Well, here it is... The last trip report of the year!
As I start this report I want to mention a few of the people that make all of this possible! The great group of guys at BC Distributing for all of their help, Seeker Rod Company for the great rods, Don Baker from Kicker Jig, Joel and Bonnie Ralston from the boat
Conquest, Ken Franke of the Outer Limits and all of the great crew that work hour after hour at sea to make sure that we are well taken care of. Thank you everyone!
This trip started with the thought of where were we going to fish? I spoke to Skipper Joel while eating a fish taco with my father-in-law at the landing and we were both kind of up in the air. The bite to the South had slowed some. if we were to find kelp we would
have fish. If not, a nice boat ride! The bite to the west was well, to unpredictable! The 302 was looking good, but this was a Saturday trip and all the private boaters would be there! Hmmmmmm! We elected to go south, maybe even a little further south. 50-60 miles.
We waited to see if any stragglers were going to show, but they didn't! At 9:40 PM we left the dock with 17. A great group of guys, most of them have been out with me before, so they knew the drill.
Rising early to the sound of fisherman already at the rail. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 4:15 AM. An early start! I was excited to see that there were some giant squid in the water, so I started to hang a few. My Mother-in-law makes the best Calamari
Marinara. John Branum from San Diego put out a few of the squid for the big bite, but got nothing! Well, maybe a shark!
The morning started at dawn with the regular trolling rotation in place and a great breakfast. The trolling wasn't working, but the food was excellent. Great job Eric!
We trolled and trolled. Nothing. Nothing even under the small kelp we found. We were getting nervous. I saw that the First String was just in sight down swell from us and looked to be stopped! What was up? The bite just wasn't there! After searching for hours, Joel
came on the address system and said to roll up the trollers, we got a call from the First String to come in on a paddy they were
working. Thanks, First String!
It wasn't long after moving into position that most of us went bendo! Fishing with pinhead anchovies and light line, I lost my first one in the kelp! Ouch! Dorado, yellowtail and as we drifted further from the paddy we hit some yellow fin! Nice! All of the fish were
under 20lb., but on light line it was challenging. We went back to the paddy for another drift and again the same thing. This time a little lighter. After we drifted past the kelp, Joel suggested we look for something bigger!
We looked and looked, but came up short! We fished late because the boat had the next day off so we headed home at 3:45. We had a good catch and a great group of guys as usual. The steak dinner always gets everyone to sit and relax a great conclusion to a hard day of
fishing and the after dinner raffle always gets everyone's adrenaline going one last time before we dock!
Thank you everyone, We had a wonderful year!!!!
See ya on the water,
Jamie Spencer / JES Sport Fishing
