Saturday, September 16 - Sunday, September 17, 2006 - Clemente Fish Report
I fished yesterday. Started at the 14 and worked there for a few hours. We saw one jumper but nobody was getting bit so we headed for the 277. Water at the 277 was nicer, lots of kelp but only small bait on it. Instead of working Southeast we headed for the mackerel where we may have had a swordfish sighting, it was too close too soon and I think we scared him. Nobody was catching shit offshore so we headed to Clemente where we enjoyed a consistent yellow / calico bite. I talked to Ali on the radio, apparently he is bad luck.
Later,
Hunter
Friday, September 8 - Sunday, September 10 - The Curse is Broken
A slow weekend for fishing... No really big bites aside from a down rigger rip that looked like a tuna... We saw some bigger tuna come up late in the afternoon but they never came close... On a more positive note the Hunter semi-curse was semi-lifted... We hooked three little skippies while bait fishing at El Banco, two fom the deck and one from the bridge... Turned around to take the boat out of gear when the buzz from the Trinidad 30 picks up speed... Thank god for spectra!
Anyway we hook a 104 lb tuna fish when it ate the skippie off the small tuna jig and gets the tiny hook right in the lip... SUERTE! Oh yes and some other funny things happened during that fight as well didn't it?
Anyway we got some other small creatures, the weather was nice and it was nice eating some fresh sashimi again... Thanks for a fun weekend boys! Sorry my tuna pics suck! Hunter might have some better ones.
Jeff
Friday, August 25 - Sunday, August 27 - The Boys are back in town
The gang arrived Friday afternoon for two days of fishing... Hunter, Sloth, Clunky, Animal and myself headed out to El Banco 5:00 am Saturday... Some left over weather from Hurricane Ileana with some confused sea and 20 Knots of wind... The Banco looked alive with plenty of Skipjacks and easy to catch... we loaded the tuna tubes with with six nice baits and caught two more that were quickly sent out in hopes of a big Tuna or Marlin... Lots of birds working up current of the bank so we headed that way... The first knock down was not we were hoping for... The porpoise have figured out a scheme to bite off the bait just behind the head and leave you with NADA! This was the case for several hours and it was becoming frustrating... The last porpoise to bite was not so lucky (for the Porpoise that is) As intelligent as his animal is their has to be a few that don't quite get it... HOOK UP!! A porpoise is not as easy a fight as you might think... Trying to the one close to the boat so we could remove the hook or at least cut the spectra short proved to be near impossible... Making a long story short we finally got it close enough to cut it off with a small tail of line... Back to fishing for bait and running out two miles from the bank and the mammals...
Soon after getting set up WHAM!! A nice Black Marlin grabs long rigger and Hunter sets the hook... Clunky gets in the harness for the fight... The fish was strong and pulling hard but trying to dump it's stomach so not much jumping... 20 minutes later we get a solid tag in the shoulder by Animal as Hunter leaders the fish to the boat and cuts her off short.... A nice fish around 300 lbs swims off in perfect shape... With all the porpoise we decided to head to Corbetania to finish off the day but not much to report... Headed Back to Punta De Mita for dinner and some rest.
Day two came early as we pulled anchor at 5:00 am and headed for Corbetania... There was a report of a big tuna caught the day before of 270 lbs so we all had our hopes up... Bait catching was smooth as the day before and no weather to mention... Six baits in the tubes and three out including one on the down rigger... Working the are West of the rock in a large pile of pile and birds the down rigger GOES OFF!!! A nice Blue Marlin around 400 lbs comes out of the water and puts on an awesome show... Animal and Hunter clear lines as our new Avet 50 peels line quickly... Better get on this one was all I heard from the cockpit... Sloth gets buckled in for a Blue Marlin battle... We chased the fish for ten minutes until she settled down... 20 minutes later we had her to leader where Hunter pulled her close and Animal stuck the tag... The fish was not happy about that and went APE SHIT!! Hunter held on getting the rag doll treatment but managed to get the fish settled down enough to remove the hook... Thanks to PELAGIC www.pelagicgear.com for the gloves... Back to work we go making our way up to the high
spots with little action... While reeling in a tired bait from the long rigger I spotted a marlin coming in for a look... The marlin decides to eat a fresh Skippy but picks it up and follows the dead bait to the boat... All the while taking no line from the short rigger... The Marlin must have been greedy because I think it was heading down to eat the down rigger bait... From out of nowhere a fat Black Marlin launches vertically within 15 feet of the swim step... HOLY CRAP!! At that distance you could almost smell the fish... A Black Marlin around 550 lbs goes tail walking away but threw the bait... Oh well! that show was worth millions... Well maybe not millions but it was very cool!! Headed back to the high spot to pick up more skippies... A little tough to catch so everyone was casting our homemade irons for skippies including myself from the bridge... Only a couple more needed when I am on with what felt like a big Skippy... NOPE!! A good run then some head shaking close to the boat and up comes a nice Wahoo around 30 lbs... Animal was the angler and Hunter stuck the sucker as it was ready to head off for another run and most likely the last... Nice job boys on catching dinner on a bait rod with no leader and 30 lb line... We spent the rest of the day and into sunset with not much to report aside from a couple medium sized Yellowfin (one around 40 lbs) and missing a small Black Marlin... Long days of fishing on the Notorious have payed off once again..."FIRST TO SHOW AND LAST TO GO"
Good fishing, Captain Jeff