Ecuador trip

10:33pm

We have taken off and climbing to cruising altitude. The flight to Miami is the first leg of our journey where we will have a 10 hour layover. I figure we will nap, read, play games and I will knit a fish. 

Our row mate is named Oscar and turns out he was a 5 time boxing champion and fought Floyd mayweather or something. He was ranked pretty high in the country. He got into an accident and now runs marathons. Very nice guy and his final destination is Nicaragua. He said its beautiful and highly recommends it.

Really neat who you can end up sitting next to!! If the flight attendant with the wine would just come by, we would be set for the rest of the flight. 

Shogun 1.5 day

I am sipping a glass of Chardonnay at Mitch's Seafood waiting to eat then check in for the trip. 

It's the third boat I have booked to fish this week. The ranger 85 and Old Glory didn't go out, not enough people. So the Shogun was going and I signed up! 

The boats leaving at 4pm so just hanging out until they make the announcement to check in and then they will make bunk assignments. So needless to say I pounded my wine for no reason!! Oh well!!

9:04pm Monday 

We have completed our day of fishing. Dinner was prime rib with a baked potatoe and carrots. So good. I love eating on the boats!! 

The day started at 4:30am. I went on deck to see if we were stopping but we kept moving, so I went back to bed til 5:30 ish. We started soaking the baits and my reel started spinning I was bit! First bite of the trip then 3 more hook ups for other people. It ended with our 4 and then nothing else. So we kept motoring and trolling for blue fin. We came up paddies on 4 stops and basically got boat limits for the trip. The yellows were little but I kept 5 and released way more. I started fishing with squid but switched to the Tady 9 chrome and blue to try and get some more tuna. No go though. 

We had 2 stops that gave up 7 yellowfin tuna but that was it. So we trolled and trolled soaked some bait and hoped those fish would bite. They didn't. 

Cole called it around 7pm; we reeled in the trolling rigs and broke down all of our gear. 

They went through the fish and guess who won jackpot??? ME!! I have never won a jackpot before and to get the first tuna and jackpot is pretty amazing!!!! 

I don't know how much it is but as long as I pay my $4 galley tab the crew can keep the rest. They have been so helpful and amazing this whole trip. I absolutely love fishing with them and can't wait to fish the Xmas trip. 

Here's a pic of me with my fish. 

They said its in the 20lb range. I am stoked!! 

This trip was so much fun and met so many nice people. Everyone was having fun regardless of the slow bite. 

Going to sleep now, we should be at the dock around 6am. Night. 

Toronado 2 day

As I lay in my bunk with my legs elevated on my bag to relieve some of the back pain, I contemplate how fishing has brought so many people in to our lives and bring more meaning to it..

We left Pierpoint Landing and now are heading to Catalina Island to get squid! I guess the tuna have been biting on a sliding sinker 3/0 hook and squid. Pretty cool. No matter how often you fish, there's always more to learn. The seas are supposed to be rough so I am hunkered in my bunk. Keep you posted as we continue on our trip

10:41pm

Today was a tough but good day of fishing. I fished my sx with 30lb a 2/0 circle hook and live squid. The first couple of hours yielded tons of salmon grouper, sheepshead and other miscellaneous fish. The tuna bite was slow with 8 coming over the rail, one was mine. Nice schooly sized maybe 15 lbs but hey it counts. After I caught a nice white fish and that was it for me. Kevin was on fire with all the keychain sized fish. Amazing Jim had a hot rockfish stick and his friend John caught a BFT too. 

Dinner was so good: steak mashed potatoes and corn, salad to start with the wine we brought!! Wonderful meal. 

Going to bed as we motor to Tanner Banks so we can have a few extra hours of fishing than if we went to San Clemente. 

Night!

9:33pm

Today was tough fishing for me. Couldn't get bit but Allison was on fire!!! It all started when we were dropper looping for well anything and we were getting hungry. So I asked Allison to watch my rod and I will go get the muffins, totally figures that I get bit and then she does. I loose mine cause I wasn't there lol! She fights here and then the connector knot from mono to spectra fails. It was done by someone at Bob Sands and she was pissed. A few more winds and it would have been in the spool. Well that flurry of bites yield nice 30-40 lb yellowtail. So we all drop down again. Chef Chowder hooks up and asked which of us girls wants it and I tell Allison to go get it!!! She fights it and lands it; got the bad mojo off her day! She's exhausted but so happy. I tell her to get her line in the water and she is hesitant, but does anyway. Soon after bam hooked up again!! It was a nice 30 lb YT!! We spent the rest of the day searching for YT then had to head home. It would be a 7 hr ride back with a fast troll by paddies if we came across any. No more bites for me and we motored home. 

