Long Range Fishing Update – 02/14/10

Bill Roecker for FishingVideos.com & the San Diego Sportfishing Council

February 14, 2010

A Valentine Story: Rod Rack Returns

Intrepid Jackpot Winners

Intrepid docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing February 14 (Valentine’s Day) after a 15-day trip with 16 anglers aboard. Kevin Osborne skippered the adventure and chartermaster Steve Volkers of the Rod Rack was also aboard.
“Some of the weather we hit was sloppy,” said Volkers. “We fished on The Ridge, up inside a little, and on the southern banks. We scratched a bit, for lots of 60 to 100-pounders and some from 100 to 200 pounds.”
There were two couples aboard: Bud and Marilyn Ruschhaupt of Fresno, and John Whitley and Valene Garrison, and they scored very well. Bud and John made it into the jackpot, and the gals each got more than one good tuna.
Valene had a story to go with her best tuna, one she hooked on 80-pound gear.
“It was harder than childbirth,” she remarked. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I fought the fish for three hours. He took me around the boat five times. He weighed 180 pounds.
Marilyn’s fish was smaller, but her story was also compelling.
“My knee replacement fell apart,” she remembered. “I had to fight my fish on one leg.”

Bud Ruschhaupt of Fresno won first place for a 218-pound tuna. He fought it for 50 minutes, until it came up in the port corner. He said it bit on the kite on a squid. He used the boat’s kite rig: a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook and a Mustad 16/0 circle hook, tied to 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod.
John Whitley of San Jose won second place for a 210.4-pound tuna that bit a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He used 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 2 x 4 rod, to beat th4e fish in a half-hour.
Art Green, Newport CPA, won third place for a 202.2-pound yellowfin he caught with the kite and “double trouble” sardines. He said he used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Tiagra 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod.
“It was a pick bite,” noted skipper Osborne. We had 51 tuna on our best day and 43 the next.”

Perfect Fishing Conditions

Royal Polaris Yellowfin Tuna

“Our weather today was perfect,” said Frank LoPreste aboard his Royal Polaris February 13.
“We had a six to eight-knot breeze, sunshine and no swell. Fishing continues to consist of a nice scratch on the Yellowfin tuna. We caught 33 fish today from 90 to 165 pounds. Dick Emerson won a new Accurate reel with a 145 pound fish on the sardine and Dave Cavaness got his first ever kite fish at 165 pounds. We did lose a few fish to the sharks today. At times they have been pretty aggressive. We also continue to have a slow steady pick on the Wahoo. Enjoy the photos and we will report again tomorrow.

“P.S. The crew of the Royal Polaris wishes you all a Happy Valentine Day.”
Anywhere Insurance
Some years ago Accurate reels founder Jack Nilsen (who’s fishing now aboard the Royal Polaris) told me his wife had bought him an insurance plan that would cover him anywhere in the world. If he was injured, he said, the company would extract him by air from wherever he was hurt and get him to proper medical care.
I didn’t think much about it, since I assumed the cost would be far beyond anything most anglers could afford. After reading Don Causey’s account in the latest issue of the International Angler, the official news organ of the IGFA, I see I made a wrong assumption.
Causey didn’t have the insurance, and when he fell from a broken tree stand some 35 feet to the ground on an African safari, he broke his back, which he said left him unable then to stand or sit up. After some long painful days, he succeeded in getting medical air transportation out of Cameroon.
“In the end,” he wrote, “I had to come up with $124,000 to pay for this service.”
Causey also noted that if he had a policy from Global Rescue (at a cost of $119 a week or $329 a year) he could have bought a medical membership “…that would have performed the entire evacuation from forest floor to the home hospital of my choice at no additional cost.”
I know many anglers who might benefit in a big way from such an insurance plan. I’m not advocating for any particular company, but this one might well be worth looking into.
If you’d like to see the whole story Causey wrote, it’s in the January-February issue of International Angler.
Tag Trip Is Fishing

Royal Star Fishing Clarion

Royal Star is on a tagging trip to the Revillgigedos. Here’s a report from skipper Brian Sims about the first afternoon of fishing. None of the fish caught are brought home in the holds; everything’s released, with an appropriate tag, allowing for important data to be obtained later.
“We traveled down throughout the morning to our first fishing destination in breezy weather. The guys finished all of the rigging in preparation for our arrival after lunch. Upon arrival we tagged a few small tuna while getting things figured out. By mid afternoon we were enjoying good action on 40 to110-pound Yellowfin Tuna. Everything went very smoothly with two to four fish going for the remainder of the day.

“The first picture of the day shows three of our new Thai friends “bendo” on butterfly jigs. The second is of Greg De Selice with a 105# tuna.”

On Her Way Home

Royal Star Clarion Yellowfin

American Angler has finished her ongoing fishing trip and is heading for the barn. Here’s her latest report, posted by skipper Sam Patella February 13:
We ended up on the beach the last couple of days to finish up the trip and things aren’t what they used to be. Again we did the whole Lower Banks tour, each day we were there to only find some 50 to 60-pound Tuna for the effort. We are now on our way up the line in nice traveling weather and the forecast looks to be in our favor, and we like that. I’ll post the ETA in a couple of days for all the family folk; until then…”