Tunaslam
09-10-2015, 09:51 PM
I went Tuna fishing with Jeff on his 24’Skipjack, the “Kolamono” with crew Doug and Cody, Thursday, 9-10-15. I set the alarm for 2am, and arrived at Jeff’s house in La Mirada at 3 am.
They had destroyed the Yellowfin Tuna yesterday at the 267, so we felt that was a good place to start. So Captain Jeff said we are giving it a go at Dana Point, as they were said to have some dandy Sardines for bait, not so, anchovies only, at least they had a good selection of hook size Chovies, not too many pin heads. At least there was no waiting in line, as we were the only boat there. Still we were disappointed and being that it was only 4:45 am, we tried to make some Mac’s to no avail, not even one?
At 5:15 am Jeff pointed the boat west to the 267 bank. When we arrived, we were not alone, as there were at least ten to twelve boats in the area, not including a number of Sport Boats. The weather was extraordinary, grease calm and you could see forever.
We found Kelp Paddy after kelp paddy with the greatest of ease in these conditions! Unfortunately none were holding fish? We never saw a Tuna mark on any of them, however most were holding Baby Yellowtail and other assorted bait fish.
We watched the Sport Boat Ocean Odyssey land about 20 Tuna in about ¾ of an hour. We chunked and chunked for nothing during that time span. So we moved on. We observed four or five other Sport Boats in the area, and didn’t see much action. It was nearly 8am and decided to leave the area, as there were just too many boats around, with little action. So we headed southwest towards the 209.
We could not seem to go 500 yards without finding another Kelp Paddy. It was totally unreal, as some were Garage door sized and larger, loaded with birds, bait and baby Yellowtail, and yet held no Tuna?
At about 10 am we saw jumping porpoise off in the distance. We caught up with the Mammals and trolled through them. Maybe ten minutes later we had a double hookup. Cody and Doug were both Virgin’s on catching Yellowfin Tuna, and collectively fought valiantly to remove that status! The skunk was off the boat when Jeff first gaffed Doug’s Yellowfin Tuna and then shortly thereafter Cody’s.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4193%20983x1024_zpsoweofrnl.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4195%201024x769_zpsq8nbkcrj.jpg
We spent another 20 minutes trolling through the fast moving Porpoise with no more hook ups. As we continued on our trek southwest we again stopped and trolled through kelp paddy after kelp paddy for nothing? Off in the distance we saw the Sport Boat Nautilus drifting off the biggest Kelp Paddy we have ever seen offshore? I am kicking myself for not taking a picture. It had to be over 125 feet long and 50 feet wide. It was the size of a huge house, certainly bigger than mine?
We setup was outside and chunked and chunked bait. The Nautilus left and almost immediately after that I got bit on a live anchovy. Then Doug got hooked up on a piece of chunk bait. We had a double going. My Yellowfin Tuna was on the small size, yet put up a good fight on 20 pound line.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4194%201024x769_zpsz7lhn0zh.jpg
Doug with a better size Tuna:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4196%20854x1024_zpsz9ffxrpz.jpg
We spent another ½ hour on this kelp for nothing more and moved on. We trolled past another 15 to 20 Paddies for nothing and never marked anything on any of them. Then we spotted another huge school of Porpoise. No doubt they were holding as several Sport Boats and one private boater were stopped and had fish on.
We finally got bit and landed another Yellowfin Tuna about twelve pounds. Began trolling again and after another ten minutes got bit again. Yellowfin Tuna number six on board.
We lost count on the number of Kelp Paddies we found or fished, however, it had to be in the range of 80 to 100, absolutely unheard of? On the way back to the 267, hoping for a late bite, we got an open water trolling hookup on a small Skipjack.
A little bit later when trolling through our umpteenth Kelp Paddy we hooked and landed our seventh and last Yellowfin Tuna. Captain Jeff called it at 5pm and were on the trailer at 6pm.
We never heard of anyone slamming them today, so we figured we did a good salvage job? Amazing how quickly a wide open bite collapses?
Some more pictures near the harbor:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4199%201024x788_zpsxnksuauk.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4202%201024x995_zpsy2oxt0w4.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4201%201024x768_zpsk1sk5kpm.jpg
Thanks so much for the invite Jeff; you found a way to salvage the day! It was great to fish with you Cody and Doug. I hope we can all fish together again soon.
