Did a 1.5 trip a little over a month ago on the TBird out of Pt Loma Sportfishing with my brother and 2 very good friends.
The last time we, as a group, fished together, albacore was the only tuna being caught and most people were fishing with Penn 501s or Squidders as the only bait available were tiny anchovies. So, yeah, it's been a while!!
The original plan was to head south and paddy hop for dodos and yellows, but the weather turned snotty and the decision was made to head north towards San Clemente and deal with the not so snotty weather and fish BFT. The ride up was rough and several people got sick.
I brought 5 setups, but only fished 2:
- 7'8" Rainshadow blank I found at Fisherman's Landing in their bargain bin for $40. It was a heavy duty glass blank that felt like it was rated for 50-100lb. I had my brother wrap it. I paired it with a Penn FTH40NLD 2speed reel and 80lb braid and a 6' 80lb flouro leader. No mono.
- 6'6" Penn Ally boat rod rated 60-100 and a Penn FTH 60LD 2speed reel loaded with 100lb braid and a 6' 100lb flouro leader. Also, no mono.
We get to the zone at around 2am and I'm dead asleep in my bunk. Apparently my brother and my buddy David are screaming for me to wake up as someone was already hooked up. Don't hear a thing... until that tuna hits the deck and it start flopping about. Glad I sleep with my boots on. It's hilarious watching people fumble around in the dark trying to put on their boots half asleep. The idea of dropping down heavy jigs in deep water didn't appeal to me, so I fished the sinker rig exclusively. On my first drop, I get hammered and pinned to the rail. I quietly fight my fish as to not wake everybody up. I'm on for about 3 minutes before someone finally notices. It takes me around the boat once and I finish it off in the stern. It's a double gaffer and the crew estimated it to be around 70lbs. Sweet!! My first big fish! I didn't want to wait around for pics. I was too excited and I wanted another. I spent next hour soaking baits and not hooking up again. I decided to call it and went back to sleep.
I wake up around 7am and my brother and buddy are still fishing! Wow! I like to get some sleep. I order breakfast and pull my other setup from the racks. Pin on another lively sardine and drop it down. Hookup!!! Lol!! My brother was so pissed to see me hookup again. This one a bit bigger, but I was able to end the fight much sooner using the Rainshadow. Got it to gaff in about half the time.
I got lucky and limited out, so no more pressure for me. I spent the rest of the trip trying to get one on my 10' rod and my light bait stick for fun. No luck. Unfortunately, my brother skunked. He had one hanging for about a minute on his jigstick and a Colt Sniper, but that was it. David was able to get one. I was really hoping he'd get one as he drove all the way from Vegas.
If you look closely at his sunglasses, you'll see what looks like tape in the middle. He took them off at one point and put them in his backpack. At some point in the trip, someone must have leaned on his backpack and broke his glasses in half. I put them back together using 100lb braid and super glue. My other buddy Eric also lucked out and was able to avoid the skunk with the biggest fish of the trip at 120lbs.
It was a great trip considering most of the fleet who went south skunked and dealt with pretty bad conditions. It was a bummer my brother skunked, but it was great getting to share the rail again with them.
