We spent the Fourth of July at the boat and watched the fireworks. Steve and the Grandkids enjoyed the fireworks and the festivities and traded sushi for hot dogs with the neighbors. Fourth of July
Our next trip was on July 6th and this time the fish seemed to like what the Bear was offering. Once at the site it was a steady morning with multiple hookups being the rule (several quadruples !) We started with a jig fish and 1 bait fish and then an 8 fish stop and ended with 6 fish to complete limits at 12:30 Pm(30+ fish). These are large fish for this time of year (the average was probably over 20 lbs) and we filled every cooler on the boat (and then some) with a large load of fillets. Albacore !!!!
A week later the same area was dry and we manged to scrape together 8 larger albacore on the way home. It was a harbinger of things to come. First of many long Days
In late July we had our last decent albacore trip for the year just east of the 1010 trench. We started with a quick jig strike (we only had one line out) and a bait fish. We spent the next several hours working this area for 10 fish. We never were able to entice a multiple jig strike but often managed a few bait fish at each stop. We ended with an even dozen nice Albacore. The weather and poor fishing kept us off the water for the next month and we probably should have stayed home then. The log for our next trip in late August pretty much says it all. " Every Year we seem to have an adventure. Some are scheduled and some are surprises. This was a surprise. We left under clear skies with light winds , a full moon , and a weather prediction that made the 80 mile run to the eastern edge of the Cortez Bank sound like a walk in the park. By 2AM when Tom took the helm the wind had come up and it was getting pretty uncomfortable. By the time he left at 5AM the horizon was occasionally illuminated by sheet lightening, the wind had worsened, and we were taking heavy spray over the flybridge. Meanwhile down below Pat and Jim were trying to drill out the door lock to the head which finally gave in to prying and chipping 2 hours later. At first light the ocean didn't look so bad and we could dodge the low wind driven breaking swells. The rain worsened (the radar is useless in the rain) and the coast guard belatedly identified the problem as a tropical depression and advised everyone to go home and put their feet up by a warm fire. Which seemed like a pretty good idea at the time but home was 80 ugly miles away and well --there just had to be fish here. There weren't any fish here. Maybe they didn't like to get wet in the rain. Lonely Albacore 2 Albacore and 2 Yellowfin "
I suppose we are just slow learners but this years Make A Wish Tuna Challenge found us at the same location a month later. This time there was no rain and lightening but the ocean was ugly, and the fish were just not there. It was a long hard night fighting our way out to the East Cortez and a long 12 hours of trolling for naught. As Good as it Got
This year thanks to Ken Fujioka's help with fishing spots on the 9 mile bank we made 4 bottom fishing trips to the 9 mile bank. Two in November November trips Ken and I spent new years eve day on the bank and Edward McArdle and I finished up in February. Although the fish got a bit smaller by February we usually came back with limits of Boccacio, and a Ling and Red or two on each trip.
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