The Gold Coast Lady Anglers' Blog: 2011

Monday, December 5, 2011

December Birthday Girls!!

The Gold Coast Lady Anglers would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the lovely ladies who celebrate their Birthday in the month of December!!!!!

Lucia P. - Dec 8th

Nettie F. - Dec 31st

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Well guys.....It's been a while....Been suffering through some health issues and Fred and I never got a legit honeymoon so we decided to do it via a 5-day trip to Guadalupe. Just the two of us, plus 17 other random people, most of which were a great group to share a rail with for the stretch.

I had never been there and Fred said it was a must for me being as avid a fisherman as I am....Being that it is his favorite place to fish as well we booked the Vagabond.

I was soooooo amped for this trip. We could hardly sleep the night before and we took off early Tuesday morning. Loaded our dock cart and waited....

Boat was killer.....We had a nice stateroom all to ourselves and a fabulous ride...weather was great and everyone we met seemed really cool.

We headed to Ensenada to go through customs...That was a trip. They boarded us to do the paperwork and I was asleep in my bunk....Woke up to the door opening and an M16 staring at me....he quickly closed the door and left me to my slumber...Off we went to the Lupe!

We trolled around on the day long ride there...We got 3 jig strikes....decent schoolie yellowfin tuna... We pulled up on the Lupe at sundown...what a magnificent sight.

We stayed up to dropper loop the yellows, but none came to play. Some of us spent a lot of time loading up the trash cans with the "carnada" for the Lobster fisherman that live there...That ended up being pretty fun. I crashed early...the sooner I fell asleep, the sooner I could wake up and start fishing!!!!

Sunrise was gorgeous. We metered around and Mike made the call to start a chum line port side.....We ended up drifting on a spot. Capt. Mike suggested the yo-yo for some yellows or fly-line for tuna. A few of us grabbed the jigs and pretty quickly Cristen hooks up on her pink SX....About a half hour later we hear the thud on the deck....We thought she had a nice yellow on, but it turned out to be a fatty yellowfin tuna right around 65-70 on her dorado 6X Jr...How cool is that??!! No more love so we continued on.

"Chum line, starboard", We watched and my heart pounded as the tuna started to boil....Fred finds a hot bait and connects with the first bait fish of the trip on 40#...I saw his 80 pounder hit the deck and my heart started racing....

I wanted a big ass fish like that soooo bad. I snapped a few pics and got back in the water...A few more hook ups and I was getting anxious... I lobbed out a hot one and my 50 # started screaming....Finally my turn....

Fred said i got really lucky with this fish...I guess it was ready to die because it was only a couple of times up and down the stern before the gaffs went into it on the corner.....My new PB yellowfin tuna, just over 75 pounds...What a rush.

Pics and then I was in the water again. About 8 fish in this spot and we moved a ways down the Island. Next stop is where the magic happened. Fish were boiling on the chum line all around us...Fred dumped one.....then he gets bit again, then I'm on too....then we both lose them.... Freddy ends up connecting with one on the 50# and it comes over the rail at right around 90 #'s......

My 50 lb rig takes a shit so I grab the 40 and connect with my second fish of the trip....This fish was NOT like the first...It was bigger and way pissed off. I got my ass kicked by it for over 45 mins, rail rodding it, getting dragged around like a rag doll all around the boat. I beg Capt. Gordon to stay by my side...I wanted to beat that fish soo freakin bad...Right then the Tax-man shows up and I get nervous.... I was on this fish for a while now and already saw two heads come over the rail. Gordon sticks by my side and talks me through it, insisting I can do it...I tryed to act like I was a tough girl, but inside I was crying...wondering if I was gonna make it. Fred was resting and got some action shots of me pulling on this beast.

Gordon screams at me to pull hard and the gaffs went into my 2nd and new PB yellowfin tuna at 90# to match my hubby!!!

That was all she wrote for me....Noodle arms could barely re-tie.....I had myself a celebratory cocktail and rested my weary body.

I watched a couple fish over the 100# mark come over the rail. Fred connected on a long soak and fought a fish well over a hundy for almost an hour....A big White Shark started circling the boat and we threw in a severed head to keep him off Fred's fish, which worked, but the fish finally busted off after coming to deep color twice....ugh....

So that wrapped up day one....We ended up with 23 big tuna and even though I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I could not have been more stoked with the days events. What a rush....

