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For our basic bait stick we use 7 foot or 8 foot rods with shimano conventional reels with 25 lb Berkley Big Game line. My jig sticks have 40lb line and I had two setup and ready to go. On the 7ft rod had a Newell 338 with a blue / white Salas yoyo #4 and My 8ft jig stick I had a tricked out Penn 4/0 with a Blue / White Salas 6X jr. A few laps of my hook file and they were ready to go. I had my favorite flat head chromed jet head with a green / yellow / pink skirt on my trolling outfit.
Our first stop was a kelp patty. I noticed the boat make a course change and slow down. I grabbed by smaller jig stick and went to the bow. I made sure to wet my spool with water from the bait tank. I do this to prevent burning my thumb on the first cast. A quick check of the drag setting and I was read to go. As soon as the patty passed the bow I casted about 20 ft from the patty. I kept fealing the line as the salas yoyo #4 sunk. I almost immediately got hammered and I yelled "FRESH ONE" as the boat slid to a stop. While most of the people were getting bait at the tank I was hooked up and I watched my smaller size yellowtail as it came to the boat. Since I had him on 40 lb. I had the yellowtail boated in a couple of minutes. It was the first fish on board. We pulled a hand full of yellowtail around 10 lbs and we were back on our way to the tuna grounds in about 15 minutes.
We went through 5 dry trolling rotations before it was my turn. I eagerly grabbed my trolling rod as soon as the Capt. announced it was my trolling teams turn. Each team consisted of 4 anglers and you trolled for 30 minutes or until a fish was caught. I took the port corner because it is always lucky for me. I set my line about a boat length and put my clicker on my Penn 50SW. About 10 minutes later the clicker sounded and everyone jumpped to attention. I was supprised when a few guys casted over my bent rod and were tangled in a big mess. The deck hands cleared the tangle as quickly as they could but I could not take full advantage of my two speed reel. My 25 Lb albacore was gaffed a few minutes later. It was the only fish that stop. I like to winch troll fish to the boat quickly to bring the entire school to the boat. This time I was tangled and had to take my time bringing the albacore in. This may have been why we didn't get any tuna on bait for that stop.
The afternoon was a mix of yellowtail and dorado caught on kelp patties. The fish mostly ranged from 10 - 20 lbs. We didn't get another Albacore until my trolling team was up. Again it was my lucky jet head on the port corner. This albacore was around 30 lbs and the fish came quickly to gaff. I didn't get into any tangles. The late afternoon bite was a pick and scratch for a few long soak albacore. Mike Kamara caught the 1st place albacore on a sardine that he soaked far from the boat. Dave Torchia caught the 2nd place albacore on the same stop. The tuna seemed boat shy and only those who got their bait far from the boat got bit. There were a dozen of the other long range boats working the area and the Albacore didn't charge the chum line.
We motored all night to another area to look for kelp in the warmer water nearer to shore. I heard the motors stop around 3AM and I got up to see if the giant squid would bite. I asked the second skipper if there were any squid up on top and he said he saw a few. I tried with my glow in the dark 6Xjr and I didn't get bumped So I went back to bed to get a few more winks.
The second day was kelp patty hopping for Yellowtail and Dorado. I let a angler named Bunky borrow my loaner trollong rod and he got a nice bull Dorado on a purple / black Zukers feather. The dorado didn't seem to bite the iron so I only got yellowtail on the patty stops, but I did quite well overall. I switched to bait late in the game and I had a dorado hooked up but it threw the hook. It was one of the few fish I let get away. The only woman on the trip was Karen, I seen her land a real nice Yellowtail that may have been a jackpot contender but she wasn't in the pool. She also caught a nice dorado. We had a few good stops on kelp and we an overal decent trip. The crew worked hard and the skipper was willing to burn lots of fuel to find some quality fish. We all had high expectations and dreams of limits of albacore and exotics. The crew did everything they could to get us our fish. The more experienced anglers did well. Mike Kamara had great trip for only his second time out. He was a quick learner and followed my advice. He won 2nd place jackpot on the last trip too.
The trip ended at sunset on the second day. I was trolling and the wind
was picking up and was getting a bit bumpy. The captain
instructed up to "Wind Them In Guys" and as I started to reel in my
trolling rig the boat turned and a wave splashed over the rail and
drenched me head to toe. My boots were instantly filled up and my
pockets were full of sea water. My digital camera got soaked and
I think it's a goner.
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