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Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
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 01/24/2010 05:08 PM
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harddrive
Joined: 04/19/2007
Posts: 2761
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Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Hey Guys,
This report maybe in pieces as this was a long trip. 
This was the trip Sponsored by Rick Ozaki's West Coast Marketing, Avet, Raider Jigs and Graphtec Rods. As with the sponsorship of the Trip. Rick brought lots of give away and everyone got something real nice and and everyone got Raider Jigs, Shirts and all the Yozuri Hybrid line you wanted to use.
So we had gotten a call from Rick a week before to come to the Docks early as we were leaving early. We were told that check in was to start at 5am.
So on the 6th. My self and my fishing buddy Jeff left my home in LA at 1:30am to head to the landing. We arrived in SD and stopped at the usual 711 to get some coffee and gas up the car. And then was at the Docks around 3ish with no one else in site. We sat in the car and waited and eventually Rick showed up at the Docks. He told us that since this is a regular charter, that more then 2/3 of the group had loaded up the night before.
We loaded up our cart with our gear and started the loading line. We meet some of our friends from our previous Shogun Trips while waiting to load. Phil, Roger and Michael from Fresno. These guys we did the 13dayer in 2005 to Cow Town. We meet other people like Dane who just had gotten off the intrepid 11 dayer two days before was also going back out. Dane can fish and get hooked up and the crew started to call him the surface man. There was Rocky who was a Avet Pro Staffer and a Reel guru. And tons of other guys.
The core of the charter group were guys that have been fishing forever together and these guys were serious LR'ers. These are the guys that don't post on the Internet about their exploits.
Well Judy finally came to the office around 6am and we were all checked in and started to load up. The Permit and JP for the 16 dayer was just $123.
On the Boat was Captain Jeff, Billy the 2nd, Kevin Kleary (From the Intrepid the year before), Frank and Paul. Ed and Raul were the Cooks and they provided excellent food all through out the trip.
Loading went smooth as most of the others had loaded up the night before. I ended up at #6 and Jeff at #8. I had prime top corner spot for my tackle bag and I had to switch with Jeff so he could put up his SKB with the Rocket Launchers.
We went to the bait receiver and loaded up on Bait. It took about 3 hours as we had to fill the top 4 tanks and the two slammers. Excel was leaving the Same Day and they were at the bait barge with us. While the crew was loading bait, I took a nice nap. :D
On the way we go and we're going to head south. Captn Jeff gives us the safety briefing and saids he's not decided on where to start. Good thing is we have 16 days so all the options are open. Awesome....
7th Travel Day. We have a seminar and things to eat and then we just sit out the travel. Also Jeff was talking about how the crew on travel day on a previous trip tested the knots and connections. And the Pena Knot held up the best and the double Uni held best for tying the hook. Catch up on more sleep and watch Videos.
8th Travel Day. We had another seminar and Rick had a raffle and gave up t shirts and Raider jigs etc. I won a Avet HX Magic Cast and my buddy Jeff won a 5lbs Spool of 60lbs Izor. Now my buddy has enough 60 for the rest of his life. :D Many other Avet Reels were given out like Pro 30 Wide, JX and Graphtec Rods, Seaguar Fluoro. You name it and Rick gave it out. He also gave each person 3 Raider Jigs, Three Shirts. Hats etc etc. The giveaway was awesome.
9th Travel Day. So Jeff was saying that the report from the Beach wasn't so hot and the RP was hurricane and it was slow down there also. So we were going to head to the Clarion Buffer Zone to start.
10th. We woke to Clarion buffer zone in the back ground started to fish. Instantly we were hooked up on all the 50-70lbers you wanted. Jeff hooked up and he gave his to the Boat for the Galley and I caught two and gave them to the Galley. After a while Jeff said these weren't the grade we were looking for so he made the move.
Next move we start to get into the better grade of Tuna. All 100lbers or more. Lots of fun and getting the rust off. I was using my ATD 50, Avet 30W, Avet SDS, Tiagra 30 on Calstar 7465H, Seeker 2x4, 7465M etc. The fishing was about the best I've ever experienced and I tried to us all my rigs. I also used line from 80 - 130 and used Gorilla 4/0 to 5/0 and Mustad Circles. It all worked. :D We finished the day with 91 big fishes above 100lbs (They did keep tabs on the smaller fish, but I don't remember those numbers). I would say the average fish was 120 or so. Some of the big ones were 180 or so. Awesome fight and the warm water was making these fish kick butt. We did get some wahoo while we were moving but nothing in big numbers.
