Jeff,
I've done this particular trip quite a few times. You are correct in that the trip tends to fish for large tuna but I think it's mainly due to the availability of the large tuna. If the large tuna are not around, then we will find some other fish. The trip has never been about variety however. We occasionally get into some wahoo but I think the most that we ever got was a dozen or so. The water is generally too cold. It's pretty much a YFT/Yellowtail trip. Towards the end of the trip we sometimes drift for rock cod/ling cod or some halibut. We got into a bunch of barracuda one time.
To answer your question, the latest trend is to fish Cedros/Benitos on the way down and end up in Mag Bay at night to make some mackeral. If we have a good load of sardines, we may forego this. Last year we did not have to make any mackeral although we did make some squid. The big tuna were not biting mackeral well at the time.
In general, we will fish YT on the way back either at Cedros/Benitos or along the ridge. One year we skipped the YT altogether to concentrate on the big tuna which started biting late in the trip. I fish YT via heavy iron 95% of the time but lots are caught on dropper loop. We occasionally fish in deep water or swift current so I only use heavier iron like Salas 6x, Tady 4/0, and Sumo 7 (heavy). My favorite color is dorado but all the usual work like blue and white, scrambled egg, green and yellow. I bring all of these. Iron fishing is more work but I find it more rewarding.
Wahoo trolling is done only if the water is warm enough or there is some sign. I would not expect to catch wahoo but I'd come prepared with some Bonita/Marauders, bombs, raider jigs. If the big tuna are around, we won't try for Wahoo.
As for chunk fishing, we've only done that once that I recall and only drifting during the day in open water. I don't recall ever chunk fishing on anchor as is done at Hurricane Bank or Clarion. I recall that the RP did that a few times with success on the lower banks.
As mentioned above, we typically make Mackerel on these trips. Timing varies. If we use a box of sardines on the way down, then we'll probably make some Macs. If we have a full load, then there's no room for Macs and we'll buzz straight down to the lower banks. The Excel has a large bait capacity so if we can fill a slammer, then we might not need to make bait on consecutive nights. If the big tuna are hitting Macs, then we might have to make bait 3 times and we will be travelling at night to Mag Bay.
There are a lot of variables to the trip so it's hard to say what will happen in advance. If the big tuna start biting for the fall trips, then you can bet we'll try for them. Being that there are no boats out at Christmas time, there won't be much spotting information when we leave. We used to be the only boat on a 10 day at that time so it was hard to locate the schools. Now there are 4 or 5 boats leaving on the 26th so we have a pretty good set of eyes. There can be a lot of driving around with little action until the fish can be found.
If the water is cold, we may spend some time fishing Alijos or the ridge and hope a warm bubble appears. If we can get on a good bunch of 40-80# fish, we probably won't drive away. Lately, it's been the trend to fish some YT on the way down, concentrate on the big tuna for a few days, then head north looking for quantity. We've had trips where there were only 20 fish on the boat as of day 4 but they'll be big ones. Once we have some trophies, we head north looking for smaller but more plentiful YFT and YT. On the last day, we'll make some drifts for rock cod.
You mentioned you did a 16 day trip. The big tuna fishing on the 10-day trip is more akin to fishing outside the 6?mile limit at Clarion. It's not like anchor fishing at Hurricane or inside Clarion (back in the day). The wahoo fishing is the same. YT iron fishing is just cast out, wait for the jig to hit bottom, then wind for all you're worth. Sometimes the YT are off the bottom and may hit higher in the water column but they generally hit within the first few cranks of the handle. I'm not a dropper loop guy so you'll have to ask someone else about that.
I bring outfits from 30# to heavy kite gear. I mainly use 40#, 60#, 130#. For the big fish, they don't seem to be leader shy so there's no use using 80 or 100#. 130, 150, or 200# is a better way to go. If the big fish are not around, the jackpot is in the 120# range so 60# line is fine. It is also a good line size during a hot bite. You can almost jackpole the smaller fish on 60# and the meat quality will be better if the fight is short. The fish will also be in better condition if you plan to release them. If the fish are smaller, then use the 40#. I also use 40# for YT jigging. 50# if the YT are big.
If you have any other questions, ask away.
See you in Dec,
Chris
