Thoughts on tackle for the long trips

I do not portend to be the master of anything. I have been fishing for a while, though. And in the process have figured out what works for me, and what does not. Tackle for my first long trip consisted mainly of rods and reels borrowed from Yo Yoshida. I worked in his shop and got a great deal to ride the RP - food & fuel, $500. Even in 1985, that was a great deal. A lot of the long trip folks would start coming to the shop around late summer / fall. Butch Greene used to come to the shop - and you could tell right away he fished the long trips a lot - and had the fishing and tackle down to a science. Russ Izor used to refer to him as....Butch Greene, boy fisherman! He must have fished quite a bit in the 50's and 60's. I'm not sure when he started fishing the long trips - but Frank LoPreste knew Butch well. 'Butchka' Frank would called him - and Butch called Frank...'Franko'. All skippers (even now), like fishermen that could catch fish - because it improves the fish counts and entices more fishermen to come fishing and ride their vessels. Butch must have gone on long trips a few times per season. For me, going on long trips started in 1985. The reels of choice were the Penn Senators and Internationals. There were 4/0's, 6/0's, 9/0's and bigger - up to 16/0's, though I think those things were too big. 10/0's or 12/0's were about as big as you can use 'stand up-style'. The Internationals were 30's, 50's, 50W's and 80's. Since we were mainly using 80# and 100# monofilament (mostly 100#), the 30's were out of the question as they just would not hold enough line. We would use the 30's for catching bigger baits. The 50W's were cumbersome, and keeping the line level was always a pain. The 80's and 80W's were just too big - like the 10/0's and 12/0 Senators. Though I must admit, I do like using the 80S and 70VSX now for 200# fishing. Size-wise, the 50's were just right. They didn't really hold enough 100# - about 250 or 300 yards, but just enough that if you fished a really tight drag - you could catch most of the fish you hooked. The drags on the Internationals were inadequate for using 100# - they just were not made for fishing anything heavier than 50-60 lb line. Butch had figured out a way to get more than enough drag out of the 50's. There are two (2) sets of compression washers as part of the drag system on the Internationals. Butch replaced one of the sets with a solid brass washer - reducing the amount of drag variability, but the drags got very tight - very quickly. This was one of my early lessons on how tight you can actually fish with any particular pound test of fishing line. As it turns out, the majority of yellowfin tuna can be caught on 100# line....if you fish it tight enough. Yes, you do lose some of the bigger/tougher fish. If I had to think about it, there was only two(2) fish that I have hooked that fit into this bigger/tougher category. A 240 lb model I caught on the Royal Star in 2011. That fish emptied out an Accurate 30 filled with 130# spectra and another 300 yards off the backup - for a total of 600+ yards. And the other I hooked on the RP back in 1993 on Taka's 16 day. Middle of the day at Socorro we had a nice bite going on 80 - 100 lb tuna. In the middle of that, I hooked a fish on the International 50 rig that emptied the reel faster than we could attach a backup. It was amazing how fast that 300 yards of 100# left the reel. Other than that, we normally took a load of anchovies - there were not any sardines around at that time. So every night, everybody would be up fishing caballito. What a great bait the caballito were. Our hook of choice was the Mustad 118H Mag hooks in the 8/0 size. These baits would tote the 100# mono for hours - and still be alive enough to continue fishing. There were the cow-size tuna being caught, but not many. And when they were caught - it was big news. Which I believe is why the 388 lb world record stood for so long. All bets are off now. Catching a 200 lb fish is commonplace now. The number of fish over 300 lbs recently caught is unprecedented. The world record has been broken at least a couple of times - from 388 to 400+ lbs. When you are fishing the long trips, you notice yourself going back to the same couple of rigs over and over. Those would be your standard outfits. For most situations fishing sardines, I think a 7 and a half foot rods are ideal. Some folks would have you think 8 and even 9 foot rods are OK for fishing 130 lb line. Not true. Yeah, you might be able to cast a bait further.....maybe, but for the most part, it is just too long to fish efficiently. I notice a lot of people pointing their rods at the fish once they are hooked up. I see no point in that. Might as well fish with a handline. My next trip - whenever that is, is going to be with a lot less tackle. I am fairly certain I can fish the whole trip with 5 or 6 rods. 2 rods for bait fishing on 130#, 1 rod for chunk/skipjack, 1 rod for salami fishing - then a couple of rods for hoo and bait fishing. All the stuff I keep taking and bringing back home unused - is staying home. Time for a garage sale.

