Tuna Seminar on October 22, 2009 7PM at the Shop

LOMITA – A tuna seminar on tactics for big fish by 2005 Cabo Tuna Jackpot Champion Ed Tchernoscha and a seminar on long range techniques and the latest tackle innovations by WON Saltwater Editor Brandon Hayward and Capt. Paul Strasser of the long range sportfisher Independence is slated for Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Baja Fish Gear tackle shop in Lomita.

Cost is $5 at the door, and reservations are required as the seminar space is limited. Baja Fish Gear is located at 24603 Narbonne Ave., Lomita. The $5 fee includes a sandwich buffet and drink.

Also attending will be Tuna Jackpot Director and Editor Pat McDonell, who will answer any questions about the tourney, slated for Nov. 4-7 in Cabo San Lucas.

Capt. Strasser will join WON’s Brandon Hayward, who holds a 100-ton license, The pair will go over knot connections, new products on the market for wahoo and big yellowfin, and Hayward will sign and sell his new book, “The Southern California Angler.”

Tschernoscha, who annually fishes the event in Cabo and won in 2005 with a 199.7 pounder, will go over 10 ways to be in the money at the WON/Yamaha Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot, and these tips are also useful for any forays into Southern Baja offshore tuna waters on private boats and charterboats in Southern Baja.

There will also be drawings of prizes, including a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses, free WON subscriptions, tackle and spools of Seaguar flurocarbon. Call (310) 517-9897 to pre-register or get directions at www.bajafishgear.com… again, due to limited room, the seminar is open to those who pre-register.

Congratulations to Andrew Hughes! See his team's 310lb Marlin

07.07.09 Albacore Report from Ed Tschernoscha at BFG, Lomita

BBQ Dorado on the Menu

Finally got out fishing again Monday. Hotels are starting to fill up with fishermen, and boats are getting harder to get. Big groups are scheduled to come in in May, so expect that all boats will be taken. However, a tour operator, J & S Tours in Portland, told me yesterday that he was getting cancelations because of the flu scare. So any of you interested in some good fishing and warm weather can probably get some good deals by picking up some of the cancelations. There is NO FLU here in South Baja, according to local health authorities in Los Cabos.

We left the dock and headed straight out from Palmas--Tena and I, with Neco skippering Splash II. We got about 5 miles out, straight out from La Ribera (my town) and set the lines--two marlin jigs, two dorado jigs, and the "Bruja" (a weighted and rigged dead ballyhoo). No live mackeral for bait--only dead ballyhoo and a scoop of sardines. We'd only been in the water for maybe half an hour when the Bruja went off on the 30 Shimano. I was standing next to the rod, so grabbed it, let him run, then set the hook. The fish took off and just about spooled me before Tena and Neco could get the other lines in, and turn the boat around for the chase. The fish pulled hard and I thought I had a small marlin on, although it didn't jump. After I got most of my line back, Neco throttled back, and turned the stern towards the fish. Then the fish gave up, and started coming to the boat easy, and I knew it wasn't a marlin. Turned out to be about a 30 lb. skipjack--cat food!

We reset the lines, and started trolling--for hours without a strike. Marlin jumping all around us all day, but they wouldn't give us a sniff. We snuck up on two tailers, but before we could throw a bait at them, they went down--not hungry; full of squid. At about 1:00, Neco got a radio call that there was a dorado bite at the "Vaca Marina", less than 10 minutes from us. So we hauled the lines, and took off for it. There were 6 or eight boats already there, so we let out live sardines and took our place in line around the vaca. Nothing. No boils, no hookups on the other boats, zip. Then Neco spotted something about 100 yards out, swung the boat out and goosed it a little. We put on fresh baits, threw out some chum, and started working the area--nothing. Tena and I started giving Neco some shit about being salado (jinxed), but we spoke too soon. The water started boiling about 100 feet from us, moving towards the boat. Neco whipped a bait towards the boils; I tried but I can't cast a sardine. Neco hooked up with his Hi-Speed Jigmaster, and passed the rod off to Tena. I tried to keep a bait in the water, but couldn't because Neco had to keep following the fish. I stood by in case when the fish came to the boat, there were others with it. There were--the water was alive with them--but they wouldn't take my sardine; they too were full of squid. After about 20 minutes, Tena got the 40-50 lb. fish to the boat, and Neco gaffed it; and then the Jigmaster broke--we were lucky.

