Well I decided to go fishing with the Challengers – a nice 1 1/2 day charter out of Pierpoint landing on the Aztec.
Anyway, about 5 days before the charter, Nolan calls me up and says that there’s an open spot on the trip. I hadn’t really planned
on going, but apparently Leo Liu had to pick his parents up from the airport, and couldn’t make the trip. I
can’t understand how that would be more important than a fishing trip, but then again I’m not that bright.
So I looked at my schedule, and unfortunately, I couldn’t give Nolan a good enough excuse not to go on the
trip. So I joined up with the gang Saturday night at Pierpoint Landing. One of the first people I met was
Steve Showler. In the past, I’ve been on trips with Steve, and when he’s boarded, he’s screamed “It’s going
to be a long F**king boat ride!”
So I asked him “Will it be a boat ride this time Steve?” Instead of his usual warcry, he said “Actually, the
signs all point to good fishing this trip.” With that amount of enthusiasm, I knew we couldn’t fail!
Armed with my new Relief Band, and a pre-swallowed tablet of Marezine, I confidently boarded the Aztec. I had already tested the Relief Band on a half day twilight trip and it
worked like the proverbial charm. After listening to David the deckhand discuss the coming fishing, and
preparing my lines correctly, I went down to sleep with good feelings and great confidence.
During the middle of the night, the Marezine wore off and in spite of the best electric shock efforts of my
Relief Band, I woke up a bit seasick. Not to worry, a quickly swallowed Marezine and off I went. By 8 in
the morning, we were about 120 miles out and we were already catching albacore! The trolling teams were
barely starting to troll when they got bit time and time again. The first time my team trolled I didn’t even
get the rod out before Pam Sharp got bit. Even Nolan hadn’t thrown his feather out either!
Around this time I believe, although I am not sure, I chummed the waters, losing the latest Marezine, and
the battle with seasickness. Aside from myself, Larry Natsume and a few other folks were a bit under the
weather. But that didn’t stop the fishing! I saw guest Jeff Mckellar pull in a nice albacore. Richard Smith,
Don Smith’s son was pulling in longfin with a spinning reel! Lynn Adams cast from the second row to get
bit. Chris Johnson and Jimmy Wong each had 3 albacore and I hadn’t even chummed the water a second
time (you really don’t want to know).
Somewhere during the morning, I actually got bit, using my trusty left-handed Penn 500 reel. It’s been
awhile, and there’s nothing more exciting than to see your line suddenly leave the spool a lot faster than
the current takes it out. Then, after a few seconds, you shift the reel into gear, and then start reeling in for
all you’re worth! Once you’ve done that, and there’s a nice bend in your rod, you can yell “Hook Up!”
After that, it’s just a nice fight around the boat and over and under the other people. It’s a good thing we’re
all friends, because we ended up bumping into each other quite a bit.
One of the hottest bites of the day came on a spot where we had caught about 12 fish. At this point the
skipper started the engine and was about to leave. Suddenly, someone hooked up. Then another person
did. Larry Natsume looked at me and asked “so are we going or staying?” Well, we stayed, and I think we
took about 50 longfins at that stop.
Earlier, Pam Sharp saw me putting on the ol’ Scopalamine patch, which kicked in and I was able to fish
without feeling too badly. At one point, I was fishing near Bob Mode, when 2 guys were both hit. I asked
him “what are we doing wrong?” Well, it didn’t matter, because a few minutes later, we were both hooked
up with some nice 10-15 pound albies.
As a clever student of fishing, I copied one of Ken Gandy’s 5 foot casts. I bettered him by casting 3 feet
out. Shockingly, I got bit rather quickly with a pretty pathetic cast. Another time, I was listening to Bruce
Roberts explain how he kept hooking sharks when I got hit again. Sometimes, it’s just dumb luck. Joe
Felker told me that he hadn’t boated one yet, but he eventually pulled down 2 nice ones. Mike Skibba,
showing off his fancy new Relief Band, also got about the same results I did. Well, it was worth a try.
Guest Ted Lowe was fishing with a jig, while most of us went for live bait. There was a good amount of
anchovies, which the longfin love. Guest Lisa Mckellar showed off her prowess in fighting a nice fish, but
unfortunately, the cheap Frank Robertson special rod broke in half and she lost the fish. Whoops! Tony
Mark took home a whole bunch of albacore. It still amazes me that a man with bionic knees can still get
hooked before I can even get to the bait tank.
Another new face I met, was Pat Knox, who showed off his skills, pulling in fish after fish. Don Smith also
added to the total. The other Don, Stratton, didn’t catch any whitefish, but he did put a massive hurt on
some poor unsuspecting albacore. Jack Giauque, borrowed one of my Marezine, and it apparently helped
him a lot more than it helped me. He and Bruce Roberts caught fish after fish. Bruce won the jackpot with
a 20 pounder! Congrats! Eventually, we put at least 170 albacore below decks. I was shocked to find out
my fillet tab was higher by 2 fish. It’s a good thing I didn’t spend much on food, due to my condition. In
spite of the rough ride, and nausea, it was definitely a great trip!