Well, it finally arrived......Yes, the trip that everyone was waiting for.....

With all of the speculation of this year being a fantastic fishing season there was a lot of pressure on myself to stand up to my early season predictions....A month or so ago I stated that we might see albacore on the 1st trip in Mid May ... Many of you scoffed, and took it as a ploy to get bookings... Well, this report proves that we do our homework! 

After a week of incredible yellowtail fishing at the Coronado's I knew that there would be tremendous pressure on the local bite come the weekend. I had been watching the private boaters reports and saw some neat things down south, but it was just to far for a 1 day....I had spoken with Joel of the Relentless the morning of departure and he said "Island and Tails", but I could hear in his voice that he had something else in his thoughts. 

Arriving at Fisherman's Landing I saw a rare thing ... parking spots ... the season had not quite started and there I was with a group of 16 meeting me 8:30 PM with a major case of cabin fever. I saw some buddies of mine that were going on a 1 1/2 day trip on the American Angler and they were going down the beaches....Hmmmm! 

After speaking to them I ran into our skipper and we made the decision to go long.......There was this temp break out by the 2020 @ 68-72 miles off Point Loma......and after the day Joel had at the Islands, anything would be better. 

We all met, had our brief seminar, cuddled in our staterooms and tried to sleep over the rumbles of the Detroit's and the anxiety of how the first morning of the 2002 season would unravel! 

Gray light @ 6:00AM, I saw the first volunteer group of trollers on the stern. John Branum had the "Woody" in the water and not 5 minute into it we heard the cry....."Hook Up!!!!" Albacore, then 6 on bait...... We had done it.... It wasn't long before we were picking and scratching at the numbers..... The first mark was 24! Done, Next! 

These weren't bad albies for this early either. No rats! Mostly 10-15 lb. fish with a few big bonies mixed in.... 

We had some newbies on board that adapted well and our two lady anglers were kicking some albacore butt. The bait was in great shape and our Relentless skipper and crew were determined to get us more.......Using the light line and a #2 or #1 hook on the chovies was working well. The fish scattered fast however and we would only get 4 or 5 at a time, but again these were TUNA! 

As the clock ticked away every stop was important ... we all wanted to break the 50 mark for the day! Joel had found 4 albacore the previous week and wanted to be the first in the day fleet to have a full count for the new season.... 

As the day went on, the fish started to get slightly bigger, we were at 72 miles and needed to start back. Heading up swell we ran into some 59 degree water that just shut off the bite, so Joel moved inside, found the break and we were on the fish again ... 

This would be the last stop. A couple of troll fish and that was it ... as the motors started and the props turned out water to head home, those that were soaking a bait got hooked up! "Fresh one!!!" There's another one..... we took 3 more fish and wouldn't you know, these were the big fish of the day.... With no time left to search for the school we had to leave the area and count our blessings for we were going to be the first of 2002 to return to the docks at Fisherman's landing with 62 albacore and 24 Bonito! 

Relaxed and tired, we all sat back for a great meal prepared by Paul our chef, including salad, ribeye steak, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and of course a bit of Albacore for sampling. This was the life.... I awarded the Raffle prizes and concluded our trip... 

Special mention goes to John Branum, he caught 5 albies, hooked and handed two, got a bonito and then won a Seeker Blank! Jeff Glodfelter of Henderson, NV won the Black Steel Seeker Blank and custom ordered 2 new Seeker rods for his next trip. Kicker Jigs were awarded to Mrs.Holman and Wes Scott of Moorpark! The Penn 500L was awarded to Mr. Penn himself TunaQ, Al Stankewicz!!! 

Our Jack-Pot and trophy winner was Jim Shandrick of Huntington Beach w/ a @18 lb. Albacore. 

Congratulations all!!! 

Thanks to the great people at Seeker Rods, Kicker Jigs, B.C. Distributing, APM and of course CTX Mortgage for all of their product support. What would we do without you? 

Take care everyone and I hope to see you on the water..... 
      Jamie Spencer / J. E. S. Sportfishing