Albacore's, Yellowtail's, Dorado's

[one_leg]

I fished off of Ensenada a week ago on a friends 8 year old Skipjack with 3 others. I slept until 6:30 a.m., at which point I heard, "Gaff! Gaff! Gaff!" A friend of mine had caught a 2 foot shark while rigging up the rods in preperation of the days fishing. Ha Ha Ha, the shark went back into the drink and we set out in pursuit of our chosen quarry.


We searched for kelp paddys for a while and when we hit the first one I tossed a big sardine ten feet from it and left my reel in freespool. "What's the drill?", I asked. My buddy says, "Let it chew on it for a second, and then catch the darned thing!" A fish picks it up and before I knew it I had lost ten yards of line. So I slam it into gear and the drag starts peeling out like mad.

So what did I do? I thumbed the spool of course!

After about 3 seconds my thumb starts smoking so I reached over and buttoned down my drag. OUCH!!! Hakaveli, I swear this thing was pulling harder than a DVL Holdover trout. So I fight it for a while and it takes me back and forth on the starboard corner while trying to wrap me around the lower unit on the outdrive. We finally let it have the gaff and my first fish is creating a very BLOODY DECK. Although not a very large one, the resulting blister will live on in my memory for a lifetime.
Totally worth the temporary discomfort.

1st yellowtail taken south of the border on my custom wrapped SuperSeeker 6480 w/Trini30-30# Izor Clear topping 60# JB Hollow Braid.


The second one I decided to gaff myself. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
It probably had something to do with the 10 gallons af adrenaline surging through my veins at the time.

Here are my two largest Yellows. Not sure of the weights, anyone care to take a guess?

Then we proceeded to troll from kelp to kelp picking them off one, two, three at a time until we got 16 onboard.
We tossed the smaller ones back to catch some other time.


We had hoped the Dorado would be biting also, but they had other things in mind.
I was assured that had we been able to get better quality bait we would have scored big time on the Dodo's.
we got a couple Dorado on the troll, mine being a smaller model, and the other one being around 15 pounds.


How much would you say my Dodo weighed?


With time flying by we decided to make the run up to the 371 in hopes of picking up some Albacore in the afternoon.
This turned out to be a great plan and we soon hooked up with the Chickens.
They were all that I had anticipated and thensome.
We saw schools of Bluefin tuna working over a huge school of bait.
The water was shimmering from the tuna chasing the bait to the surface.
The Bluefins would drop out of sight when we got just outside of casting range.
No surprise there considering all the Seiners working over that area all the time.

The albies and myself took turns working each over until I had three onboard and it was time to head back home.

Here is my 3rd and also the largest Albacore of the day.

I have forgotten the particulars of that day where the weather was concerned.
Just one look at the pics should tell you that the conditions were perfect.
Overcast all day except for a couple hours around the middle of the day.
Hardly any swell, just a breeze, clear water, few boats.

We used a variety of lures including Cedar Plugs(Purple/Black and Natural), Yo-Zuri's, Rapalas, various skirted jigs and some irons.

Newell's, Penn's, Shimano's were the reels of choice on various rods.
Large Sardines were all we could get and unfortunately they weren't that great.

Totals for the day
5 Albacore
16 Yellowtail
2 Dorado

I ran into Vince (Red Drum)at the Shelter Island Launch Ramp. We had a short chat and I said goodbye. He was heading out with Jason("jscrib") and some buddies. I wish I had had more time to hang out with the guys but we were on a very tight schedule. It is always a pleasure talking to Vince as he is a really cool guy with a wealth of knowledge where fishing is concerned.

Thanks to the Captain and my fellow passengers for making this my most productive and educational fishing experience ever.

Tight Lines, and God Bless.
One_Leg

[Granny Fish]

Looks like you had fun and are broadening your fishing horizons.

[steve092]

Nice report O_L!

[Gmoney]

congrats alan

great report and pix
(even if i had already heard the recap 10,000 times )

seriously...NICE JOB!!!

laters
G$

[GeordyBass]

you made me proud one_leg!

[Ray Lopez]

good job Uno Leggo!

[SoCalGuy7]

Some quality fish! Great report. Makes me want to get in a salt trip...

Bet those fish will be delicious!
SCG7

[yamafish]

Wholly smoke..... Nice Albacore Wishin' I was down there !
Good job!

I'll bring the sushi rice and soy sauce

[cappo]

Way to go Alan. Thats a nice sized albi.
I think Gmoney wants to hear about this day again.

[Troutman65]

Did you eat the heart of the first TY, Albie you landed ?