Best So Far
Mike Lackey docked his Vagabond after a nine-day trip to southern waters that produced the season’s first cow (tuna over 200 pounds) and the best yellowfin so far this season.
The giant yellowfin weighed 274 pounds on the certified scales at Pt. Loma Sportfishing. It was caught by Mike Gregg of Lake Forest on a mackerel and a 4/0 Mutu hook. Mike tied his hook to 100-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 100-pound Spectra backing, on a Penn 30 S reel and a Daiwa 561 XXH rod.
“It fought me for two hours and 20 minutes,” remarked Gregg. It made a first run of 150 yards and then fought deep. It took me around the boat twice, and I used the rail.”
The day before Lackey brought in the first Baja cow, the following posting came from the banks.
Notes From Vacaville“The questions regarding cows are probably one of today's main topics concerning long range fishing,” wrote American Angler skipper Brian Kiyohara December 2, 2006.
“It is our opinion that it is just the beginning. We started out in the zone at daylight and almost immediately saw sign of big fish. We saw excellent sign of scattered big fish almost identical to what we saw on some of our best days last year.
“There were probably six or eight deals where we slid on spots that were made up of 10-20 big cows erupting out of the water. We managed to hook about 10 fish today and ended up putting five of those aboard. Sam Ishida and Dave O'Halloran led today's parade with a 267 (pictured) and a 214 to go along with Larry Bolan's and Mark Curry's deuces from the day before.
“For everyone at home the formula is pretty simple. During the past month everyone has seen sign of fish in the area. Last week Mike Lackey got the first fish to bite. The last two days we not only saw fish but also had the opportunity to put eight of these big fish aboard. It sure seems like this is just the beginning of good things to come. In our personal opinion, the big fish bite is starting later this year due to warmer water temperatures.
“After seeing the amount of fish that we saw the last two days, the formula equals one thing. The opportunity to catch a big fish is now...Obviously there is no guarantee that conditions will remain optimum, but things sure look good.”
