I was fortunate to make it on this trip last minute. My co worker was supposed to go but hurt his neck and I filled in. The 7 day trip was on the mighty Royal Polaris skippered by Frank Lopreste. The boat is 113 feet long and 29 feet wide. This is a serious fishing vessel.
We left last Tuesday (June 9th) around 9 am and loaded up with around 400 scoops of sardine and macks. It took around 2 hours just to get bait. We left Point Loma around 11:15 for Alijos Rocks. Alijos is a set of 3 rocks that stick out of the ocean roughly 500 miles south and 200 miles west of baja. The run would take 2 full days to get there.
The weather and seas were perfect with a nice ride down. Honestly I was a little bored drving for two days with nothing to do but rig tackle and eat lots of outstanding food. The food and "snacks" provided was better than what most resturants serve. I think I gained 10 pounds after walking off this trip lol
Frank gave us a seminar if the galley the day before we arrived at the rocks. We found out that the yellowtail and yellowfin had been biting and we were in store for a great trip. The crew made sure everyone was up to speed with knot tying and casting. The sun deck better known as the "Beach" was used for knot tying seminars. Wet rags were tied to lines for practice casting to simulate the weight and feel of a sardnie.
On the 3rd day Alijos was in view. Everyone began to scramble making lasty minute preperations to get ready to fish. We offically arrived at the rocks around 9 am on Friday morning.
The Shogun was anchored up on the NW part of the rocks when we pulled up. They were leaving so we slid in ahead of them. The YT went nuts when the chum started. Yellows were blowing up all over the chum line and several people hooked up instantly. The tuna had not shown up yet but made a strong showing in the afternoon. Many of the YT ranged from 9-40 pounds. Here are some of the better fish
I picked up the only surface iron fish on this trip. I guess they liked my old school Candy Bars with custom paint :) Here's a cool shot taken when I first hooked up on the iron. I sure love my 9' Calcutta jig stick and Trinidad 20 DC.
#14713, "RE: 2009 Royal Polaris 7 day trip cont'd" In response to Reply # 1
The 3rd morning proved to be the day for the bigger yellowfin. Here is my jackpot winning fish that weighed 56 pounds. The big YT from day 2 didn't count because it came on the kite. This fish was caught on 30 pound and took me about 40 minutes to land. It was a really pissed off fish.
We eventaully had to leave the rocks and we left to look for Albacore and Bluefin Tuna. The next day was rough, windy and cold and only produced a handfull of smaller Albacore from 12-18 pounds.
After 12 hours of taking a beating we all voted to run inside to San Martin island. We arrived around 4 am on Monday morning to much calmer conditions. We caught some smaller reds and lin cod and slowly worked our way north to Collonette for more reds. It was a little slow but a nice change from the rough seas the day before.
Overall the trip was great and being my first long range I was very impressed. The crew on the RP was probably the best crew I have ever seen in action. The entire group on the boat meshed very well which made fishing all that much better. Very little tangles and great times for all of us. If you are thinking about a long range trip I highly recommend the Royal Polaris!!!
#14717, "RE: 2009 Royal Polaris 7 day trip cont'd" In response to Reply # 4
Did you guys fish at night at all for groupers? We wanted to at Cedros but I think we were not anchored in places where groupers and blacks might be hanging out. I just want an excuse to use a 12/0 hook and a 4lb fish for bait...