Bloodydecks/Intrepid 3-day Trip Report

[Marcus]

Wow, what a trip!

Once again the Intrepid put us on some incredible fishing.


Friday June 4

I'd been watching the reports lately and knew the fish were a long ways down. I had a sinking feeling that we were going to be fishing rockfish because the fish were right at the far reaches of 3 day range.

Got to the landing and started talking to Kevin. He had a plan and we were going long! I was excited as were most of the passengers. We were all willing to go for broke.

We got the boat loaded up and left the dock early. Hit the receiver and cleared the point with high anticipation of the fishing that lay ahead.

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We made a long run to 200+ miles. Making a run like this made fishing the first day out of the question. We passed areas of nice looking water and kelps but we needed to get south.

Kevin put on a great tackle seminar and everyone went about setting up gear.

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We had an incredible dinner and all passengers went to bed early with images of albies and bft dancing in their heads.

Saturday June 5

We were just north of the area we wanted to be in when we dropped the jigs in the water. We trolled and started looking for kelps and the right sign.

The water was good and there was a ton of life. Porpoise, birds, lots of jellies in the water.

We trolled for a while and people were antsy with anticipation. Everyone was waiting for that first bite of the morning. We trolled past some dry kelps and then found a good one.

The troller went off and we started fishing.

Baits hit the water and I was bit. The YT was greedy and took two baits. The fish was tag teamed and we got it to the boat. Nice big paddy YT. A couple of other YT were landed as was a BFT and albie. We knew Kevin had made the right call.

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We were back on the troll and started to see more boat traffic in the area. Spotter plane, pen boats and a seiner.

We stopped on a couple of meter marks but they wouldn't come up. Kevin and crew kept at it and spotted a nice spot of breezing fish. Unfortunately the spotter plane spotted it also. We were running for it when we noticed that the seiner was also making a run for it. We kept course but then had to give way as they were going to beat us to it.

We moved about a quarter of a mile away when Kevin came over the loud speaker. You could tell from his tone and excitement we had found the school we wanted.

"Braile bait port side, give it to them heavy! This is what we want!"

Boils erupted in the stern and baits went overboard. It was pandemonium! Everyone was bit and people were chasing fish up the rail, down the rail. Cries of "Fresh one!" rang out.

This was the start to a bite that everyone dreams about. Boils upswell, downswell, in the port corner, starboard corner and off the bow.

BFT and albies soon started to hit the deck. These were a great grade of fish. 20-35lbs seemed to be the consensus on deck.

Blood covered the deck as we put the wood to them.

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Our drift went on for 6+ hours and only stopped when it was dark. Javier put together a great dinner for a group of tired and hungry anglers. We got underway headed north so we would have a chance to paddy hop and try for some YT in the morning before we had to pull plug on the trip and make the long run home.

What worked:

Fluorocarbon. I fished up to 40lb mono with a fluoro topshot. It was a difference maker for me. Without fluoro on the fish seemed reluctant to bite, even if you dropped down to 20lb. I caught some fish on 20lb and 30lb with fluoro but when they're biting 40lb use it.

We never really got one on the troll so I can't say what worked and didn't as far as jigs go.

The BFT and albies did also bit the yoyo iron in blue and white.


Sunday June 6

We awoke a little sore but ready to spend a day on the hunt. We were heading north and looking for the ever elusive kelp paddy. We hit some dry ones and then trolled by a small one. From the bridge we could see a school of small YT making a beeline for the jigs.

"Hook up!" rang out and baits hit the water. We landed some of the smaller grade YT before they disappeared.

We also picked up a very large bonito.

We spent the morning and into the afternoon tacking north but never did find another paddy that was holding. We did see some great sign though. Small grade albies and BFT puddling, breezing and jumping. These fish were at the edge of the day and half range and should bode well of things to come.

Kevin came over the loudspeaker and we pulled the plug on the trip.

Gear was broken down and while the fishing had been slow this day everyone was in high spirits from the previous days carnage. We recounted and relived what had turned out to be a phenomenal day of fishing.

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Once again the Intrepid team put together an incredible trip. The crew and food were top notch. These are not newcomers to the scene and they proved their experience and professionalism on this trip. Hopefully the static that comes up will eventually recede.

Kevin was as professional as any Capt. I have met, his attitude was always positive and you never heard anything negative spoken. The crew, Mike Pritchard, Jesus, Dave, Mike, Deron, Javier and Allesandro did an awesome job.

The Intrepid is here to stay and I'm already looking forward to our trip next year.

[Grand Grouper]

Awesome report Marcus. Can't wait to get back out on the Intrepid. Below is a pic of my memorable trip with Captain Kevin.

[birddogs]

Nice work, guys. I'm kind of new to BD but not to fishing. Let us know when the next BD Intrepid trip will be. I wanna go.

[MF-FISHING]

Thanks for the great report and great pics!!!!

[SALTYDAWG]

Awesome report Lefty Kevin can sure find the feesh, I just pulled the trigger on a 12 day in Jan with him

[Freedom Roc]

Great report and pictures...Bloody Decks!

[@-EZ]

Great report and pix. Thanx for sharing.

[dweston]

Great read thanks for the report.

[Saluki]

Outstanding job by all!

[jscrib]

That looks like fun. Nice call.

j