Overnight on the Old Glory - 11/2/18 (Non-Kayak)

[goldenglory18]

Since I’ve sold my kayak (again) and have had the itch, I decided to roll the dice and get out on a tuna trip before the end of the year. A buddy of mine hopped on an overnight trip out of H&M landing on the Old Glory. This was my first TUNA specific trip and wow was it an experience. I was on the boat for 23 hours and had less than three hours of rail time, but boy oh boy did we make that time worth our while.

We started the trip off with a quick pep-talk from Captain Klay. What a rad dude, and man does he know his stuff! He tells us the bite we are going after he has been on for the last 14 days straight, and we are targeting that specific school and only that school. This (HUGE) school of fish is feeding off a kelp paddy that they have attached a GPS sonar to and are continuously tracking. It’s drifting south, and is just barely within overnight range. His estimate is 90mi south of San Diego and about a 9hr ride out. He tells us to rig up every stick we brought with light (20-30lbs) line and #2 hooks and not to waste our time with anything else. When we hit the school, it’s going to be fast and furious with only two drifts on it before we have to turn back. “We can catch all of them or none of them, but if the last two weeks are any indication, it’s going to be amazing.”

After the long ride out, he wasn’t joking. It was on and it was A BLAST. I’ve never experienced anything even close to a WFO bite and this was pretty close. There must have been over 100 fish in the first drift, including yellowfin, yellowtails, and skipjacks. We reset and hit it again, and end up with just under 150 fish on the deck. Just absolute chaos.

Capt and crew tell us we need to turn around and start heading back. On the way in, we stop and hit a floating pad or two. Add one Dodo to the pile and a few more tuna and yellowtails. That was at about 10am and we are already behind schedule. Lines in, engines on, and we head back.
I ended up with three yellowfin, biggest at just under 20lbs, and two skipjack that I gave away. What a thrill these fish are…I can’t even imagine chasing trophy Bluefin!!

Here are the stats for the day…
36 Anglers
68 Skipjack Tuna
1 Dorado
114 Yellowfin Tuna
28 California Yellowtail

Rig of choice was an 8’ Calstar West Coast jig stick and Daiwa Lexa 400HD. 50lbs braid backing and long run of 30lbs mono tipped with #2 ringed hooks. This was the first time in a long time I didn’t see any of my braid throughout the day. I also caught a couple fish on a 7’ Calstar 15-30lbs rod and an AVET SXJ MC. I really liked the feel of the AVET, but needed a bit more rod to keep the fish out from the bottom of the boat. I may move some things around next time and add an MX sized reel to the 8’ rod and move the Daiwa to another stick. I’ve been comfortable chasing yellowtails and calicos with these rigs through the 2018 season but man that tuna fight is something else.

What an incredible experience. I can't recommend these guys enough. If anyone wants to go chase tuna in NOVEMBER, look these guys up!

Beautiful sights on the way out...


First Mexican sunrise I've had in about 20 years...


Meat lined up...


My three harvested fish


The smallest of my three...


...and the bigger two.


I love the sights just about as much as the action...


I think this one will be frame worthy...



Thanks for reading!

- Kenny

[ProfessorLongArms]

Nicely!!! Thanks for the share

[smokie]

Nice work! Thanks for the report.

[Jkfishing]

Great job hooking and landing yft.

Fluorocarbon and ring hook is the key for me.

[Rambo]

WFO, that is always a blessing from the fishing God. Great job on putting meat on the deck. Epic tales!

[constharper]

Thanks for your story.