As I sat last night with a generous plate of fresh Bluefin and Albacore sushi, I remembered the visions of the previous day aboard the Outer Limits.
It all started Friday Night as a group of 20 from Lakewood Little League joined me at the dock. Realizing that this group consisted of a broad mix, include a few women and teen boys (two of them 12 year old twins), I thought to myself we had better go and fish the
paddies for an all day event rather than go the 90+ mile to where the scratchy tuna bite had moved....
Most of the group agreed and we decided to board the boat! For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Outer Limits, she is a fishing machine. The pilot house is packed with the newest in technology, sophisticated radio equipment, computer plotters, sonars, radar,
and satellite receivers, new sidescanning Wesmar 600 sonar and the new Furuno color sonar.
While at the bait receiver I reviewed the previous weeks catch on the computer assisted by the skipper , Shane. The bite was up and down by day and it looked like the odds were with us if we were to go offshore for the tuna. I mean you can't have 3 days down without
something popping up!!! RIGHT?
I informed my guests that if they wanted to go offshore we would and it would be a long ride, but something they would never forget if we were to stumble across a big school. the looks on the faces gave me the answer and after a good night sleep we awoke at 6:30 to
gray light at 85 miles and smooth seas! AHHHH, the smell of bacon and diesel fuel! It's fishing time!!
The first group of trollers at the stern and we were off.... 15 minutes and the clickers were screaming, HOOK UP!!! Bait in the water, Fresh One! I went bendo and OHHHHHH, this was not albacore! I looked around the boats stern and you could see crashing bluefin, NICE
ones!
Snap! went one line! Get a new bait! I worked my fish on 30lb. A Tough little fish I thought! After 20 minutes I saw that little was not the word. these fish were 45lb. plus! As they hit the deck you realized the size by the sound, CLUNK, that these were
quality fish!
It was time to hook and hand! With 40 lb. line and fresh bait I hooked another and handed it to BJ, one of the women on board. Slam, the rod went to the rail and off she went! 50lb. line and the Shimano 2 speed for me then, and FRESH ONE, I hand off to a first
timer and boy was he off to the races! I tried the 80lb, but no takers. I could see more fish breezing in the water, some @ 60 lbs., back to the 30lbs, OHHHHHH another fresh one. This one was serious! Line spooling out, I could see the knot on my Shimano TLD15. Wind, wind, wind!
New fish still hitting the deck! l, with a fish almost to the boat, could see the big bluefin when we rose to the top of a swell and spit the hook and swam away! What a nice fish! Oh well, next!! This continued for 2 hours, six fish at a time. We lost as much as we
boated due to tangles, line fatigue or angler error, but we did a nice job for the group that we had. These were Big fish! At one point during this stop a paddy drifted by and we got a Dorado and a few Yellowtail to boot. After about 2 1/2 hours it was time to move on.
A few more quick stops and Brian Weathers, a 16 year old from San Pedro, trolled up his first Dorado!! The next stop was another hot one! As the trolling rods exploded the skipper dragged the troll fish 50 extra yards because we could see crashing fish in front of us.
Bait fish for everyone! Bluefin and albacore mix! All over 30 lb. They were eating bait on the retrieve! Some big fish were lost, including one of mine! 40 lb. line was not going to tame these fish, they were fired up and we were all tired and worn out! The stop
slowed and we ran out of time, even with the great speed of the Outer Limits, 95 miles is an 8 hour ride back to Pt. Loma, we had to go it was 12:30 PM......
Our beautiful Ribeye steak dinner was proceeded by the raffle awards. Kicker Jigs were won by Bill Holman, Bob Hale and Tom Aquiningoc . The infamous, Forrest "Gump" Broyles, who was a little out of rhythm this trip, won the Penn 500L and then misplaced it.
Has anyone seen the Penn 500L? Great sport, Forrest. The Seeker CTSF60XH composite blank, that everyone wanted, was won by Phil Castillo of Newport Beach. Great job GUYS!
Raffle prizes of Kicker Jigs went to Kurt Hall, Robert game and Lance Darnaud The Penn 500L reel was awarded to Rick Nelson, Not that Rick, a new fisherman and the Seeker CJB65f went to one of those twin boys, Bobby Mathews of Long Beach.
Most of the big fish were @ the same so Jacack Pot, took longer than usual to weigh, but the winner turned out to be Ben Berg from Long Beach I know that trophy will be on his office wall on Monday!! Way to go Ben!
The Outer Limits was top boat offshore again for the 1-day fleet, with 27 Albacore , 33 Big Bluefin, 3 Yellowtail and 2 Dorado.
Thanks to the Sponsor's Seeker Fishing Rods , Kicker Jigs and CTX Mortgage Company for all of
there product support.
Tight lines all, Speak with you soon!!
Jamie Spencer / JES Sport Fishing
