Long Range Fishing Update – 5/2/09

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

Net Update May 1, 2009

Things Looking Up For Royal Polaris

“The weather continues to improve,” said the report from the boat April 30, “with overcast skies, and a slight breeze out of the northeast.

“The weather was not the only thing to improve, we had a fair day of fishing on larger Yellowfin tuna. We had fish up to 274 pounds. If the sharks would give us a break, we could put together an excellent day. Wahoo continue to bite on the bank. Our lucky anglers today: Roger Hawtree, 190-pound Yellowfin tuna, Rocky Opliger. 215 pounds, Keith “They Call Me Earl” Patterson, 274 pounds, Steve Emmert, 202 pounds, Paul Engle, 222 pounds. That makes four over 200 pounds for the day. Today’s winner for the Jerry Brown Line One daily jackpot was Keith “They Call Me Earl,” Patterson.

“We are having a tough time getting flyers tonight, but we will try again in the early morning hours. With that note, wish us luck and we will continue to report on our daily events.”

Four Supercows Released

The unprecedented capture, tagging and release of four yellowfin tuna over 300 pounds on the Royal Star’s latest trip to the Revillagigedos archipelago is still reverberating among long rangers. One of the fish was taped at 321 pounds, caught by Tom Cahillane.

Ekstrom made use of the ship’s crane to hoist these huge tuna from the water and get them onto his prepared deck for surgical tagging by scientists from Mexico and the US. This was a first, and it worked very well, as can be seen in the pictures provided by skipper Tim.

Another fish came in at 337 pounds, caught by Bill Grimsley. The fish were headed into a very large cone or scoop and then lifted. Here’s Captain Ekstrom’s description:

“If you examine the images, the massive girth of this monster indicates that the formula of length times girth squared, divided by 800 is probably below the actual weight because of how much girth the fish is sporting behind its mid section. At 337 pounds though, no one is looking for a recount. This magnificent specimen in perfect form was back in the water within 90 seconds. With a few headshakes and flexing of its fins (really) the behemoth cruised away to resume its alpha male activities at Clarion Island.”

Rad Rooster Record

A new 80-pound line class record for roosterfish has been accepted by the IGFA. The old record was 91 pounds, four ounces, held by Eduardo Camou for his pez gallo (the common Spanish name for roosterfish) caught off Manzanillo in in June 1998.

The new record recognizes the 105-pound, 13-ounce roosterfish caught by Jeffrey Reinhardt at Zihuatanejo, Mexico on June 27, 2008, while fishing with skiff skipper Adolfo Espinosa. The latest edition (May-June 2009) of the International Angler listed the record, along with this photo of the catch. No word on the bait, but it was likely a live fish, possibly slow-trolled.

Also noted in the latest IGFA publication:

There are 31,000 species of fish, and less than 6,000 species of mammals.

Fish can be found from 12,000 feet of altitude down to the deepest parts of the oceans, “…as deep as 10,000 kilometers.”

The whale shark grows “…to over 20 meters in length.”

Chartermasters Appreciative

“Dear Bill:

Let us take this opportunity to thank you.

This is the 5^th successful year for the Loftus & Martin long range fishing trips. Your kindness and friendly service taking pictures for us and for those who have sailed with us has directly contributed to that success.

Thanks again,

John Loftus & Larry Martin (by US Mail April 30, 2009)

Stranded Sturgeon Swim Free

In a very unusual event, some 1,500 white sturgeon were trapped on the mud flats of Port Susan Bay March 12, according to a story in the April 30 issue of The Log Digital Edition. The bay is on Puget Sound, WA. Nearly all the giant fish survived, swimming back into deep water when the tide came in later that day.

Fisheries biologists explained the phenomenon to a Seattle Times reporter by saying that the jumbo-size fish were just hungry.

“It looks like they chose to overextend their visit on the mud flats,” said Brad James of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “The feeding must have been pretty good.”

About 12 fish died in the grounding incident, including some that were 5 to 10 feet in length.

Sonny Digs It

“Tell Bill I really like this site. You guys never cease to amaze me.

Take Care,”

Sonny Jones (by email April 30, 2009)