It was the last weekend before my surgery and I was going to take my boat out one more time by hell or high water. Friday night, the marine conditions looked good.
Saturday morning ramp... a cluster f@ck... Ugh...
As usual, the marine weather was way off in both size of the swells (x2) and the wind speeds. What a washing machine out there!
(https://i.imgur.com/x9VZ3az.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NrWjNli.jpeg)
Warm water everywhere, but not as clean as it used to be. Also not a single strand of kelp anywhere to be found!
No way I was going to get to the 178 or at least burn up a lot of time getting there and I needed meat for the fridge! I know the fleet has been fishing the inside dropoff, so I decided to start there. I had a few buddies out there also we were going to buddy boat and keep all of us informed. Friday was a great day for the fleet... but you know how that goes... Should have been here yesterday...
My buddy called me on the radio when I get a triple hook up! Bent butt/Spreader Bar (This one at least sounded right) as well as both my jet head side trollers. Unfortunately trolling 5 rods takes a bit to set up and to figure out how to fight the fish in without tangle. I had to do the spreader bar last since it was the furthest out but started with the rods that were not bit and moved up from there. Lost a football on the bounce and picked up the second. Now to the bigger one. Funny how a 20# yellowfin can dwarf the little 5-6# footballs! LOL... But NOOOOO! The 20# model pulled the hook 15' from the boat. ARGH!!!!!!
Well, at least I got one of the 3 of the triple hook up.
(https://i.imgur.com/KvYxB6R.jpeg)
Immediately these f@cktards came out of nowhere and started doing circles around me. Jezus christ I hate Saturdays as well as the "New Money" anglers.
(https://i.imgur.com/f02ibUD.jpeg)
After 4 loops he took off and I commenced trolling.
I picked up another YFT and lost a few more but they were even smaller. I saw the fleet and decided to do a huge circle around them to get any outer orbit fish that were well away from everyone.
(https://i.imgur.com/jlvdIOz.jpeg)
Tons of bullet Tuna...
(https://i.imgur.com/uhYLvmP.jpeg)
I caught 5 or 6 and it was just nice catching something.
(https://i.imgur.com/QbTpIZx.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/hJFOTKW.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z7OLafQ.jpeg)
I was near the ledge and decided to drop for some rockfish before heading in for the day. The wind got up to 20 knots and I was soaking wet from all of the spray.
No working trolling motor so I had to manually motor in place as best I could. I made a dozen drops before realizing it was too much as I was taking water over the stern.
I got a red...
(https://i.imgur.com/QJX4O8C.jpeg)
As well as 4 or 5 sculpin.
(https://i.imgur.com/4ecbr8k.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bv6kaaN.jpeg)
Turned around and two douche bags started trolling circles around me. My god....
(https://i.imgur.com/FOPk1mD.jpeg)
I picked up an few more whitefish and called it the day.
(https://i.imgur.com/gOiysCq.jpeg)
Not what I had in mind for the last ride of 2026, but not too bad coming home with some tuna and groceries.
Now it's time to prep the house before going under the knife again.
Thanks for reading and until next tide!
Productive day! Too bad about the bigger yellowfin. Those bullet tuna continue to elude me but it's nice to see they're still around (and that they will take a shot at the high speed vibe). You made pretty solid work f this season, hope the surgery goes smoothly.