...of town for the next four days.

I am flying to San Diego this morning to hop on a 65 footer to go offshore Mexico for three days of bluefin, yellowfin, yellowtail, and dorado fishing.

I upgraded my flight to first class so that I'll have an entire row to myself, and free cocktails to ease the pain of missing you all so much. I hope it works.

Have a good weekend, knuckleheads

Fish on...

Todd

Enjoy the warm nuts and cold Tuna.

Take Rich with, seems like he needs to get ....out.

It could be like a week of Saturday morning interactive cartoons...and just imagine the conversation.



Have fun.

Get some.

Have fun! That's on the bucket list.

What boat are you on?

We will be expecting a trip report when you return.

The Pegasus...same trip I did last summer!

Fish on...

Todd

I'm expecting a lot more than just a trip report....particularly in the form of cleaned and vacuumed sealed Ahi and YT.

The pressure is on to produce and satisfy me Toof. Git er' done!

Damn, I thought this was a Toff farewell thread......oh well


Sounds like a kickass trip, have fun!

Have fun Todd! Come back with at least a report.

For graduation from college my Dad and I went on a 5 day trip out of San Diego. Was in February, which was the wrong time of year for Yellowtail or most anything else "good". Had a great time once I got sea legs.

Most fun was hooking a live anchovy and letting it drift. Mackeral or Bonito took it and raised hell with my Mitchell 300 and spinning rod. Would love to try some of those fish on a flyrod. We also dredged up Ocean Whitefish and rockfish, so we had good fish to eat.

probably like to try it again, at a better time of year, and take the Scopanolamine along.

Enjoy, Todd.

[Bleeeeep!] you. I mean have fun.

If I weren't an ocean puker, I'd sign up for a trip like that in a heartbeat. Have fun Todd!

Good luck. I expect a full write up with pics upon return.


A$$hole.

Sounds like a great trip, Todd.

I've done similar trips out of San Diego at this time of year and it can really kick ass. I highly recommend it!

For those who live closer to San Diego, just go. A limited load overnighter is only about $300. And most of the time that means lots of the kinds of fish Todd mentioned. A dozen people all hooked up with dorado is a hoot. Duck!

And just pray you don't hook a big bluefin or you'll be busy for a long time...and have your ass kicked.

Catch them early and often my friend!

Every time I tuna fish I think I like it until my first hookup, then I remember that it sucks.

Then I spend a year eating it and convince myself that I like it again...so here I am, again.

Go online and check out the Pegasus...it's every bit as nice as it looks, and our party takes the whole boat, and for being on the boat from Thursday afternoon til Sunday afternoon it's about $2000...plus beer, fish processing, and tip...and flying here and back, of course.

All total, about $3000, and that's pretty reasonable for how good this is.

Or, just be Nick, and come over to my house and leave with a box of fish ;-)

Fish on...

Todd

I'll be Nick. Have fun,I went to the coronados a couples years ago and got some yellowtail. It's fun fishing.

Two words:
Charter Boat
And of course
Hank.

Don't forget to wear a mask to the ball.

I coulda / shoulda / woulda been on this trip too....BUT...broke and time off and stuff.

I also told Toofster exactly this before he left....

That I absolutely hope & pray that he ties into a donkey Yellowfin or Bluefin on lighter tackle. Because he'll be FORCED to catch it.

I mean....what are friends for?

Fuk that excuse, Evo works for no one. Do the same and the trailer park is your oyster.

Just went charter boat and booked a trip for my dad and I on the California dawn in sept.

Bucket list, seems like a good boat

Well look at frickin' you! Belize and The Cali Dawn. Big man on the town struttin' his stuff.

I hate you.

Have fun.

A snoring joke! Topical. 6/10

Seems like Dwat is booking a bottomfish trip,perhaps to the farallons? That would be pretty damn cool,but I will be chasing fish on the Klamath most likely,or fishing in a california harbor somewhere for returning net pen raised kings ,smolts released in the 750,000 count to return this year,whatever percentage makes it.

I caught a 70 pound bluefin this morning, and that was fine...the 185# this afternoon was a totally amazing experience, but I doubt I can say I enjoyed it.

The other four bluefin were 35-45...the 185 was my 6th of the day.

