The trip report part of this post is going to be brief. Not too much to report. We departed from H&M Landing around 8pm last Friday (October 28th) on a Fishing Syndicate sponsored trip. The choice right now at this length of trip is to go southwest for paddy style offshore fishing for dorado and yellowfin, or northwest toward San Clemente Island for bluefin. We made the long drive northwest (about 8 hours travel time) to the banks south and west of San Clemente Island.
We arrived in the dark for a bit of heavy jig action. I heard one guy got bit and lost his fish (I was still asleep). When the sun came up, we went looking. Capt. Rick Scott found several schools for us to stop on, but they were mostly unresponsive. Primary presentation was the sinker rig for this portion of the trip.
The swell was up pretty good and may have been a contributing factor to the poor fishing. It calmed down a little in the afternoon and the bite got a bit better. The fish also started to come up in the water column and a flylined sardine on 40# was a successful presentation. My setup for this presentation was the Fishing Syndicate Big Game/Offshore FSC 760XH (40-80), paired with a Shimano Talica 12II.
I was initially fishing a 2/0 circle (Gamakatsu Nautilus HD) but no biters. Someone got bit when he went down to a size 2. I responded by going down to a size 4 (all I had smaller) Blacktail circle hook and got bit. These hooks have a reputation for being a bit brittle, so I backed off the drag somewhat in response. Luckily, I converted my one opportunity. When the fish hit the deck though, the hook broke just below the tip…something to keep in mind if you find yourself using this brand of hook.
At the end of the afternoon, the count was 8 bluefin tuna for 29 anglers. That ended up being the final count. No love at all during the night jigging portion of the trip. Fish were say 40-60 lbs. Tough trip, but I enjoy fishing on this boat with Capt. Rick and his excellent crew. Enjoy your time off (this was their last trip for 2022) and see you guys next year. This trip was likely my last bluefin trip for 2022 too.
Preventable Errors
Last year I read on a blog at www.thetrajet.com that there are many varied ways to lose bluefin…straightened hooks, heavy jig swallowed past the heavy leader and bitten off on the mainline, braid cut on a nicked guide etc. Bluefin are the kind of fish that will find whatever weakness you have and exploit it. In the offseason, I re-examined everything I was doing regarding bluefin fishing. I made many small adjustments as a result. I’ve gotten the monkey off my back and done much better this year.
On this trip, at least as many fish were lost as there were that hit the deck. All the various mistakes I made last year, I observed happening on this trip. A lot of them might have resulted in a different outcome had the angler paid attention/enlisted the aid of the crew. Examples included, getting spooled on 50 when crew recommendation was 80 or 60 on the sinker rig. I saw another guy get bit and immediately the fish popped off. Drag was too tight. This happened late in the day too. He had all day to have a crewmember check his drag.
Please listen to the crew. They want you to be successful. It kills me when couple times a year guys are too hard-headed to follow crew instructions.
Sinker Rig With A Twist (or not)
I’ve always tied a Seaguar knot as the connection knot between my mainline mono and the fluoro leader. I was always told that on a deep presentation, you should hook the bait from under the chin through the top of their mouth. One of the crewmembers told me to use the normal side-to-side nose hook instead. I wasn’t getting bit, so I gave it a try. I found that the bait was coming back fouled from the circle twisting around in the bait’s face. I asked 2nd Capt. Mike Gaskins if he had a trick to resolve this issue. He asked me if I had any small, heavy-duty swivels. I had some 150 lb. rated ones. He told me to tie it between the mono and fluoro (vs. using the Seaguar knot). I didn’t catch making this switch, but the bait came back cleaner…indicating to me I was spending more time fishing a properly presented bait. I’m going to continue trying it this way and see how it plays out when they want to bite.
The Dropshot-Style Sinker Rig
I saw 6-8 anglers tied-up this way and mentioned it to one of the crewmembers. I didn’t like it because I felt like if it got bit, the fish would probably immediately bite into the main line and break off. That has happened to me with just spotties. What’s a bluefin going to do?
My buddy Rob Tressler (he and his wife Lori are two of the best bluefin anglers I know) was talking about this setup in a recent Facebook post and he didn’t like it because the bait is pinned to your line and can’t swim freely at all.
The crewmember told me it’s a new twist that was popularized on the Royal Polaris. How it works is you tie a ringed circle to your mainline, and then tie a lighter grade line (30# usually) from the ring to the weight. The problem this solves is the leader doesn’t foul up on the mainline from dropping it in too fast. Also, if your line isn’t marked, you can use 10 ft/sec as a rough guide to drop in to the appropriate depth.
The angler below got bit on 100# mono mainline tied to the ring (no fluoro!) and got his fish. Jury’s out on this one for me. I might give it a try if the sinker rig bite is hot, and I want to drop in quickly (vs the more controlled drop I use with the traditional rig). It’s definitely a variation to keep in your back pocket to try at some point.
That’s all for now. I’m headed out to Louisiana this weekend to target trophy redfish. Imagine fishing the skinny and hooking into a 40 lb corbina. Supposedly, that’s the kind of thrill I’m in for. I had another ride last week with a local pangero that I’ll write up before I leave. Good luck if you get out there.
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