If some of these older fishing poles could talk

As I enter the last third or quarter of my life, I basically have all the fishing tackle I could ever use. But like most other enthusiastic hobbyists - I continue to go 'jonesing' around for more 'stuff'. The difference is, lately I have been buying tackle I always wanted as a kid. When I first started going boat fishing out of Pierpoint Landing in the early 1960's, the guys that looked to always catch more than the the rest of the anglers were older (to me at the time anyway) Japanese guys with nice tackle. I found out a lot of them were gardeners in Los Angeles. The bait was all anchovies, so the rods and reels were considerably lighter than the stuff being used today. There were Garcia Conolon, Harnell - and later there were Fenwick, Sabre, Truline amongst others. The name that's stuck in my mind was the Silaflex. Not sure when Browning bought Silaflex, but the Silaflex was the rod to have. They were considered the Cadillacs of the time and were very expensive. Guys were paying $80 and more for new ones in the 50's and 60's. When you consider a gallon of gas was probably in the 20 cent range or less, along with everything else being relatively low - that was a lot of money to be paying for a fishing pole. Silaflex Magnum PT-67, PT70...all the nicest anchovy fishing pole money could buy. And these old Japanese guys were fishing with them. I had a Tuna King pole and Optimo spinning reel. Don't get me wrong, I caught my share of fish - but I never had a Silaflex. Jump ahead to the 2000's. Not sure where I found it, but I found a Browning/Silaflex version of the PT70. Don't remember what year exactly, but I caught the largest Albacore I ever caught in my life on this pole - 67.5 lbs. Sometime after that, I lent this pole to a friend of mine (a semi-fisherman, at best) and he promptly broke off a foot off the tip. Irreplaceable. A few years ago on Ebay, I found the same rod and bought it. Subsequently found a Silaflex Magnum PT67 - and more recently a Silaflex Magnum PT70. Mind you with all the sardine fishing being done now - and not much for anchovy fishing, these poles are relatively useless. Matter of fact, with all the new technologies - there would be even better anchovy fishing poles than all that old stuff anyway. But I just had to get it. Why go through life not getting something you have always wanted? Especially something as menial as a fishing pole. So as I was driving home with my new (to me) PT70, I thought about all the people that must have owned the pole since it was first made. Looking at the pole, it looked to be re-wrapped - a while back I'm sure, but definitely re-wrapped. Absolutely the wrong guides for a rod of this caliber - stiff spinning guides. The original guides were thin wire and selected to allow the rod to bend as it was designed. But the cork and reel seat are original - and in good shape. So the rod is made in Costa Mesa in either the late 50's or early 60's. I don't know which stores would have carried such an expensive fishing pole, but definitely would have been bought by an fishing enthusiast with money. Those old Japanese gardeners probably saved up their monies for a while to buy them. The PT70's would have used with 15 to 20 pound line, even 25 pound. Flylining an anchovy for yellowtail or albacore fishing from a party boat. Some of them guys used spinning reels as well. Unlike most fishermen - even today, they fish their with drags extremely tight. At the time I always wondered why they used spinning reels - which would invariably twist your line. I'll write about my concept on this on a later post. If we're going to make some shit up, might as well make it about one of those gardeners - except a gardener just getting into fishing. He had been talking to his older buddies about fishing. Sounded interesting to him - but the expense of the equipment was making him hesitate. His buddies all belonged to a club called 'Tsuri-Kichi'....meaning fishing maniacs in Japanese. They had been trying to get him into the club and fishing for a long time. Both he and his wife were feeling bad about frequently being given a share of someone else's fish. They wanted to return the favor by sharing a part of their own catch. So the couple discussed this and decided to save a dollar here and a dollar there - into a fishing fund. Soon he had enough to start buying tackle. The terminal stuff was easy - hooks, sinkers, jigs, pliers....the basics either from Thrifty Drug Store or the neighborhood fishing store. He had been talking to his buddies about what rods and reels to buy. He liked the idea of catching fish with lures/jigs. So he decided a Penn 500 Jigmaster would be his first reel - came with two (2) quick change spools! They were plastic, but he was assured by the store salesperson that they would fine as long as he put a layer of dacron or something similar on the bottom to cushion the effects of the monofilament. So he thought he would put 15 pound on one of the spools for bait fishing, and 25 pound on the other for jig fishing. There were many different brands, but his friends suggested Meslon, Maxima was too expensive. Now the pole. His friends told him to spend a bit more and buy a Silaflex. He decided most of his fishing to start would be bait fishing. His friends all told him to buy a Silaflex. 'The best bait stick money can buy' - they all said. He went to the neighborhood White Front and looked at the Silaflex rods and was shocked at the price. He could easily buy a couple or more other brands for the price of one Silaflex. He had the money he had been saving for almost a year. So he bought it, a Silaflex Magnum PT70. This completed what he would need to go fishing with his friends and join the club. He was now a Tsuri-kichi member! The next trip for the Tsuri-kichis' was the on the Sharpshooter from 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro with Frank Hall. Yellowtail and White Sea Bass were biting at Catalina. He could hardly contain his excitement. Being on a boat with all his buddies. Somehow he felt as if he was leaving the world behind. The first fish he hooked at Catalina was a calico bass. The Silaflex and Jigmaster handled it beautifully! Then the Sea Bass and Yellows started to bite. His equipment handled that even better. By the end of the day, he had yellowtail, white sea bass and calico bass. What a day! When the boat got back to the docks later that day, he had his picture taken with his rod in hand and his fish laid out in front of him. Over the next few years, he would go on many charters - and even go on open party boats (cattle boats - they were called, because the passengers were packed on like cattle) by himself. And he would start accumulating tackle. A few more Silaflex rods, More Penn reels - Squidders, Surfmasters, Senators for conventional reels. And even a few spinning reels. As he got older, his ability to go fishing waned. His mind wanted to go - but his body just would not comply. His fishing days were over, and over time his kids would take over. Not having much interest in fishing, the kids would have estate sales and sell all the fishing tackle so fervently collected by their father. The Silaflex PT70 would be bought by a novice fisherman just looking for inexpensive equipment. He had no idea this was the 'finest bait stick money can buy'. All he knew was in dire need of new guides and wrapping. So he took it to a tackle shop specializing in custom wrapping of fishing poles. He didn't care about how the pole was designed to bend - he just wanted it to fish with, and he already had a spinning reel. Fishing was not his favorite thing to do - but he enjoyed going with his buddies from time to time. After a time, he stopped going fishing and during a garage sale, he decided to sell what was not longer being used. A buyer seeing some fishing stuff he could use - offered him a lump sum for the whole lot of the fishing stuff. The new owner took the stuff back to his warehouse and culled what he wanted - and put the rest up for sale. He doesn't know a Silaflex from a Berkely. Its just a fishing he wanted to sell. I see the ad on Ebay - and bam....Kohei has a Silaflex Magnum PT-70 for his collection. Haven't fished with it yet - but soon.

