Summertime fun, eager albies, and another GREAT group!
As I sit today to write this report I realize that we are already half through the JES Sport fishing 2003 
schedule! Boy, what a season it has been. There has been some ultimate fishing with good size and great numbers the past few trips.
I left my office Thursday the 31st, midday after meeting with Sam Wacht, a new JES client for the drive down… Sam, coming to our group from the now defunct Tackle Busters group was a bit excited and really wanted to get out on the water. He was originally set to go on trip 4, but business duties called.
Fortunately there was room on this coming trip and fishing looked like it was going to be pretty good. One good thing about making the 160+ drive to Pt. Loma with a passenger is you get to use the diamond lane; hence Sam's new nickname became "Black Diamond Sam".
Meeting TunaQ, John "Wilson" Branum and some of the other cronies at the landing we realized that the Relentless was already home. They had returned early from a 2-day and we were ready to
board and go.
As Joel rounded us up for the galley briefing, I made sure that everyone paid close attention to what was being said… There was a chance that we could get into some good fishing the next few days and we didn't need any problem in case the boat got flashed by suicidal Albacore! This was going to be a good trip, almost an all-star event with some good fisherman from the past! Even my new friend "Fischer" had made out from Arizona.
We awoke at 90 miles under partially clouding skies. The weather was warm and it looked like we were going to have a great sunny day.
As troll team 1 assembled on the stern, it was like a scene from "Ground Hog Day". I have seen all of these people on the stern before again and again. There was Rody, "Wilson" with his woody, Jason and John McFarland. Which one was going to stop the boat?
I would put my money on Wilson…
Joel turned on a mark after passing many other marks and several bait balls we knew that this was the one… "Chum line" Joel
announced…two seconds later the trollers were screaming for him to stop the boat.
Old "Wilson" and the plain woody struck again and as I set back my sardine colored storm I was also bit immediately. Grinding into the corner I ran into JB, a newcomer to J.E.S. who was nicely bent on the rail.
I lost my focus for a split second and bingo… my fish was gone. TunaQ was working the starboard rail as he was pulled to the bow and the entire boat went bendo 30 seconds into the bite.
Fish started to hit the deck as I switched to bait and a 2/0 circle on 30lb. Bit almost the second the sardine disappeared under the stern I farmed this one as well…this wasn't like me… Hmmm, Message to
self. "Go back to your gear, check the drags and toss a new bait"… Ahhhh, success! I landed my first albacore to a high five from John.
The rest of this stop was more of the same… Gosh, the crew was doing the best they could to get to the crying anglers as their fish came to the surface. It's fine when you have 6 at a time going… It's a bit harder with 12 and even more so with 15 anglers bent at the same time.
Jim W. and I were up at the bow doing the tuna scuffle, away from most, but when we called for a gaff we knew we were in trouble. Being that we had both been in this situation before I grabbed the gaff on the bow, placed it under my arm and at the first opportunity I reached out gaffing
his fish while I battled mine~! Nice! There 
is the second high five of the trip!
This stop netted 50 fish and we were just getting started for the day. Chowder our galley cook was making breakfast for the 18 on board and at the first bite the trollers stopped the boat again. This was the stop where I saw some great fishing… Frank Werner on his first outing with J.E.S. was on… He let the fish run just that split second and then hit him with a swing of the rod… Perfect textbook fishing and everyone on board was dialed in and doing the same. I saw that the fish were being aggressive, so like my friend John Branum pointed out, "use the 40 lbs" He was hooked up on the two-speed and grinding… We're going to be lucky if we get back with paint on the boat if this keeps up.
As the stop died out and everyone got a chance to rest for a moment I saw a dirty fisherman.
Sam was a whipped, Jason was slimed and Gary Reid just
had that great smile of his on. Gosh after these two stops I even saw Bob Eades break down and shoot me a smile. What a great group of anglers. This is what a JES Sport fishing charter is all about! Good times, great fishing and no attitudes.
As the day rolled on the fishing slowed a bit… The sun was high in the sky with little cloud cover and the swell was 2-4. This was a great
day on the water.
Lunchtime came and the deluxe burger could be smelled down swell. We all gathered and took our turns chowing down… But as all nutrition breaks go, a new hookup interrupted us from the stern. A few more bait fish later and we were off and moving to the outside. This stop produced a nice
Yellowtail for angler Dave Wray.
