Butterballs on the Kolomona Wednesday July 22, 2015

[ToadHunter]

What's up fellow anglers?

I get hooked up with Jeff aka Webmaster from Commander Wingnut aka Arthur to launch from Dana Point by 4 AM.

I picked up my buddies Tim, Teddy and Joseph (who flew from Minnesota to LA to fish tuna for the first time) at 2 AM and off we go to Dana Point.

Met up with Jeff, loaded up and boarded the Kolomona. Off to the bait barge we went and got some nice sized sardines and mackerel.

Jeff said the tuna have been biting early morning before the sun rise. And the man knew what he was talking about. Because within minutes of getting to our destination, we soak our baits and WHAM! Double hook up. We were fighting these bad boys before the sun even came up.

As the fight ensues, Jeff says, "if you guys land these fish, its going to be an accomplishment."

He must have known how big they were from the fight they were giving off because they were kicking our asses! After tag teaming these badboys and what seemed to be a back breaking 10-15 minutes, we land these beautiful hogs. The first one was a BFT about 40lbs caught on fly line sardine. The second one was the Butterball YFT also on caught on fly line sardine .

The tuna bite slowed down once the sun came out so Jeff says lets go paddy hopping on our way to Catalina Island so we can troll for some Yellowtail.

On our way to Catalina, we came across some kelp paddies that produced some nice sized Dodos. Woohoo! Fishing and a acrobat show from these guys? Awesome!

So we gaff a couple of Dodos and throw them into the body bags and kept on looking for more paddies on the way to Catalina Island. Once we got to Catalina, we set up the Rapala lure and started trolling. We trolled the East end of the island hoping to land some Yellowtail.

At first we had no luck, then rods started bending and we're yelling "fish on!" However, the first couple of troll bites were kelp bass that we threw back. Then we started getting Yellowtail to bite our lures!

After slaying a couple of Yellowtails (and one skipjack), Jeff said lets go paddy hopping on our way back to Dana Point. As we leave Catalina Island, we come across a Hammer Head shark just chilling on the surface. We get in close and try to get some pictures (hopefully they came out well). On our way back, we hit a couple more paddies but with no luck.

Nevertheless, it was a nice cool day with calm water without any white crowns in sight. We slayed some fish, learned a lot of new things, made new friends and had a blast!

I wanna thank Jeff for a day of lifetime memories for me and my Tuna cherry popped buddies.

Here are the pictures from our trip.

First one of the day


The beast









MURDER


















Thanks Jeff for cleaning our fish!

[Wingnut]

Another great trip aboard the Kolo. The Captain is the best, period!
Those Tuna are plump and great job on nailing some bonus Dodos.
Quang, your buddies will always remember this trip.

Hey Jeff, did you make the rookies eat the Tuna hearts?!?

See you Sunday!

[ToadHunter]

Another great trip aboard the Kolo. The Captain is the best, period!
Those Tuna are plump and great job on nailing some bonus Dodos.
Quang, your buddies will always remember this trip.

Hey Jeff, did you make the rookies eat the Tuna hearts?!?

See you Sunday!

We tried telling them but they weren't having it

[dpaulus9]

great way to bust the cherries lol. great report and kudos to the captain for getting you guys on the fish

[DockRat]

I think the Kolo will catch a ton of fish this year,
Yes 2000 + pounds.

[webmaster]

Awesome report Quang.

Couple things you forgot to mention:

The bluefin was hooked on spinning gear. It completely spooled Quang on the first run all the way down to the knot. Somehow it didn't break and he started gaining line back.

The big yellowfin got wrapped up in the prop. I tried to get it out but it was stuck pretty good so I had an idea! I used the gaff to get the other end of the line and told the boys to start hand lining the beast in. Once they got a few yards in I cut the line, grabbed a new rod, and tied the quickest blood knot I have ever tied in my life. Wound up the slack and told the boys to let go! Bam! Fish is free and on a new rod.

The odds were definitely not in our favor with these beasts but somehow we got them on deck. Good job guys!

I got the whole thing on video and will have it up soon. Waiting for Quang to send me the chip...

[luckyjr21]

Hand lining fish ??
brings back some scary memories
, Awesome job out there guys getting the fatties

[Wingnut]

Awesome report Quang.

Couple things you forgot to mention:

The bluefin was hooked on spinning gear. It completely spooled Quang on the first run all the way down to the knot. Somehow it didn't break and he started gaining line back.

The big yellowfin got wrapped up in the prop. I tried to get it out but it was stuck pretty good so I had an idea! I used the gaff to get the other end of the line and told the boys to start hand lining the beast in. Once they got a few yards in I cut the line, grabbed a new rod, and tied the quickest blood knot I have ever tied in my life. Wound up the slack and told the boys to let go! Bam! Fish is free and on a new rod.

The odds were definitely not in our favor with these beasts but somehow we got them on deck. Good job guys!

I got the whole thing on video and will have it up soon. Waiting for Quang to send me the chip...

OMG, Quang didn't tell me all that... all he said was you guys caught a BFT on the spinning gear.

You are truly the MacGyver of fishing Jeff.

I'll give Quang my Fed Ex account number and have him overnight the video chip to you...

[fishinone]

Nice!

Jeff is on roll!

[ToadHunter]

Awesome report Quang.

Couple things you forgot to mention:

The bluefin was hooked on spinning gear. It completely spooled Quang on the first run all the way down to the knot. Somehow it didn't break and he started gaining line back.

The big yellowfin got wrapped up in the prop. I tried to get it out but it was stuck pretty good so I had an idea! I used the gaff to get the other end of the line and told the boys to start hand lining the beast in. Once they got a few yards in I cut the line, grabbed a new rod, and tied the quickest blood knot I have ever tied in my life. Wound up the slack and told the boys to let go! Bam! Fish is free and on a new rod.

The odds were definitely not in our favor with these beasts but somehow we got them on deck. Good job guys!

I got the whole thing on video and will have it up soon. Waiting for Quang to send me the chip...

That's true. I forgot to mention that bft spooled me on the spinner! Was that scary or what? And for Jeff to save that big yft after it got caught on the prop...nothing short of a miracle. Jeff is Captain of the Century for sure!