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DANIELLE, THE BOAT IS STILL FLOATING!! Well gang, we have been doing some looking on this trip - but you know how we roll, don't stop until you find fish. We have had good scratch fishing on 80 to 100 lb plus fish with a few bigger which will at least settle the jackpots for the time being. We still have a few more days to fish and all the gang is doing well, everybody is healthy and for the most part we have had good weather. I'll try to keep y'all up to date so you can call Lori and book your trip of a lifetime.
GOOD NIGHT, The Gang |
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Avet Back from 14.5 day spectacular trip Capt. Brian Kiyohara brought back this 14.5 day trip with an unusual twist - there was a crowd to see the 3 over 300lbers hooked by one man, Charlie Iwashita. Thank you to all our passengers on this trip - this is a great cohesive group that fished, played cribbage and told stories together. Special thanks to Ben Frazier for his great give aways. Ben also wanted to pass along thanks to Mario of Sportsmen Seafood, Avet, Seeker, Matt Salas and Jerry Brown. Sounds like it will be a repeat next season - see you all then if not before! Pictured below are the jackpot winners, Sam & Galen showing a little brotherly love, legendary Ralph "The Long Ranger" Mikkelsen with his 272lb cow and a group picture without a couple of guys that had to take off. Sorry we didn't get you in there, Dennis Raj and John. Photo credit on the group photo goes to Marc Monforte, thank you! Check out jackpot winners: First place : Charlie Iwashita 322lbs (also had a 319lber) YFT Second place: Robin Lemaster 273lbs YFT Third place: Pat Gallagher 243lbs YFT Honorable Mention: Bobby Gott 311lbs YFT
The boat departs on the final trip of the season, appropriately with one of our favorites, Ken Corwin of Ken's Custom Reels. Check back with us in a couple of days for a report. American Angler |
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Going Home As we are enjoying a nice up the line we would like to thank Ben Frazier, our sponsor and representative from Avet Reels and Seeker Rods for all his enthusiasm and the time he dedicated towards the trip. Harry and Sarkis from Avet reels generously provided many giveaways and Joe Pfister from Seeker Rods did the same. Also thanks to Matt Salas from Salas lures who also kicked into the generous prize package. Also, it has been our pleasure to once again work with Shawn Steward of the "Aloha Spirit" as he is the perfect compliment to the AA family. Most importantly this trip is what it is because of all the regulars who have made this their annual fishing get-together.
Looking Forward To Seeing Our Loved Ones, The Guys ETA 8 to 8:30am |
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Just When You Think You Have Seen It All As far as a story goes, we think that it would be near impossible to conjure up one like this much less than to see it happen right before everyone's eyes. We have watched the tackle change over the years, been to many exotic places in search of yellowfin tuna, been on some of the great big tuna trips over the last 25 years and have witnessed countless epic battles, both won and lost but yesterday proved that we will never see it all. The story pretty much starts where yesterday left off.... We have been talking about Charlie every day on deck just because of the extraordinary display of selflessness we have been witness to throughout the trip. About a week ago after boating a few nice fish Charlie hooked another fish and passed it off to another fellow angler that was down on his luck without even thinking twice about it. While this angler was fighting that particular fish Charlie proceeded to hook and land a 322lb giant. Yesterday, you already know if you have been following the story - he boated a fish over 200 in the morning and for some unknown reason inside when he hooked another fish, he knew without thinking the right thing to do would be to help the last person aboard that had not yet landed a "heavy". That all ended up with the success story of Bobby Gene Gott landing an amazing 311lb fish. Charlie was as stoked as Bobby and we struggle to think of as many examples of good deeds that we have been fortunate enough to witness. That brings us to today which was also our last day of fishing. We woke up in the morning in the right place because it was shortly after greylight when we began to see fish gather around us. Even though they showed excellent both visually and on the fish finding equipment, the fish were very hard to hook. We picked away on good grade fish between 100 and 160 lbs. Because of yesterday's big fish, we all knew the next bait could be the "one", as the chance to hook a cow was as great as ever. It was about