Today seemed a lot tougher for everyone and Frank seemed to think it may be headed down hill here so once again we are on the move. For the day we had 20 tuna and 10 wahoo but we had to expend far more effort at it than we would have liked. The sun was brutally hot and there was no morning bite and an extended afternoon lull that was quite hard to take. The daily total is a testament as to just how hard this group is willing to fish. I took a quick head count in midafternoon and even though there hadn’t been a fish hooked in several hours, at least 2/3 of the anglers were glued to the rail.

There were no real stand outs as to big fish. The Frenchmen (Francois and Herve) were both on fire for sure. Francois who has really been hooking some nice fish lately has been plagued with tackle failures but he got his revenge today landing an estimated 175 bait fish which was the largest of the day. The other fish ranged from 50 to 150 so Jack’s last reel is still very much on the line.

Perhaps the luckiest angler today was Robert Howard. In the midst of a tangle he prematurely let go of his rod and reel and it went overboard hooked up somehow to someone else’s fish. It happens far too often. I personally have seen at least 4 go over in my 30 plus years of fishing this boat. What I have never seen is somebody getting it back but now I have. When the other fish was being brought up the line was still caught up in it and he was eventually reunited with his outfit. I think that’s a far better catch than a big fish!

We will still have ample fishing time left when we arrive at our destination to do some serious catching if the fish cooperate so hopefully our future is brighter yet. A birthday shout out tonight to Carrie from her father in-law Steve Hanks. He is well, quite tan, and has caught some very nice fish, and can’t wait to get home to take Page to Disneyland (Disneyland Papa Steve, Disneyland) .

We’ll get a chance to get some well needed rest tonight and tomorrow afternoon and be back at the rail by the evening bite.

POEM OF THE DAY

She bit every bait we could toss
But thick kelp turned each hook up to loss
Finally Mick Jagger
Was able to bag her
A Rolling Stone gathers no moss.