Fishing babble

My first recollections of fishing is from the rocks at Playa Del Rey with pieces of shrimp. Catching small calico bass and opaleye. Fishing from the Malibu Pier catching baby halibut, perch and tom cod. As curiosity began to take over and I started to explore, there were other people fishing from the pier using BIG tackle.....by that I mean something bigger than 6 lb test on a freshwater setup. 8 - 10 ft poles, penn jigmasters, surfmasters with 20 and 25 lb test. As I watched, they would just have a sinker tied on and underhanded cast the sinker way out. Then a leader with swivel on one end and a hook with a live anchovy - and clipped the swivel on the line and let it slide down their main line. And wait. Of course they were halibut fishing and on occasion they would hook one. Lower a big net down to the water and guide the fish in. People would be gathered around 'ooing and aahing'. I remember meeting an old black man fishing on the pier. He said his name was Sammy.....Sammy Davis. I did not think about this until much later....but I'm relatively certain he was Sammy Davis Jr's father! He even looked a lot like Jr. As I fished more and more, I noticed the seasons - and the fish that came along with it. The winter was mainly rockcod fishing, squid fishing for white sea bass and calico bass. The surface action limited anyway - so if you wanted to fish, it was rockcod. Synonymous with rockcod was squid. Rock cod seemed to always be available to catch. I am not sure if anchovies were tougher to get in the winter or not - but my recollection was getting squid for bait in the winter time. Just about 50 years ago, we lived in a rented house in Gardena - around 1967. The landlord was a fisherman. His name was Hiro Hirabayashi and he fished a LOT. Once he found out I did too - he would take me fishing occasionally and give me tackle. My dad would go fishing on boats on occasion - but he wasn't really into it, and he would go by himself. He would bring home calico bass and yellowtail and we would feast for weeks. Later he would take me to the landings and drop me off, but he would not go with me. I think it was because he got seasick. Matter of fact, now that I think about it - I cannot remember a time he went fishing with me on a boat, barge or pier. I do recall fishing on the Playa Del Rey rocks with him - but that's about it. My best memory fishing with Hiro was after we moved out of the Gardena rental - and my folks bought a house in North Torrance. It was a winter seabass trip in 1970 on the Point Loma - Eddie Diehl running the boat. We fished an area south of San Diego - called Tijuana Flats. The weather was windy and the water was lumpy. There were other boats in the area - along with small commercial boats (these were no bigger than 20 to 25 foot boats. They were called rat-trappers - rod and reel fishermen. The weather worked in their favor - the rocking boat would yo yo their jigs for them automatically. I watched them as their rods were left in the holders - and they would hook fish. Live squid bunched up on a heavy salas 6X, yoyoing on the bottom. We were drifting in an area called Tijuana Flats in rough weather. We didn't really have to yoyo, the boat was doing that for us. I recall seeing small boats (rat trappers they were called) with rods in holders on both sides hooking and catching fish. I recall the boat being in the trough trying to hang on in the stern - everybody was fishing on the port side of the boat. We would catch fish in waves. I'd look towards the bow and see people hook fish in sequence towards the stern. I caught two (2) fish that day - the numbers I remember were 32 and 25 pounds. For some reason, Hiro was having an off day and did not have one - so I shared and gave him one of mine. A good day. It is 2017 - Hiro recently passed away. A sad day that was. Fishing for sand bass and bay bass in King Harbor with Dewayne, Marty and Mark. Right under the Harbor Master's window no less. Fishing on the Toronado for bluefin with Bryan. Fishing for striped bass at Quail Lake with Craig - before it was open to the public. Fishing and pinheading on the Freedom with Mel. Going on the half day boats out of Redondo Beach with Brian. Sneaking into Churches and Golf Courses to fish for bass in their lakes with Craig and Brian. Grey scroungers thrown into the aquaduct water going into Quail. Fishing was always more fun when you went with your buddies. Buddies that were just about as proficient at fishing as yourself. God forbid going fishing with a guy that was way better than you. That would be embarrassing. Besides, we were 'meat-fishermen'. Catch as many as you can, as often as possible. After a while, taking non-fishermen fishing did get to be fun. Not only that, I sort of grew out of killing as