Back in the water again with me on the 4/0, Neco with the 3/0, and Tena running the boat--he was a little tired. Chumming brought the fish in again, and of course Neco got bit, and hooked up again, and passed the 3/0 off to me, screaming like a banshee. That 3/0 wasn't built for 50 lb. fish; I could tell the drag was shot anyway, and it got so hot you couldn't hold your hand on the star drag. I had the fish on for about 30 minutes and had to baby the drag the whole time. If I tightened it up enough to hold the fish, it would seize on me; I finally wound up tightening it up just to the point where it wouldn't seize, then thumbing the spool to hold the fish, which is a pain--literally--without gloves.

By this time we'd attracted the attention of the other boats, and they began to move in on us. This got to be a little tricky as my fish was ranging over 100 feet from the boat, and I couldn't control it or get it closer to the boat. Fortunately, the other skippers were courteous and maintained their distance until I got the fish closer. After about 30 minutes, I got the fish in, and Neco gaffed it. I told Neco enough of that reel, and that I was gonna cut off the heavy marlin leader from my Shimano 25, and direct tie on a sardine hook. But Neco took a pull on the 3/0 line and said "No! See, it still moves," and holstered the 4/0 instead. I went back in the water with the Shimano, and Neco with the 3/0. And guess who gets bit again--Neco!

Neco passed the rod off to Tena, and this fish is all over the place, jumping up between other boats, crossing lines, etc. Again the other skippers were all very courteous and did their best to stay out of the fish's way. Tena was cussing the reel as he couldn't stop or control the fish, and kept cranking on the drag. Neco would run over and loosen the drag and tell him he couldn't do that. Tena told him he couldn't control the fish and cranked up the drag again, and Neco backed it off again. And then I think I learned some new Mexican cus words. Tena had to have been on that fish for at least 40 minutes before getting it to the boat, cussing the reel the whole time. He wore a blister on his finger, probably from the hot drag and/or the reel handle. Finally when he got the fish to the boat, and almost to gaff--for those of you not familiar with big fish, this is the critical part where you have to gently-with-force pull the fish to gaffing range, letting up on the drag a little so if the fish does a head snap it doesn't break the line--the drag seized and Tena didn't back it off, and the line snapped--more new mexican words for me! After that, the bite went cold, and we never got another strike. We could look in to the water and see a hundred dorado under and around us, but they wouldn't bite. All this time, there were marlin jumping around us, so we decided to go back to trolling, and maybe we could hook up with one. I told Neco to take off the Jigmaster and the 3/0 and put them in my bag, and I'd fix them tomorrow for free, and bring them back the same day so he'd be ready for his May charters. He said no. And I quote from an old friend of mine Jimmy Smith, "Oh, the Mexican mind is a thing to behold."

Back in the water again, we pointed the bow towards Palmas hoping for a marlin. They were jumping at a rate of about one every five minutes, but we couldn't buy a strike, and nothing came in to the wake. There was a cluster of boats off the Buenas Aires arroyo, and when we got close could see that one was hooked up, and marlin were jumping everywhere. We worked the area for 45 minutes or so but again never got a sniff, nor saw a tailer to throw a bait to. We finally said to hell with it, pulled the lines and headed for the beach. As we pulled the lines, removed the jigs, and coiled the leaders, Neco hollered and held up my old Sevenstrand Haloween jig--sans hooks! There was a clean cut in the 300 lb. leader loop that held the forward 10/0 hook. Also, several of the skirt ribbons were sliced off--a wahoo, and none of us saw the strike! It had cut the leader so fast, that it didn't even trip the outrigger. The only thing that held and saved my jig was the knot in the hook loop.

My fish is going on the BBQ for my birthday tomorrow, and Tena has promised to do the honors in my new BBQ pit--it's first real test other than hot dogs.

Tight Lines, Good Friends, and Cold Beer!, Ken

KHMC Tournament is April 18th & 19th

Banda Bank Fishing Report for March 21, 2009

26 six nice mixed rock cod, very calm water at Banda Bank could have filled the box. Had a problem with the large plastic, It was on a 24 oz. lead head to go deep and I got hit on it a few times but they only grabbed the plastic and not the hook. On one bite I got hit real hard and it bent the pole in half and I fought it for about 3 minutes and it had come up about fifty feet off of the bottom and it let go. I started to reel it up and I got hit hard again and then the pole went limp! It had bitten right through the plastic. This was a very large fish! I am going to use a smaller lead head next time with a leader and a double snap off of a torpedo sinker. Also we fished with some plastics on the hooks and they all got hit, we used herring and sand bass for bait. By using the plastics we seemed not to get the smaller rock cod and only quality sized fish. Herring stayed on the hook better than any bait that I have used in awhile, two small herring lasted all day. - Barry

Puerto Vallarta Fishing Report for October 9, 2008 - October 13, 2008

This past week I had the privilege of joining Paul Nakamura’s annual Punta de Mita Cow Roundup Trip. We left LAX on Alaska to PVR where we were met by Efren, our local caretaker and chef for the next five days. We loaded our gear into the van, picked up our rental cars and after a quick trip to Costco (yes they have one there now) were off to our condos north at Punta Mita.