11th. Same as before started the drift and kite in the morning and all worked as the day before. Fishing was about the best I've ever personally experienced on these grade of fish. I even went down to use my Tiburon SST 12 with 60 Seaguar and worked on a few fish. Button down the drag as best as possible and work on the fish. :D Fun Fun. We ended up with 92 of the bigger fish and more handful of wahoo while trolling during the move. On my kite rotation, I was fishing my Penn 70VS that I've been taking on the trips since 2005 and I get a bite and I'm being taken to the bow. I have Granny Gears on the reel and I'm thinking this new gear isn't working so well. When the fish finally comes up on the 200lbs double trouble, I realize it's a good size fish. They tape it out and it goes 192lbs. On the Scale at the Landing, the fish goes 197.5. Missed by 2.5lbs. But I swear the Fish had a Skippie in it's mouth when I hooked it. :D
So far the only other boat with us was the Red Rooster. At the evening Jeff said that the Hurricane wasn't going and we would be joined by other boats. The RP, Shogun, Red Rooster and us would be there for the check in tomorrow at the Island.
12th. We started out on the next morning and was fishing till time to check in and we got more tuna. We went to the Military post and waited to be checked out. The RP was checked first, then the Shogun and then the RRIII and us. Since we were the last one to be checked out, we trolled around the buffer zone looking for Logs for Wahoo. We trolled the Marauders and we'd get hit and we'd get some Jig Fish etc etc. Probably got like 30 or so Ho's that way. Then we ended up back on the Drift for More Tuna's.
To be Continued......
Part 2
Of note. On the troll for Wahoo on the 11th and the 12th. I was unfortunate enough to hook a Tuna on my Raider Jig on both days.
The Boat was trolling and then the Marauders went off and then like normal Wahoo fishing, cast out the Raider. On the first day. I hooked up and was happy for about 10 seconds. And then realized I hooked into a big tuna. I was about to get spooled on my TN40N. I have about 300 yards of 65 Spectra and 50 yards or so of Mono and the Tuna was not stoppping. I button downed the drag in hopes of stopping the fish and the mono broke.
The next day. Same thing. Troll for Wahoo during the lull of the tuna bite and then. Marauders go off and cast out. Bam. Hook into another tuna. This one was only about 50lbers and I was able to bring that sucker in. Took a while and my spectra is packed so tight that it's turned clean. :D
But Now I understand why people want to use two speed reels for Wahoo. I am starting to lean that way. I may end up keeping the Avet HX yet.
The 13th. So by this time the fish weren't biting as much with the 4 boats being there. So after the morning flurry of Tuna. We spent most of the day trolling around the Island looking for Logs and Dead Whales to find Wahoo. We had pretty good success and everyone got one. On one stop. We were treated to slashing Wahoo on the Surface and biting the irons. It's awesome to see the fish take your lure or in my case, whack the lure and put a dent into the Raider Bronze and then swim away. Totally spectacular.
There was one gentleman (Conway) that while all the other anglers were fishing the Raiders, Bombs and you name it. He would wait until the madness was over and would slip a sardine out and bam. Two of the bigger Wahoos came that way. I tried to do that once and I got a backlash and I put my bait rig away. :D
So after all the Wahoos. I'm guessing we got like 40+ of those critters and then back to the Tuna drift. The drift was pretty fast so a sinker was needed. I would say a 2 to 4 ounces was the ticket. More Tuna comes aboard.
At Dinner Captn Jeff saids he's going to head up to the beach and we'll be in Open Waters fishing for Wahoo or what ever is out there. To me this was good news as my hands were cut up from all those cuts fishermans get and needed to rest my cranking hand. With the fighting of the Tuna and then Wahoo Iron winding. My arms were sore.
Clarion Buffer Zone
So I've been doing this LR thing for about 10 years or so and mostly started the LR thing after the Islands were closed. And on some of these trips I went on, I would meet people that fished the Islands when they were open and they would talk about how good the fishing was and what a experience it is. And also with the recent years after 2005, it was all about Cow Town or Lower Banks etc. Everyone is after big cows.
