Boils!!! Boils!!! Boils!!!

[LA Smoker]

Sunday's (Channel Islands) color of the day was pink. Tuesdays word of the day was...



I was scheduled to go on the Saturday night for the same 1&#46;5 day but that was canceled due to the weather&#46; So on Monday I asked my boss if it'd be alright if I took Tuesday and Wednesday off&#46; He agreed to let me go as long as I brought back a fish&#46; I told him I would (I had a feeling this weekend would be my first Tuna slay)&#46; Those Pinoys talaga (really) lub (love) their peesh (<><)&#46; As soon as I got permission, I called 22nd St to reserve a spot, only to find out I was #32 &#58;| &#46; Oh well, so as soon as the clock hit 5 I peeled out of West Hollywood and boned out like a bat out of hell&#46; Went home and packed my gear as fast as my fat *ss would allow&#46; I got to the landing around 8 pm&#46; Turns out a lot of people flaked and we were down to 24 anglers&#46; &#58;D Got on the boat and Captain Tom came down from the helm to brief everyone on the usual Coast Guard regs and what to expect the next morning&#46;

Woke up around 5 am and it was still dark so I got some coffee and lit up a cig&#46;&#46;&#46; 1 down 59 to go&#46; About an hour later the the slowly started to light the sky, but you couldnt see it because of all the clouds&#46; Well all those clouds were making me a little nervous and I definitely did not want another tuna skunk so I &#46;&#46;&#46;
And then&#46;&#46;&#46;

I call this one, Divine Intervention &#46;

I started getting pretty hungry and then saw Alex the deckhand eating a really good breakfast sandwich and so I went Galley to order one&#46; John the cook even stuck a hashbrown in the middle&#46; MmmmMmmm good! I wish I had taken pics of the food but I'm not paparazzi like Joe and Kevin&#46; It was all really really good&#46;

First stop, I was one of the first to get my line in&#46; I was fishing my new Avet mxl 2 speed&#46;&#46;&#46; Blaaack!!! on a 8' Seeker Blaaack Steel with 50 lb Spectra, 25 lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon, and size #2 (yeah it was pretty small but the big Sardines weren't all that great&#46; The little ones were a lot livelier&#46; Shake it up, Ferrella stylez (I love my Sirius)&#46; Hey now&#46; Hey now&#46; Hey now (see I told you I love my Sirius) Sorry I know I'm going &#58;offtopic&#58;&#46; So any way, my bait started running pretty good and the next thing I know, I'm on&#46; Sweeeet first tuna for me &#58;D &#46; I set the lever to strike and it just started burning reel Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! I set the hook (not too hard since I had a really small #2 ringed flyliner tied on) I started reeling in and then my line popped&#46; &#58;farmer&#58; I was pissed, not only did I lose my first one but I lost the only 1/2 oz sliding egg I had in my tackle box&#46; I reeled the line in and noticed the Seaguar had some frays in it from the Channel Islands trip on Sunday&#46; &#58;bang&#58; It was my fault for not checking the line, so I took out about a good 10 yards of the fluoro and it was looking a lot better&#46;

Second stop, started at the stern and ended up following my bait halfway up starboard&#46; This was a nice bait (a really nice smelt) as it swam out really fast&#46; I'm on again&#46;&#46;&#46; "Fresh One!!! (I love saying that)&#46; Since it was out pretty far ( my spool was half out) I knew I was in for a nice fight&#46; I ran up and down the boat going over under over under&#46;&#46;&#46; and then I started to see some color&#46; I was pumping and reeling until I saw some deep color and then the circle of death &#58;twisted&#58; &#46; Capt Tommy tried to gaff it and the albie took off as soon as he saw the gaff&#46; I went back to work and Capt moved over to gaff another guys fish right next to me&#46; His went down too so Capt came back and gaffed mine right in the dome&#46; At that point I knew I had a new girlfriend and her name was Tuna Fishing&#46; &#58;romance&#58;

Third stop I switched my setup to my Daiwa Saltist STT40H and slapped on a chrome Krocodile&#46; I think it was too light (or maybe Im just a noob) but I couldnt get it very far out so I switched it over to a chrome blue Tady C&#46; (Capt recommended anything chrome)&#46; To be honest I haven't had much time to practice irons but I've been watching ymin72 (Mike) chucking irons so I tried to imitate him&#46; First I drank 2 beers one after another @ 7&#58;00 am, then double San Diego Jam Knot ymin72 style&#58;thumb&#58; ! for nothing&#46;&#46;&#46; &#58;?

Fourth and fifth stop switched over to my Torium 20 on a Seeker American 6' &#58;| (Sorry FreshOne!!! I love the reel, but not a huge fan of the rod&#46; Got any new stuff?) 50 lb Spectra and 35lb fluorocarbon topshot with a 2/0 ringed fly liner and didn't even get a bite&#46;

Sixth stop unleashed the fury of the Avet again&#46; I saw boils about 200 yards off the bough&#46; I remembered Capt saying the this boat gets bit really well on the bow so I ran up there to fish the bough with Steve (an older guy who used to work with Capt Tommy on the Freedom)&#46; Steve's the man by the way&#46; I think he pulled in like 6 or 7 at the end of the day&#46; We were on the slide into a nice size boil and I threw my line in&#46; Instant hookup&#46; "FRESH ONE!!!" This one gave me quite a fight&#46; Hooked up on the port side of the bow and and ended up landing it halfway up starboard&#46; That one wore me out a bit especially since I forgot my fight belt (I have a slight bruise above my p*bic region but I'll spare you guys with that picture&#46;