After we arrived we organized our gear and encountered an electrical black out which also cuts out the electrical water pumps. Not to worry, we put on our reels by candle light and enjoyed a barbecued dinner of authentic carne asada, rice and beans with fresh guacamole.

Ah yes, real Mexico! The next morning, we awoke at 0445, made our lunches, packed our ice chests full of drinks and were off to the marina where we met our boat captains. Since last year, they have put in a real concrete boat ramp, which made it easier to lug all our gear thru the water onto our awaiting pangas. We headed out, stopped to load up on goggle eyes (similar to a cabilito) and powered out into the grey light towards Roca Corveteña.. We found some breezing bullet tuna on the way out and loaded 10 aboard for bait. When we reached our destination, we fly lined a couple of bullet tuna. I was shortly hooked up with a 70 pound amber jack which fights as hard as any yellowtail or tuna similar in size. Shortly thereafter, Bob Haffey, my fishing partner, hooked up on a large fish. He fought it hard for 45 minutes to find out it was a 200 pound shark. It finally broke off, and we continued on. Throughout the day, we caught tuna to 52 pounds and I had a 50 pound class bull dorado pull the hook just feet from the boat. We worked our way towards shore at dark, unloaded, and went back to the condo for a wonderful fresh barbecued tuna.

Day two, we again went out, this time I fished with Tim Ziegler. We fished hard for the day, picking up a few tuna, Tim got one in the 70 pound class on a goggle eye. Bob Haffey pulled in a hundred pound plus as well as his boat mate Jim.

Day three was defiantly the most exciting day of our trip. It started out as usual, but, shortly after arriving at the rock, we hooked into a school of Jack Crevalle working below a flock of crashing birds. It then began to rain very hard, soaking us all to the bone, but shortly thereafter, we were blessed with warm sunshine and calm sea conditions again . There was a large log floating on the north side of the rock with 20 to 30 boobies all jockying for a spot on it. We were the second boat in and as soon as I lobbed a bait in, it got pulvarized by a crashing 100 pound class yellowfin tuna. It took my Penn 16VSX down about three quarters of the way before I got it turned around to the boat. Meanwhile, three more boats joined the party and everone that had a line in the water got bit for the next hour. I would say the fish count from this one log was in the neighborhood of fifty fish from 30 pound schoolies to fish just under a hundred. My big fish died on the way up and just two feet from gaff, the leader wore through on the hook as I watched this beautiful fish sink down backwards. As soon as I got another line in the water, I was hooked up again this time landing a nice 75.5 pound yellowfin. My boat partner Dave then brought up a real nice 71 pounder tail wrapped.

After all of that excitement, everyone branched out, Bob Haffey picked up another nice fish around 84.5 pounds and I pulled a really nice Pargo (dog tooth snapper) of 35.2 pounds from fishing a chunk of skip jack tuna. We then tried using skippy chunks for the rest of the afternoon without much success and headed home to the marina where we lined up most of the tuna for a group shot as it started to rain again.

We then cleaned up and went on a dining experience at Casa de Mita, one of Mexico’s premier boutique hotels, and enjoyed the house speciality marganita and dined on surf and turf which consisted of filet mignons and dorado. A nice treat after three long days on the water.

The next day we headed back to PVR and caught our plane home. We didn’t see any of the larger cows this trip, but everyone had a great time pulling on really nice fish and putting great fishing into the memory banks.

FUN FACTS: The trip to Puerto Vallarta is about two and a half hours from Los Angeles and runs around $450 +/- round trip. There are several hotels and condos available in Punta de Mita which is about 20 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. There are two main panga operators that work out the marina and can be contacted at their web site . Gear wise, if you bring your own, you will need at least a 50 wide fishing 100 pound mono or better, and it is nice to bring a 16VSX spooled with 80 pound spectra. on a heavy bait stick such as a Seeker 6470H. We used 80 pound fluoro for leader, I would recommend bringing along 100, 130, 150, and 200. Almost everything is live bait fishing and hooks needed vary from trip to trip, but 10/0 Owner Mutus or Offshore, 9/0 and 10/0 7691s, Eagle Claw 2004/2005s in 8/0 or 9/0. Some guys bring along poppers or Ranger jigs. If you do, make sure to re hook them with some nice 4x Owners. For more information, you can contact Ed at Baja Fish Gear (310) 517-9897or visit the following links:

www.bajafishgear.com
www.casademita.com
www.monsteryellowfin.com
www.gofishpuntamita.com