mid afternoon when you guessed it, Charlie hooked a fish on an Avet 50, big line,and a sardine. The fish kind of shook his head made a few short runs and then decided to go. It didn't take long once the fish made up its mind to empty the reel and we attached a buoy and an eighty sized reel filled with spectra and we threw the original rig in the water. A few minutes later, we realized that the fish was not stopping and we scrambled to grab another backup rig. This time it was our backup rig that was on its way to take a bath when we attached one of our 50w to another float rig. The fish still did not stop and we rushed to make another backup rig which came together right in the nick of time when our 50w was almost at the knot when we threw that one in the water attached to another 80 sized reel. The fish was amazingly still running and the line on the third backup was disappearing at a steady rate. Decision time. Do we pull the anchor and risk everybody else's chance at a shot to hook a cow, or do we throw another thousand dollar rig in the water when already there are three rigs swimming?? The whole time we have been keeping the rest of the fleet involved in our story when another "do good" event took place. After hearing about Charlie's previous exploits, Captain Justin Fleck of the mighty Excel volunteered to come over in their skiff to take part in the drama. When he arrived Charlie got in the skiff accompanied by Justin and Shawn Steward (he was unquestionably in good hands) and the battle continued. It wasn't long before they put the second backup aboard but that's when the work started. A 50w full of spectra took awhile to reel back and when they got to the original backup unbelievably the thing was still hauling butt. After winding on a full 80 sized reel and getting Charlie's original outfit aboard, the fish was still moving and very much alive. Keeping in radio contact and getting the blow by blow Justin and Shawn both described the fish simply as" mean". They got the fish close three times only to have it rip more line off the reel. Finally after 2 hours, they got the fish and started heading back to the boat. Right away everyone wanted to know - how big? When we asked, we got the simple reply of, maybe about 180 or so. We did our best to mask our disbelief with a simple "right on and have a safe trip back". Everyone on deck and everyone listening on the radio was questioning the truth behind it all and it was answered when they got back and we put the fish aboard the big boat. It was an emotional scene of exuberance when hoisted up on the scale this great fish weighed in at 319lbs. The three backups in the water, hooking three three hundred pound fish in one trip - all of which we have never seen before was amazing. The heart that this great fish possessed was bested only by the good karma that is involved with everyone that was involved. The generosity of Justin and the Excel to the unequaled moral values that Charlie has makes this the ultimate feel good story. If anyone out there in internet fishing land doesn't get the "do good things and good things will happen" business by now, you probably never will.
Always Trying To Do The Right Thing, The Guys |
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Earthy Crunchy We have been told before that sometimes our do-good stories on our reports can be a little much. Once again Charlie Iwashita hooked a fish when bites were really hard to come by. He landed a 210lb fish which has topped off an already incredible trip for him. He took a break and a few baits later hooked another one and handed it off to Bobby Gene Gott. Bobby is an accomplished fisherman but due to bad knees and choppy weather he has been staying off his feet quite a bit. He got back on them right away when the fish spooled him and the backup rig was deployed. After a long epic battle, he boated an incredible 311lb fish. Charlie who not only has the upmost respect for his elders but has the compassion to go out of his way to help those in need, has compiled an enormous amount of brownie points. The overall day was frustrating as we had fish all around us throughout the day, but had trouble hooking them and we watched some of our other boats hook steady fish. We ended up with 7 good grade fish and the opportunity to hook a fish of a lifetime was realistic all day.
You Have To Believe, The Guys |
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Lazy Days With the weather and swell finally backing off, we were looking forward to good fish-spotting weather. Unfortunately we could only find small spots of fish to work with which shows how fast things can change overnight. We scratched a few fish up to 120lbs with a little action on smaller fish. As a whole, the day was pretty relaxing as we enjoyed the nice weather.