I am on siesta til tomorrow.

Fish on...

Todd

Fuq you Todd! Next time invite me. I'll have to check it out.

I'm envious. Don't catch the Corona! Have fun. Enjoy the sushi.

Bluefin are all over the place. Monterey bay has seen fish last week to 150#

Remember when Todd wished himself a happy birthday lol? I do.


But I’m very jealous. Might make mrs Watkins do a San Diego boat instead of Catalina.

Dagnabbit, I warned you about hooking those bigass bluefin. Too much work.

Color!!!. No...no color. Color!!!

But yummy sashimi.

That would be advisable. Catalina has its moments but Mexican waters out of San Diego rule.

I'll be swinging spoons for steelhead on a NorCal river in late Aug,early Sept. I will be fishing stripers in San Luis reservoir,Oneill forebay in late sept. I'll be fishing fall steelhead in Oct. And mid Oct. will be boat ho-ing in the PNW for a week. How can I afford all this time off? Beats me but I manage lol.

Hahahahahaha. Dumbass. Your Captain is playing jokes on you. You're supposed to cut the line. Good luck feeling your arms in the morning Dumbass.

Have current boat report, but won't steal thunder. Good or bad - stay tuned.

Tuna and titttttttie pics posted below:

















I hope.

About to collapse into bed in my hotel in SD, will update report tomorrow at some point.

There is joy, there is heartbreak, there are tuna.

Fish on...

Todd

Plenty of Tuna (POT). Sounds like a dating app in Pt Loma.

As is par for the course on trips like this, any time there is something worth photographing, I am fishing hard...so I didn't take many pics.

That being said, there is a drop box that the crew is throwing pics in, and I am sure I will be able to snag a few to make it interesting.

This trip last year was all about fast action and big numbers...we hit giant schools of YFT and yellowtail, and I brought home 42 fish for 2 1/2 days of fishing. It was a lot of action and a lot of fish.

This year we specifically asked the Captain to get us on the elusive and finicky bluefins...I'll admit, I wasn't exactly on board with the plan, as I liked catching a ton of fish, but I did want some BFT for the sushi, so that's what we did.

First day it was really windy and really big water, and half the crew didn't even fish...it was schitty conditions from the harbor all the way to the fishing grounds, all night, and many of them spent all night puking...they were in no condition to fish once it got light.

For the eight of us who did fish, it was well worth it.

The BFT are really line shy, skittish, and do not like coming anywhere near the boat...the only reason we managed such a good day was the conditions were so bad that they weren't as spooky as usual. They still wouldn't come anywhere near the boat, though, and while the crew and seasoned anglers laughed at my Lexa 400 on a 15-30 Trevala rod, they didn't laugh when I could cast a live sardine far enough to get to the fish easily enough.

Day one, eight anglers, 25 hookups, and I was lucky enough to gather in 12 of those hookups.

Average schoolie blues, 30-40, maybe 45, is what most the fish we landed that day were...though we got on a school of bigger ones, and we all hooked a couple, but we only landed three out of 15 or 16 hookups...an 80, a 75, and a 70. I landed the 70 on that light rod, 50# braid with a 40# fluorocarbon topshot.

That was fuckin brutal. 90 minutes of kicking my ass, but I got her in.

I couple of hours later we saw some mondo beasts breaking the surface a few hundred yards out, and after chasing them a couple of times, the Captain asked me if I wanted to pull out the 50 wide and do a kite fish...which I mistakenly thought might be fun.

Up goes the kite, out goes a 2 pound flying fish hanging from it, and you reel it up about 20' about the water, and then let it splash...and after a few splashes I had one blast it right on the surface, looked like a torpedo blew up. Somehow it managed to completely mangle, and then remove half of, the flying fish...reeled it all back up, rebaited, and sent it out again.

Didn't miss it this time, and the game was on.

Penn International 50 wide, 200# mainline, 150# mono leader, and a six foot rod approximately the action of a piece of fuckin rebar. The drag was tightened to the maximum it would go, and that damn fish tried to pull me overboard about ten times.

It was 90-something degrees out, 25 knot winds, and the boat was bouncing all over the place, and I had an angry Volkswagen on a long leash trying to kill me...for 90 minutes, again.

