2021 Trip Reports

Trip 9 - Thunderbird - 2 Day, September16-18, 2021 It was your average Thursday night as we all got prepared for what we thought was your typical trip out on the Thunderbird. As we all prepared for the trip Thursday evening some already at the dock and the other stragglers trickling in, Tommy was headed towards the dock to get his spot in line when his tackle box decided it was its day to fall apart. With good laughs and help, we were able to get him back up and running and ready for this wild ride we were all in store for. Day 1 game plan was to head out to Tanner’s bank and search for the almighty bluefin, hope to find some schools and land some good grade fish on deck. As the Thunderbird departs from the dock, we head out to the bait barge and score some very good size bait with a nice mix of all shapes and sizes. As we load up the bait Cody Ramsey lands a little sand bass but was able to get the skunk off the boat. As we wake up, we arrive at the bank around 7:30AM – 8AM and anchor on a goldmine. BITER!!! Bill Parks get bent and pulls in and lands a 40-50lb beautiful Bluefin Tuna. 25lb pound line. Chris Ramsey then gets a bite, and it was taking him for a ride of his life. Faught his fish for an hour and a half and as we get color and call for a gaff the fish darts under the boat and breaks off. He wasn’t going to let that one get away. We ended up bringing in about 28 BFT all great sizes ranging from 40 – 100 pounds from this first stop. We left this area around 1:30PM as the fishing died down and headed to find another great spot. Now it is 6PM and the count is now 40 BFT and 1 Yellowfin tuna. As we head to the galley for a dinner and a few drinks the day is coming to an end…so we thought. It is now 9:30PM and we are driving around hoping to get that night bite. Well, we found it. 9:45PM comes around and Chris Ramsey gets the first bite, then Ryan gets bent, then me, then him then you...a huge school came through and if you were down there (240 – 300 ft down) you were getting a bite. A majority of the boat was out there until 12-1AM all fish ranging from 120 pounds up to 200+. What a Friday we all had! Day 2 game plan was to stay at the bank and see if we can land some more good size fish. 6AM rolled around and BITER…Chris Ramsey was bite again. Absolutely slays the fish and lands it within an hour. It is now 7AM and the kill box is full. We literally didn’t have any more room for fish and its only 7AM. We continue to fish and stay at the bank for as long as we could but due to us being so far away, we had to leave at 10:30AM to head back to the dock. We ended the trip with 58 total bluefin all ranging from 40 – 200+ pound Bluefin Tuna & 1 single Yellowfin Tuna. (Thanks BJ) Chris Ramsey was able to make a redemption from Trip 8 and won jackpot for not only Friday but for Saturday as well. All around it was a great trip for everyone.

