Crazy day out there Sunday as a crew member on the Sam Mateo.
We arrived at Barkley Canyon, 40 miles out, at 530 AM, and had 9 lines with zukers down in 63 degree blue water and were tacking westward by 6 AM. The bad news was that the water consisted of sloppy 3-5 foot SE breaking waves hitting us in the side on the tack we were running, although the big Grady handled it no problem.
The good news was there was a 12 degree temperature break over about only a few miles, lots of birds, and the overall sign was good. Expectations of our salty crew were high given recent reports.
We had 7 in the boat and 1 lost in the first 2 hours, and things were looking pretty good.
Then it went completely and utterly dead for 4 hours and the worry, doubt and every other emotional you go through out there set in.
The birds were gone.
The waves were still not great.
We hadn't heard of much action from anyone else on the water.
Go out further or turn around?
Switch up the gear, or stick with what was working?
Around noon we got in touch with Argo and Sirene on the radio and heard they were into some fish a few miles behind us so we swung around and headed their way. The water finally started to lay down at the same time which was a welcome relief.
We reached their area and immediately got into fish, first losing all 3 fish on a tripe header (not great when you just went 4 hours without a bite).
Suddenly the birds were all around, and the fish kept biting in singles.
Fortunately they started sticking and we had 8 more in the boat by 1:30 when Argo left the grounds. The fish were puking up small saurey and squid as they came over the side. Sirene stayed out with us and we could see them hooking into fish.
Things were looking up.
At that point, the bite "went nuts", and I mean nuts like I have never seen. At the same time the heavens opened up on us, and the monsoon began.
At 3:45 PM, we had 44 tuna in the boat with a 15 to 20 pound grade. We had reached our maximum fish per ice capacity to have a quality product and stopped. It was a good thing we had a capable 5 man crew, as the action was frankly as fast or faster than we could handle at times.
I have a feeling that if we wanted to we could have kept catching fish for as long as we had the energy to pull them in but there is no point in catching fish you aren't going to properly be able to look after.
In any event, to say we were euphoric at that point would be a huge understatement.
We were so busy during the crazy bite that the rain jackets were never put on. When it was all over we were all literally soaked down to our socks and underwear so we had to do complete wardrobe changes to ward off the chill that was beginning to set in.
Needless to say it was the epic day of epic days for us. Huge props to Sirene and Argo for sharing info out there, thanks guys.
If the weather holds I think those entering the Bamfield shootout will have a great time with the fish being there in numbers and reasonably close to shore.
Last, be sure to hit up Mills Landing for a salt ice top off (you'll need more than you think) and the latest intel. before you head out!