2016 tuna fishing thoughts / how different was it really?

The BFT tuna bite off SoCal for this year is finally about over. For some reason, I just couldn't get excited enough to go fishing for them - so I passed. Did last year too. Shit, they were even bigger this year. Not that I was overwhelmed with invites - but if I really wanted to go, I could have drug my skiff down there and had a reasonable shot at getting one. I recall reading/hearing about the BFT bites that used to occur in the Catalina channel. 100 pounders....200 pounders....and even bigger. I used think, the old days - that'll never happen again. So much for that idea. This is two years in a row for those tuna. I don't know what years in the past the big BFT would bite off SoCal - early 1900's or so? When we would hang out at Yo's or Payne's, the old guys would talk about the big tuna biting in the channel. How it would mostly show - and not much go. This is the mid-1960's. So the old guys (probably about my age) in their 60's would have been fishing hard 1920 - 1950. That was the old days for them. Which just means - at some point, the bites we had the last couple of years - will the the good old days for some of the younger fisherfolks in another 20 or 40 years. The gear those guys used to use were astonishingly primitive. I would imagine if the gear we have today were used, the landings would have been vastly different. Guess that goes to all fishing - not just BFT fishing, but all fishing. The available tackle is absolutely amazing. Also amazing are the prices. I come from a world where going on the 1/2 day boat would cost 3 or 4 dollars. When I think about paying over 100 dollars to go fishing on a day boat - I am in a constant state of shock. And the tackle. I think I paid 8 or 10 bucks for my first Penn Jigmaster - a 501. At a tackle store in Playa Del Rey - near the beach on Culver. Shit, I just saw a 501 on Ebay for a 100 bucks! How the hell is that? So if the fishing is cyclic - how about some of them prices coming down to where they used to be? NOT!!!

