Ensenada/offshore 9/17-9/20

Since the board is pretty slow I'll post my report from last week even though I've already posted a little bit about it. Departed Saturday afternoon with crew Jerry and Gary. Topped off on fuel at Dana Landing at $3.35 gal (ouch). Picked up a scoop of decent sardines and set a course for the west butterfly/mushroom area. Beautiful ride until we got to 20 miles. Seas got mixed up and at 30 miles they were pretty nasty. Endured to the butterfly area where the sport boats kept going west. We decided to turn south as the seas were big and closer together. At sunup we are near the cross and put the jigs out. Big paddies everywhere with nobody on them and 65.5 degree semi-blue water. Jerry who has fairly bad eye sight says he saw something big come up in the spread. I take it with a grain of salt and take a quick glance. Sure enough I see the dorsal, and tail fins and the bill slapping at one of the lures. No mackerel to drop back so we just let it play with the lures. Finally it lights up, sees what it wants and makes a mad dash to the blk/purple daisey chain and we are bendo. Didn't last long it it was gone. Now we are heading east towards the Coral and still at 60NM. Water getting warmer but greener. Trolled until water was almost puke green (but, clear) on the 213. Most sardines have rolled. No strikes for two hours of trolling. Picked up and headed towards the Coral. Plan was to fuel up and fish the mushroom on day two but, a radio call to the marina said no fuel until 13:00 the next day. Got a slip and made some nice big mackerel for bait, cleaned up the boat and enjoyed a dinner at the restaurant (Chicken Tamarindo). Day two we decided to fish the bay and around Todos Santos for that easy ling cod or elusive WSB. Birds were very active near the north end of Todos Santos and cuda were busting everywhere. Dropped out a couple 12" mackerel and got exploded on by a big yellow. Didn't wait long enough and yanked it away. This happened to me three times. Gary managed to get a solid hookup and landed an 18 lb'er. A couple big yellows boil on our big baits and follow them to the boat. These are some big fish but we can't seem to get a solid hookup. I threw the surface iron but couldn't get through the cuda with it. Landed and released a lot of big slimers. Made several drifts throug the rocky area west of the island for 1 small (1lb maybe) lingcod and a couple small rockfish. Saw tons of birds crashing bait and we loaded up the tank with 70-80 mini macks for the next day. Back to the Coral for fuel ($1.75 gal) and ice. Witnessed a beautiful sunset followed by oh-oh lightning and thunder? Where did that come from? Tune to WEAX radio and heard the bad news of thunder storms extending from LA south and even out to sea. Warnings of strong gusts, and even rogue waves??? What? I've never heard that on the WEAX radio before. Maybe by midnight it would be gone. Midnight arrives we are ready to go west. Not a breath of wind and only lightning seems to be very distant and south of Banda. Four miles from the harbor it's a different story. Lightning is lighting us up from 360 degrees and you can feel the electricity in the air. We debated for a few minutes about what to do. We hoped that we are grounded and are in no danger but, know better. My dad was struck by lightning on his boat at anchorage in Florida so, I think the theory about being grounded is jsut a dream. Better judgement dictates we turn around and we did. Awoke to a beautiful morning with no lightning and finally head west. Once past the island it starts getting bumpy and bumpier. Hear radio reports of one 23' Parker scoring some (3) yellowfin at the shroom in a lightning storm. Continue west but again the seas were uncooperative and we turn towards the cross. At 62NM the water warms up and gets blue. Jigs go out and we turn northeast. Nothing, nothing, and more nothing. Finally near the 390 we stopped on a paddy and land 1-17 lb yellow. Meter marks are getting bigger and more frequent. Best water we've seen yet (between 390 and 371 but, no jig strikes. Spot a marlin jumping but, no strikes. Finished the trip at 9:00PM safe at the dock. Boat performed outstanding. Sure am glad to have a Blackman. That hull design is perfect for these conditions. I've never turned back before but, felt it was the right thing to do. Based on the water we found near the 371, and the meter marks I don't believe the tuna season is over. Hopefully we'll get a shot here soon.
Out here!
Scott

I'm disappointed. You came so close to the original spot off Todos and didn't try to reclaim a used squid this year.

Thanks for the Great report!