Being the first one to board the Conquest on this past Friday, I was alarmed when the first thing that I saw was a huge batch of bananas in the fruit bowl on the table. I remembered all those stories and superstitions on past trips and shook my head to get the bad thoughts out of
mind.
Joel Ralston and I proceeded to get the latest reports and decided that we were going to fish US waters for a new group of Albacore that had popped up @ the 302. After waiting for 2 laggers to arrive at the landing we headed to the bait receiver for some HEALTH sardines and small
chovies.
The weather was warm and the seas were better than previous days, but the ride out was a little bumpy and continued that way till after dawn. Fishing started with the usual tuna troll with the first trollers getting hit rather quickly. One, two, three, maybe four bait fish and me
with a nice 20+ albie in my sack. These were not the peanuts from the previous weeks reports. "Picking and scratching" through clean blue water we proceeded to troll and get hit. A few bait fish, but the deep water longfins never really came to the boat. They would eat 30 lbs. line, so they're not line shy, they just wanted to be difficult. Working this boat with 18 anglers
was a delight, especially with the small group of Allcoasters that came out. These guys really worked together, even the ones that haven't been out for a while.
After a Deluxe grand slam style breakfast we proceeded to search out the evasive flyers. Jig stop after jig stop with 2 or 3 bait fish is how the day went on winding up with 51 Albacore and 2 yellow tail for 18 passengers.
After a wonderful ribeye steak dinner I presented the Jackpot trophy to Jeff Sun from SO. CAL. FISHING HOTPAGE for a beautiful 24+ lbs Longfin and awarded the raffle prizes of a Penn 500L donated by to Sonny Nyugen from Fullerton, a Seeker CJB70F to Chris Vu from Newport and Kicker Jigs to Dan Ross of Huntington beach, Steve Dovris of Westlake Village, Ron Klasson from Gardena and Felipe Mationg of Orange.
Thank you to our sponsors, Seeker Fishing Rods , Kicker Jigs, and Seaforth Mortgage Corporation for their love of fishing and product support.
Hats of to the Joel Ralston and the crew of the Conquest. They really provide an excellent blend of professionalism and customer service. Great job Boyz!
