and as we exited the harbor we found the seas to be very calm, as forecasted; and the skies were cloudy with a deep Marine Layer, however it was extremely humid.
We cruised towards the Island at a good speed, around 21 knots. We found a nice school of Porpoise at about ten miles out and put out the trollers. We metered some Tuna, yet they did not come up?
We continued offshore for another 25 miles before we found a Kelp Paddy. There was no one home and on to the next one, about two miles later, the same result? The seas were grease calm and at about 40 miles out the right Kelp Paddy were found! Dave threw out some chum and there some nice boils. Zane was first to hook up and he had a tiger by the tail, as it was a big Dorado, a bull around 20 pounds.
Zane fighting the Dorado:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3542680x510-Copy_zps58a6ac2c.jpg
Gad, after a valiant fight for over ten minutes, almost to the boat, the big Dorado slammed its tail on the line and it broke?
Meanwhile the rest of us were hooking and catching decent sized Yellowtail. Captain Dave with a nice one:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3548680x510-Copy_zps35121c69.jpg
Myself with a couple of feisty Yellowtail:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3543680x413-Copy_zpse2ab6aa8.jpg
Zane didn’t take long to recover from his loss, catching his first Yellowtail of the trip:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3540680x596-Copy_zpsf88858b9.jpg
We set back up on the Kelp Paddy and drifting off it about 100 yards, the Yellowfin Tuna began to make a show! Both the Yellowtail and Yellowfin Tuna were on the chew:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3544680x510-Copy_zpsbcb8b253.jpg
We had Tuna boiling all around us for an hour, yet only two would take a bait with a hook in it. Chuck and I were the lucky ones this time:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3547680x510-Copy_zpsf2ecece0.jpg
After looking at Tuna boils forever, with no more hook ups, we decided to move on, as the Kelp Paddy no longer held fish.
Working west of the 43 we found a school of puddlers, and trolled through them. I got bit and after a short fight, it unbuttoned. Dave stopped the boat and we spent the next three hours watching Yellowfin Tuna boil all around us, sometimes crashing 10 feet off our stern.
Since we had very few hook bait, as 95% were 1 to 3 inches, we stood at the rail frustrated, as cast after cast of little bait resulted in very few hookups. As Dave threw chum, the boils were incredible. You could look down off the stern and see Yellowfin Tuna charging through the stern of the boat. The clarity of the water was similar to an Aquarium? Every now and then a Yellowfin Tuna would eat a small anchovy.
Zane and Father Chuck had a rare double going:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3550541x680-Copy_zps84619a37.jpg
I managed to catch a few more over the three hour time period:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3549680x510-Copy_zps8879d792.jpg
This was my fourth and the biggest of the day:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Dave-SCI/100_3551680x426_zps69a89dee.jpg
At 3:30 pm we ran out of bait, with still plenty of Tuna boiling around the boat? Had we had decent bait we would of plugged the boat! As it was, we ended the fun day with 13 Yellowtail and 13 Yellowfin Tuna! A double Baker’s Dozen!
Thanks Dave, you absolutely know how to put us on the fish, another incredible day on the Hooked!
Hook up! Cory