Having A Good Time, The Guys One spot on Mon. Feb 1st 14.5 day trip |
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Action We fought the weather once again as the wind and huge groundswell never seems to go away. We scratched away throughout the day but things didn't get right until the afternoon. Whether or not it was time of day or in the right place at the right time we had a great stop right before dark. There was plenty of action as bites were easy and fast to come by. After scratch fishing for cows this was just what the Doctor ordered. The boys are pictured with some of the fish after they got done gill and gutting all the fish. We thought we would try something new for all the passengers and our website viewers; here is a link to a slideshow of the Tiburon Sponsored trip in December. For all the passengers that were on the trip a DVD should arrive at your home in about a week. If you can not view the slideshow you need to download the Adobe Flash Player; here is the link to download the latest Adobe Flash Player. Download Adobe Flash Player Go to 2009 Tiburon Slide Show Tight Lines Barry
Looking For A weather Break The Guys |
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Elements We have heard about the weather back home so we have to keep things in perspective. We have dodged the bullet thus far as we have enjoyed decent weather up to this point.Last night on the anchor we got tossed and turned like a rag doll.After a few good fish in the dark including one giant cow that was lost close to the boat (all on Salas PL 68's) daylight arrived upon us and we new it was going to be a long day. The sea condition was in turmoil as moving around was not going to be an option. We were lucky to have good fish around us all day so we were always in the game. Bites were hard to come by and once hooked these big fish had to be landed under some of the most extreme fish fighting conditions.Robin Le master did a great job landing a 273lb beast and Kub Ito's persistence paid off with a 210lb fish. We ended up with 10 good sized fish and throughout the day the wind clocked around from the south to the northwest. For those of you that have loved one's aboard with us don't picture the perfect storm as we always realize that there is not a fish that exists that is more important then one's personal well being. We pulled the anchor and are making a move looking for action and the traveling is not bad as the sea condition is getting better all the time. We thought we would try something new for all the passengers and our website viewers; here is a link to a slideshow of the Tiburon Sponsored trip in December. For all the passengers that were on the trip a DVD should arrive at your home in about a week. Go to 2009 Tiburon Slide Show Tight Lines Barry
We Hope Everyone Is Safe At Home The Guys |
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We Believe We saw sign in our two previous day's hot spots but every time we tried it, we could not hook any fish. By midmorning the huge WNW groundswell was combined with 15-20kts of SSE wind which made it next to impossible to find breaking fish or mammals. Luckily we saw scattered fish associated with an area where we have caught them in the past so we gave it a chance.We were ready to pull the anchor and start looking around when we hooked our first fish. We were seeing meter life the whole time with a couple of boils so after we were engaged we stayed put on the anchor all afternoon. It was very tough to get a bite as we only had about 16 or 18 actual hookups. Even though we had choppy weather we still landed 10 fish. The most incredible fact was that 80% of the fish boated were 210lbs and above which made it worthwhile to keep trying. We are proud to have Charlie Iwashita as one of our AA regulars. He is a great fisherman but also he proves the point of "you do good things and good things will happen". He was fortunate enough to already have a few nice fish in the bag this trip so when he hooked his second fish of the day, he immediately handed his fish off to a less fortunate Friend even though he knew the chances of it being a cow was 4 out of 5. After the good deed was done, it was a matter of a few baits before Charlie's life was to be changed forever. He hooked a fish and after a few minutes it was apparent that it was a good one. After about an hour his fish hit the deck and it weighed in at 322lbs. Everybody was stoked and knew of the good gesture that had been done and we all realized amongst us that Charlie's fish was well deserved. Also pictured is Tony Duprey with his good Friend Monteil Tremaine with Tony's 267lb fish. Pat Gallagher and Shawn show off their stuff with his 242lb fish.
It Is Getting Choppier, The Guys One spot on next 14.5 day trip departing Feb. 1, sponsored by Ken's Custom Reels - last chance to catch that cow this season on the American Angler. If you live in the Sacramento area - we're at the International Sportsmans Exposition, at Cal Expo which Thurs 21 and runs through Sun. Jan 24. It will be a great way to spend a rainy day....Come by and say hi! |
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The Reward We started the morning on the anchor for the same results as the previous day as it was apparent right away that we were in the wrong spot. The hunt started immediately as the crew cleaned the lenses on their pipes and went to work. We saw scattered sign in the morning for just a couple of fish and in the afternoon the stuff got together and showed pretty good. We hit a couple of spots late that had some fish with it but as the old story goes, we wish that we could have hooked more fish. We had some shots at some good fish and enjoyed a pretty good show but only tagged eight fish for the day. John Vandeventer(Big John) was one of the fortunate ones with a 239 which is quite an accomplishment because the boat was really jerking around due to the giant groundswell.Ralph Mikkelson was up to his old tricks with the help from his buddy Shawn (Wingnut) Steward and bested todays largest fish which weighed a respectable 272lbs. One of the pictures shows what was left of our evening bite that has to stir a little jealousy from those at home. br>
Looking Hard For Fish, The Guys Raj would like to remind Lucas and Kyle that pops is thinking of them and wishes they were here and also Martha your two boys are having a good time and are worried about all the rain and your well being(call Lori in office at 619 223 5414). Also just had a cancellation on last 14.5 day trip of the season departing Feb. 1, sponsored by Ken's Custom Reels. And If you live in the Sacramento area - we're at the Boat Show at Cal Expo which begins tomorrow Thurs 21 and runs through Sun. Jan 24. Come by and say hi! |
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Feeling Guilty Our timing for the beginning of the trip could not have been luckier. We had a nice ride home on the last trip and beat the storms as we headed south in front of them. We arrived on the grounds around daylight and found the past weeks honey hole to be dry. After giving it the first couple of hours of daylight we had to move and look for greener pastures. We saw sign of different grades of fish but couldn't really work with them. It was about lunch when we got our first batch of fish to stick with us but they were 30-80lbs and not really what we are looking for at this point in the trip. We finally found an area in the afternoon that was "right". We saw spots of cows jumping and there was decent fish in some of these spots. The thing out of our control once we get around them is getting them to bite the baits with hooks in them. We hooked about ten fish and landed six from 160-210lbs. Raj Nal got the first keeper of the trip with a 178 and Robin Lemaster boated our first cow with a 210 pound fish.
