NLA 1.75 December 3-5, 2021
25 Anglers
100 BFT 15-80#, mainly 20#ers, 2 YT 25-30#
Captain Adam
Chef Raul
Crew Matt, Josh, Aaron, Max
We left Point Loma Landing under cold and cloudy skies but once onboard most of us had our heads down the first hours gearing up to even notice. Some of the Big Boys had been caught the week before so while kids have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads at this time of year, we had visions of butterballs and cows bending our rods with line caroling off our reels. Fueled and baited, it was supposed to be a 10 hour run to the tuna grounds at Tanner with an eta of 9:30 PM. On the way, eclectic extraordinaire chef Raul cooked us some tasty homemade lasagna (see pic). Tummy happy, head and body netted in a food coma, me and almost all waddle the ladder down below to rest up for battle. Around 6:30PM my heart alarm starts pounding louder as the NLA engines get quieter. I’m up on deck, it’s dark and cold but Adam’s on the speakers saying he’s marking the Big Boys so adrenaline takes over. We’re 3 hours away from Tanner and just outside Desperation. For 30-45 minutes KB’s, SK’s, FF’s ...drop deep for no biters. All show and no go so we keep on rolling through bumpy water. Rack of lamb that melted off the bone, couscous and grilled asparagus for dinner. Did I mention that Raul could cook! 3AM, Night Cap Josh slides over a high spot and we anchor up. Nothing on the meter but the plan is to make squid for bait. For one hour we’re trying to net them but only the 2-3” models are attracted to our overhanging light. At 4AM we’re all about to hit the galley or bunk again when Josh yells “ they’re here and under us!” I drop my pink 250g KB tied straight to 30’ of 100# mono, 400+ yards of Maxcuatro 100# braid on a Lefty HXJ Raptor and Hydra KB PE8-12 stick. I’m bit almost instantly and a few minutes later the first BFT hits the deck. More wake up and rods are bending with hooping and hollering following. Next two fish I hand off to Nancy who spiritedly battled the two 20#ers to the deck with my lefty reel. She had one limit by 5AM with one to go since this 1.75 had a multiday permit for two limits! Our first stop tally was 45 BFT. 4-5 hour anchor bite so about 8:30AM we pull up and go searching. With the sunrise, most of us shift to flylining dines on 20-40# fluoro. There were a few exceptions though that stuck to working the jigs for the entire 15 hours of rail time. High and hotstick Deon was one of them and he was on fire almost every stop with 14 notches etched to his belt and 2 handoffs to boot. On every stop, depth ranged from 200-400#, Deon sat and rented the port stern corner casting 100’ downwind a 200-250g yellow and pink rockcod jig with twin 5/0 or7/0 assist hooks attached at the bottom. As we drifted or anchored, the mystery jig would hit bottom and be almost vertical at the port stern corner, then he’d work it by flipping it off the bottom like he’s fishing for rockcod and he’d go bent! If that technique didn’t get bit he’d combine the yoyo technique ( fast wind or burn 10-20 cranks ), stop then add the rockcod flipping, slow pitch, technique and get bent again. If I wasn’t right next to him I wouldn’t believe what I just wrote down. In fact, Deon said he was on a charter with Markus a few weeks before applying the same technique and he got skunked. Go figure...Adam though did say that the BFT were marking on the bottom and up to 200’. So Deon’s method shined like a star on our trip. Dave, Dave pops, Kent and myself landed 20/100 on KB’s. I went 7/10 with 3 handoffs. I had to pay the Seal Tax on one loss, 200#+ seal grabbed my bft at deep color and ran 100+ yards with it when Matt took over and tried valiantly the next 10 minutes to get it back. #7 or 27# fluoro is pretty impressive, it was able to stop a seal and almost get my bft back to the deck but snapped with just 50’ to go. Matt did say though if my reel was right handed I’d of had the slightly chewed up bft on the deck. See video attached. Another loss was due to the normal chaos of getting tangled but the last loss was my booboo. I had new braid and new topshot put on my SX reel and had assumed my drag was set the same. One of the sweetest sounds on earth is seeing and hearing line peeling and whirring off on a flylined dine. Then setting it slowly to strike is when the “tug is the drug” overwhelms your senses. In this instant though, my blueprinted Avet SX with 27# fluoro was unwarily set at 20#+ of drag at strike, so my SD knot combusted instantly when it tapped tight. Pooh...#4 circle, 25# fluoro and butt hooked dine accounted for most of the flylined tally. Cap Adam moved us 5-6 times so instead of two turtle doves on day two, the 25 of us drummers drumming and pipers piping put on deck 100 BFT and two day limits! We were hoping to take one more shot at the Big Boys we saw earlier at Desperation, it didn’t happen so we’re still dreaming of them dancing next time on our line...It’s a wonderful blessing to have and share BFT at Christmas!
