Well well well, where to start...
Just got back from the 5-Day Ken Bernstein Charter aboard the Spirit of Adventure...freaking EPIC fishing offshore and at San Benitos Island...words cannot explain how much fun it was and how much bliss was achieved...i've reached the pinnacle of long range fishing...It was the first time I've ever been out on a trip longer than 3 days...So I knew I was in for a treat...I'll let the pictures do the talking...all in chronological order...
Locked and loaded...
Here she is...the Spirit of Adventure...88FT long and 25FT wide...
This boat is pretty good sized...and way more than enough room for 19 brave souls...3 showers and 4 heads, air conditioned staterooms, galley with a flat screen TV and a host of other electronic goodies..
Then it's time to untie and head out for bait...scoops and scoops of cured Sardines...
Then a mandatory speech by Captain Mike Keating...awesome dude...along with his crew...Scotty,JP,Steve, Bubba, Dean, and Brian...these dudes are super cool and attentive
Then an awesome lunch spread was served...
Special Guest Ben Frazier of Avet reels was invited and he was a pleasure to have...I have several Avets and he hooked it up with goodies...he also raffled off a brand new Avet JX 2 Speed reel, which old man Lee won...He also taught me the fine art of building wind-on leaders...he's from the 'Nard too...local product...Ben is the man!
A lot friendships were formed...tips and techniques swapped...I learned a lot...we chilled until the dinner bell rang...Salmon,Rice, Veggies, and freshly baked peach pie...what a perfect way to cap the day off while watching the sun fade in the horizon...
The next day was the first actual fishing day, 140-160 miles south of San Diego...offshore...We had a slow pick at the Tuna, but eventually, they made a stronger showing from 2pm-6pm...The bigger grade of Yellowfin and Bluefin bit well...with 3-4 anglers hooked at any given time...a flylined Sardine upwind on a long soak produced bites...we ended up fishing the 40lb outfits...these fish gave us all they had...This is where my "Tuna Tamer" set up came out to play...I can tell you this, the drag system on the Talica is ultra smooth...The Phenix Black Diamond Hybrid 809XH delivered the wood with plenty of back bone to out muscle these fish when you had to...
Here's my uncle Thinh hooked up on his first ever Yellowfin...
And here is the result...a nice 20 pound class Yellowfin Tuna...
And here is Ben hooked up on a prototype Lamiglass freshwater bass stick...sick!
Then I get into the mix...with larger fish starting to chew...here's a nice 30lb+ model...
Then it happened...before this trip, the last few weeks were filled with much anticipation of me catching my first Bluefin Tuna...I read reports of Bluefin showing up steadily in the counts...In the middle of the Yellowfin bite, the bigger BLuefin started to takeover the show...I'll be the first to tell you, these things fight way harder than its cousin...I've never witnessed 50-80 yards of 65lb braided line rip off my reel in only a matter of seconds...they fought hard all the way to the gaff...in the end, low gear on the Talica became victorious...here's my first Bluefin...a very respectable estimated 45lber...
After popping our Tuna cherries, a celebratory pisto was in order...
A few nice "neck-tie" sized Dorado(a.k.a Mahi Mahi) were also caught...along with a few stray Blue Sharks, which were all released successfully...
The Tuna
bite picks up a little steam and almost goes full blown wide open...Here
are a few shots of my uncle and I commandeering the bow...
As the bite dwindled, it was time to shut her down for the day...and time to refuel...Japanese inspired Steak Salad...
After a good nights rest, we woke up to gray skies for Day 2...and commence the trolling rotation...I'm number 19, so the last dude to get to troll...
Locating the schools of Tuna were proving to be a tough proposition today...so I took many random shots...
Ben's custom wrapped rods...yep, by Eric's Tackle...sick abalone wrap...
Here's Scotty looking out for signs of surfacing Tuna and Kelp Paddies...
Not much action for most of the morning...so a lot of Jamming out was in order...
Then around 11am, I luckily get a jig strike while on my trolling rotation, that resulted in a nice Dodo...my first Dorado ever...this trip is worth it's weight in gold so far!!!
A short while later, we approached a kelp paddy that was loaded with Dodo's, rat Yellowtail, and football sized Yellowfin Tuna...this stop produced most of our fish for today...which was really lackluster...My uncle and I ended up with a handful of Tuna and Dorado...lunch was fresh Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi...bomb!