We Are Sure To Pay For The Good Weather Before This Trip Is Done, The Guys |
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Accurate Home Capt. Brian Kiyohara brought back this 10.5 day trip with a lot of happy folks. The weather was beautiful, the fishing was epic and the company was enjoyable. Everyone on the boat had at least one fish over 100lbs and most everyone had at least one fish over 200lbs. The catch was in perfect shape and ready for sushimi/seared/bbque or however - it will be a treat. Once again, a special thanks to Jack Nilsen of Accurate for supplying all the loaner gear and Gary Teraoka who professionally handled all his sponsor business dockside. Thank you for the opportunity for the guys to check out the Accurate product. Pictured below are the jackpot winners and what was left of the group before everyone took off this morning to prepare their tuna feast for ....mabye tomorrow's playoff game?? Check out jackpot winners: First place : Kent Iwata 294lbs YFT Second place: Dave Boes 273lbs (also had a 255) YFT Third place: Harvey Rosen 267lbs YFT Honorable Mention#1: Seth Taylor 263lbs YFT Honorabale Mention#2: Dale Prichard 256lbs (also had a 210 & 208) YFT
The boat departed this afternoon on the Avet trip, Ben Frazier onboard sponsor. Have a great time everyone! American Angler |
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Good Fortune We ended up the last morning with the fish getting on us right away. We boated a handful of 110-140lbers which topped us off and we called it a trip. Dr. Burak is pictured with one of them and in the background is a sample of the weather that we have enjoyed. With reports of choppy weather ahead, we pulled the anchor and headed for the barn. And with news of scratchy fishing on the way down, we were blessed with not only good weather but also great fishing conditions and we were lucky to be on the grounds when the fishing turned for the better. Everybody was well prepared tackle-wise and under the tutelage of our crew, we were able to make the most of it. Everybody ended up with at least a couple of the 170lb plus type grade with almost 95% of the guys landing one over two hundred pounds. The group did a great job bonding into one solid unit with many new friendships developed. A special thanks to Accurate - Jack Nilsen for providing all the loaner reels and rods for the passengers to use and try out during the trip. They had the opportunity to check out the larger ATD (Accurate Twin Drag) reels for the big tuna and the BOSS series reels for mid-grade fish. Accurate also gave away two BOSS reels and sponsor, Gary Teraoka came down day of departure and organized the trip give-aways. We'd like to thank the following donors: Izorline, Eagle Claw, Smitty Belt, Maui Jim, Baja Fish Gear, Fishing Videos and Mario of Sportmans Seafood for all their great prizes.
Headed Home, The Guys Looks like a 6am ETA on Sat., but double check with the office tomorrow at 619 223 5414. |
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The Captain Excuse List It seems like every wheelhouse in the fleet has an extensive excuse list about why the fish aren't biting. "Conditions for us changed from the day before so we re-positioned the boat". "We had fish get on us right away and they stayed on us all day. We could see them on machines,jumping out of the water next to the boat and also literally see them swimming underneath the water all day long". The catch was that they would not bite a bait that had a hook impaled in it. We three bites all day long and one of those came off. Fortunately the ones we did get were size large. Seth Taylor boated one that was 263 and once again Dave Boes kept his big fish train rolling with a 255. Dave's fish is today's picture that was documented as it left it's watery realm.
Flat Calm And Beautiful, The Guys |
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Epic We started our day off the right way by hooking a good fish in the dark. We soon realized that we were in the right place at grey light when we had big cows crashing all around us and had six or seven hooked. We ended up with eight fish out of our morning go around and we were able to pick at them the rest of the day. We enjoyed a steady show all day with big cows blowing out all around us. The fish started biting again toward dark and we once again had five or six hooked up at once the last two hours of the day. We endured the standard heartbreaks of pulled hooks and tackle failures but we still ended up the day with 27 fish ranging in weight from 160-294lbs. Kent Iwata led the two hundred pound club with his 294 caught on an Accurate 30 and 100 pound. Also part of the parade was James Barker(2),Matt Salas, Karl Bornemann, Mark Vellekamp, Steve Bowman(2),Joe Machado(pictured), John Yarbrough and David Boes with a fine percentage of 11 out of the 27 that surpassed the mark.
