SENIOR ANGLERS MAKE BAJA FISHING TRIP ABOARD THE PACIFIC VOYAGER

July 20, 2004, Lee Wood, Oceanside Senior Anglers, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico Offshore Fishing:

Twenty Oceanside Senior Anglers left Seaforth Landing on the Pacific Voyager for an overnight tuna trip Tuesday July 20th and fished Thursday.

The trip down the 80 miles was somewhat bumpy and uncomfortable. We started trolling around 6:30 but at a brisk speed as we were still over an hour away from our intended spot. The fishing was uneventful as we picked up a trolled fish here and there.

By noon we had maybe thirteen albacore and two yellowtail with only one bait caught tuna on board.

Around 1:45 when we should have been on our way home we hit a bite that went on for over forty-five minutes. It seemed we were all hooked up for that period of time, and the crew kept us out of as many tangles as they could, but it was frantic. We managed to get one for every one lost and they were biting the fifty pound rigs as well as the twenty-five pound rigs.

I was using 25 pound and landed three of the brutes and lost three as we all seemed to catch one for every one lost.

These tuna were all over thirty pounds and the jackpot winner Pat Cassidy landed a 41 pounder.

All in all we managed to land 50 albacore and two yellowtail. There were a lot of tired old anglers on that trip home, but happy ones as we all caught at least one of the fatties.

Unfortunately I do not have the water temps, but the day before they were 64 and 65 degrees. The skipper was JP, the chef was Jeff Lindwood, the deck hands were Greg and Cole and the second ticket was Roger. Greg and Cole did an excellent job of keeping the tangles to a minimum during the frenzy. while Jeff and JP did a good job of gaffing and also in helping direct traffic. The Chartermaster for the trip was Ron Parker and the rest of the members are Walt Soper, George Ruble, Pat Cassidy, Jerry Porter, Bob Porter, Jack Allen, Gary Thompson, Lee Mueller, Billy Mathews, Ric Castro, Asa Mori, Chuck Berridge, Rod Morris, Vern Francis, Jim Clark, Jerry Auerbach, Rick Emmons and myself.