many fish as possible. But it took a while. Fishing was serious business! Like, I could not imagine taking a non-fisherman fishing for bluefin at San Clemente Island. Except for one guy. George Mowery. He was one of our neighbors when we lived in North Torrance. We did not get to be buddies right away. But after a while, we got along pretty good. He liked to fish - so I am not sure I could call him a non-fisherman, but somehow he always seemed to catch his share. His tackle was more rental tackle-ish for a lack of better description. He refused to buy anything more than he needed - and bought on his own without any input from anybody. For example, I recall he went on the Toronado bluefin fishing. He was using 20 or 25 pound gear - way too heavy for bluefin fishing really. But for one reason or another, he would catch one. I mean, the boat had 30 or 40 people, and there were maybe 6 bluefin. Bryan and I would have the bulk of the fish 4 out of the 6, and there was George. He got one. Not even sure when or how, but he would have one in his sack. All with his patented 'shit-eating' grin on his face. Most of the time when we would go fishing, the way he fished just invited a comment. 'George, you may want to try.....', 'shuddup' he would say. And he would smoke these 5 cent cigars. Made everyone want to puke. Especially in the galley. People would ask him to leave. There weren't any rules against smoking in them days. Yuchhhh. Just for shits and giggles, I tried smoking one......tasted as bad as they smelled. I had a long acquaintance with Russ Izor. The first time I went on the same boat with Russ was in 1974. He was running the Indian - and the apartments I lived in had a lot of folks that like to fish and chartered the Indian - owned and operated by Russ Izor. I had known of Russ for many years before. The legendary Russ Izor of 22nd Street Landing. He had built and run many many boats. His favorite and only place to fish - as far as he was concerned, was Catalina Island....his island. It would be many years after that when my mother talked me out of being a vagabond and asked me to work in the health food business she had started. A few years in, she decided that running a health food store was not the right 'fit'. Besides, she had two other sons she had to figure out what to do with. Pushing the right buttons and saying the right things - I started college at the ripe old age of 27. I started working on boats to pay for rent and school. I'd run into Russ here and there - by that time, he had stopped running boats and was running Izorline - a fishing tackle distributor. Working on boats and in tackle shops - I started to run into Russ a lot. He would even invite me to go fishing on occasion. After I got out of college I entered the corporate world and eventually bought a house. Not sure where I ran into him again - but I find out his house is a mere mile away. We would go fishing and hang out quite a bit. His wife Louise (Lura) was a former flight attendant for Pan American Airways - so there would always be lots of classy ladies at their house. Even ended up marrying one of those ladies. Jeesus. What a tangent that was. I was actually going to write about some thoughts I have been having lately in regards to long range fishing. On one of the trips on the Royal Star, I had just landed a 253 chunk fishing with a tuna heart (on Blake's suggestion). A good fish. When the deckhands stuck four gaffs in it and brought the fish aboard, I noticed liquid squirting out of the tuna's butthole. Huh? A closer look reveals the fish was in spawning mode and was squirting eggs all over the deck. That scene's been swirling around my head for a while. That fish was caught at Isla Clarion - one of the two remaining places where long range boats can fish. So the area is a spawning zone for yellowfin tuna. I have been catching the brood stock. On the first few long trips I took - the fish were just placed in the holds. Out of sight, out of mind - until the boat got back to San Diego. But on the two boats I have been fishing for the last 7 or 8 years - the fish are bled, gilled and gutted before being place in the RSW tanks. And you get to see what form of critters this fish has been eating and whether it is male or female. After working on many boats and cleaning many many fish - I can about tell when the fish are ready to spawn. All the local tuna I have caught locally in Southern California never had much for roe or milt sacks. But these bigger fish down in long range land - had well developed roe and milt sacks. I did not realize how well developed and far along they were until that 253. They are actually spawning during the time we are fishing. So I have been dealing with the thought of killing brood stock yellowfin tuna at their 'hatchery'.

