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Big
Fish Happen 5-Day Trip on the Shogun --- June 2010
by
Chris Dunn (June 24, 2010)
Day 1
- After driving all night from Phoenix, I arrived at the Fisherman’s Landing parking
lot at 4:45am, only to find the lot completely FULL! Well, it was a
Saturday. Fortunately I was told about the “other” pay lot across N.
Harbor Drive and found a place to park the car for the next 5 days
without fear of it being towed away.  The
participants in this 5-day adventure slowly assembled in front of the new
Fisherman’s Landing tackle shop and we began signing in shortly after
6am. Everyone was onboard by 8 and we left the dock by 8:30 and
headed straight for the bait receivers. We quickly loaded up with
bait and cleared the point by 10am. Good thing we were heading downhill
as the wind and swells were UP. It was a comfortable ride. It
would be just travel the rest of the day.
Day 2- We continued to work our way towards the San
Benitos Islands in similar weather: Choppy and sloppy, but we were
still headed downhill. The wate r down here
looked better & warmer at 62 degrees. The jigs were out in a
fast troll and we picked up one bluefin. That was it for the tuna
action. We arrived at the middleground area of Benitos around 1pm,
joining the American Angler. That is when the first of our real
fishing action began. A few flurries of yellowtail here and there
for the rest of the afternoon had us ending up with around 60 fish for
the day, averaging 18-22 lbs. The fish bit equally well on
dropper loop, flylined sardines and yo-yo jigs. Blue/white and
scrambled egg 6X jr. was the ticket for those who chose to drop the
jig...then wind really fast! After the action subsided and the
sky grew dark, we anchored up for the night close to the kelp of the
West island where the Qualifier 105 had a few big yellows and WSB a
few nights previous to our arrival. One big yellow was
caught before midnight, but that was all we would see for a night
bite until early the next morning.
 Day
3- I got up for the gray bite at 5am. Soaked a bait on
the dropper loop and hooked up at 5:30am. Caught my personal best
yellow (31lbs) and eventually tied for second place in the jackpot!
One other biggie yellowtail and a nice White Sea Bass and that was all
for the early morning action. Time to start looking for more school
yellows. We fished all around both islands with varying amounts of success
and with the sea lions following us at every turn. At the end of the day
we added another 200 fish to the hold and I finished out my
limit. We anchored up for dinner, then took off for the offshore
area to find some tuna the next day. The reports were mixed,
but only a handful of boats had been through the zone the past two days
and the weather was supposed to be coming down a little. However, it
was a bumpy night rolling in the trough all night long.
Day 4- Although the wind was down from the previous few days, it
was still quite bumpy and lumpy with a steady 15kts of wind and
big swells. We fished a few meter marks for only one bluefin. I
caught it on 25lb line, a 25lb fluorocarbon leader and a Penn 140
Squidder reel...old school all the way! The rest of the day we
covered a LOT of water for not much. One lonely albacore on the troll and
two yellowtail off a paddy, one of which was the biggest anyone can
ever remember coming from offshore (measured 47lbs on a hand
scale...see the final report below). With offshore conditions
still poor and not much action reported by anyone else, we (Bruce)
decided to duck in to the beach for a little "junk fishing" the
next day. Faced with another day of *maybe* finding the tuna
in sloppy weather or pulling on some fish that are great eating, I think
everyone welcomed that decision and we were not
disappointed. Wherever he decided to go, we have trust in our
captain that he is making the best, most informed decision to make sure
we catch fish and have an enjoyable time. However, that also meant
another night of rolling in the trough.
Day 5-
Arrived at Sacramento Reef around 8am and had great action on quality
reds, sand bass, lings, calicos, whitefish in about 100'
of water. Oh yeah, the water temp was 55-57 degrees! It was
cold! But it was fun and we had a much more enjoyable time fishing for
some good eating fish rather than pounding the offshore waters for
bluefin or albies that may or may not be there. We had to pack it up by
noon to head back up the line, this time heading straight into the
wind and waves...still finding a steady 15-20kts of wind. Overall,
despite the weather challenges, we had a great trip with a great
crew on a great boat.
Here is
the FishingVideos.com report
for the web:
Big
Fish Happen Five-Day
Captain
Bruce Smith docked Shogun at Fisherman’s Landing June 23 following a
Big Fish Happen five-day trip. Unfavorable offshore weather and picky
tuna sent them to the inside, where they had exceptional yellowtail
fishing.
 The boats best fish, a 48.2-pound
yellowtail caught on a kelp paddy, was not eligible for the jackpot.
“I haven’t seen a yellowtail on a kelp like that in 15 years!”
Smith said. “We’d sure like to see more of those.”
Glenn Chen of Homer, Alaska, caught the big yellowtail on a
3/0 Owner hook, 30-pound Izorline, a Daiwa 50 SH reel and a
custom-wrapped eight-foot rod.
“That’s the first time in 30 years that I didn’t enter the
jackpot,” Chen said.
Duane Sawyer of Lemon Grove won first place with a
32.3-pound yellowtail. Duane used a 1/0 ringed Owner hook, 50-pound
line, an Avet Raptor reel and a six-foot rod. “Direct Tackle set up
my gear for this trip,” he said.
Jeff Hauser of Corona and Chris Dunn of Phoenix, AZ tied for
sec ond
and third with 31.6-pound yellowtail.
“We had our best fishing at Benitos,” Dunn said. “Rather
than fight the weather offshore, Bruce decided to fish Geronimo Island
and Sac Reef. We loaded up on rockfish and big lingcod.
“The water was really cold along the beach,” he added.
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