Trip 7 - Thunderbird - 1.5 Day, September 2-4, 2021 Following the epic counts of quality fish put up on trip #6 and #7, those of us on trip #8 had high hopes for back-to-back-to-back successful trips. Early in the week our hopes diminished when Luke sent out an email with the latest news from Jeff. Counts at SCI and the offshore banks had slowed and were tapering off. Another email from Luke on the morning of our departure painted an even bleaker picture which left us having to take a vote at the dock as to where we’d fish and what we’d target. The decision was made (almost unanimously as there were a few members that will remain unnamed that wanted to fish SCI) to head to Tanner and Cortez to pick at the schools of bluefin that ‘may’ still be in the area. With our destination decided upon, we went through the rituals of bunk selection and loading gear before departing the dock at approximately 8:30 PM. While stopping for bait on the way out, members gathered around their gear and tackle boxes rigging up everything from 20# fly line outfits, to mid-weight set-ups with colt snipers and flat falls, to the 100# combos in case the ‘cows’ decided to bite. We were not treated to the quality bait we had earlier in the season. A mix of ‘chovies’ and smaller sardines would be our ammunition with some larger sardines mixed in. Once the bait tanks were full, we exited the harbor only to be greeted by breezy and choppy conditions. The overnight boat ride was bumpy to say the least. I can’t speak for all those onboard, but I was nearly rolled out of my bunk on several occasions throughout the night. We arrived at our destination well after dawn which provided plenty of rest for those that stayed up late taking part in the shared libations late into the evening the night before. First lines were in the water around 9:00 AM with the tuna kite gliding overhead. Jeff was metering scattered fish in the area and it wasn’t long before Jim B. and Hayden had ‘freshies’ on their line. Unfortunately, Hayden was the victim of a sea lion attack while Jim was able to avoid the same fate and land a quality Yellow Tail. Brian U. and Luke B. hooked and landed ‘schoolie’ BFTs fly lining on light tackle. I’ll pause the story here to address the topic everyone surely wants to know. The BFTs and YT mentioned above were the only jackpot eligible fish caught on the trip. Brian’s hot streak of patches continued as he edged out Luke to claim the jackpot. From what I heard, Luke has yet to ‘patch’ for the season. Sorry Luke. While we drifted and anchored throughout the morning we were treated to boiling bluefin around the boat but the bite never materialized. Three of us however were fortunate enough to have our numbers pulled to fight and land fish hooked on the Kite. Chris L. was the first up and it was clear from the beginning that it was a big fish. Chris did his best to put the hurt to the fish. The fight lasted nearly 1.5 hours with Goofy lending a hand. While Chris was hooked up another fish bit the kite bait and Greg (Luke’s guest) had his number pulled. Greg gave it a valiant effort early and eventually handed if off to the crew for the final push to bring it to the boat. Chris’s BFT taped at 202 lbs while Greg’s taped at 165 lbs. We continued our search for the scattered schools of tuna. Before too long the kite hooked up again and stopped the boat. Luckily for me my number was called. Having never fought/landed a fish of this size the fight felt like David v. Goliath (me being David). I gave it my all for 25 minutes or so before handing it off to the crew. I felt enormous pressure to not lose the fish given the scarcity of fish put on the boat by this point. The fish taped at 188 lbs. The 3 big fish were personal bests for us all. The counts were rounded out by a sampling of rockfish that were accumulated while drifting and anchoring throughout the day. It was clear by 1:30 that the prospect of more fish on deck was not promising. It was not for a lack of effort put forth by the anglers or the crew of the Thunderbird. It just wasn’t our day. Jeff pointed the boat towards Newport Harbor around 7:30 and unlike the first night, our overnight cruise was smooth and comfortable. We arrived at the dock around 4:30 in the morning. The members agreed that any fish caught on the kite would be shared amongst the group. Everyone went home with fresh BFT to enjoy. The ocean calls to us. Salt air and comradery. A bounty we seek. Until next time, Nick H.

Trip 7 - Thunderbird - 2.5 Day, August 18-21, 2021 Since I didn’t get to the landing until about 3:00, I didn’t see who beat Hayden to the #1 spot, but someone did. Giving the trip an unusual vibe right away. t was warm and beverages were passed around to keep everyone smiling. The T-Bird showed up about 7:30 and we started loading up an hour later. With all of the local Tuna action seen the last week, bait has been and was in short supply. No cured bait available. We loaded up with the available Sardines. Actually, despite the “freshness” of the bait, Jeff said it looked pretty good. There was talk about having to go back and reload for day 2, but that didn’t turn out to be necessary. Jeff laid out our options of either starting out at the Cortez Bank or at the West End of San Clemente Island. Since we were not confident the bait would last, we agreed that SCI was the smart play. Day 1 Thursday Morning – West End of San Clemente Island We awoke on the anchor well before gray light. A few were fly lining sardines for nothing. The first bites came about 6:10am. A couple of Barracudas. 5 minutes later, Luke caught a small Bluefin. Then a plunker bite for more small BFT and some nice sized Yellowtail. By about 8:15 we’d landed 15 Bluefin, 18 Yellowtail and a single Dorado that Tony had willed onto his surface iron. The bite was slowing and Jeff moved us a short distance away for another 8 Yellows but only 1 more Tuna. About 9:00am we pulled anchor and started SW looking for kelp paddies and what they may hold. Only about 15 minutes later we find one and pulled 5 Dorado onboard. Not big fish, but not Doritos either. The day was looking pretty good. Already three gamefish species and it’s still early. Three hours later, we’ve seen a lot of empty kelps. Tom Hill coaxed one Dorado onto his hook only to get bit off. Over the next we added two more Do-Do’s to the count and two tiny Blue Sharks. Lots of empty kelps and two hours later, Jeff spots three finning Marlin. He slows and we throw baits to them but they ignored our offerings and sunk out. A few more little Dorado were caught including the reverse Jackpot fish by Luke. A 1 ½# Dorito. We were near the Butterfly Bank by 5:00pm when Happy Hour started. Oscar, who had been on the gyros most of the day, spotted a huge kelp. Jeff set us up for a drift passed it and chaos ensued with most everyone hooked up at once. 43 Dorado were landed with some losses due to angler errors and the frenetic swimming of those fish. We made another drift on the kelp for only one stupid Dorado. So, 44 dorado were added to our day’s total. By 6:00pm we were almost to the Mushroom Bank and hit another kelp for 14 more Dorado. Some nice ones in this bunch. Up to about 20#. That was it for Day one. Good fishing with terrific weather. Calm seas and nearly windless all day. 1st day totals were: 26 Yellowtail, 16 Bluefin and 69 Dorado Brian Wynne had best fish and won the patch with a 27# Yellowtail. Jeff looked at the bait and decided it would hold us for Day 2 and the call was made to head for the Cortez Bank overnight.

