Sacramento Reef and Offshore June 20-24, 2009

[Professor]

Dan Bonfield and I Left the dock about 5:30 am, picked up a couple of scoops of dines and headed to Ensenada to top off the fuel tanks before heading on south. Marina Coral looked to be only about 25% full as we pulled in. After taking on fuel at the marina we decided to top off the anglers at the breakfast buffet in the hotel. Great buffet and with the seniors discount and tip it came to a grand total of $18 for two. We got back on the boat and headed on down the line with San Martin being our evening destination. The ride down was uneventful but the closer to the island we got the worse the water conditions became. The ride was ok but the water color and temperature were not good. After a couple of hours looking around and viewing nothing other than a myriad of Humpback whales and fishing with no success we anchored up for the evening. The next morning was pretty much the same as the day before with the addition of some large spots of Humbolts. Since we forgot to bring our whale permits and we didn’t want any Humbolts we left for Jeronimo at about 9:00. Ten miles before Jeronimo the water temperature and color improved significantly. We spent an hour unsuccessfully trying to locate some yellowtail but the call of the Calicos at Sacramento Reef was strong so off we went to the Reef. It was immediately game on. When the dust settled at 6:30 in the evening we had caught and released 57 Calicos, 26 miscellaneous and 2 ling cod. The largest CB went 8#, the largest ling was also 8# and we also had an 11# whitefish. I’ve never seen a whitefish that big. We headed back to Jeronimo for the evening. We decided that the next day we would head offshore and look for some tuna. The morning seas that greeted us were less than welcoming. The swell was west northwest and it was very sloppy. Not a great ride and it was lunchtime before we hit tuna looking water. The color was good and the temperature held pretty much at 63.6˚. We finally broke the ice at 4:30 with a single 21# albacore at 30 16.72 116 38.78. At 6:30 we gave up and put out the sea anchor. By morning the ocean had laid down considerably and we were on the prowl by 7 am. At 8:45 we scored a triple and started boxing the area. By noon we had 11 albacore with a big fish of 29#. We continued to work the area for the rest of the day but the afternoon bite failed to materialize. The conditions continued to look good the next morning with lots of meter marks and some puddlers and jumpers. By 10:30 we managed a couple more fish but it was time to head home.

[NoSlack]

Sounds like another great trip down South. That Sacto reef sound like a place I could get addicted to real fast. Shoot me some photo or a credible eyewitness's name and I'll ring you up with a boat load of tournament point.

Mike

[Professor]

The reef is addictive. Once you get to Jeronimo you can see the breakers as they are only about 2 1/2 mile away. Then you hear them calling your name and it's all over. I've had tough pickings there but I've had more wide open bites. As is the case most of the time we didn't see another boat the whole time we were there. In fact the best we could tell the houses on the island have been vacated.

[yellowfin1]

Good on ya Yale! You are livin the life. SAC reef is way cool. The variety of fish we caught on artificials when we went along with you was amazing. I can still remember calico, sand bass, lingcod, yellowtail, and rockfish all in the same drift using fish traps. The best part was having 4 or 5 calicos competing to see who commits suicide.

[Al Gagnon]

Riley, I have been thinking of doing some longer range travels and I have maybe asked you this before. . How many miles between places to get fuel? What was the round trip miles. I have about a 300 gallon fuel tank and can travel 1.5 miles per gallon. I can get maybe 400 miles max safely on a full tank and would need 2 each 50 gallon drums for back up. Just trying to have an idea about fuel and bait. I would not like to get bait localy and have it die in 2 days. Send a post or PM me if you like. .

[Professor]

Right now my plan is to head down there again around the 17th of August and again around the 13th of September. Let me know if you want to tag along Scott.

Al, the fuel stops between San Diego and Cabo are Ensenada and Turtle Bay. Ensenada is ~ 60 miles south and Turtle Bay is ~360 miles south. On this trip I traveled 604 miles. Cedros last year was 906 miles. I wouldn’t get bait for either the Cedros or Sac Reef trip.

[Al Gagnon]

Thanks for your update. You must have a range of 500 miles or more.

[yellowfin1]

Yale,

The 17th of AUG trip sounds pretty good right now. I need to check a few things before I can commit to taking Tenacious down there. I'll let you know but, I think it's a probably!

Thanks Yale.
Scott

[DOGHOUSE26]

You make it seem like a stroll in the park Yale! How much fuel does Riley Hold ?

[Professor]

It’s not a stroll in the park but it’s doable with some planning and extra full on board. Speed is the key for determining what your range is. Go fast and you don’t go as far. Scott and I took our billfishers to Cedros and back a couple of years ago and it was a great experience. We hammered it fairly hard on this trip and we went through 450 gallons of fuel. I hold 270 in the main tank plus polys on deck and stops in Ensenada.

[yellowfin1]

Jeff,
The trip to SAC reef is really not that hard. Once you top off in Ensenada and assuming that you cruise down to Geronimo at 7.5 knots (trolling speed), you would have plenty of fuel to fish a couple days at the reef and return to Ensenada. Of course, going that slow requires more time and to do it right you might consider anchoring at San Martin each night in between Geronimo and Ensenada.

[DOGHOUSE26]

Scott,
How much fuel in separate containers did you carry?

[yellowfin1]

I carried 8-5 gal cannisters under the gunnels but, I found that once we got down to Bahia Tortuga that I only burned 102 gal from Ensenada. That 102 gal included a couple days of fishing around Benitos ans some running at 15 knots (for a couple hours). I would feel comfortable topping off at Ensenada and motoring down to Geronimo, fishing a couple days and returning to Ensenada without even bringing extra fuel. However, I'll probably bring an extra 20 gal just for any storm evasion or pirate evasion? I'm not sure what kind of mileage you get but, I'd think that it is better than the AD41.

[Professor]

An added wrinkle now is that is you can skip Ensenada on the way back you can swing outside on your return and fish tuna with the 2 day boats on the way back. If you have to go slow to conserve fuel you might as well be fishing. If you store the containers in your fish well they are out of site and out of your way. I like the 15 Gallon stubby drums and I can fit 6 of them below decks. On the billfisher I think you can get 5 in the fishwell. I use a 12 volt vane pump to transfer fuel. I can find out what the 15’s cost if you interested.

[Professor]

My typical travel plan is to get to Ensenada around 7 when the dock opens, pick up fuel and head to San Martin. You’ll get there later in the day for some fishing but the first day is largely a 150 mile travel day. The next day I usually look around San Martin in the morning but by mid day at the latest I’m headed south for the 35 mile trip to Jeronimo. I usually go right on by Jeronimo 2 miles and fish the reef until its time to anchor up for the evening at Jeronimo. Day three is fishing Jeronimo and the reef and early in the morning on Day 4 I’m headed outside to drag for tuna. I spend the night on the sea anchor and fish the morning of day 5 before heading on in to San Diego.

The second option in August and September is to forget the offshore stuff and spend the extra day in on the beach looking for the white seabass that by then will have left here and be down there. So many fish and so many choices.