A quick report for those headed out in the next month or 2 down on longer trips. Returned from our annual Accurate/Izorline/Calstart/Salas jigs 14 day trip. Tuna fishing was really good on 70-120 lb class tuna with some bigger ones caught. Sardines were on the small side so I was fishing mostly 3/0 Owner mutus on my 100 lb outfit (130 Seaguar Premier topshot, 3/0 ringed mutu, and 1-2 oz sinker). We did catch tube mackeral and those were the bait to fish. Tuna really jumped on those things. For my 130 lb rig, I used a ringed 5/0 mutu hook, 150 Seaguar premier, with a 1-2 oz sinker and used this when we had the tubes. At times I was fishing with a 4 oz sinker but I seemed to get bit fine with a lighter torp sinker. Bite was definitely a morning gig, anywhere from 4 - 10 am tuna were pretty active but after that it was scratch fishing. We did get into a crazy jig bite one morning, 4-6am we put on 28 tuna 60-175 lbs, all on knife jigs, PL 68s or Tady 14 glow. I thought the Tady was more effective cuz I could bomb it through the skipjack and small yft to get at the better grade fish underneath. Got bit both on the sink and on the grind. The 175 lber was caught on a knife jig.
Wahoo fishing was scratch fishing for us since we were following other LR boats so we were picking up their leftovers. We did manage to get everyone 1-2 wahoo. Mostly troll fish with a few biting jigs. DTX LRS seemed to be getting bit better than anything but the LRS model seems to have some of the same durability issues as the 220. I saw 3 brand new LRS plugs cracked or having seawater seep inside the plug which made them unstable after 3-4 troll rotations. I did catch one wahoo on a Capt Jimmy's bomb (green of course) in under a minute. I stopped the bomb at the boat after my 3rd cast on one stop (about 5 ft of line out) and a skinnie shot out from under the port corner stern, inhaled the bomb and jumped completely out of the water with it. When it hit the water it was shaking his head and I immediately yelled for a gaff. The skinnie took about a 10 ft run and stopped again to try and shake the bomb loose. I was able to get a few turns on him just enough for Brad to sink and gaff in his back and toss him on the boat. Talk about exciting. It was a smaller wahoo, maybe 25 lbs, I don't think I could have done that with a 40 lb skinnie.
Sharks got a few tuna but they were pretty well behaved. MIght have been because a few other boats were in the area spreading them out or they just weren't around. I hooked one that was probably 7-8 ft and saw another eyeing someones tuna that also about that big.
My 100 lb outfit was a Calstar 775XH with a Penn 20 VISX and 130 lb outfit the 775XXH and 30 VISX. Really impressed with the VISX reels. I also have the Makaira's and they have served me well too, especially the MK 20, both solid reels.
Gary T is the CM for the trip and always has some great give aways for the charter group and crew and daily prizes for largest fish of the day. I was fortunate to win some Accurate pliers for largest fish of the day, 169 lb yft.
We had great weather for the majority of the trip. Ride home was especially nice which is usually not the case this time of year. Got to listen to the wildcard games on Sirius radio which was nice coming home.
Capt Brian and the AA crew are always great and Josh and Chase did a great job in the galley.
Wahoo fishing was scratch fishing for us since we were following other LR boats so we were picking up their leftovers. We did manage to get everyone 1-2 wahoo. Mostly troll fish with a few biting jigs. DTX LRS seemed to be getting bit better than anything but the LRS model seems to have some of the same durability issues as the 220. I saw 3 brand new LRS plugs cracked or having seawater seep inside the plug which made them unstable after 3-4 troll rotations. I did catch one wahoo on a Capt Jimmy's bomb (green of course) in under a minute. I stopped the bomb at the boat after my 3rd cast on one stop (about 5 ft of line out) and a skinnie shot out from under the port corner stern, inhaled the bomb and jumped completely out of the water with it. When it hit the water it was shaking his head and I immediately yelled for a gaff. The skinnie took about a 10 ft run and stopped again to try and shake the bomb loose. I was able to get a few turns on him just enough for Brad to sink and gaff in his back and toss him on the boat. Talk about exciting. It was a smaller wahoo, maybe 25 lbs, I don't think I could have done that with a 40 lb skinnie.
Sharks got a few tuna but they were pretty well behaved. MIght have been because a few other boats were in the area spreading them out or they just weren't around. I hooked one that was probably 7-8 ft and saw another eyeing someones tuna that also about that big.
My 100 lb outfit was a Calstar 775XH with a Penn 20 VISX and 130 lb outfit the 775XXH and 30 VISX. Really impressed with the VISX reels. I also have the Makaira's and they have served me well too, especially the MK 20, both solid reels.
Gary T is the CM for the trip and always has some great give aways for the charter group and crew and daily prizes for largest fish of the day. I was fortunate to win some Accurate pliers for largest fish of the day, 169 lb yft.
We had great weather for the majority of the trip. Ride home was especially nice which is usually not the case this time of year. Got to listen to the wildcard games on Sirius radio which was nice coming home.
Capt Brian and the AA crew are always great and Josh and Chase did a great job in the galley.
