DOGHOUSE26
08-31-2009, 11:10 PM
Got back last Friday AM from our annual 5 day aboard the American Angler; fishing was so-so however the Shark Encounters were better than 90% of the stuff you see on Discovery which made for an enjoyable trip.
Sam Patella usually Captains our trip each year however this year he had back surgery which won't let him get back on the boat until November, Ray Lopez is Sam's and Brian's right hand man and at the old age of 25 he would be leading our group for the first time since we watched him grow the past 5 years under their wing. Ray has adapted quite well from being the happy go lucky deckhand into the I better find some fish soon or the customers will attack me at dinner mentality; it's a rough business!
We left Pt Loma @ noon Sunday, there were good reports on the 95 mile Tuna Grounds and slow reports coming from Guadalupe so we chose to stay offshore for afternoon of the first day and all of the next. We didn't catch anything the first evening and the next day was slow ; I couldn't catch diddley and ended up with 3 - 25# albies and a 20# YFT. My buddy Pat had 10 albies and most of the other 17 guys averaged about 5 fish. We ate dinner on the way to Lupe, arriving at the south end of the island around 10AM. The YFT Tuna had been hanging with the Black Porpoise in the deeper water off the isle, once we found them we would coast ahead of the pack and pick off 2-4 fish each stop. If we found them closer to the island we would drop anchor and the fish would hang around for awhile. But when we anchored the Great White Sharks followed and ate half our catch. And that was the show, sharks flying up the water column or from under the boat and nailing the 50-65# hooked tuna. I sucked again the first day; I had 1 Kite Fish which is basically a hand off, and a single tuna which lost his tail to the Taxman. One shark jumped 6' out of the water 20' from the boat and attacked the balloon; this character was about 14' long and ready to eat somebody, we noticed half of his dorsal fin was bitten off by another shark. There was another shark with GWS bitemarks on the face with an 8" divit in his head. the second day @ Lupe I caught 6 tuna in the 55-65# range and lost 2 to the sharks, it was still exciting! Our 4th day we ran back up the line for the offshore scene; we caught 9 BFT to 40#(I caught 3) and a handfull of albies before lunch. We had alot of skippys in the jigs all day and finally at sunset we found a school of BFT which the boat dumped it bait tanks and we ended up with 17 BFT to 45# ( I caught 1 and broke off another) to make an exciting finish for the trip.
I ended up with enough fish but finished out of the jackpots; still a great trip I would recommend it to anyone!
Sam Patella usually Captains our trip each year however this year he had back surgery which won't let him get back on the boat until November, Ray Lopez is Sam's and Brian's right hand man and at the old age of 25 he would be leading our group for the first time since we watched him grow the past 5 years under their wing. Ray has adapted quite well from being the happy go lucky deckhand into the I better find some fish soon or the customers will attack me at dinner mentality; it's a rough business!
We left Pt Loma @ noon Sunday, there were good reports on the 95 mile Tuna Grounds and slow reports coming from Guadalupe so we chose to stay offshore for afternoon of the first day and all of the next. We didn't catch anything the first evening and the next day was slow ; I couldn't catch diddley and ended up with 3 - 25# albies and a 20# YFT. My buddy Pat had 10 albies and most of the other 17 guys averaged about 5 fish. We ate dinner on the way to Lupe, arriving at the south end of the island around 10AM. The YFT Tuna had been hanging with the Black Porpoise in the deeper water off the isle, once we found them we would coast ahead of the pack and pick off 2-4 fish each stop. If we found them closer to the island we would drop anchor and the fish would hang around for awhile. But when we anchored the Great White Sharks followed and ate half our catch. And that was the show, sharks flying up the water column or from under the boat and nailing the 50-65# hooked tuna. I sucked again the first day; I had 1 Kite Fish which is basically a hand off, and a single tuna which lost his tail to the Taxman. One shark jumped 6' out of the water 20' from the boat and attacked the balloon; this character was about 14' long and ready to eat somebody, we noticed half of his dorsal fin was bitten off by another shark. There was another shark with GWS bitemarks on the face with an 8" divit in his head. the second day @ Lupe I caught 6 tuna in the 55-65# range and lost 2 to the sharks, it was still exciting! Our 4th day we ran back up the line for the offshore scene; we caught 9 BFT to 40#(I caught 3) and a handfull of albies before lunch. We had alot of skippys in the jigs all day and finally at sunset we found a school of BFT which the boat dumped it bait tanks and we ended up with 17 BFT to 45# ( I caught 1 and broke off another) to make an exciting finish for the trip.
I ended up with enough fish but finished out of the jackpots; still a great trip I would recommend it to anyone!