pender island Fishing Report 2024

The San Diego fisnished the day off with 158 yellowtail and 20 bonito.

Friday, October 19th, 2012

Hi friends. Happy Friday to all of you back home. How are you? Good, thanks for asking. Let's get down to business.

We awoke today just like any other day. Tommy woke us all up very peacefully but at the same time gave us way too much information and had our eyes crossed before we could even get the boogers out of them, or open them for that matter. I got out of the rack, put on my fishing shorts, came out to the bench in the wheelhouse, grabbed my boots, and proceeded to put on my socks. But these just weren't ordinary socks, oh no. I pulled these particular socks over my heels and up to my calves and when I pull my socks all the way up to my calves, you know what time it is - business time.

I pulled my socks all the way up so that when my boots are at full pop-dog--rather than semi pop-dog, the way I normally wear them with shorts--they don't rub me raw. I know what you're asking yourself right now, "Richie, why on earth have you spent an entire paragraph talking about your awesome business socks and boot length?" Well, the answer is simple - we got down to some major business on yellowfin tuna, flatheads, and wahoo and I don't like getting my legs all dirty and wet. That is why my boots were at full pop-dog today.

After looking around all morning at dry kelp paddies, we got on some ponies (common dolphins) and landed 14 of those beautiful 25-45 lb. yellowfin tunas. Unfortunately, that was our only go-around on those things and they vanished. It didn't take us long to locate a beautiful kelp paddy and it was on like Donkey Kong. The mahi's bull-rushed us and they were a really nice grade too. I'd say that the majority of the fish were in the 15-22 lb. range and they put on quite the show. Not quite a kelp paddy off of Mag Bay action but plenty close enough. No matter where they are, they're the hardest fish to gaff and they get us all wet. After finishing up our Mexican limit on those things, the tuna got in on the action and bit very well for us. For the most part, they're footballs, but a couple standouts were landed after the initial melee had passed. Joe Gigliotti got himself another beauty and Jeff Hauser got himself a dandy too. Good job guys, way to give a hundred and ten percent. The two luckiest anglers of all were Hart Brauer and Skip Hess II a.k.a. "Skipper Jenkins". Hart and Skip were our luckiest of the lucky lambs today and landed themselves one wahoo each. Fine work, boys.

So here we are. About to wrap up our second annual Gigliotti/Accurate 8-day adventure and we're going to bypass the bluefin zone. I know, I know. I'm as disappointed as anyone, but there's no reason to bomb up from where we are to the bluefin zone where the scores have been quite unflattering. The weather isn't very sweet right now either. What was a beautiful morning of bronzing quickly turned into jacket/slicker weather after lunch. As of now, we're traveling up the line to look at another area for a few hours to try and locate some more of those big ole yellowfins. Our ride is OK. We're not pounding or scooping the bow or anything but we're doing a little bouncing, like our car is on hydraulics in the ghetto. Hence, I'm listening to Backspin, channel 46 on SiriusXM radio - old school hip-hop. Bumpin'.

Wish us luck tomorrow and we'll give you a wrap-up report tomorrow. Peace out, homies.

P.S. The Hunger Games epidemic is spreading through the boat like a wildfire. Star galley assistant Patrick is a closet Hunger Games reader. I caught him hiding behind the cooking area, sitting on a milk crate just reading away. He told me that at first, he wasn't all that pumped on reading about the life of a sixteen year old girl but once you get into the world of Katniss, you can't escape it, and Patrick is like a fish in a barrel. You don't have to make excuses to me, Patrick, even old men like you can enjoy the Hunger Games without guilt. Add one to the book club meetings. You know where the coffee is, Patrick.

Oh yeah, before I forget. The other day, Mark Clark celebrated his birthday and I totally spaced on it. He turned 86 years old. Happy Birthday, Mark. See ya.

"What an absolutely, fantastic, unbelievable day," wrote Tommy Rothery aboard his Polaris Supreme November 2. "We had more marlin than you can imagine. We hooked and are released over 220. The wahoo fishing was also fantastic. The group had a blast pulling in "crocodile" size wahoo. And we topped off the day with even bigger dorado than yesterday. The weather is good and we just had an awesome day on all three: wahoo, dorado and marlin." The next day Rothery wrote, "Well if we thought yesterday was phenomenal, today was even better. I know I'm repeating myself but the fishing was just great again on the wahoo and dorado. And yes, the marlin are still here and wanted to play. We have good weather and this is a nice way to end the trip. Great group, great fishing, great crew." Rothery docked at Fisherman's Landing November 6 after his Larry Brown charter with 22 anglers. "The place was thick with marlin," he remarked. "There's lots of bait and the water where we're fishing is 78 to 79 degrees." Dr. Chris Minnick of Pasadena won first place for a 71.6-pound yellowfin. He said he bagged it in about ten minutes,, after it bit on a sardine pinned to a 3/0 Hayabusa hook. He used 60-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 80-pound Izorline Spectra backing on an Avet EXW 4-2 reel and a Calstar 765 L rod.
Mike Mayes of Rnancho Santa Margarita won second place for a 54.6-pound wahoo. Ron Stafford of Minot, ND won third place for a 53-pound yellowfin tuna. A gentleman identified as "Duke" posed in the lineup shot with a typical dorado from the trip.

Today we departed on Joe Beck and Mal Wagstaf's annual six day trip, which is our first post-boat work excursion! We left the bay around 11am with a great load of mixed sized sardine and mackerel. Shortly after departing the bay, chef Mike prepared the guys bratwursts with a broccoli salad. We are now working our way south to the yellowfin grounds. We will be in that yellowfin zone by morning, but for the time being we are keeping our eyes out for those giant bluefin. The area we are in there are about 30 or so live bluefin tuna pen boats that are each towing two pens each. We have also seen a couple big blue whales that were heading north-bound. Chef Mike is making 30lbs of beautiful prime-rib tonight served with salad and a baked potato. Written by Kyle of the Polaris Supreme