Just like all the other charters we started this one at the dock. This was kind of new because as I pulled up I saw a a gloomy site. I saw that the charter Boat Conquest was all locked up. This was the vessel that I have experienced so many fantastic trips on and
dialed in my style with the help of skipper Joel Ralston. The site made a dent in my heart for I love all of my past adventures on her.
Sadness turned to joy when I rounded the corner at Fisherman's dock to see the crew of the Conquest was awaiting me on the newly purchased Top Gun! Everybody was scheduled to work, but there were some absences. Johnny, the deck hand took a fall in the parking lot an
hour before and needed stitches. Eric, in the galley was no longer with the team. I guess sometimes things change. I will
miss Eric for all of the humor and effort he put into his work... Not the best, but he tried hard. As my friend Bill and I boarded the boat it was clean! Joel had the crew work it over the days before! I didn't see Joel till his head popped out from behind the new TV and VCR that was installed. We will have to pitch in for the surround sound and the big screen.
This trip was scheduled for San Martin. A 2 3/4 day trip to the island. I had not gotten any real good reports from the Island. I had heard that the water was off color and cool. This was confirmed by Joel. We both knew that there were some reports of Albacore and
Bluefin out there, but where? The Cortez bank was hot for the Yella's the day before so what do we do..... 50/50!
Having the long range departure time of 3:00 PM is great for the bait. You can actually see everything for a change. The top Gun holds a ton of bait.... We were at the barge for 1 1/2 hours I think. Excellent Chovie, Mid and large grade sardines and we were off.......
Our first nights dinner was prepared by Paul, the new cook. A great pork chop with all the fixings, salad and rolls. Chocolate Mouse cake, a movie and most of us were out like a light by 10:00PM. We were headed for the Dumper, yep the lower dumper at 125+ miles.
Gray light was a pleasant sight as during the night we experienced a bit of weather. As we all, the 15 on board, chomped at the bit to get the first fish, it was relieving for me to stop the boat on the first Jig strike..... A few bait fish, but nothing exciting.
Picking and scratching as Joel says... we moved on.
Joel metered a mark and had the chum brailed heavily..... HOOK UP!!! The trollers screamed. Geez, I was still drinking my coffee! This stop was to be different. Everyone from the most experienced to the novice went bendo! It was too much fun. First the smaller rat
Albacore, then larger, then larger! I saw some 30 lb fish in the first 2 hours of this bite. All I know is that we had a LOT of fish on the boat by 9:15 AM. I wont tell you the number.
The bite slowed about 10:00 AM as the skippies started to move in... we didn't want that so we moved on. A bit later another stop and more bait fish. Hmmmm, good day of fishing. If you needed to work on technique, this was the time to experiment. Some learned how to
fish the iron, some just learned how to use a conventional reel. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. Later this day there would be another great bite, not the numbers but quality BLUEFIN.
We were headed for the Cortez bank, trolling long we saw breaking fish. BIG FISH. These were the kind. Bluefin. Joel turned hard and chased 'em down. He first threw big bait, then he said small bait.... Bendo! Unfortunately one of the anglers heard small bait, light
line and hooked up on a 50+ LB Bluefin on the 15 LB string. I knew better. I was on the 30 at a minimum and dropping the Blue/Chrome Kicker siwash jig on the Yo Yo! The third crank on the handle and I was on! Really on. I
on the bow could hear the joys of excitement and then the snap of line or the groans of disappointment, we were loosing 50% of what we were hooking.
I landed the jig fish, took a quick PIC for the scrap book and tossed the biggest sardine I could find on the 2 speed TLD20 Shimano. WHAM, I was on again! This was better, but the 2 speed and the Seeker composite did all the work. Next! I retied and tossed another,
Bam! Again I was on. I had 2 on the boat, hmmm should I? OK I handed it off to the angler next me Steve Bruechle. After that the bite died ... but we could not move on. The angler on the fish with the 15 LB was stuck......
Line was being pulled off the reel effortlessly. The angler struggled! The crew and I all offered assistance, but he couldn't make head way. 4 hours later we sat for dinner minus one angler. He was still on the bow attempting to conquer this stubborn Bluefin. As we all ate our Porter house and seared Bluefin that I donated I was called to the stern. The Fish that was on made an
appearance about 30 yards of the back of the boat. He checked things out took a look and left fast peeling line off the reel of the weary fisherman. How long could this last? If we hadn't had a good morning of fishing we might have a mutiny on board. Finally after 6 hours the line failed and the fish earned its freedom. The great thing was that the angler was such a sport! He was just
happy to have experienced it! We
made sure he had dinner, cleaned up and put him to bed. He was going to be a bit sore in the morning.
Day 2: The Cortez Bank.
We had heard that we could get the Yella's without squid. Sardine and iron had been working. As we anchored up near the Tide Change we saw some bent rods. Good! We need to get some forkies. Nothing. I yo-yoed, baited on the slider and even used the dropper loop.
Nothing. We were lucky to borrow some live squid from the T / C went back to work... Now we were on. Nice yellows. 20-25 lb. not a lot of them, but some. I got 2 and some of the others like John Branum, Rody Yoshinaka and Phil Castillo had some. Rock fish were the alternative species and we got some of them as well.
This trip was coming to a close as the sun dipped into the West. Great company, excellent food and a remarkable crew made this one of the best trips of the year. I was only sorry that this was to be the last scheduled trip of the season for JES Sport Fishing.
A total count of 279 Albacore, 6 Bluefin, 11 Yella, Skip Jack, ? Bonito that were day two's entertainment and a big bunch of small rock fish.
The last evening dinner was to host the raffle, but this was to be different. I had something for everyone. Seeker had their Black Steel blank along with 5 270 E-glass blanks. I had 8 Kicker Jigs left from the season. A Penn 114HL and a custom rod built by Brendan Ryan, a wrapper friend of mine that was donated. Hmmm, it doesn't get better. Jack pot was split into 2 days @ $10 a day. First day
was won by Mike Castillo for his Bluefin and the second day was won by the yella of Rody Yoshinaka. Great effort gentleman.
In closing I must say thank you to several individuals and sponsors. Seeker Rods, Kicker Jigs, CTX
Mortgage, BC Distributing, as well as the core anglers of J.E.S. Without all of you it would not be the same.
Thank you!
Take care and God Bless.
Jamie Spencer / JES Sport Fishing
