Pacifica JIGGING GAME STRONG
June 20-22
37 BFT mostly a beautiful grade of 80-100#ers, 2 under 30#, 6+ over 100# (110-170)
I met Captain Andrew many years ago, but this was my first opportunity to fish with him and his young, conscientious and competent crew of Co-Captain Dan, Brandon, Cobra, Anthony and chef Nick. The BFT had been MIA for almost two weeks and the weather forecast was lumpy, bumpy and breezy. In line and at the landing, Cap Andrew made the last-minute call to go south so 90% of us scrambled online to get the annual Mexican Fishing License (MFL) which is $1004 MXN or $58.84 USD. One on our charter paid Seaforth Landing $100 USD which I suggest you avoid doing. A 2 Day MFL is $40 on the boat or at the landing. The annual MFL is good for 365 days from the date of purchase so if you only fish twice in Mexican waters during a calendar year you’ll save a minimum of $20 USD and or the Landings steep $40 extra MFL processing fee. And if you don’t fish more than twice a year, it’s still a win-win because you’ve donated $20 to our next-door neighbor’s fishery program.
On the way out of the harbor, Cap Andrew’s good friend and former Co-Cap Aliyar of the PS gave him an intel update on the new zone north 80-90 miles. There were plane reports and pics of massive sized schools of BFT, so many of the fleet had been looking in this zone for a few days and up til this morning most of the water searched was dead and dry. Aliyar reported this zone was starting to show life with good meter marks wherever they looked. So, Cap Andrew had a choice of continuing to go left or south and be on the BFT by ourselves (away from his code group) or turn right and head north to join a few in the fleet. Cap Andrew pondered, looked me in the eye and said we’re heading north. I’m pretty sure Andrew has some form of Alzheimer’s because it takes that to change from a last-minute to a last-second call imho.In hindsight, he made the right call for us.
It's a good 10-hour run uphill to the new tuna grounds so around 8PM we’re locked in serious search mode. We meter, setup, slide and see schools disappear from the screen on the first two stops then at 8:30PM we get a school to stick. Cap Andrew is marking them deep at 450-500’ so I grab my Calstar 775XH paired to my Avet HXW blue’d by David Rocci with 80# JB Hollow and a 175# fluoro wind-on tied to a Stainless Steel Solvkroken Svenskepilk Rustfri 600g Cod Jig with a 5’ 300# mono crimped bite guard. I had 3-night jigging and 2-night rail rod jigging setups to choose from, 200 to 600g but swells 6-8’ at 6-8 sec with 12-15 mph winds, I chose heavy. I tossed the jig downhill straight out from the bow and at 65 seconds (marked line to 400’) or about 700’, < 30 degrees scoped, I’m the first to get bit, pinned-to-rail hard, and I still short pump 5-6X to insure a solid barbed hookset. A few minutes later Richie is bent hard and minutes later Thanh is bent as well. I know because this mean beast took me 4X around the Pacifica platform! Thanh and I landed 100#ers while Richie’s taped out at 170#’s. The Combat Crew (Half of Us ) , up from Midnight to Sunrise, land 8 more so our first night total is at 11 BFT. 10/11 BFT were caught on KB’s from 200-400g.
At grey and sunrise, around 6AM, we switch to flylining, sinker rigs and lighter 100-200g knife jigs. Hai or Mr. Le gets hot and seems to be pulling on BFT all day. It didn’t matter if he was flylining, sinker rigging or jigging, he got bit. Kaz hooked a good one on lighter line and tried to set the record for longest time to land a 100#er. Not sure if he broke the time record but I know he broke my record for laps around the boat! Dorian was up to 4 BFT with his favorite 200g KB but on his fifth fish his line snapped, and the hot jig sank silently to the taxman at bottom of the sea. We had 22 BFT for the day which is excellent considering the conditions and circumstances. Around 5PM the wind like magic turned on just like it was forecasted, the nice cool 10-12 mph winds went to 18-20+ mph and the 6-8” swells turned into 8-10’ with shorter intervals and our platform became a bit turbulent. It looked like we’d have to head back to the barn early but Cap Andrew had other plans to head inside or lee of SCI and fish as long as we could. What I heard about him is true; he’s sharp, intense and relentless on the water. Very few knew he was under the weather and fighting a cold. We left the grounds at 10:45 PM. Fortunately we were heading downhill and downwind for a smooth and restful ride back. Mike K got hot at night and landed 3/4 that we caught.
High Stick Award goes to Hai Le for harvesting 6 BFT.
Honorable Mention to Mike K for harvesting 5 BFT. Jigging Game Strong.
Jackpot BFT to Richie L for his well fought 170#er.
Comeback Award goes to Kent H for landing his only fish on our charter, a 100#er on the last stop on his last drop of the night. Ninth inning, two outs and full count blast out of the park.
Thank you to James K and West Coast Jiggerz for helping us fill our Danny T and Friends Pacifica Charter.
