Excel returned to Fisherman’s Landing January 20 under Justin Fleck’s hand after the annual Team Hoo Cow Hunt 15-day trip. The boat was loaded with large tuna up to 345 pounds, and visited El Banco off Mainland Mexico as well as the southern banks off Baja. Ken Bell and Mark Dorton were chartermasters.“We found excellent drift fishing for 80 to 150-pound tuna on huge bird schools down there,” remarked Fleck to dock reporter Bill Roecker. “Our biggest fish were all on the southern banks.
“It was 82 degrees at El Banco,” continued Fleck, “and the bird schools were so big they showed up from many miles away on the radar, big old blobs of birds. Fishing was so fast the kite rotation lasted 15 seconds to two minutes. We didn’t have much more room for fish. We ended up with ten tuna over 200 pounds and two were over 300.”
Eric Griggs of Melbourne, FL spent three hours and 15 minutes battling a 345.6-pound yellowfin tuna.
“After an hour and a half I was getting anywhere with him,” said Griggs, “so they put me in the skiff. He bit on a double sardine rig under a balloon.”
Eric said he used 8/0 Eagle Claw hook on 130-pound Momoi fluorcarbon, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 80 w reel modified by Cal Sheets, on a Calstar 660 XXH rod.
Griggs posed with his fish, mildly concerned that his six-foot, five-inch height might make it look small. It still looked big. He said his best previous tuna weighed 237 pounds.
Wes Neally of Yorba Linda also got a supercow, a 302-pounder, on a sardine and a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He said he used 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6463 XXXH rod.
“He came up on the bow after I went for a skiff ride during the three and a half-hour fight,” said Wes. “Yeah, he spooled me. He came up on the bow at the end. My best fish before was 257 pounds."
Dean Jefferies of Paso Robles won third place for a 286-pound tuna.
“It was two hours plus,” said Dean. “He stayed out on the surface and finally came up on the stern, thanks to Mike Ramirez for helping me.”
Dean said he used a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 50 VSW reel worked over by Cal Sheets on a Calstar 7455 XXH rod.
Carl Dorton of Tarzana bagged a 274-pounder on a sardine under a balloon on an 8/0 REC hook tied to 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-popund Line One Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Sabre 655 XXXH rod.
Chartermaster Ken Bell of Camarillo got a 273-pounder he called “…a hard fish.”
Bell fished a sardine on an 8/0 Black Pearl Eagle Claw hook tied to 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 30 VSW reel and a Calstar 7455 XH rod.
Mark Dorton (Carl’s son) of Woodland Hills found a 266-pounder with a sardine on an 8/0 REC hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra, on a Penn 50 VSW worked by Sheets and a Calstar 7565 H rod. David Bowers of Adelanto got a 255-pounder on a double sardine rig under the kite. He said he used a 7/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 W reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6463 XXXH rod.
Al Shakespeare of Glendale spent a long time coaxing a 245-pounder that bit on a sardine and a ringed Super Mutu hook.
“Two hours,” said Al, “he was a mean fish.”
He used a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook and 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon tied to 100-pound Big Game line and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with a Sheets’ treated Penn 50 S reel and a Calstar 7455 XH rod.
John Nappo of Long Island, NY was on a turnaround, the second of two successive trips. He got a 210-pounder in 90 minutes on a sardine and a 7/0 Quick Rig hook on a BHP wind-on leader of 80-pound Seaguar and 100-pound Line One Spectra.
“My rig was awesome,” he told Roecker. “I got all my fish on both trips on an Accurate 30 and a Super Seeker 2 x 4 rod.”
Steve Olson of Newbury Park had a three-hour fish of 206 pounds. It was a sardine-biter. He used a 6/0 Eagle Claw hook, 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and a130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 30 S reel worked over by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 655 XH rod.
Curt Wiesenhutter (388-pound world record holder) of Coeur d’ Alene, ID got a 202-pounder. It was a warm-up for his second trip, as he planned to go back out with the Excel.
“My luck wasn’t all good this time,” explained Curt. “I lost one big fish during a spooling and broke a hook on another.”
Curt got his tuna with a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 100-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with a Penn 50 reel by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 655 XXXH rod.
Skipper Fleck said his Puerto Vallarta fish didn’t come from the bank itself, but from several miles off. One of the fish caught on this trip on the southern banks had been tagged and released by Royal Star in 2007, he noted.
“It was only six miles from there when we caught it again!”
First Spinning Reel Cow
“We had 27 cows and the supercow,” said Intrepid skipper Kevin Osborne January 20, after docking at Pt. Loma Sportfishing. He was just back from the 12-day WestCoastFishing.com trip with 18 anglers. “We had four great days out of six days of fishing.”
Jack Gibson of Oceano had the supercow, a 338.4-pounder he fooled with a squid under a balloon. The big squish was pinned to a 20/0 Mustad circle hook, he said.
“He got most of my line on the first run,” Gibson told dockside scribe Bill Roecker. “Then he made three or four more runs during the fight. When he came up at the end we got him at the bow. My best fish before this one was 45 pounds.”
That made this one his best by 293 pounds, maybe the widest spread to date.
Gibson’s fish wasn’t eligible for the jackpot. He used a boat rig with 100-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6364 XXXXH rod.
Chartermaster John Bakos of WestCoastFishing.com won first place for a 277-pound tuna. He said he bagged it with a squid under the kite on the boat’s rig after a fight of an hour and a half.
“My best fish before was a 72-pounder,” he remarked. He also had a 210-pounder.
Kurt Kohler won second place for a 255-pounder.
David Tang of Tucson won third place for a 250-pound tuna, a fish he took with a sardine on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook and a four-ounce sinker on 100-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 100-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with an Accurate 12 topless reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH rod. He also had a 219-pound tuna.
Kevin Fitler of Truckee caught a 255-pound yellowfin with a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a topless Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 XXH rod.
Eric “The Wireman” Berga of Kona, HI also bagged a 255-pounder, with a sardine and a 5-ounce sinker. He said he used a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon tied to 130-pound Momoi and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He fished with a Penn 50 reel treated by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 655 XXXH rod.
“I got him in 45 minutes,” said Eric. “My best one before was a 197.”
Jack Gordano of Monterey had five cows: 237, 212, 202, 202 and 200 pounds. He said he baited sardines on 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks. He used 80-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 100-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 30 reel modified by Cofe and a Calstar 6460 XH rod.
Likely the biggest story of the trip was the catching of a 213-pound tuna by Jamie Massion of Calabasas on an Accurate spinning reel. It was the first cow to be caught on spinning gear. He’s been trying to do it for a couple of years, as have several other anglers, but this time he was there at the proper moment.
The fight lasted an hour and a half, he said. The fish bit on a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad Hoodlum J hook. He used 90-pound Momoi leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate TwinSpin 50 reel. His spinning rod was custom-built by Bob Sands Tackle, a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH model, with the guides on “the wrong side,” of course.
He fished the rig on the rail, he said, with the aid of a device he calls “Thunder Down Under,” a cradle of sorts to keep the rig up off the rail, so the line goes back and forth without rubbing.
“I’m not sure what to say about it,” he told Roecker. “This is my second season of trying."
It was a major achievement, and the fishing community has been waiting for it longer than Massion has been trying.
Other cow catchers aboard the Intrepid were:
Greg Winfree, 247, 200
Jim Hartshorn, 234
Tina Alafa, 225
Michel Wallace, 218
Kingsley Sherwood, 216
David Choate, 213
Ron Wait, 204
Daniel Hannegan, 202
Doyle Lloyd, 202, 201