Long trip - 2015, all good things must come to an end

This would be the long trip taken on the Angler in January, 2014. Well, the string finally broke. I did not get a 200# fish this trip. 5 trips and 13 deuces is not bad - matter of fact, it is more than I could ever have dreamed. I was back on the American Angler with Accurate group. I could not imagine a better meshed group of fishermen - so instead of doing what I thought I would do, which was alternate years with the Royal Star, I booked and went with the Angler. This season, the wahoo have been thick at Alijos. Since the long trip season started around OCT of last year, most - if not all the long trips have been stopping on the way down or up or both. Unlike the wahoo at the bank or the island, these fish seem to not mind the boats coming around weekly (seemed almost daily) and hammering away at their brethren. Normally, the first few boats to an area holding wahoo will do good. Subsequent trip will get a few - but the fish eventually become wary and getting them to bite is tough. But this group of wahoo are differnt. They have been biting good for the boats now for the last four months or more. Not only that, they are slugs - 40 lbs or better, and not many smaller ones. Jigs and bait were both working good. On our way down, 19 of us got 70 wahoo - and on the way back we got another 50 or so. What was a bit challenging however, was the weather at our normal tuna grounds - Hurricane Bank and Clarion. We had great weather getting to Alijos - and going back home from Alijos. But that was about it. Ten days of 20 - 40 knot winds and matching seas. We went from Alijos to the bank first. The first day at the bank was OK. We got maybe 20 fish or so - all 120 to 150 lb fish...nice ones. Then the second day, the place became a desert. Add to that a weather front approaching from the south - and we decided to go to the island. The weather followed us. We did not get to do much of my favorite fishing - salamis on the big gear. I think one night, we made enough big bait to fish with - the rest of the time, it was sardine fishing. We fished at the island for 3 days or so - and headed back up to Alijos. The weather was rough. Fishing anywhere on the boat was an effort just to keep your balance. Still caught fish though - just not too many big ones. I think my big one this trip was 157. We were still left with a little time - so we stopped at Colnett and fished for yellowtail - we got 30 or 40 small fish on the yoyo iron. It was fun. This was the first long trip, where we did not get more than a 2 day boat ride before we got to fish. Pretty damn nice, really. Most of these long trips are three and a half days down and up. I ended up with ten tuna and eight wahoo - more than enough tuna and wahoo to pass out on my way home. And the detachment therapy is always outstanding!

When King Harbor was AWESOME!

Around 1967 I was 12 years old, had a green Schwinn Stingray and rode the damn thing everywhere. Not sure how I discovered King Harbor. We lived in a rented house on 134th Street between Western and Normandie. So I would ride down Western to 190th Street, then follow 190th down to King Harbor. I would bum enough money to buy ice cream at Thrifty on the way home on the corner of 190th and Anza. I think a double was a dime. Going down the 190th street hill on the way to PCH was awesome! Going back...not so much. Going by the big sign was exciting - for I knew I would be fishing soon. I had a Garcia-Mitchell outfit, a light two (2) piece rod and a 308 filled with 6 lb mono. In my pocket would be Tiny Tots - white ones and yellow ones which I would buy at Red's Bait & Tackle or Jerry's. I would cast and whip the little jigs back in - and it was game on! I remember the first few times - I would put the bonito in a backpack and take them home with me. Not a great idea, since they were in bad shape when I got home. After a few trips - I would just let the fish go. And then I would see other people using frozen anchovies for bait. They would be getting hooked up when I was not - though most of the time it was pretty good. The best bites I can remember was when it was raining. The bite on the Tiny Tots would be awesome! The water was so clear in the harbor that one could watch the bonito eat the jigs. There were other fish in the water that would not eat the jigs.....bigger fish. Yellowtail! Every once in a while, they would eat a frozen anchovie. Only problem was, you'd hook one - and in one good run, they would spool the 308 - and my trip would be over. As I stayed later and later in the day, I would start seeing people with big spinning rods with sinkers and treble hooks. These guys would attach sinkers to their lines and tie multiple treble hooks above the sinker. At dark, these guys would begin flinging their rigs and make big jerking swings and start snagging bonito. Lots of bonito. These guys would take big gunny sacks full of fish home. Two years later, I was between Peary Junior High and North Torrance High School and had friends that also liked to fish. We would rent the wooden skiffs in King Harbor with live bait skids in tow. The fishing was outstanding. I also remember going to the Fox Redondo Theatre to watch movies. I'm fairly certain I saw the first Godfather there for 75 cents. I looked it up - the Godfather came out in March/1972, and the theater had its final movie in December/1972 and was knocked down early 1973. I am sure I saw the Godfather there in late 1972. By this time, I had a gold colored 1971 Honda CB350. Distance was no longer an issue - and I tied the rod onto the sissy bar and rode that scooter everywhere. Not sure how I stayed alive riding that bike with no helmet. Remarkable.

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.