Long trip - Jan / 2016

Well, wasn't sure I was going to be able to go this season with all the expenditures connected to a new house. But my wife and kids made sure I was on the boat and paid for the trip. Wow. I have developed quite the attachment to the Angler - and this annual Accurate trip. The group remains the most cohesive and raucous of all the trips I have been on. There is a core group of 14 guys or so - and a yearly newbie group of 5. After a few days, there was no newbie group - and all 19 passengers were busy flinging copious amounts of acrid verbiage - friendly, but like they had been part of the group all along. The TV was actually turned on this trip for an hour or so to show a video from a passenger's drone on a windless day at Hurricane Bank. All I have to say is WOW! Amazing footage. This is the third trip for my friend Russell to go on a long trip. A few days before departure, a spot opened up - and Freddie was able to go. His first trip on the Angler. Russell was on the same trip last year - and knew most of the others from the year before. I got to San Diego the usual day before and checked in at the Point Loma Inn. Once Russell got there we had dinner at a place Randy and Brian suggested down the street on Scott - Pomodoro. Great dinner. They also suggested a red wine which we ordered - and was awesome. The first of many drunks I would endure for the next 14 days. I just ordered a case - Le Volte. Good shit. We all line up as usual around 5am the next morning and the after all the annual greetings - we boarded and got bait. As soon as we got bait and headed out of the harbor - the 31 games started. For four days, the 31 games were constant. Wake up for breakfast at 6am, play 31, morning snacks at 9am, play 31, lunch at noon, play 31, afternoon snacks at 3pm, play 31, dinner at 6pm - get drunk, and more 31. This went on for 4 days. I don't know how many games we played, but I did not win one game. Good thing I brought lots of $1 bills. At 4am on the 5th day, we arrived at Clarion. Went in shallow to catch bait and started fishing. We had to check in with the Mexican Navy at 10am, so we got a little fishing in - maybe a half dozen tuna or so. Not very many, but the average size was nice - 100 to 150 lbs. The fishing was really slow. For the folks that did not like soaking bait for a long time (i.e. drowning worms!) - me included, this was a tough time. On the second day, tired of watching folks catching fish after soaking their bait for hours, I did the same and hooked a nice fish. After an hour or so, I had my first nice fish - 260 lbs on the scale. Made my day - and was good for the daily prize of a new rod. Good thing because I put it to immediate use. The kite fishing had been pretty steady - and the morning started with me and Russell on the kites at 630am. Dreading being in kite jail was quickly dismissed as I got bit on a nice one. Knowing Russell did not have one yet - I quickly handed the rod off to Russell. As he worked on the fish, the rod I took over from Russell got bit. Saw the fish's back and sickles (dorsal fin) out of the water as he ate the kite bait - was a good one. Russell got his to gaff in 15 minutes or so, and I continued to work mine. Half an hour later, I have mine to gaff. Russell had weighed his and came out at 150 lbs. Mine looked to be a bit better - and it was, 205 lbs. Of course the first bit of vitriol is - hah, mine's bigger than yours! Oh yeah? that was supposed to my fish! And on and on for the next few hours - and bam, Russell is bit. He's on this fish for over an hour before it comes to gaff.....266 and a half pounds. Now the tables are turned. See what happens? Mine's bigger than yours! Well, no more shit about catching his fish on the kite anyway. The next few days were the same - slow, pick fishing. The boat was now at 15 fish over 200 lbs - with me having two of them, along with a few smaller ones - my trip was made. On the last full day of fishing, I was up on the kite again. One of the dreaded all day affairs - in kite jail. From dawn to damn near dusk, when all of the sudden - I see a small swirl under my bait, and the balloon slowly descending! Sometime during the day, I got a chair and was sitting in a beach chair - so here I was, yelling and screaming 'AAAAAAAAA, I'm bit!!!' reeling as fast as I could to catch up with the fish. When the line got tight - bam, I was on. For the next hour or more, the fish would take 200 to 300 yards of line at a time - and I would work it back in. Finally, the fish was straight up and down - and became dead weight. No tail beat, no circles - just dead weight. Worked the fish in slowly and finally the fish came to the surface tail first. Tail wrapped...I thought. Four gaffs and the fish is on the boat. I know it's a good fish - but now sure about the weight....I figured 250 plus anyway. Turns out the leader to the hook in the mouth was busted off. The other hook however, was intact and imbedded about a foot from the tail. We were all astonished the hook held - on a small patch of skin. To the scale......300 lbs even. Amazing. We had one more morning to fish - but with the 300 pounder the night before, my trip was done. I took it easy and watched the rest of the guys get in their last few casts for this trip. So long until next year......I hope.