Hook up! Cory
They had destroyed the Yellowfin Tuna yesterday at the 267, so we felt that was a good place to start. So Captain Jeff said we are giving it a go at Dana Point, as they were said to have some dandy Sardines for bait, not so, anchovies only, at least they had a good selection of hook size Chovies, not too many pin heads. At least there was no waiting in line, as we were the only boat there. Still we were disappointed and being that it was only 4:45 am, we tried to make some Mac’s to no avail, not even one?
At 5:15 am Jeff pointed the boat west to the 267 bank. When we arrived, we were not alone, as there were at least ten to twelve boats in the area, not including a number of Sport Boats. The weather was extraordinary, grease calm and you could see forever.
We found Kelp Paddy after kelp paddy with the greatest of ease in these conditions! Unfortunately none were holding fish? We never saw a Tuna mark on any of them, however most were holding Baby Yellowtail and other assorted bait fish.
We watched the Sport Boat Ocean Odyssey land about 20 Tuna in about ¾ of an hour. We chunked and chunked for nothing during that time span. So we moved on. We observed four or five other Sport Boats in the area, and didn’t see much action. It was nearly 8am and decided to leave the area, as there were just too many boats around, with little action. So we headed southwest towards the 209.
We could not seem to go 500 yards without finding another Kelp Paddy. It was totally unreal, as some were Garage door sized and larger, loaded with birds, bait and baby Yellowtail, and yet held no Tuna?
At about 10 am we saw jumping porpoise off in the distance. We caught up with the Mammals and trolled through them. Maybe ten minutes later we had a double hookup. Cody and Doug were both Virgin’s on catching Yellowfin Tuna, and collectively fought valiantly to remove that status! The skunk was off the boat when Jeff first gaffed Doug’s Yellowfin Tuna and then shortly thereafter Cody’s.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4193%20983x1024_zpsoweofrnl.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4195%201024x769_zpsq8nbkcrj.jpg
We spent another 20 minutes trolling through the fast moving Porpoise with no more hook ups. As we continued on our trek southwest we again stopped and trolled through kelp paddy after kelp paddy for nothing? Off in the distance we saw the Sport Boat Nautilus drifting off the biggest Kelp Paddy we have ever seen offshore? I am kicking myself for not taking a picture. It had to be over 125 feet long and 50 feet wide. It was the size of a huge house, certainly bigger than mine?
We setup was outside and chunked and chunked bait. The Nautilus left and almost immediately after that I got bit on a live anchovy. Then Doug got hooked up on a piece of chunk bait. We had a double going. My Yellowfin Tuna was on the small size, yet put up a good fight on 20 pound line.
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4194%201024x769_zpsz7lhn0zh.jpg
Doug with a better size Tuna:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4196%20854x1024_zpsz9ffxrpz.jpg
We spent another ½ hour on this kelp for nothing more and moved on. We trolled past another 15 to 20 Paddies for nothing and never marked anything on any of them. Then we spotted another huge school of Porpoise. No doubt they were holding as several Sport Boats and one private boater were stopped and had fish on.
We finally got bit and landed another Yellowfin Tuna about twelve pounds. Began trolling again and after another ten minutes got bit again. Yellowfin Tuna number six on board.
We lost count on the number of Kelp Paddies we found or fished, however, it had to be in the range of 80 to 100, absolutely unheard of? On the way back to the 267, hoping for a late bite, we got an open water trolling hookup on a small Skipjack.
A little bit later when trolling through our umpteenth Kelp Paddy we hooked and landed our seventh and last Yellowfin Tuna. Captain Jeff called it at 5pm and were on the trailer at 6pm.
We never heard of anyone slamming them today, so we figured we did a good salvage job? Amazing how quickly a wide open bite collapses?
Some more pictures near the harbor:
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4199%201024x788_zpsxnksuauk.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4202%201024x995_zpsy2oxt0w4.jpg
http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i394/tunaslam/Jeff/100_4201%201024x768_zpsk1sk5kpm.jpg
Thanks so much for the invite Jeff; you found a way to salvage the day! It was great to fish with you Cody and Doug. I hope we can all fish together again soon.
Hook up! Cory