our 2018 spirit of adventure charter is now history, but it was one for the record books! the biggest thing we had to deal with was hurricane sergio slamming into the center of baja on day four of our trip. before the trip, everyone was asking what we were going to do and i had no idea. at some point, you just have to trust the skipper and hope he has a plan. at the end, we had 15 bluefin, 10 wahoo, a dozen dorado, a hundred yellowtail and more yellowfin than we knew what to do with. we had swill88 joining us for the first time, only to almost lose him overboard. we had tomas almost losing his pants. and we had almost everyone down with the georgia flu! yup, it was epic!
monday - october 9th, day zero
bryan and i drove down together and stopped off at okuma to see john bretza, then continued the drive down highway 15 to san diego. once in san diego, we made a quick stop at angler's choice to buy a half dozen fluorescent flat falls for san clemente blue fin. we figured we would be heading north for a few days to avoid the hurricane that was threatening the baja coast. we checked into the vagabond, then met up with everyone for dinner at miguel's.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_29_10_18_12_31_31_258151530.jpeg)
we were getting pretty lit. no surprise there.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_29_10_18_12_31_38_258191334.jpeg)
after that, we stopped off at the marina bar. skill at pool is a sure sign of a misspent youth.
https://youtu.be/jGp74ER4OG4
tuesday, october 10th, 2018 - day 1
everyone started lining up early. most of the paperwork for the trip was done, but i was still scrambling to figure out the few last details about rod storage on the boat and cabin assignments.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_36_25632921.jpeg)
everything made it on board, except for wai's reels. somehow he left his reel bag at home. trust me, though. i would be the last to be critical of that mistake!
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_36_25634464.jpeg)
our chef for this trip will be david. on the menu for tonight's dinner is pork ribs, corn and baked beans.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_40_2563653.jpeg)
meet bryan, wai, lee, georgia mike and darren.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_40_256361395.jpeg)
we tried fishing flat falls at night at san clemente but did not hook up. most turned in early.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_44_25638985.jpeg)
wednesday, october 10th, 2018 - day 2
leave it to brendan to start things out.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_44_25638723.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/ybGQDxfM7Sw
ed got a nice one.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_48_256401585.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/tj5XgG4uUpw
lee hooked up on a nice one but took too long and it eventually spit the hook.
https://youtu.be/u_NPSlje_x4
we had 9 bluefin, all before lunch, then things slowed down. lunch was actually pretty good!
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_59_25646892.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/-W8Z6fMDa1c
i picked up one fish later, but that was pretty much it for the day.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_48_256401663.jpeg)
thursday, october 11th, 2018 - day 3
we fished san clemente for most of the morning and picked up a few more fish.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_21_51_256421119.jpeg)
i thought that poor little trevala was going to explode.
https://youtu.be/ZoAsWnSUzzQ
tomas picked what might have been the big fish of the trip. it was certainly his personal best! the rod was a phenix bdh838 and the reel was a torque 15 with a 30 pound topshot and 9 pounds of drag at strike.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_02_2564750.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/BDLf2GN3qgU
with the bite dropping off for all the boats at san clemente, the skipper decided to start our run south. mind you, hurricane sergio had not made landfall yet, not until tomorrow. it could stall and make landfall later, or it could even turn north. this is what we left at san clemente, heading south to a hurricane.
https://youtu.be/QZQo8wAdgrU
the first troll team was set up. just like a day at the office.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_02_25647851.jpeg)
i decided get some shut eye, and actually did sleep for an hour or so, only to wake up to this......
https://youtu.be/tTu-aW1Cdl8
the rest of the day was uneventful. dinner was great!
https://youtu.be/OYcwcJwInus
even though the first two full days of fishing were relatively slow, spirits were high.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_06_256491945.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/1N1Zk_fl5QI
friday, october 12th, 2018 - day 4
we're somewhere near 200 miles south of the border and the weather is definitely picking up.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_10_2565154.jpeg)
jack had the right idea. this was about the only place where you wouldn't get beat up.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_10_256511808.jpeg)
the morning was slow.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_13_25653903.jpeg)
we had a nice escort for a good part of the way.
https://youtu.be/KqDPNbmwk84
lunch was great!
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_15_25654899.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/1ljxbWnjG5Y
got into some high spots and the yellowtail cooperated. you can see how much rougher it's getting as we move south.
https://youtu.be/u-GCog3PaDk
the afternoon bite was pretty good!
https://youtu.be/ECD588GWlx4
we put 50 fish on the boat in just a few hours.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_17_25655443.jpeg)
the bite was so good that ed even picked up a yellowtail on a fly rod.
https://youtu.be/L4z2s7yDjog
a double rainbow is something you don't see all the time.
https://youtu.be/Xh_T5tSwXaU
i picked up this one on a laser minnow, two on sardines and three on a "bird poop" salas 6x. i was using my torque 40 narrow on a phenix 869 for throwing the jig. nice combo.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_24_256592272.jpeg)
we took a little bit of a pounding as we continued south, but at least we had a following sea. dinner in any kind of weather can be a challenge.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_18_256561965.jpeg)
https://youtu.be/bMohNjViDQo
saturday, october 13th, 2018 - day 5
the morning was fast and furious. lots of small grade yellowtail. we only tagged fish in the 15-25 pound range.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_23_256581928.jpeg)
we'd troll and then immediately hook up. mostly, we were working our way south to the 13 spot and the promise of wahoo.
