“If you come on enough of these trips,” noted the report from American Angler November 18, “you'll see it all - good fishing, slow fishing and many times what happened yesterday really doesn't dictate what might happen tomorrow. Today things were right. We started our drift in the gray light and by 10:00 AM we had caught all we needed. The photo of the day is Mr. Matt with just one of the many we tagged this morning. The weather is beautiful and the forecast for now looks nice. What a great trip, what a great group of anglers. We will be traveling for the next few days and will post an ETA on Monday for Tuesday's arrival.”



Big Skinnies

Justin Fleck called in November 19 to give an update on the Excel: "We had a nice day of Wahoo fishing yesterday offshore with bird schools and kelps around. We put together a nice little count, I think we ended up with 35 big Wahoo and finished off on our limits of Dorado. Altogether a nice day the weather has calmed down nicely, flat calm seas, no wind now. We are going to start working our way toward the Ridge, to see if we can get some Yellowfin tuna and maybe some more Wahoo.”



Classic Big Fishing

“Sorry about the lack of reports,” said Independence’s report for November 21, “as we had some difficulties with our sat phone. We spent our time down in the southern fishing zones, and were not disappointed with the fishing and the weather. Every day was different, as one day it was 130 to 200-pound fish, and the next day it was mixed up 100 to 180-pound fish. I would have to say that every method worked this trip. If you were planning to try this in the near future, I would recommend more 100 lb. outfits, and a 130 lb. for good measure. The sardines were the hot ticket, as at times we would have eight to 13 fish going, and other times three to five going. We had quite a few anglers that had not fished for these big tuna before, and after day 1 they were tuned in, and were doing very well for the rest of the trip. As I said before, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, with flat seas. I would have to say at least half of our anglers caught their personal best this trip. One angler that comes to mind is Martha Parker, who weighs maybe 95 pounds, who put on a clinic one day as she landed five of these brutes, all personal bests. We are traveling up right now, and will have another report with an ETA.”



Opted For Skins

“We opted for some different fishing today,” observed the Intrepid report for November 20, “and found it to be a nice change of pace from the big fish show. If you have been following the reports from the past week you probably realize that we saw a tremendous amount of big fish throughout the week. When they decide to get on the bite it will be Awesome to say the least. Some of the schools we metered were impressive and it is only a matter of time before they really start to chew. With that being said, you might want to take a look at your schedule and book a trip as we have a few openings left on a couple of the up-coming cow trips. Give Carol a call @ 1-877-686-7827. Side note: we still have spots available for our Panama Adventures this winter; it is sure to be the trip of a lifetime.”



Q-105 Coastside 10-Day

“Day 8, Friday 11-19-11:
This morning we rolled into the "yellowtail island" that we like to fish. It was around 8 AM when we started to look around. We found some huge spots of mackerel and there were some yellows with it. The amount of bait around was impressive to say the least. With fish under us, we started to fish and catch right away. The fish were not up on the surface so the yo-yo jigs and dropper loop rigs were the hot ticket. We had stops for a box of fish here and there and some stops not a bite. It was a good fishing day overall and we have a good load of fish and all our anglers are happy to have a good amount of fish on board. We will be staying here for tomorrow and hoping for a repeat of yesterday. Then Sunday night we will be on the road for home with a rock cod stop planned for Monday morning.”



Royal Polaris Roundup

“It is Friday night,” noted the report from Royal Polaris November 19, “and we have been on our way home since 11:30 hours today. Big D had to literally stand on the last few fish to get them in the well. All three wells are packed with Yellowfin tuna from 120 to 240 pounds. We have an amazing amount of fish from 180 to 198 pounds. We have 12 to 15 fish over 200 pounds.

“This morning our bite stated at 04:00 hours with the first fish a 130 pounder on the PL68. Then it was Karl Fechner and John Angel following with a 150 and a 200, both on the PL 68. From there on they were all 180 to 240 pounds. Mike Brown landed a 226 pound Yellowfin tuna using a skipjack. It was around 09:30 in the morning and the last fish to come aboard. There was no room in the wells so this ended up in the galley to be used for sushi and some delicious dinners. There were also several other fish caught on skipjack. Other 200-pound pluses were caught by Ken Yuen, Phip Klassen, Kathy Rounds, Mike Candland, and Harold Davis with a 240 pound fish. It was an amazing morning. Chris Klassen did battle with a Black Marlin weighing approximately 350 pounds.

“We have several passengers this trip who have never even made a three-day trip. Phil Klassen and his 2 sons Matt and Chris along with their dear friend Marc Fabbri had never caught a tuna over 30 pounds. They learned from the crew on the 3.75 days of traveling down, sucked up everything anyone could teach them and all had a phenomenal epic trip and caught more tuna then they dreamed of catching. They all agree on one thing and that is that they will be using the gym on the regular basis before returning next year. Big "D" took many photos.”



“Five Full Days Of Fishing Hard”

"Five days of working in this zone,” recalled Royal Star skipper Tim Ekstrom November 19, “five full days of fishing hard, burning in the glasses ten hours straight; five days of evaluating conditions and trends, of building a big picture, all came together in a grand finale. Although there was a smidgen of doubt in the early morning, due to the erratic nature of the fish in this zone, we were fairly certain that we were located for the big push if it was to come. I kept mentioning to our anglers that the stage was set, that we were in the right place, knowing that with the indications we were seeing it was a gamble well worth venturing.

“It began with one spot carrying what appeared to be a decent handful of fish. We got a couple of fifty pound tuna from a stop, then one more, and then something hit the switch. A tremendous spot of trophy size yellowfin erupted from out of nowhere transforming the setting to a pure big fish, run and gun scenario. It was active fishing; a fisherman's dream, especially from the bridge perspective, but definitely also from below.

“It goes without saying that upon commencement of the afternoon show, that we were in the exact middle of when it began, we kicked into high gear employing every fishing skill we have acquired to our inexpressible delight. This was an afternoon/evening of fishing that I also live for. Again, zero luck involved. It was a matter of reading the sign, predicting where they would surface next, and placing the boat in the best position of advantage while adapting to an incredibly dynamic, constantly changing playing field.

“Twenty six yellowfin, half from 40 to 60 pounds, ten from 90 to 120, and a few 140 to 150's was the result for the final three hours of daylight. And speaking of daylight, I have to share this final story that ended our day on a perfect note. With darkness falling and our final stop cleaned up I took off upwind. It was so dark that one could barely see anything without binoculars. West into the rapidly fading sliver of light was the only heading viable. Then, Chief Engineer Sean Bickel calls out breaking fish, in the dark, about a half-mile to the east. I turned on a dime, jammed the throttles forward, and made the run peering into near blackness. As we approached I couldn't see a thing. Sean was still calling out the fish at one hundred yards, I was spitting flavorful language about not being able to see a thing, and then we saw one fish boil, in total blackness, right out the door. I stopped, twenty anglers threw baits, and we caught three more. It was our day; no doubt about it. Photo for the day features anglers Roger Florian rightly satisfied with his 150-pound class yellowfin.”