Albacore Fishing!! Santa Cruz, CA 9/1/12

[El Pescador]

Several guys from my office, decided to try our hands at Albacore fishing, and we chartered a six-pack boat out of Santa Cruz Harbor.
Left the harbor at 4:30am, two hours out to the fishing grounds.
WHAT a day!
The six of us caught, gaffed and placed on the rear deck 33 hard-fishing Albacore Tuna!!

Most were around the 20-25 lbs. size, the three largest:  30, 32 & 35 lbs.


Twice in the day, all four rods were loaded up with Albacore.


The key was water temperature over 59.6 degrees.  Below that temperature, we were looking for Albacore, above 59 degrees, we were into Albacore.   Water temperature is key to Albacore fishing.


Special Thanks to Pescachaser (Dominick) for loaning me his Penn Torque 300 & 113HN Baja Special for the day.
The next time you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, stop by Dominick's Tackle Rental & Emporium, you'll like the tackle rental rates and they have the coldest beer in town, gluten-free, too!!




Yours Truly with my first Albacore!!!


At days end, I had 32 Albacore loins to process, passed on 24 loins to friends and family the very next day, who LOVE fresh fish, and kept 8 for my personal consumption.
You just can't get fresher fish than this!!!


Bottom line, get out on the water,
Fish hard, pull harder!

El Pescador!

[Alto Mare]

Very nice El Pescador, that's a lot of action. On the picture with your first Albacore, is that a 501?

You're a good man Dominick looks like you got some Albacore coming

[Dominick]

Good Job on the post Wayne.  I'm sorry I could not make, but you got to use my Albacore gear.  Sal we had it raw and seared.  It was delicioso.  My friends can borrow my equipment any time.  Especially guys like El Pescador that will take care of the stuff like it was their own.  Dominick

[Steve-O]

The epitome of an excellent post! Friends, fishing and food shared. Plus a "good onya!" to Dominick for the tackle loan!

Thanks for sharing. I hope to have some bloody decks to share next week.

SteveO

[wallacewt]

lending your fishing gear,i do,comes back broke a lot or lost.ah well.

[Bryan Young]

Nice Wayne.  Why were we not invited to your house Wayne or Dominick?  Dom, I'm holding your reels hostage. 

Very nice report Wayne.  I've never officially gone albacore fishing.  I've gone fishing and scored skipjack tuna, but not specifically focused on one type of tuna.  Looks like so much fun.

[alantani]

very nice!!!!!

[Danhans]

very nice trip!! congrats!!
Dominick is indeed a good man 

[El Pescador]

Alto Mare!
What good eyes you have!    Exactamundo!
IT's a Penn 501, but in B- condition.
Don't know why a boat Captain, whose business is to take fishermen out and catch fish, do not have prime, top-grade & well cared for equipment.
It was nice to hear my fishing buddies, catching Albacore on Dom's equipment, saying, "This big handle makes all the difference", or
"This gold Penn is smooth as butter!", I'm thinking no, much smoother, like Yamaha Marine Grease, TSI 301 & greased woven carbon fiber drags!!!

Here a shot of a fishing buddy with Dom's Torque 300 in gear!


One last shot of a well-maintenanced fishing reel, doing what it does best, FISHED HARD, Blood on the reel!  Ready for our next guest!

[Joel.B]

Looks like a wonderful day!!  Nice work!!

May I ask what that boat cost for the day?  For how many people? 

I have been burning to get out for some long-fin before they are too far away- My boat is not going anywhere for a while

[Keta]

Nice!

[Bryan Young]

Good Job on the post Wayne.  I'm sorry I could not make, but you got to use my Albacore gear.  Sal we had it raw and seared.  It was delicioso.  My friends can borrow my equipment any time.  Especially guys like El Pescador that will take care of the stuff like it was their own.  Dominick

Wayne, did you upgrade Dominick's handles as well?

[El Pescador]

Sure!
$1,600 per day for the charter, for 6 fishermen (or Albacoreans, as we called ourselves!!) = $267 per guy.

15% tip to Dan-the deckhand (or Double D as we called him) = $40 plus $20 for filleting all our fish on the way back to the harbor.  Total for the deckhand = $60

Plus my wife, Jennifer, made lunches for all 6 fishermen plus the Capt. & DD., including a custom made sandwich order to each persons specifications, a can of soda, bag of chips, grape cluster, roll of Life savers, candy bar, napkin & tooth pick!  She really thinks of everything!!!!

This trip was originally designed to fish with Keta in Oregon, but that did not work out with all 6 guys schedule, so we defaulted to Santa Cruz.

Cannot wait to do this trip again! Much fun, many fish, left me very tired at days end!

[Joel.B]

$1600 !!!!!!!!!!???

Hmm, lemme try to math this out

If I want to try to run my 24' SKipjack out there, $400 for boat fuel, $150ish for the Suburban to get it there and back.  I can sleep in the boat or Suburban, so no $$$ for Hotel needed. Launch must be $25ish. I would need to eat something. ICe is not free. Is there any live bait to be had? I am guessing at least $600 maybe $700 for me to run my own deal for one day.  And then there is the fact that I would not have any experience in that area- have to rely on the numbers from other boats and chasing temps.  Could get skunked?   If I could get a few guys to pitch in It would be less- but then I have to deal with the hassle of organizing a trip around the schedules of others.   

$267 per is not sounding too bad all of the sudden.....

[El Pescador]

Or try this math...

On the dock, you can purchase Albacore for $3.25/pound, and if the average fish weights 25 lbs., that is $81.25 per fish.
If the day costs me $267 for Charter, $60 for Deck Hand, $10 ice, $10 lunch = $347 divided by $81.25 = 4.3 fish I would have to catch, before offshore is the better deal, plus you have the day of fishing, and not picking up your fish on the wharf dock.

For me, I'll take fishing.  I don't fish to save money, I don't fix reels to save money, it's a hobby, and it puts me in touch with others whom enjoy the same attributes which I enjoy.  We're a bunch of reel nuts!

See you out on the water...