But in my humble opinion. After fishing the Clarion Buffer Zone. I'd rather fish the Islands. Yes. At the Lower Banks you can get a Cow. But if you look at the counts, not everyone gets a Cow and most often times. People go days without not even a pick up. I mean. I'd rather have wide open 70lbs fish any day. I look forward to the Island opening up one day and then fishing all of them.
The 14th. We wake up to open oceans and nice traveling weather. We're traveling looking for debris or floating object. We hit the mother load of kelp loaded Wahoos. The kelp must have been about 10 yards square. But that thing was loaded and we trolled around and ofter times then not. Hookup within 5-10 minutes. Captn Jeff with circle the debris and when he got close. Wham.... Marauders go off and then Jig Fish. After a while the Wahoo bite died off so we're heading to the Lower Banks.
We have like a day and half travel to Cow Town and we are heading up to see what the big fish comes up.
Jeff my buddy got a total of 10 Wahoos on the Trip. He was a Wahoo maniac. I got 3 Wahoos to the boat. But my Wahoos were bigger. :D
First Day at the Lower Banks.
So after a few days of traveling. We finally arrive at the Lower Banks. We were pretty close to Mag Bay as you can see the big rock. We anchor up at night and wait out the dawn.
I think I forgot to mention that at Clarion. The Iron before Dawn really worked well. I mean it's a ton of work, but the Tuna really bit it well and the fish were confused and came to the boat easier. Jeff got many and I got a few.
So on the first day at the Banks. I go to Jeff if he wanted to Jig and he said he was too tired, so I go out on my own and start the drop and winding. About half a hour later, Jeff comes out to see how I'm doing and I need to run to the bathroom. So I told Jeff to take a few winds. Well. I come out and Jeff is hooked up and since it was my rod. I immediately demanded the Rod back. :D So I bring in a 100lbs tuna at Cow Town. When I saw my rod load up, I knew it wasn't big. So I'd figure I'd take the rod back. If the rod was really loaded up. I'd let Jeff keep it.
The dawn comes and we're all soaking bait and waiting for the fish to come. The breeze isn't going well, so the Ballon is out instead of the Kite. Fish here and there are being caught. Charlie hooks a good one on his HXW Raptor and he fights that fish for a while and brings in the first cow. Tapes out to like 210 or something like that. A definite Cow. Later on the Day, Louie who got 2nd place JP hooks up and fights it for a while and brings in the 270. At this point, no bite for me. Then Jeff hooks up and fights his 240 and that fish is near dead when he brings it to the Gaff. I guess 34lbs of drag really beats the fish up.
Then later on that Day. The JP fish comes aboard. The 272. This fish takes off and then all of a sudden comes in really easy. The fish had been tail wrapped and the fish was being drowned coming backwards. Talk about luck. Ken the angler got a few more fish and they were all tail wrapped and we were all asking for lessons.
That was the big day of big fishes and we got a few more Cow's that day and the next two. But those were the three top fishes. One guy hooked a bigger fish then Jeff, but after a while. Captn Jeff had to take over and we didn't think it qualified for the JP. But didn't turn out that way. Jeff didn't get the 3rd place JP, but most of the anglers all knew it was Jeff's.
The next day was the same. Try to jig some fish in the morning and then sit out and soak bait. All fun stuff...
We were down at the Lower Banks like 3 days and we got some cows. My best at the lower banks was like 186 at the scales. But over all, I had a fish or two or three each day. I couldn't ask for more.
For the first trip in a very long time. I had a bite every day and that's all I can ask for.
So what worked?
Jigging. PL68 and TNT jigs in the dark. Drop down a few hundred yards and then wind until your arms fall off.
J hooks. Many people were just using Gorilla 5/0 hooks and they all caught their cows no problem.
Short topshots. Like 25 foot of Mono and then get this. People were doing a simple Seaguar knot with about 3 foot of leader and many many big fish was caught this way.
Egg sinkers. Instead of sinkers with rubber band, put the egg sinker inline and use a toothpick to hold in place and it worked great.
What didn't work?
One angler bought some leaders from Bass Pro and the mono was only inserted about a foot and a half and then served and that leader slipped out. We saw the guy throw all those leaders out after that fish.