Trip 6 - Thunderbird - 2 Day, August 5-7, 2021 We should have known that trip 6 was going to be special when Brian took the 1st position in line ahead of Hayden by showing up at 9:30AM. That’s right AM. Slowly guys would get in line to form a wall of rods and tackle with many bunches of 9-10 rods apiece. People would comment that there was a lot of fishing “stuff” for so little fishermen. I arrived at 3:30pm and took my #16 spot in line. Luke, Nick, Brian, Hayden, Ron Shrout and his guest Dave were lounging in their camping chairs, waiting for the rest of us to arrive. Mike Thompson and his wife, Susan came by to wish us luck and left to enjoy a nice dinner at the dock. At 6pm, a bunch of us walked down to the “Great Mex” for some local Mexican food and then waited for the Thunderbird to return from an overnight trip. Bill Parks and Ron Shrout spoke about when the Dana Wharf Rod and Reel club was more of a drinking club back in the 90’s. With the help of Luke Burson and a few others, it became the fishing club of today. When Captain Jeff arrived, we had two options. We could chase the BF tuna that were southeast of Catalina Island, or we could head out to San Clemente Island to fish for the local YT. Jeff had returned from his overnight with some success at San Clemente catching YT. The BF tuna were very iffy, but it was an option. It came to a vote and the tally favored YT at San Clemente Island. After getting our bait that turned out to be so-so, we left the harbor and motored out to the island.

Trip 5 - Thunderbird - 2 Day, July 15-17, 2021 The Burson clan arrived at Newport Landing to find Hayden, Brian Wynne, Mario Sr and Mario Jr already waiting in line. I am fairly sure Hayden arrived before sunrise. Slowly but surely more members arrived, taking up there spots on the dock and settling in for the many hours wait until departure. The amount of gear piling up clearly indicates we are professionals. Comments overheard from passersby include “There must be some sort of competition going on” and “They must be heading out for a loooong time”. We could have easily been heading out for a 6 day trip with the amount of gear, and beer, brought. Gotta be prepared for anything! With the summer sun blazing, it was a quick and easy decision to crack some cold beers to cool off. Parked in the shade of the Newport Landing building, we spent a few hours catching up with each others lives and talking about the trip to come. The Thunderbird arrived around 7:30 and as the passengers disembarked Luke went to talk to Jeff. There were a few options of where we could go, however ultimately it was decided we would head to the Cortes Bank for day 1. We quickly went through the order for bunk selection, boarded the boat , and began rigging gear. A few more beers were had, before one by one we headed to bed eager to start fishing in the morning. No need for an early wake up call, we would arrive in the zone around 7:30-8:00 am am the following morning. Friday, day 1 With a rare opportunity to sleep in, most members were up by around 7 am. We still had a little ways to travel, so it was prime opportunity for those who drank a little too much the night before to double check their knot work. Around 8:30 am we had our first bite, Yellowtail on the surface iron by Luke. Quickly, a few more were hung on yo-yo jigs and sardines. A few members seemed to have a little better luck than others, with four landing multiple fish. Between 8:30-10:00 there were 13 Yellowtail caught, with hot sticks being Michael H (3), Gary (2), Mario Jr (2) and Luke (2). For the next hour or so we tried a few more spots without success. It was not for a lack of effort, as many of us began to feel like we had cranked these jigs for what seemed like a distance of many miles. One more yellowtail was brought on board around 11:30 am, bringing out total to 14 fish for the day so far. We made another move around noon and a few anglers were able to capitalize. Another 6 yellowtail were brought on board, these being a slightly larger grade from the ones caught earlier. While we were now up to 20 fish on the day, we did suffer quite a bit of casualties. It seemed like for every two fish landed there was one that was lost. Jeff made the decision to switch gears and load us up on some rockfish. As Jeff made the move, we geared up to catch some tasty taco meat. Slabbed sardines were the bait, and it worked fairly well for all the rockfish you could want. We made roughly 6 drifts, each time being successful. With gunny sacks full, and everyone having more than enough rockfish to take home, it was back to searching for yellowtail. A move south was made, and we came across a breeze of fish. A few members were quick to hook up, however ultimately all of them succumbed to pulled hooks or broken line. There was one bonita caught, which seemed to put up a pretty good fight. Now was the time for everyone’s favorite offshore activity…making bait. Sabiki rigs tied on, it ended up being the easiest bait making session I can remember. Literally every drop, just 10 feet under water, would load you up with 4-5 mackerel. We very quickly filled a tank, and were happy to have the extra bait for the next day. With mackerels loaded up, it was time to start heading towards San Clemente Island for day two. Day 1 results: Yellowtail: 20 Bonita: 1 Rockfish: lots Determining the big fish on the day required measuring 6 fish, all taping out between 24.45-26.29 lbs. Final results: Day 1 big fish and patch winner: Brian Wynne, Yellowtail taped at 26.29 lbs.

