Reports coming back from the long range fleet indicated some of the boats are finding good fishing, while others are looking for biting fish. Excel seems to be doing well on cow tuna. However, we got no photos in today’s emailed reports, so we are including a few from our latest trip on Red Rooster III that haven’t appeared before, shot by Bill Roecker, Paul Sweeney and Jack Nilsen. You’ll see the camp on Clarion, as American Angler and the Rooster checked in with the garrison there, a couple of nice tuna on the rail or at least heading that way, Deckhand Tom Ferrari and Accurate’s Gary Gillingham with a trolled-up skinny and a shot of an older gentleman engrossed in his on-the-rail technique with his new seven-foot Super Seeker 1 x 3 rod.


In Pursuit Of The Herd

“We arrived at the Lower Banks before daylight,” recalled the report from American Angler November 29, “hoping that today was going to be the day. We saw sign of middle-grade fish right away but it was real apparent that they were going to be hard to catch. The fish we did see were wild and as fast as they would come together they would blow apart. We then went into search mode and looked the better part of the day for zero sign. We finally saw the right batch of mammals that had a good dab of cows on it and things were almost textbook. We rolled up on them, saw the fish on machines and when we stopped we had three enormous blowouts behind the boat but unfortunately did not hook a fish. We stayed in that general vicinity the rest of the evening but could never find anything to work with. Only one small tuna joined us aboard today but we still have plenty of time.”



Excel At The Lower Zone

Skipper Justin Fleck called in November 30 with this report: "We got down to the lower zone yesterday morning. We have very good fishing down here. Good grade Yellowfin, anywhere from 100 to 225 pounds. There are a lot of 175, 180-pounders mixed in.



“Looking at the board from yesterday, we had 60 of those big tuna and 15 Wahoo. Big fish honors for yesterday goes to Don Burnside with a 206, Gary Ferguson at 208, Matt Kimmel at 210, Andy Markham with a 215 and the biggest fish yesterday was a 223.2 caught by Kenny Cirks. Starting out this morning conditions look the same, the weather is nice and the fish are starting to boil around. Hopefully we get another shot at them today. The guys are having fun down here, with good weather and good fishing.”



Big Withdrawal

“We arrived at the bank at around 10 am,” said the report from Independence November 29, “and the fish went on the bite as soon the anchor went over. The bite lasted all day long and into the dark. The yellowfin tuna were in the 100 to 190-pound range. The fishing was really as good as it gets, 100-pound gear and a sardine was the ticket as well as the kite. Dale Lethcoe had the best fish of the day which went just under 200 pounds, call it 195 to be on the safe side. The weather is good and we plan on doing this for another day or two before looking into other options. We also had a handful of wahoo to keep everyone on their toes. Thanks for checking in. We will report as long as the satellite phone has a signal. That has been a hit and miss thing lately down here in the lower zone.”



Keepin’ ‘Em Crossed

“We started our day off anchored up in hopes for some big Tuna,” noted Intrepid’s report for November 29, “and had a couple of bites before daylight. Unfortunately both fish found freedom and apparently passed the word. We did have a little sign with the occasional boil around the boat but not much else, so we pulled anchor and went in search of. We found cleaner water in to the East that looked promising but did not produce what we were looking for, although there was sign of Dorado and plenty of Marlin. We will be changing areas tonight and will keep our fingers crossed.”



Spirits High If Moist

“Our weather today was quite pleasant,” observed the report from Royal Polaris November 29, “warm and sunny with calm seas and just to keep us cool, a little bit of rain. Today we caught 25 Wahoo and 21 Yellowfin tuna. We had a couple fish in the 160-pound range, one by Dennis Inaba and the other by Barbara Kelly. Barbara also caught her first Wahoo ever today. We see plenty of fish but the bite is on the slow side. We are hoping for better tuna fishing tomorrow. The December 6th, 16-day trip still has one open spot. Barbara wishes to remind the family that she now has the record for the largest fish.”