We ended up moving up the line early to beat the storm and we went to some rock that Captn Jeff knew and we got some YT. Many people didn't fish much for them. But it was a blast.
And then the Long Ride home. It was like Victory at Sea. Only saving grace was that the waves were helping and pushed the boat up north. Usually the current and waves are coming from the north, but with the storm coming from the south. We got a push up. We were riding some 20foot waves and it was pretty erie coming up the line. We came home early and was at the bait barge at 3pm the day before we were to come home. But to be honest, I'd rather be safe then try to ride those wave in a hurry.
Harddrive.
This post edited by harddrive 01/28/2010
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01/25/2010 03:08 AM
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Brad_G
Joined: 02/14/2007
Posts: 6177
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
harddrive wrote:
The core of the charter group were guys that have been fishing forever together and these guys were serious LR'ers. These are the guys that don't post on the Internet about their exploits.
Gotta smile at that line, thanks.
Brad_G
Common Sense is not Common Enough
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01/25/2010 06:07 AM
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Rodless_Jim
Joined: 09/13/2005
Posts: 1031
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Welcome home, my friend! Already sounds like it was an incredible trip! And your story-telling skills are improving, too...
So the Pena knot held up well? Up to how heavy?
More story, please... JL, please feel free to add detail!
Three rods and counting...bring it on!http://gripesnpipes.blogspot.com/
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01/25/2010 06:40 AM
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Steve K
Joined: 02/15/2007
Posts: 6042
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
From Bill Roecker's website we learned this much about JL
Jeff Liu of Alameda got a 240-pound tuna with a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Gorilla hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon. He fished with 130-pound Line One Spectra, an Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 H rod.
“My best before was a 237-pounder,” said Jeff, “so I didn’t beat it by much!”
Cograts Jeff.
More trips, less tackle
Pro Staff; Five Star Fish Processing
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01/25/2010 06:43 AM
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Rodless_Jim
Joined: 09/13/2005
Posts: 1031
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Steve K wrote:
Cograts Jeff.
What he said...I think?
Three rods and counting...bring it on!http://gripesnpipes.blogspot.com/
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 01/25/2010 07:42 AM
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JL
Joined: 05/06/2007
Posts: 674
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Thanks to all for the congrats. It was an awesome trip. The complete package that is. The boat, crew, fellow anglers, fishing, catching, and food from the beginning to end was wonderful. The captain made all the right calls and fishing/catching was one of the best I have encountered in my 10 yrs of LR fishing. Most importantly, the quality of the fish was unreal.
Harddrive is doing a great job of reporting. I can not believe his memory is that good.
Looking forward to fishing again with this group next year.
JL
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01/25/2010 09:17 AM
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poorfokz
Joined: 04/19/2007
Posts: 789
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Sounds like you guys had a great trip!
Congrats on the PB
My Ulua won't fit in the Speed3,
might have to cut it down. 
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01/25/2010 10:30 AM
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TimC
Joined: 02/20/2007
Posts: 3298
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Good to read that you & Jeff are out again this year. Also glad that the "Fresno gang" joined you guys  Hi guys, no time to see !!
Did you have Jeff make top-shots for you, or did you decided to go with Sato crimp?
Glad that Jeff got his personal best. I guess Larry decided not to join you on this trip? 
This post edited by TimC 01/25/2010
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01/25/2010 02:02 PM
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fishybuzz
Joined: 04/22/2007
Posts: 16342
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Thanks for the report Harddrive....happy to see JL got a PB.....
I Hope to fish the buffer zone in March......
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01/25/2010 07:39 PM
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BchGuy
Joined: 04/16/2004
Posts: 9
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
Great story Harddrive. I'm ready for more.
Good to see you guys at the dock. Lots of tuna, and lots of smiles.
Congrats on your PB Jeff. Here it is.
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01/27/2010 11:49 AM
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JL
Joined: 05/06/2007
Posts: 674
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re: Indy 16 Dayer Report. 1/6/10 to 1/22/10
TimC wrote:
Nice fish Jeff.
Hey did you gain weight?
Thanks... Tim
Yes, all that good food gave me an additional 4#. Now, I will need to swim extra to loose that weight.
You should join us next year. I think you would really enjoy the 16-day as it was very low key. Just bring some extra spools of spectra. LOL
Jeff
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This post was deleted by TimC 