What A Great Three Days, The Guys |
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Good Timing We have all heard the the sayings such as "I would rather be lucky than good", but the truth of the matter is that timing is probably the most important factor. We were lucky enough to get on a spot early and right out of the gate were very busy on 30-70lb fish. We kept 3-10 going for several hours and by lunch we opted to leave them biting. We ended up with a great catch that included a half a dozen fish over 100lbs such as the one displayed by Karl Bornemann and our Nathan Madruga. We went looking for something different and finally found it before dark. We hooked a half a dozen fish and they were all size large. Dale Prichard made short work of his 208 and then we had a short run of bad luck when we lost three in a row. We boated the last two that we had hooked in the dark. Mark McClintock did a great job of representing Ventura and Santa Barbara county with one that weighed just over two and Harvey Rosen caught one on behalf of his son Burke, that was a whopping 267lbs.
Luck Is Good, The Guys We just had a cancellation on the Avet trip departing next Sat. Jan 16th - call the office for details if you can get away for 14.5 days on this limited to 18 person fishing trip. And if you live in the San Mateo area, we'll have a booth at the Expo show up there from Thurs. Jan 14 - Sunday Jan. 17th. Check it out at http://www.sportsexpos.com/ Stop by and see Capt. Sam and Capt. Cameron - book a trip, ask your tackle questions or just stop by to say hi! |
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Nice Guys Do Not Always Finish Last We started out our trip today with one of the most important things on our side - weather. It has been flat calm on the ride down which enabled the entire group to lounge in comfort,rig tackle and get to know one another. This morning, everyone including the crew was chomping at the bit to get things rolling. Thankfully we saw sign of fish early and started picking at them within the first couple hours after daylight. We saw a mixed up grade of fish from 25lbs to 250lbs jump around throughout the day as we enjoyed decent fishing. Most everyone caught a nice fish with 7 or 8 fish weighing in at over 100lbs topped off by Joe Machado and his 144lber. We also had several fish that were in the 75 to 95lb range. The top story of the day was definitely Bob Henke. Bob has dedicated 38 of his 78 years towards educating over 15,000 high school students in various subjects at places like Montebello High School and has shared the last 58 years with his beloved wife. He strolled out on deck this morning with his usual good vibes and it took just a few baits to get his first bite of the day. There were a few smaller fish hooked like our first one of the day landed by Joe Gigliotti (pictured), but it was apparent right away that Bob had tied into something bigger. After an epic battle he bested a 204lb tuna and claimed that to be his fish of a lifetime. After hanging and enjoying the morning, he decided to start fishing again a few hours later - what do you think happened? After utilizing the backup, he promptly reeled in a cookie cutter 204lb tuna which would be an unbelievable accomplishment for anyone.
Do Good Things And Good Things Happen, The Guys |
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Calstar trip returns The boat returned with a phenomenal catch of quality tuna ranging mostly from 70 - 100lbs. A big thanks to Glenn Kuromi, Calstar rep, for doing a fantastic job as a first time trip sponsor; everyone on the trip walked away with either a Calstar rod or blank. And thanks to everyone on the trip for coming out fishing on this after Christmas 10 day trip! Pictured below are the jackpot winners and the crew doing their thing. Check out jackpot winners: First place : Greg Lee 287.6lbs YFT Second place: Dan Federoff 175.0lbs YFT Third place: "Nacho" Camarena 144.0lbs YFT
The boat departed tonight on the annual Accurate 10.5 day trip - Gary Teraoka wasn't able to make the trip at last minute, so gave a trip's worth of giveaways and all the loaner accurate gear from the dock before the boat left. Thank you, Gary! Check back in a day or two for news on this trip... American Angler |
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FINISH IT OFF WITH A BANG It was wide open on the 50-100lb grade fish today. It took awhile for the fish to get on us, but when they did it was Game on!!! The weather is Flat Calm and we are running up the line to make a stop in the morning for a couple of hours and then be on our way home. The photo of the day is 3 generations of Berryhill's: Grandpa Charlie, Father Bill and son Dom.
GOOD NIGHT AND WHAT A DAY, The AA Gang |
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The boat has been unable to send tonight's fish report, but did talk to them and the word is that the fishing was slow for them today, however the big fish of the day was 285lbs and hopefully will be able to send pictures and report tomorrow. One more day of fishing and then they'll head it for the barn. American Angler |
