Drew Henderson backed Tommy Rothery’s Polaris Supreme into her slip at Fisherman’s Landing January 13 after the annual George Davis charter with eight anglers aboard. The trip this year was a 13-day excursion with a fly back option from Cabo.

“I guess we’ve been doing this for a dozen years,” remarked George at the landing scales.

“Five of our eight fishermen got their personal best tuna this time. It was also our best trip for weather.

There were four cows aboard, with many other fish from 100 to 200 pounds.

Charlie Middleton got two of the big tuna, at 259 and 274 pounds. He won the single-place jackpot.

“I got the big one in 15 minutes,” said Charlie. He said he used a sardine on a 6/0 super Mutu hook tied to 100-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Tiagra 50 W reel and an Ugly Stick rod.

Brian Davis (George’s son) of San Dimas bagged a 234-pounder with a sardine on a 6/0 Super Mutu. He used 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon, 100-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline on a Penn 50 reel and a Calstar 670 XXH rod. Brian wasn’t at the landing.

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas took a 238-pound yellowfin on a sardine and a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu. He fished with 100-pound Blackwater, 100-pound unknown main line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 50 W reel and a custom Longfin 765 XH Calstar rod. Chandler posed with Charlie and Drew for pictures.

Eddie Stokes of Covina got very close to the cow club with a 198-pounder.

Al Tokunaga of North Hollywood found the trip’s most unusual catch. Fishing at four AM, Al dropped in with a sardine on a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook and a six-ounce sinker. He hooked what he thought was a big tuna, Al told dock reporter Bill Roecker. Skipper Rothery thought so too, and got the anglers up for the bite.

After about a half-hour, the fish was close enough to see an outline, and somebody shouted that it was a marlin. It was a billfish, all right, a swordfish of around 100 pounds. It was filleted, and all the anglers went home with swordfish for the table.



Landing Work Proceeds Quickly

All three San Diego landings are being worked on this winter. H&M Landing and Fisherman’s Landing were demolished, except for the store at Fisherman’s (which is open daily for business). Pt. Loma Sportfishing is getting a new exterior.

H&M’s new building is well up and underway. Work is underway on the foundations for the new building at Fisherman’s, and Pt. Loma is under wraps.



The new buildings will be ready for the next season, hopefully. A new monument-display is also in the works. The drawing shown here is by Bill Watts. The skipper at the helm in the sculpture looks much like Bill Poole, the pioneer long ranger who was so instrumental in starting long range fishing trips, a most fitting memorial.

New 2-Speeds

Daiwa has added new reels to the Saltist line. They are two-speed reels, said the countermen at Fisherman’s, and they come in the normal sizes for small salt water reels, with a price of around $400. This one is a Saltist 50.

Good Life On Angler

“The unbelievable weather just doesn't seem to end,” said the report from American Angler January 12, “as we were gifted another great day on the water. The day didn't start out that great as we found ourselves with no fish around us and the couple of other boats that were here had fish hooked. We didn't get located until about 10 in the morning, but once we did the opportunity to get a big one was once again available.

“We released some fish and ended up tagging about a dozen fish from 160 to 255 pounds. Dale Prichard caught the biggest fish, that weighed 256 pounds (he also had another one over 200 today). Dr. Corey Burak, Ruben Flores, Mark Johnson (pictured), Karl Bornemann, and Bob Danner were also part of today's two hundred pound club.”



Excel’s About Loaded

"We stuck with our plan today,” wrote Excel skipper Justin Fleck, “and had some action on 80 to 150-pound fish throughout the morning and left at noon to head up to the lower banks to try for trophies. This move will give us five days of fishing for cows. The weather is still picture perfect for us.”



A Good Day

“Hoodad here,” wrote David Choate for the Intrepid January 12. “Since we had such a great day today, Kevin is busy busy getting another RSW well chilling down just in case. We worked our way to another area last night, had a much better looking screen on the machines and we caught some squid for bait. Things just looked and felt like it was a positive change.

“And indeed it was a better day. We had some heart breaks, but we also had some fantastic fishing on 160 to 277-pound Tuna. When the smoke all cleared, the day's total was 17 good Tuna, with ten of them making the Cow mark, ringing Chad's Cowbell! Losses? We had some. Equipment failures, hook pulls, just name it and we had it. But such is the nature of the beast when chasing trophy Tuna.”



Rooster Among Cows

“Good evening folks,” wrote Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates January 12. “We finished our day off nice with an area that had sign of big fish. We had about eight bites in the afternoon and managed to land a 223, a 235, 236 and a 241. Needless to say we will be trying it again tomorrow and releasing fish under the 200-pound mark. Lets hope it works out.”



Supercow Makes A Good Day

“We got off to good start,” said Royal Star owner-skipper Tim Ekstrom January 12, “with a handful of opportunities at great big ones just after daylight then, unlike the previous couple of days, were able to keep something on the end of the line throughout the morning. A shift in conditions, and a disappearing act by the fish around us elicited a mid day move, but the afternoon and evening came on again with a classic hit on big cows late to end the day on a high note. We are very pleased with the results that included one more behemoth 331-pound brute for Miles Redman, six others from 202 to 292 pounds, and a handful of others that just missed the mark. In addition to our results in the hatch, the sign of these monsters was excellent with the main body showing itself for the first time since Saturday morning.

“The best part of Miles' exceptional catch is that the previous night, just after hitting the sack, he got up, headed back out on deck, and sought the assistance of crewman Blake Wasano to help him re-rig. I don't recall the exact dialogue but it was something to the effect of " I can't sleep. It is bothering me that this outfit is not ready and rigged like I want it for tomorrow. Can you help me get set up?"

“Blake, who is a meticulous tackle professional, took almost a full hour to replace Spectra, build a short top shot of Izorline 100-pound fluorocarbon, and prepare Miles for the day to come. Miles had a premonition of some sort. Right down to just before he got bit, he said, "This bait is the one".

“When he did hook the giant, it absolutely smoked his Shimano Tiagra 30 leading to a full hour of the reel in the water on a backup out five to six hundred yards from Royal Star. It was an exemplary battle afterward that resulted in a significant victory for all of us, but none more than Miles who is presently on cloud nine; and rightly so. An extra comment about the Tiagra 30 is also in order as it preformed flawlessly after being submerged for over an hour.”