Day 2 we woke up to yet another beautiful sunrise....I grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and hit the rail to try for a dropper loop yellow.

No love so we pulled the hook and cruised around.... A few stops and Fred had the only tuna connection for the morning....Lost it and the search continued. I hooked a nice yellow but lost that one at color.

Guadelupe Island is a beautiful place...A few shots of the spectacular scenery as we metered around.

We ended up on the other side of Outer Rock on a yellow spot. I dropped down a Scrambled Egg Tady 4/0 and on the first wind connect with a nice yellow...

It was on from that point forward....Just about every jig in the water was bit and these were toad yellows....

I connected with a slug which ends up being the biggest forkie of the trip....kicked my ass. But a nice fish and a new PB for me at just under 50 pounds...

Fred and I hooked up over and over again....On fire and the adrenaline is overpowering the sore muscles so we just keep going. Lost count of how many yellows come over the rail for us, but I know I stated handing them off to those who were struggling. Just an amazing day. George suggests the surface iron to Fred so he grabs the long rod and heads to the bow...He tosses out his Salas 7X in mint green and connects instantly....A nice 25 pound yellowfin tuna comes over the rail coutesy of the Ulua. Fred was stoked....I got tired of feeling the burn and started flylining some baits back...Connected with a schoolie yellowfin tuna, nice way to end the day....

Another hot shower, killer dinner and great experiences to talk about as we wrapped up our last day at Guadelupe.

The way home straight up sucked...We took some weather head on....Tried to troll, which was somewhat successful, but few bothered as we had a ton of fish and we were worn out.

Customs went smooth as silk and so did the offload....My first time to Guadelupe certainly won't be my last. Although it will be hard to beat this trip and 2 PB's for me. Also my first time riding The Vagabond.... Capt and crew were just awesome, service was excellent and so was the food. I can not wait to do it all over again next year.

The Gold Coast Lady Anglers would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the lovely ladies who celebrate their Birthday in the month of November!!!!!

Christy E. - 11/8

Jeanne Z. - 11/18

Susan D. - 11/22

Kristin W. - 11/30

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Ladies Sing the "Blues" !!

OMG - what a fantastic trip on our annual Pacific Dawn Tuna Charter. We were all singing the blues - Bluefin Tuna that is. We got kind of a late start Thursday evening as we didn't leave the landing until 10pm instead of seven, but no big deal. We all got signed in, got our tackle ready, and then hunkered down in our bunks to prepare for the tuna battle. As the morning approached, Capt Dustin woke us up for the "grey" bite. I think it was new member Laura who hooked the first fish and it was "game on". One by one everyone was hooking up and bluefin tuna were all over the place. These fish liked the light line - 15 to 20# test seemed to be the ticket what a blast it was to bring them on board. Lori - the HOT stick of the trip could do no wrong. Every time I looked at her, she was fighting a fish. Our buddy Jerry Stussman also had a hot stick. On the second day he told me he was going to heavier line because he was too exhausted catching all those fish - obviously not a lady angler !! As lunch time approached, we had to refuel and some of us even had to take a power nap, but it was soon back to task at hand. The afternoon brought even more bluefin and us rookie tuna slayers were really getting the hang of it. Then late afternoon, we had another lull in the bite and feasted on some of the best ceviche we've ever had. As evening approached the bite starting raging once again.

Louise was hooked up once again. By the end of the day on Friday, we had 101 Bluefin tuna on board. Unbelievable !! By this time though, we were low on bait, so Capt Dustin went all the back to San Diego That night to get more bait and we were back in action at the same area by Saturday morning. What a crew - we couldn't have asked for anything more. So Saturday morning we were back in action. Lori's stick was still to hot to handle as she just kept those bluefin's coming. By time our day was over and we started to head back home, we had a whopping 146 Bluefin tuna in the hole and our two jackpot winners were Louise and Chris.

Congrats to all the ladies on board for a fine showing of the GOLD COAST LADY ANGLERS ! One of the highlights of this trip for me was that I was able to gaff my own fish. It's a lot harder that it looks, but look out deckhands, I'm coming after ya !!

The weather was decent and Eddie in the galley prepared fabulous meals and snacks for us. The sashimi on the way home was to die for. Enjoy the pics below and get ready now for next year cause we are going to put the hurt on tuna once again !! Many Many Many thanks to Capt Dustin, Jake, Moses. ManDog, and Eddie in the galley, for making this trip so memorable !! The Pacific Dawn rocked !!