He is good.
June 20-22
37 BFT mostly a beautiful grade of 80-100#ers, 2 under 30#, 6+ over 100# (110-170)
I met Captain Andrew many years ago, but this was my first opportunity to fish with him and his young, conscientious and competent crew of Co-Captain Dan, Brandon, Cobra, Anthony and chef Nick. The BFT had been MIA for almost two weeks and the weather forecast was lumpy, bumpy and breezy. In line and at the landing, Cap Andrew made the last-minute call to go south so 90% of us scrambled online to get the annual Mexican Fishing License (MFL) which is $1004 MXN or $58.84 USD. One on our charter paid Seaforth Landing $100 USD which I suggest you avoid doing. A 2 Day MFL is $40 on the boat or at the landing. The annual MFL is good for 365 days from the date of purchase so if you only fish twice in Mexican waters during a calendar year you’ll save a minimum of $20 USD and or the Landings steep $40 extra MFL processing fee. And if you don’t fish more than twice a year, it’s still a win-win because you’ve donated $20 to our next-door neighbor’s fishery program.
On the way out of the harbor, Cap Andrew’s good friend and former Co-Cap Aliyar of the PS gave him an intel update on the new zone north 80-90 miles. There were plane reports and pics of massive sized schools of BFT, so many of the fleet had been looking in this zone for a few days and up til this morning most of the water searched was dead and dry. Aliyar reported this zone was starting to show life with good meter marks wherever they looked. So, Cap Andrew had a choice of continuing to go left or south and be on the BFT by ourselves (away from his code group) or turn right and head north to join a few in the fleet. Cap Andrew pondered, looked me in the eye and said we’re heading north. I’m pretty sure Andrew has some form of Alzheimer’s because it takes that to change from a last-minute to a last-second call imho.In hindsight, he made the right call for us.
It's a good 10-hour run uphill to the new tuna grounds so around 8PM we’re locked in serious search mode. We meter, setup, slide and see schools disappear from the screen on the first two stops then at 8:30PM we get a school to stick. Cap Andrew is marking them deep at 450-500’ so I grab my Calstar 775XH paired to my Avet HXW blue’d by David Rocci with 80# JB Hollow and a 175# fluoro wind-on tied to a Stainless Steel Solvkroken Svenskepilk Rustfri 600g Cod Jig with a 5’ 300# mono crimped bite guard. I had 3-night jigging and 2-night rail rod jigging setups to choose from, 200 to 600g but swells 6-8’ at 6-8 sec with 12-15 mph winds, I chose heavy. I tossed the jig downhill straight out from the bow and at 65 seconds (marked line to 400’) or about 700’, < 30 degrees scoped, I’m the first to get bit, pinned-to-rail hard, and I still short pump 5-6X to insure a solid barbed hookset. A few minutes later Richie is bent hard and minutes later Thanh is bent as well. I know because this mean beast took me 4X around the Pacifica platform! Thanh and I landed 100#ers while Richie’s taped out at 170#’s. The Combat Crew (Half of Us ) , up from Midnight to Sunrise, land 8 more so our first night total is at 11 BFT. 10/11 BFT were caught on KB’s from 200-400g.
At grey and sunrise, around 6AM, we switch to flylining, sinker rigs and lighter 100-200g knife jigs. Hai or Mr. Le gets hot and seems to be pulling on BFT all day. It didn’t matter if he was flylining, sinker rigging or jigging, he got bit. Kaz hooked a good one on lighter line and tried to set the record for longest time to land a 100#er. Not sure if he broke the time record but I know he broke my record for laps around the boat! Dorian was up to 4 BFT with his favorite 200g KB but on his fifth fish his line snapped, and the hot jig sank silently to the taxman at bottom of the sea. We had 22 BFT for the day which is excellent considering the conditions and circumstances. Around 5PM the wind like magic turned on just like it was forecasted, the nice cool 10-12 mph winds went to 18-20+ mph and the 6-8” swells turned into 8-10’ with shorter intervals and our platform became a bit turbulent. It looked like we’d have to head back to the barn early but Cap Andrew had other plans to head inside or lee of SCI and fish as long as we could. What I heard about him is true; he’s sharp, intense and relentless on the water. Very few knew he was under the weather and fighting a cold. We left the grounds at 10:45 PM. Fortunately we were heading downhill and downwind for a smooth and restful ride back. Mike K got hot at night and landed 3/4 that we caught.
High Stick Award goes to Hai Le for harvesting 6 BFT.
Honorable Mention to Mike K for harvesting 5 BFT. Jigging Game Strong.
Jackpot BFT to Richie L for his well fought 170#er.
Comeback Award goes to Kent H for landing his only fish on our charter, a 100#er on the last stop on his last drop of the night. Ninth inning, two outs and full count blast out of the park.
Thank you to James K and West Coast Jiggerz for helping us fill our Danny T and Friends Pacifica Charter.
He is good.