25 Anglers
100 BFT 15-80#, mainly 20#ers, 2 YT 25-30#
Captain Adam
Chef Raul
Crew Matt, Josh, Aaron, Max
We left Point Loma Landing under cold and cloudy skies but once onboard most of us had our heads down the first hours gearing up to even notice. Some of the Big Boys had been caught the week before so while kids have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads at this time of year, we had visions of butterballs and cows bending our rods with line caroling off our reels. Fueled and baited, it was supposed to be a 10 hour run to the tuna grounds at Tanner with an eta of 9:30 PM. On the way, eclectic extraordinaire chef Raul cooked us some tasty homemade lasagna (see pic). Tummy happy, head and body netted in a food coma, me and almost all waddle the ladder down below to rest up for battle. Around 6:30PM my heart alarm starts pounding louder as the NLA engines get quieter. I’m up on deck, it’s dark and cold but Adam’s on the speakers saying he’s marking the Big Boys so adrenaline takes over. We’re 3 hours away from Tanner and just outside Desperation. For 30-45 minutes KB’s, SK’s, FF’s ...drop deep for no biters. All show and no go so we keep on rolling through bumpy water. Rack of lamb that melted off the bone, couscous and grilled asparagus for dinner. Did I mention that Raul could cook! 3AM, Night Cap Josh slides over a high spot and we anchor up. Nothing on the meter but the plan is to make squid for bait. For one hour we’re trying to net them but only the 2-3” models are attracted to our overhanging light. At 4AM we’re all about to hit the galley or bunk again when Josh yells “ they’re here and under us!” I drop my pink 250g KB tied straight to 30’ of 100# mono, 400+ yards of Maxcuatro 100# braid on a Lefty HXJ Raptor and Hydra KB PE8-12 stick. I’m bit almost instantly and a few minutes later the first BFT hits the deck. More wake up and rods are bending with hooping and hollering following. Next two fish I hand off to Nancy who spiritedly battled the two 20#ers to the deck with my lefty reel. She had one limit by 5AM with one to go since this 1.75 had a multiday permit for two limits! Our first stop tally was 45 BFT. 4-5 hour anchor bite so about 8:30AM we pull up and go searching. With the sunrise, most of us shift to flylining dines on 20-40# fluoro. There were a few exceptions though that stuck to working the jigs for the entire 15 hours of rail time. High and hotstick Deon was one of them and he was on fire almost every stop with 14 notches etched to his belt and 2 handoffs to boot. On every stop, depth ranged from 200-400#, Deon sat and rented the port stern corner casting 100’ downwind a 200-250g yellow and pink rockcod jig with twin 5/0 or7/0 assist hooks attached at the bottom. As we drifted or anchored, the mystery jig would hit bottom and be almost vertical at the port stern corner, then he’d work it by flipping it off the bottom like he’s fishing for rockcod and he’d go bent! If that technique didn’t get bit he’d combine the yoyo technique ( fast wind or burn 10-20 cranks ), stop then add the rockcod flipping, slow pitch, technique and get bent again. If I wasn’t right next to him I wouldn’t believe what I just wrote down. In fact, Deon said he was on a charter with Markus a few weeks before applying the same technique and he got skunked. Go figure...Adam though did say that the BFT were marking on the bottom and up to 200’. So Deon’s method shined like a star on our trip. Dave, Dave pops, Kent and myself landed 20/100 on KB’s. I went 7/10 with 3 handoffs. I had to pay the Seal Tax on one loss, 200#+ seal grabbed my bft at deep color and ran 100+ yards with it when Matt took over and tried valiantly the next 10 minutes to get it back. #7 or 27# fluoro is pretty impressive, it was able to stop a seal and almost get my bft back to the deck but snapped with just 50’ to go. Matt did say though if my reel was right handed I’d of had the slightly chewed up bft on the deck. See video attached. Another loss was due to the normal chaos of getting tangled but the last loss was my booboo. I had new braid and new topshot put on my SX reel and had assumed my drag was set the same. One of the sweetest sounds on earth is seeing and hearing line peeling and whirring off on a flylined dine. Then setting it slowly to strike is when the “tug is the drug” overwhelms your senses. In this instant though, my blueprinted Avet SX with 27# fluoro was unwarily set at 20#+ of drag at strike, so my SD knot combusted instantly when it tapped tight. Pooh...#4 circle, 25# fluoro and butt hooked dine accounted for most of the flylined tally. Cap Adam moved us 5-6 times so instead of two turtle doves on day two, the 25 of us drummers drumming and pipers piping put on deck 100 BFT and two day limits! We were hoping to take one more shot at the Big Boys we saw earlier at Desperation, it didn’t happen so we’re still dreaming of them dancing next time on our line...It’s a wonderful blessing to have and share BFT at Christmas!