John hooked me up with the Captain's favorite, The Freedom Burger&#46; (very close contender to the Aloha Burger on the Island Spirit&#46;) We were fishing on the slide again but the burger was so good I decided to jump in and try to get the tail end of the school&#46; Even though that didn't happen, I really enjoyed the burger&#46;

A couple stops later back on the Avet, I got hooked up but &#58;farmer&#58;&#46; ehhhh&#46;&#46;&#46; stupid Korean using all 50 yrds of fluorocarbon on rock fish when it was meant for Tuna&#46; &#58;bang&#58; &#46;

Almost done guys, just hold on a bit longer&#46; Next stop I decided to try a Mega bait since Capt said they're about 60 ft down&#46; I chucked my Mega Bait and let it sink for a good 60-70 sec&#46; Hook up! Fought it from the stern all the way to the starboard side of the bow&#46; I saw color and it was definitely not an albie&#46; I brought it to surface and I hooked a 2 1/2' Mako&#46; Deckhand John just cut my line&#46; I was kinda bummed since I Loooove Mako steaks, but Old Skool Steve told me most sport fishing boats don't like sharks on board&#46;

Next stop rushed to get my bait in first and by this time all the big sardines were in pretty bad shape and we were running low (I heard we had about 5 scoops left) but I managed to grab a clean small one&#46; This little sardine was on crack and I just let it go far&#46; "Fresh One!!!" (I know its getting old but it's my last hookup so let me revel in it, ok?) This beast put up a bigger fight than anything I hooked up on that day&#46; Greg, another Old Skooler (he works on a shrimp boat and the man knows how to fish!) saw my bendo and he said I had a Blue Fin&#46; It sure fought differently than the albies&#46; Made my way all the way up to the bough and then *POP*&#46; &#58;evil&#58;

We made a couple more stops and since the sardines were pretty much dead and the chovies weren't working for my all day, I practiced with the Mega Bait&#46; Capt Tommy called it around 6&#58;00 p&#46; And we started to head back&#46; John was hooking up Ribeye steaks (cooked to order), baked potatoes, broccoli, rolls&#46; I was in heaven&#46; I wish I had a pic of dinner but I was too busy wolfing it down&#46;

I ended up with 2 albies&#46; The 2nd one was MIA for a while, but turns out it was hiding in the hold&#46;


I called the landing earlier and they said 150 albies for 24 anglers&#46;


The Deckies starting from the right, Alex, Mike (??? could be wrong&#46; stupid short term memory), and John&#46; Great crew!


35 lbs was jackpot (the boats scale broke but I happened to have my hand scale with me&#46;)


The Freedom was a great boat&#46; I will definately be back&#46; Deckies were great, john was awesome in the galley, and I've never seen a Capt work harder than Capt Tommy&#46; He would slide us into boils so as not to scare them away then he ran down to help with gaffing, untangling, etc&#46; I forgot to mention Woody also did a great job as 2nd Capt&#46; Get out there guys!!!

[Ambassadorhawg]

Way to go, Bro! I am glad someone can get out there and into those fish cuz I sure don't have the time for it anymore&#46;

[pyronut]

Great report&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46; &#58;D Glad to hear that you had a lighter load&#46; Great job on slayin some really nice tuna&#46;&#46;Shake Shake Shake it uppppppp&#46;&#46; &#58;lol&#58;

[Greg Madrigal]

Nice report bro! MMmmmmmmmm ALBiCORE! &#58;appl&#58;

CHECK YO LINE when tunskie fishkin!!!!!!

Retie after every one if u ain't sure&#46; Ahh, the tough lessons learned&#46;&#46;&#46; &#58;D

Thanks for the bloody lip pic &#58;explode&#58; &#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;One good reason I'll never be a
"no banana-er&#46;" &#58;P


Ummm, I want Albie Sashimi&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46; &#58;(

Peace

GM

[Funjunkie74]

SUWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEET!!

Great job Bob!!
Great report!! I guess you've been reading my old posts too!!
Triumph and failures&#46;&#46;&#46;up and down&#46;&#46;&#46;makes for a very exciting read!!

So how many people did you have to beg to have this many pictures of you taken?!?!


FJ74 &#58;twisted&#58;

[jplee3]

Good job !!! Thanks for the report!

[Fisher-of-Men]

You guys hit the jackpot! &#58;thumb&#58; Those are all nice size fish&#46; I'll bet your arms and backs were sore the day after&#46;

Thanks for the report!

Fisher-of-Men

[4g63power]

way to go bob!glad to see you got your first albies!im sure they would've loved hot pink gulp mullet too haha&#46;&#46;i like fishing the freedome&#46;&#46;tommy is just too entertaining &#46;&#46;see you soon bro

[fishnfool]

Great Job&#46;&#46;&#46;That boat has been Cranking them out lately&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46; &#58;lol&#58;

[halo16]

Damn, now that was a sweet report!

Congrats, your lucky sounds like you got a cool boss, I like that you described everything you tried, now that had to be fun having the time to use some diffrent methods&#46;&#46;