The rest of the day was spent looking for the mother lode kelp, but everything we drove by had little to no life under them..."The lights are on, but nobody's home..."
Then chartermaster Ken held a pow wow and proposed that we'd shoot another 100 miles south to San Benitos Island for a shot at the slug Yellowtail...Pretty much all of us were in agreement to make that trek....So off to benitos it was...time to rest...
We woke up on the lee side of Benitos to start Day 3...little did I know, mayhem was about to ensue...
I decided to start the day off with my new Super Seeker...dubbed the "Incredible Hulk"...Yo Yoing a scrambled Salas 6X jig was what I was using...while my uncle opted for the live sardine on the dropper loop...
It was slow at first...I only got a lone Bonito and a few Whitefish...only a few pig Yellowtail were landed in the wee hours of the morning...after a brief move, the Yellowtail started to bite...and bite well...I lost my first hooked Yellowtail to a damn seal...all I reeled in was a head...lol...Not long after 9pm, my uncle and I started to get on flylined sardines...30lb-40lb set ups were a MUST...these things are bruisers and will roll you up in an instant if you're not paying attention...here are the average 20-25 pound mossbacks...
The action was steadfast throughout the morning...we picked up Yellows on mostly bait...lunch time came quick and early...
Chicken Burrito served wet-style with beans and Santa Fe salad...
Lunch was served at a perfect time...the Yellows hit a lull and began to fade out at the current spot...after scarfing down lunch...the Captain made a very short move...only a 1/2 mile from the previous spot...he announced that there were "balls" of fish around the boat...and instructed the crew to start chumming the sardines...no a minute later, the Yellowtail were boiling on the bait and everything goes haywire... full throttle wide open bite...every angle goes bendo...everything was bit instantly...syrafce irons, yo yo irons, bait, plastics...didn't matter...as soon as the bait hits the water, it was annihilated by a monster 30-40lb class Yellowtail...
The Yellowtail start piling up faster than they can stuff them in the RSW hold...
I end up slaying Yellows after Yellows...on the Kicker 25 surface iron...I used the old faithful Calstar WC270DH-8H rod and Trinidad 16 with 30lb P-Line Mono...My mom bought me this rod back in 1995 and it's still catching fish!
Look how big my fish is in comparison to crewman Steve...
I also got some bad ass Go Pro Video footage...here is a still shot from one of my videos...I'm laying' the wood to a Yellow...my uncle is also bent in the corner while the rest of the deck is in pandemonium...I love this shit!!!
The boat is filling up fast with YT...even the RSW(Refrigerated Sea Water) hold was close to being plugged!!!
188 Yellowtail by 2pm...madness I tell you!!! We ended with 212 for the day...
After an epic Yellowtail bite, we decided to head back uphill to the Tuna grounds for one final shot at the Tuna...Beef Ribs, corn on the cob, and coleslaw for dinner...
Day 4 started early...in the lower zone again...and it didn't take long to get the action started...we found a LOADED kelp paddy right on the bat that produced bigger Dodo's and football sized Yellowfin...after we drifted off the paddy, the Bluefin started to chew and get into the mix...I didn't take much pictures or recorded videos because it was pretty much wide open from start til 4pm...
And the Bluefin started getting bigger...
Ben still doing his thang...
I ended up with a 2 really nice Dodo's and more football sized Bluefin...
Here are the counts...minus 2 more Yellowfin caught on the troll...That's 165 Yellowfin Tuna, 78 Bluefin Tuna, 221 Yellowtail, and 128 Dorado...thats 592 fish by 19 guys in 3.5 days of actual fishing!!!!!!! Now tell me that's not EPIC?!!!!
We capped off an amazing trip with a sensational Steak dinner with all the fixin's...
After a much needed rest, we arrive back in SD bay...all rods ready to go...that's money pictured here...
Offloading fish...
Then pushed up carts and carts of fish...over 25 carts filled of our catch...
My pile...and still more to be piled on...
My uncle's pile...also still growing
In closing, this was THE trip I've always dreamed about...catching a ton of good grade fish...one of these fish caught locally here would be considered a trophy fish...we were catching them like nothing down south.
Huge Thanks to chartermaster Ken Bernstein for hosting us as well as the Captain and Crew of the Spirit of Adventure. Their level of service was close to Lexus-Like...
Now it's time to get some rest...I'm Outro!!!