Trip 4 - Fortune - 1.5 Day, July 2-3, 2021 Arrived at 22 nd street landing at about 2:10 PM, a few members where already there chatting and enjoying the pleasant afternoon Luke, Roy, Hyden, John to name a few - unconfirmed reports suggests Hayden was the first to arrive. While waiting to board Jeff H. got a call that he’s mother had suffered a fall and had to leave to be with he’s mom - prayers go out for a speedy recovery. Participants included: Andy Sienkiewich Ron Rudrud Ron Henry Nick Henry Jeff Stephens Joe Stassi Luke Burson Chris Arechaederra John Lenker Steve Lenker Steve Strum Roy Patterson Hayden Claisse Jeff Hinrichs Bill Parks Michael Harris Oscar Ochoa Alex Mesko Crew Bruce (captain) Tommy (cook) Jeff Michael

Trip 3 - Thunderbird - 2 Day, June 18-19, 2021 I made sure to not be the last once arriving since I was the last one on Trip 2. After getting situated & meeting all of the talented anglers on our trip I could tell by the order of tackle that Hayden appeared first at the docks again. Second was Gary & his guest from Trip 2, his UTI. By the way, the landing has the unicorn Daiwa SK Jigs and probably sold $1000 worth of jigs from our trip alone. We had a long journey past “SCI” to Cortez Bank with all of the newly collected tuna jigs. Captain Jeff found some yellowtails but they were all scattered due to the lack of current. We started fishing at 7:30 AM with the beautifully cured bait and caught some yellowtail with that & the irons. The bite shut down for a moment & Gary was able to get them to bite again after dropping down to 20 lb line. We all followed suit & were able to produce a good amount of quality yellowtails towards the 30 lb class throughout the day. We took turns targeting yellowtails & rockfish as the conditions kept changing. The Ramseys strike again on the jackpot! Cody broke what appeared to be a 3 way tie of 30 lb slug yellowtails & took the jackpot / patch with his catch on the surface iron. We finished Day 1 with 72 yellowtails & a great mix of quality rockfish/bottom fish. That night the crew was able to fill the remaining tanks with some healthy sized squid. Unfortunately, we had a small window to fish on Day 2 due to the long haul back from Cortez Bank & were able to get 4 yellowtails. Big fish honors when to guest Chris (who also put on a surface iron clinic catching a full limit of YT, all on the surface iron) and the patch went to Bryan Upcraft with another quality YT. Fortunately, Gary announced that he finally urinated normally but still hasn’t decided what color pants to buy. Patrick