Long story short on that one, eventually I got it to the boat and three gaff men yarded it over the side, and that was about the happiest I'd ever been to land a damn fish. Hot, sweaty, and beat-to-schit...but it was onboard!

They measured it and estimated it at 180, and while I was fighting it another fella on the boat who clearly didn't notice how much this sucked hooked another one on the kite rig. I had mine butchered on board (for $144...eek)...he handed his to the processors on shore, whole, and they weighed it at 155. Mine was bigger, but I don't think it was 25 or 30 pounds bigger, I would wager that it was more like 165 or 170, but quibbling over a few pounds when it's that fuckin big...nah. It was huge, that's for certain.

It was now about noon, I had hooked 12 fish, landed 6, and two were oversized. I was done for the day...done done. Drank beer and watched the fishing get slower as the day progressed, but watched my buddies get a few more.

My plan the next morning was to sleep in, fish when I felt like it, or not, and take it a lot easier than the day before...and for those of you who have fished or hunted with me, you know that "taking it easy" and not participating is not exactly in my genes. I was up at 6am again, but did manage to drink coffee thru the first two bait stops, which were completely unproductive.

When the third bait stop came along I popped up and grabbed my "heavy" rod...which is not heavy at all. It's the one I use for halibut and deepwater lings around here, it's a 6'6" Shimano inshore rod with a Shimano reel, 80# braid, and my trusty 40# topshot.

First cast on the third stop I heaved my sardine into a boil, and it was immediately snatched up...and 300 yards of line left my reel like it wasn't even there. That was the only hookup on that stop, so after about 30 minutes the rest of the crew stopped fishing and watched me being toyed with by an outsized donger...first glimpse of the fish was on the surface about 80 yards out after 45 minutes of ripping around, and the 60 year old deckhand gave a hearty "Holy Schit!"...usually you don't hook the bigger ones on the live bait, those fish never come close enough to the boat.

Anyways...my magic number of minutes is apparently "90", because that's how long I fought that one. Since no one else was fishing the Captain gave me a ton of helping driving the boat up on the fish so I was able to keep it less than 50 yards away for the second half of that fight, so we were seeing it frequently...it was big.

Had it in close enough that the gaff men were in position, but just couldn't get it quite close enough to seal the deal.

90 minutes in the fish's teeth finally sawed thru the 40# leader, and it broke off...it was about 10 feet straight down on its side, and I was giving it all I could to lift it up...five more feet and it would have been ours.

They estimated that one at 110-120, and said they had never seen anyone on their boat even come remotely that close to landing one of those outside of using the 50 wides and super heavy gear.

That was of small solace to me, and when it broke off I just leaned my rod against the gunwale, didn't say a word, went in the galley and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and sat in there by myself for about 10 minutes until my hands stopped shaking enough to drink the beer...the crew and fishermen were nice enough to leave me alone with my thoughts for a while.

That was the only cast I took that day, and while losing that fish really really really sucked...it was really really really cool to have come that close on gear that light to a fish that big. Really cool.

Stayed up really late that night getting lit with four other dudes, drank all the wine on board, and had a great time...hit the rack about 1am.

Woke up at 6am the next morning to glass calm waters, even the swells were almost gone...and fishing was slow slow slow...we couldn't get anywhere near the bluefins in those conditions, and even when we spotted huge boiling schools, they disappeared if we got within 50 yards. I took maybe 30 casts that day, no hookups for me...it was so nice out that the entire fishing party of 16 managed to fish that day, at least, but there were only 5 fish caught all day, all smaller schoolies, and a two bonus yellowtail, too.

Final tally for the weekend...51 hookups, 28 fish landed, and I got my six (it's a two fish per person, per day, limit on the BFT)...but I got them all on Day 1.

We had a 180, a 155, an 80, 75, and 70...and 23 between 30 and 45 pounds...plus those two yellowtail. Nothing else other than a couple of sharks.

I still preferred the year before when it was YFT and YT as fast as you wanted to catch them, but catching those big ones, and the heartbreak of that lost big one, was sure a singular experience in my fishing life.

Fuckme, those fish can pull.

Pics to follow when I have some.

Fish on...

