Just got back from albacore charter trip. I brought my Cortez "99" albacore special and the deckhand stuck it on one of their nice shimano bait sticks. All the other boat rods were equipped with top of the line small Accurate lever drag reels. First half of the day was slow. Couple troll fish and maybe 15 on live bait stops. Then the 2nd half of the day we had lot more action. Our 2 best bait stops were 27, and 28. End of day total was 131 Albacore averaging 20+ pounds. We(10 clients) always split the catch evenly, so we each got 13 Albacore. I also keep track of how many I bring to gaff. This trip with the Cortez 99 I brought 23 to gaff and didn't cracker off a single fish ! Another very memorable trip.
Huge shout out to Tom for making our dreams come true !
Congratulations on the great trip, and being the hot stick Ted!
Way to go Ted! Great fishin'! 8)
Nice work Ted ..................................... Might be time to do another all AT Tornado trip to see if the weather and fish will cooperate this time ??? If the border ever opens I can find a few Canadians to the party I'm sure.
Cheers:
Todd
Nice day Ted, killed it!
Yowzah! Sounds like a great day. Congratulions Ted. Dominick
Great catch !! And, Great equipment !
I'm impressed....and envious. That's a lethal reel you got there. Enjoy the spoils.
Quote from: PacRat on October 06, 2020, 12:14:54 AM
I'm impressed....and envious. That's a lethal reel you got there. Enjoy the spoils.
Thanks Mike, yes the reel worked flawlessly. The under gear derlin washer made it smooth as silk, and I fished with drag at 90% most the day and this is the first trip I can say I never sawed off a fish. Even the captain was very impressed with the super smooth drag.
Forgot to mention, I got to see a gigantic mako launch way up outta the water and a big splashdown. I'd estimate it at 10-12' length. Just off the side of trolling gear and about 50yds away from us. I happened to be looking that way and saw the whole thing. One guy later reeled in a 15# tuna that back half was gone from something big taking a bite.
Some of us might have previously missed this, but where are you / where was this MaxedOut?
Thanks-
Rob
Quote from: JoseCuervo on October 06, 2020, 01:24:08 AM
Some of us might have previously missed this, but where are you / where was this MaxedOut?
Thanks-
Rob
Up here we call it tuna town. AKA Westport Washington
Quote from: Maxed Out on October 06, 2020, 01:33:24 AM
Quote from: JoseCuervo on October 06, 2020, 01:24:08 AM
Some of us might have previously missed this, but where are you / where was this MaxedOut?
Thanks-
Rob
Up here we call it tuna town. AKA Westport Washington
Thanks!
One day..
Dave!!
great report. fishing custom gear that performs like that is very gratifying. Tom's stuff is top shelf. i am happy for you and envious @ the same time. if there is anything better than a wide open albacore bite, i haven't yet found it. way to go!!!!!
Nice haul Ted, looks like you had a great day. Also good to see the Maxed Out - Cortez Conversions Jigmaster doing so well catching what it was built for - albacore. At the risk of being nosey, which gears are you running in it?
Mike
Gee Ted, that as good as anyone has done for one day congrats, good memories nice story, cheers Don.
Nice, Das fishing machine :-)
Tom's reel can handle anything thrown at it within it's wheelhouse. Next time try hooking into that mako for the ultimate test, lol.
Thanks for showing us how it's done.
You must be exhausted, go get some rest and then process those fish, then mark a box with my name on it and finally, to the post office it goes. :D
Very jealous East Coaster I am,
Dom
Epic trip & stellar report. All the mo better with your specially tuned gear. Missing Albacore sashimi right about now
Quote from: mhc on October 06, 2020, 10:56:31 AM
Nice haul Ted, looks like you had a great day. Also good to see the Maxed Out - Cortez Conversions Jigmaster doing so well catching what it was built for - albacore. At the risk of being nosey, which gears are you running in it?
Mike
Hi Mike, I did skip that part. The reel has stock 4/1 gears and 3 stack of ht-100's, dd bridge and steel sleeve, steel yoke, Jack. It worked flawlessly and smooth thru entire drag range. Several of the larger tuna could easily rip line off if they got the head turned out of the death spiral
-Ted
Tuna Town Baby! ;D
Pulling in 20+ albacore in a single day it would take me a month to recover. Well done Ted.
I take my fish home whole and packed in commercial salt ice. It'll take me a few days to loin them, then off to the pressure cooker. Impossible to locate any canning supplies right now, so I'll be canning a bunch in retort bags. Same type of foil type packages you see in store bought tuna. These will also be much easier to ship without worry of glass breaking. My chamber sealer is set up to do retort pouches or regular vacuum seal bags