We had so much fun, making new friends and learning new techniques. Allison got to fight big fish and I got my bluefin. It was a good trip. 

Thank you Earl and 976-tuna.com

Mirage overnight

Since the last trip was a bust, I have been jones-ing for fishing and some redemption. 

Marion and I went on the Mirage Monday night fish Tuesday. This time I actually check the weather and sea forecasts so make sure it would be good trip. 

We got to the landing around 8:30pm to check in and get our bunks. It was kind of weird being at the landing when it was so quiet. There were hardly any cars and it seemed just creepy. We put our stuff on the boat and tried to get bunks in the bow but everything was taken. So we went middle section middle row. It was a good spot for future reference. A nice guy named Tony switched my top bunk for his middle bunk so Marion and I could sleep next to each other instead of some random man! 

Marion set her alarm for 5:30am which I heard and woke her up. As for myself, I promptly fell back to sleep and missed the whole seabass and halibut fishing. It was ok, no bites except for Marion's bat ray. So I didn't miss much. 

We were fishing the far side of Santa Rosa where you could see San Miguel. It turned out to be a beautiful day clear skies and calmer seas. It was windy on the far side of the island which Tucker let us know and tried to avoid going to. 

Fishing was so much fun and really quality reds, cabazon, sheepshead, lings and other rockfish came  aboard. Jackpot was won by this nice guy with a huge sheepshead right off the bat. Very cool guy since he gave the jackpot to the crew! Marion was stoked with catching 2 legal lings since it had been a couple of years since she last got one. 

On my last drop I hooked up a nice ling and it was a beaut!

Marion and I had so much fun talking with all the other anglers and crew. It really was a great day!

Electra 2 Day Tuna Trip

It's 9 am and we are on round 3 of the troll. We stopped at 3 kelp paddies with first one being productive. Lots of small firecracker yellowtail and I was hooked up first. 

Got it to the boat fairly quickly but wasn't sure if we should keep it or not. I asked to release it but the deckhand said just keep it. So it was gaffed and our picture was taken. 

So as tuna fishing goes we are trolling for a jig strike. 

Fast forward to 9/2 and I really don't want to finish this post (can't you tell?). 

So in a few words that trip sucked. 1 BFT on the troll of course on my rotation but not my rod. Took the guy around the boat and well that was it. 

I don't want to be negative but wow that trip was horrible. The boat was filthy the fish sat in the funny sacks all day not getting hose down or bled before they went in the sack. 

When I went to cook the fish it was pink in color and smelled like week old garbage. 

I was so disappointed and just defeated. Never going on that boat again and well that's the end of that..

Heading out!

Baiting up then heading out. I believe we are going 75 miles out and start fishing about 5 am. 

Tuna fishing out of Oceanside

It's 4:56pm driving south on the 405 heading to Helgren's in Oceanside. We packed up the corolla with rods, reels, tackle, cooler and our personal bags. 

 *side note: the corolla is a deceptively roomy small car! 

The original boat we were scheduled to fish on was the Oceanside 95, but the boat has some malfunction and is docked til further notice. So, we have been moved to the Electra! It's 75 ft versus 95 and that's all I know. It's going to be an adventure. 

We are ready for anything tackle and gear wise. Both have 30, 40, 50 lb rigs, our trolling rod and Kevin's bait caster for added fun! 

The tuna bite has been said to be slowing down so hopefully we are able to find some. Either way its Kevin and getting to fish together and everything else is gravy!!!

Western Outdoor News- Channel Island Shootout

This is a snapshot of this week's WON! The Channel Island Shootout is a great event and so much fun!!

Here goes nothing...

My name is Sophia and I love to fish!

I decided to start a blog so I would be able to share all my fishing adventures with people, hopefully lots and lots of people. But, it dawned on me the true reason I want to do this is so I can remember all the cool stuff I do. Somewhat selfish and egocentric but it's true. Lots of my memories are lost somewhere in my mind and are recalled by photos or my boyfriend & friends retelling stories. So instead of a handwritten journal or photo albums, I will try to record my life via this blog.