Todd

Sounds like a great trip.
Thanks for the report and looking forward to seeing some pictures of that BF donkey you caught.
SF

J,F,C, well re-played and I totally felt your heart ache! Sounds like a great trip though, and as the adage goes, "it's the ones we lose that we remember the most" (still sucks ballzz!!) Thanks for sharing!

Atta boy!

I'm in.

Sign me up for that abuse.

Good for you on going Todd and great report.

I've done the light rod, reel, and stand-up game with those size tuna.

Puked, cried for my momma, and if gravity wouldn't have helped..... I would have been overboard countless times.

I've found that telling the deck hand you will throw the rod over board in 2 seconds helps get help.

Again................................Congrats.


Just a hold over until Todd gets out off the babysitter and posts some tuna..

It's a sickness. We are weirdos. And stupid.

Glad you got your limit. Those were some bigass fish. But the "really windy and really big water" part must not have been all that fun, especially for the chunder champs.

It was 16 foot seas with 3 feet of chop on top...and even in a 65 footer that is brutal.

I didn't see the girth measurement on the big one I caught, but it was just shy of 5 feet long, they tell me. Looked 39 feet long when it came over the rail.

My old man had the rod in his hands for about three minutes to see what it was like, and he told me to take it right away, he was literally afraid that he would be unable to keep ahold of it the way that fish was pulling.

Fish on...

Todd

great story, definitely makes me want to try this in the near future. Thanks for sharing.

Thats badass sell me some tuna will pay good $$

If I see you this fall how about I just give you some?

Fish on...

Todd

All I can say is that I'm glad it was you Todd and not me. I woulda' been pukin' all but the final glass flat day. Every time I get to thinking I'd like to take a tuna trip I remember that there is a reason why I don't. Ya' sure got some good eats out of the deal for all your hard work.

Downer on the trip...on Friday evening we motored 40 miles to San Clemente Island to get out of the wind, and found blessed calm on the lee side so everyone was actually able to sleep, and the pukers were able to stop puking.

SCI is a marine training base...no trespassing on the island.

The next day we moved back offshore to fish, back into the massive seas, and noted a few duos of marine choppers zipping around, we assumed they were training missions.

Unfortunately it turns out they were on a rescue mission, and a handful of marines and sailors lost their lives.

Like I said, those seas were fukked. Tragic.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/08/03/marines-sailor-killed-camp-pendleton-training/

Fish on...

Todd

16 ft swells is some crazy chit. I never puked at sea but then I always took dramamine as insurance. But even then, any swells over 6 or 7 ft were pretty much my limit and the threshold where I would just rather be on land.

The time I took the long-range trip out of San Diego one of the guys had bad legs. He walked with these crutches that attach to your arms. The reel was clipped to his chest. One day he was along the rail, fishing for sharks, when one took his bait. Drug him right down the rail to the stern. He could not stop being drug. The stern stopped him and deckhand made sure he didn't go overboard.

How about,umm,hell yeah!!

Funny story. My best friend and I were on an overnight trip out of San Diego once and we had good tuna and dorado bites throughout the day.

But this one inexperienced woman was getting nothing when suddenly her Penn Jigmaster started paying out line like crazy. She starts saying, "what should I do??? what should I do???" So my friend just happened to be walking by her, reached over, flipped her reel into gear, and said, "hang on!"

Just then her line tightened up on a 25+ tuna and she darn near got yanked overboard.

Sounds like a meat run, and a pretty good one.. minus the washing machine conditions.

Having done a bit of that myself over the years I can relate to some of your story, a 220ish yellowfin was the biggest I ever hit on the head, but it was on marlin gear and only took a bit under an hour, probably would have just eaten the 6 lb bonita we were using as bait, taken all my string and left on anything else.

Never puked ever at sea or in the air.
Four years in the Navy aboard carriers.
Flown in A4's T33, F4, Pits Special and every pilot tried his best and failed.
Wildest ride was in the Pits second was a F4 BFM mission, took two days to recover.
I found out pilots don't like negative G's either.

That sounds like a little worse version of my 72 year old dad, only the reel wasn't strapped to him so he was just gonna lose it overboard, instead of swimming...I think he enjoyed a tiny taste of how strong that fish was, though.

Fish on...

Todd

This is impressive.
Did you puke in November 2016?

No, I said we are fvcked.

🤪

Congrats.