https://youtu.be/S3Molda9xL0
dinner featured fresh fish.
https://youtu.be/e1Gwtx6j3iM
sunday, october 14th, 2018 - day 6
if you never seen a boat like this drop anchor, here's your chance.
https://youtu.be/2b4qTywTy4E
the guys up on the bow, like joe and warren, were throwing jigs and were hooking up pretty consistently on schoolie yellow fin.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_36_25663220.jpeg)
we were after wahoo.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_36_256632462.jpeg)
tennessee mike got a nice one.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_47_49_256771811.jpeg)
so did tom.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_47_53_25679761.jpeg)
burgers for lunch!
https://youtu.be/IA4Oi7wQ3aA
we will add another 50 yellowfin before the day is done.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_47_58_25682194.jpeg)
for a while, everyone was hooking up on yellowfin. they were like fleas. you literally could't have a bait out for more than 60 seconds and not get bit.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_39_25665182.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_40_25665989.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_44_256681828.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_22_52_25673483.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_47_27_256751968.jpeg)
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_47_49_256771912.jpeg)
once again, ed pulled out a fly rod.
https://youtu.be/NJUM82R4Iek
pork chops for dinner.
https://youtu.be/P1-c2RkquFs
monday, october 16th, 2018 - day 8
we pretty much ran all day, stopping on the occasional paddy. most of the time was spent breaking down gear. david made a nice chef's salad for lunch.
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/1_19_10_18_4_48_03_25683435.jpeg)
seas started to pick up in the afternoon, so we mostly stayed off the deck and just took it easy for the day.
tuesday, october 17th, 2018 - day 9
back to the dock at 5am, off the boat and over to denny's at 5:30. the spirit of adventure crew loaded the fish into carts. the 5 star crew took the fish straight to the processing facillity and processed our fish for us. we run a "no tag" trip, so all the fish was divided equally. i think warren was the last guy on the road at 10:30.
so, that was it for the 8-day 2018 charter on the spirit of adventure. this was my 20th year on this boat and our 5th charter with the at.com group. it was also the first time we had run an 8-day trip. the previous four had been 5 day trips in june. we may look at moving the trip to early november to avoid these storms. it's no fun fishing on the tail end of a hurricane. a big thanks to all the guys on the trip, to captain and crew of the spirit of adventure, and to 5 star for taking care of our fish again. until next year!
Good report and trip summary, Alan —
Thanks!
Best,
Fred
Glad you guys had such a memorable trip, looks like you ate quite well too!
What did the BFT come on? FF or bait?
Mostly bait. I think a few were caught on smaller flat falls during the day. One thing I can say for sure, working large flat falls with heavy gear will wear you out. I worked that thing for hours.
The Man
NICE! Makes we want to give it another go.
been there, done that. you need to do the fly down to cedros!
Quote from: alantani on October 31, 2018, 06:48:34 AM
been there, done that. you need to do the fly down to cedros!
Everyone needs to fdo the fly down to Cedros!
The Man
this is definitely a bucket list fishing trip for me.
But I still have a ton of Florida fishing to explore!
Thanks for the ride Alan - I'm glad you guys made it back safely :)
WOW, just WOW! What a trip and memories that all will remember for a life time.
Glad everyone returned safely.
Great report, pics, and video's, .. Lou
Quote from: MarkT on October 31, 2018, 04:54:38 AM
What did the BFT come on? FF or bait?
I lost a few small flat falls and flat fall hooks. I'm switching up my flat falls and will be running SS or Ti connected hooks in the future. Maybe SS or Ti connected flat falls as well, especially fishing at night or early in the morning.
to prep for this trip, literally tossed rods, reels and all the tackle i could find, into the suv. just by dumb luck, i saw an old spool of 200 pound leader and tossed that onto the pile as well. good thing, because we ended up rigging all of the flat falls and squish jigs with that leader material.
Quote from: Bryan Young on October 31, 2018, 03:10:54 PMI lost a few small flat falls and flat fall hooks. I'm switching up my flat falls and will be running SS or Ti connected hooks in the future. Maybe SS or Ti connected flat falls as well, especially fishing at night or early in the morning.
On wahoo? I got bit off twice and cut off once on wahoo and cut off on the BFT that took me around the boat almost 4 times....I wish I landed that fish, it kicked my butt. Alan got the start of the fight on the video above.
thanks for the awesome report Alan, its like seeing a movie of AT.com
at the end we know learned to work on rods and reels just for this.
Great report, Alan! Looks like everyone had a good time! Wish I could have gone!
That looked like an awesome trip. Thanks for posting the pics and videos. It is a shame so many of you got sick on the trip. Maybe it was the peaches? :D Dominick
Having left on a oversea business trip three days after the SOA and being local, I think I am the last one to pick up my fish from Five Star. Their paperwork had 596 lbs before processing which seems above my fair share of the haul...going to pick up the remaining half tomorrow.
Here is a portion of the YT seared 25-30 secs each slide then sliced:
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/9140_04_11_18_9_15_37.jpeg)
Served on steamed quinoa with a side of wasabi and soy sauce:
(http://alantani.com/gallery/25/9140_04_11_18_9_17_28.jpeg)