Went out 30 NM offshore (just past where the Pacific merges with Monterey Bay) for albacore – commonly known to land-lubbers as “chicken of the sea.” Our crew included Nagel Sullivan – an aviator who has become 1st Mate for CONFIDENCE, and can be counted on for any fishing trip; Matt Erdner – a friend from my days on MITSCHER, a good boat handler in his own right, and we had fished salmon together a couple times last season; and Brian Hans – Air Force space acquisition guy and friend – a second time deck-hand who was still rather inexperienced at fishing, but who was learning quickly. Left right at about 6 AM, motoring into a 3 to 4 foot NW swell with short spacing. For two hours we pounded our way out there, and we did our best to throttle back or turn a side whenever an especially sharp wave appeared. Throughout the day, each one of us would battle varying degrees of nausea and abilities (or inabilities) to consume and digest beer. We figured we were paying our dues, but I couldn’t blame Nagel for asking a couple of times “Are we there yet?” (half imitating any one of our kids, but also probably half serious). I felt the same way.
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About 5 NM short of where I originally intended to start fishing (based off of tempbreak.com satellite images of offshore thermal temps), we saw some boats appear, and also saw the surface temperature go from about 57 F to 61 F. We were there!
The albacore bite has been on the “Mexican Flag” color here, so I set a “MF” Cedar Plug on the short line (about 50 feet back, right in the wash), and a “MF” Zooker about 10 yards past the prop-wash. For about an hour … nothing. The other boats were hauling ass on the troll, doing about 7 to 8 knots (I’m used to 5 to 6 knots for YFT), so we decided to match them -sometimes revving the engine all the way to 2400 RPM into the seas, with lines out! We saw a couple boats slow to a stop, indicating they had fish on. We were definitely in the area.
Then I switched the long line to a pink/white Zooker behind a daisy chain of three similarly colored plastic squid with egg sinkers in the head of each. The water temperature eclipsed 62 degrees. Brian and I dozed off as we faced the rods. Just like always seem to be the case out here (at least on my boat), somebody getting a little shut-eye triggered something … ZZZZzzzzziiinnnggggg!!!!!!!!!! The long line on the small rod (halibut /cobia rig with 30 pound dacron backing and a top shot of about 75 yards of 50 pound mono) ripped off as the reel clicker spit out that wonderful, heart-pounding sound all of us fishermen love to hear. I jumped on it. The mono shot passed out of the rod eyes before I could even gather myself. Fearing I’d be stripped as I felt helpless at the power of this fish, I told Nagel to bring the boat to starboard in case we’d have to chase it. Like an idiot, I had first tried to slow the alarmingly fast run of the fish by applying a little thumb pressure to the spool, receiving a horrendous burn (which is now about to become a puss-filled blister) as punishment. The pay-back continued and became sudden only a few moments later as I tried to apply a little pressure the right way, with the dacron parting with the mono, and flying back at the boat like someone was fly-casting it toward us. My ensuing tirade had the crew wondering if they had done anything wrong in losing our first shot at an albacore, but the only one to blame was myself – why did I think that a 70 yard shot of mono, coupled with old dacron backing, would handle a tuna?!?! I knew better.
Lesson learned as Matt helped me spool a brand new main line of 50 pound Berkeley Big Game mono onto the reel. With no pink/white rigs left, or even squid/egg sinkers to make another daisy chain, I felt like maybe we had lost our one chance of the day. I set out a lone purple/pink Zooker out in its place … then sulked. Three more hours…
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn minutes to hours?” How about when the captain’s shame and frustration overcome his faith? That’s how I felt. But then it came time to think, and get back into the game.
Thinking about how other boats came to a stop when they locked on to fish, as well as the alarmingly powerful runs of these fish versus a perceptibly dinky cobia/halibut set-up, I discussed with Nagel, Matt, and Brian that for the next fish, we’d put a turn on the boat and then go to neutral with the next hit. Seconds later, as we pounded through the swell at 2400 RPM, we got our second chance. Same rod, same reel, better line. And this time, more prepared, every man on the boat sprang to action. Matt, the closest to the rod, jumped on it. I headed back to run the deck. Nagel jumped to his familiar position as boat-handler – immediately turning the wheel over and shifting to neutral. Brian … well, he would play a crucial role at a pivotal moment a few minutes later.
As I noticed the short strand of dacron backing appearing on Matt’s reel spool, I told Nagel and he started to move towards the fish. That fish had peeled off about 150 yards of line like it was nothing. I kept asking Matt, “Are you getting any line back?” as I hoped desperately for that initial run to STOP! Then he said “yes.” Yes! I knew we at least stood a chance now, as Matt had stopped the fish. He handled the fish well, but as his arms started to wear after about ten minutes of fight, really looked like a pro as he pumped the fish toward the boat. Nagel expertly handled CONFIDENCE, keeping her stern clear of the line and preventing the wind from taking control of us. And then Brian …
Matt had mentioned a couple of times “I see the fish.” I never saw anything. I had my polarized glasses on … still nothing. Then he said it once again, and as I followed his eyes, saw them pointed away from the direction of his line … straight at something big, and … brown? About 6 feet long. Big fish! No … wait … not making sense … Sea Lion! Matt wasn’t hooked on him, but the grotesque goliath was eyeing us to size us up and see if it was worth taking our fish from us. Once again, it looked like we didn’t stand a chance … this was just going to be a very cruel day.
Brian, however, wasn’t going to let that happen. Grabbing the long-handled scrub brush from the deck, he threatened to beat that monster hanging around off of our stern to a pulp, wildly swinging the brush-turned-billy-club, and describing what he was going to do with it through a diatribe of aggression, obscenity, and loudness. The sight to the sea lion must have been more chilling for him than watching our reel getting stripped by tuna was for us. As effective as Brian was in preventing disaster by distracting the possible thief, we didn’t waste any more time with the tuna, and Matt torqued the final few inches of line to the boat as I plunged the gaff into the fish and out of the water.
God provided us with a fish. A 25 pound albacore. One fish. But one that meant a lot to the crew that caught it. I don’t think that any of the crew of CONFIDENCE will look at a bumble-bee can the same way again.