We motored on and it seemed that the bite had gone bad. We went through 2 rotations and didn't get stopped. The second group of trollers were begging to me relieved and as soon as the 3rd group, of Wilson, Fisher, TunaQ and myself set on the stern we got our first quad of the trip.
Hook up… This was a nice one… you could see the boiling fish off the corners, "throw the big stuff we might get flashed" announced Joel and with that the group got bit across the numbers again. This stop want to go wide, but shut down fast as it came.
As we pulled away Joel spotted a "big foamer" off the starboard bow. Fish were everywhere. Jumping, splashing, boiling…this was going to be a good late afternoon bite. We were nearing the limits so if it went wide we would be done for the trip!
As Johnny stood with valor on the bait tank tossing chum to Capt. Joel's orders, the 65 foot sport fisher pulled up on the spot. The fish
weren't going to sink out, they wanted to eat. As the troll lines went tight in the straps, the Detroit's idled back as anglers tossed bait on the slide with anticipation of this stop. WHAM! All of the baits were inhaled and the stern looked like a dance-a-thon at a local school.
Nick "Sr." and Mark Short were bent and stuck in the corner. Randy Willhite even though battling a virus was up on the deck in the mayhem and Mark "Boltar" Bolt, one of our Allcoasters was
whipping a fish's tail if you know what I
mean. I was using the 40lb string, 2 speed Shimano, a Seeker CTSF60H Tuna Stick with a 3/0 Hayabusa circle hook and just slamming fish in the corner! Working a 2 speed in this fashion can be lot of fun…
The proper way is to rail the rod, push the lever past strike and do a turbo grind… This was a great classic stop with 6 going at a time… I shuffled the corner with TunaQ, JB and again there was Diamond Sam working another one.
Just then, John McFarland landed our first Bluefin of the 2003 Season a nice 32 lbs sample… The sun was on its way down and all the
indications of an epic Bluefin bite were there, but it never materialized.
After about an hour and a half we had to slow it down.
We were close to our fill and we knew dinner was in the oven. As I reviewed the catch from this stop I focused on 2 noticeable fish, the Bluefin and one big Longfin! These two were going to compete for the title of JP for certain.
As we all joined in the galley for a great London broil dinner, veggies, potato and salad, some of the anglers were looking for the Advil! As we retired for the evening, sore bones, big
smiles and dirty cloths indicated another successful outing with LIMITS of albacore for the 18 anglers on board.
We turned the second day into a paddy search pulling big lures for billfish and throwing bait on every kelp paddy we found 60 to 45 miles from Pt. Loma. We found nothing but had a great chance to recover from the beating we took the previous day. It was now 9:45 AM and I told Joel to just kick it for the barn. We would get back to the dock early and have some time to be with our families to conclude the weekend.
Raffle prizes donated by Seeker Rods, Kicker Jigs, CTX Mortgage and BC Distributing were awarded after a great lunch. E-Glass blanks went to Rody Yoshinaka and new comer Frank Werner, the seeker Composite 
Graphite; CJBF70F went straight to the wrapper for Gary Reid. The Diawa SLV30 reel went
home with veteran JES angler Jason Cruz and new jigs from were won by Jim W. and Nick "Sr.". Wilson won a tackle box… he always wins something and the tuna belt.
First place Jack Pot was won by Dave Wray for the Big Albacore beating out his friend, John Mc Farland's Bluefin sliding into second place. Congratulations all!
We have a few weeks off and after the past 3 weeks on the water it will be nice to go home sit and finish the long honey-do list! Ahhh, the things you have to do to go fishing…
Until next time be good and take care!
Thanks Seeker, Kicker, B.C. and CTX… You Rock!
Jamie Spencer
Charter Master
By the way, for the next trip on August 23, there may be a big change in the fish we find, as the
water warms and we find ourselves enjoying bigger bluefin, yellowfin,
dorado and paddy dwelling yellowtail, it's time to review your quiver and get the right gear ready.
Remember what Chowder says, "It's time to bring the bigger line, jig sticks for tossing iron at paddy's, and make sure all your drags are in good shape!"
Note: An addition to the reports format this trip is now making every pic a link to a larger version of the pic in a new window, giving you quick access to a close up form this report forward.
Beginning next trip's report I will leave the original in larger size, and "un-fogged" on the edges so anglers can download pics and save or print them on their own computer.
~~~~~~~~TunaQ ~~~~~~~~