Bruce Ito, Dennis Sata and Robert Nishi with some July Albacore
Neal Sullivan works on a large bigeye under the watchful eye of Tom Neuman and son Shane
Erich Schenk and a 35 lb. Albacore from a 30 fish stop !!
We started the year with two April runs to the Islands
which offered very good fishing for Yellowtail up to 15 pounds.
The best trips were in May when fish were holding in the Middle
Grounds and at the trench south west of North Island. The water was warm and
there were hopes that the lingering El Nino would produce another
record season. It made for a nice start to the season and refilled the freezers
for Bruce Ito and others.
In early June we struggled thru two Albacore trips on westerly headings and put only a half a dozen fish in the cooler.
.Finally we got fish to come to the boat on a late afternoon bite for Jerry Schneider, Adam
Jonas, Bruce Mrosko and Ed Muricio. Albacore fishing was the rule for the next several trips
one more to the trench near the 43 fathom spot and the remainder of the
trips to the 295 area below Ensenada. This area was productive all season and trips
averaged 5 or more Albacore per angler.
In August a school of smaller yellowfin moved into this area and
we were catching bigger Albacore mixed with large numbers of 5 to 10 lb yellowfin.
We also fought our first big fish of the year when we hooked but failed to boat two
larger tuna. Several Bigeye over 100 lbs. were caught in the area.
Two storms churned the water and brought colder water from the north in
early September and the late season bite of Yellowfin and Dorado that we enjoyed last year
never materialized.
Another outstanding season of thirteen trips. Steady limit fishing for Albacore was the rule all
summer. Hopefully the long fins will return next year and the small yellowfin will grow
up a bit and bring the Bigeye back with them.
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