Dear RP Friends and Family,

This is my last report from the beautiful Royal Polaris on the Nakaki-less Charter 2016. In summary, this was a very challenging trip that had two medical emergencies, lots of sharks and lots of travel time. Through all of it, my fellow passengers never complained and understood that %&* happens and you need to maintain a positive attitude. There are many groups I have fished with that wouldn’t have handled it in as classy a way as this group. Even one “that Guy” could have changed the experience entirely for all of us. Here’s what happened:

Medical: We were making good time toward the Zone when in the middle of the night, we found out our Charter Master really had to go, but couldn’t. The only choice we had was to turn uphill and head back to Cedros. Thank goodness, Bill is doing well! Our next issue was a freak accident on the first night of fishing. We had a great night bite going with several 200lbers on the deck. Sue’s line got tangled on my fish at gaff and was brought overboard. As Roy was untangling her line, it got bit and started taking out the loose line. Roy yelled to everyone that someone was bit and hold on. It happened to be Sue and the impact of a fish moving full speed backlashed her reel and the spectra wrapped her thumb and took off the top portion. Roy and the crew did a great job of handling the issue and Sue was an unbelievable trooper. I know very few men who can out fish or out tough Sue, she is amazing! As a measure of her mettle, her first question after the event was “will I be able to still cast?”. That my friends is one tough lady whom I admire and respect (photo dedicated to you below). Everyone here sends their love and healing vibes! We left the Zone immediately and headed to Socorro to get Sue medical help. Both events left us somber over our friends injuries and missing their amazing personalities.

Sharks: This trip rivaled Shark fest 2001 in my books. It was the most aggressive I’ve seen them for eating baits and fish. We went through my 2 year supply of super mutu’s in 3 days. We left the Zone for Hurricane and found the sharks even worse. We managed to get a nice batch of wahoo in but very few of the quality tuna made it back to the boat. We went back to the lesser of two evils and ventured back to the Zone. Sharks were a fraction better, taking only half of my hooks for 2018. For many this was the worst they had seen unless of course, the targeted species were silkies, Galapagos browns and white tips. In which case, it was amazing.

Fishing: Day 1 was our best day and we had several nice ones and 3 over 200lbs. Good overall fishing and sharks were tolerable. Following dropping off our injured passenger, we set course back to the Zone. We decided to run past the buffer zone of Roca on the way back from Socorro so we could do a little trolling on the way. As we were waiting for it to get light, a dive boat approached and was unusually nice, suggesting we share the rock. We explained to them about our injured passenger and that we would only be there an hour (until it started getting light) then would be heading out. Sure enough, even though a line did not touch the water, some idiot on the dive boat posted we were invading the protected area. Sorry, Mr. Diver, we did not and your claims are unfounded. You must have been a tattletale and gossip monger as a kid. We did not put any lines in the water until we reached the buffer zone. About mid-day (100 miles from Roca (Is that far enough, Mr. Diver?), I was trolling John Yamate’s giant pink bomb creation and it went off. Line went screaming and we stopped on a nice wahoo. All the jigs that subsequently went out got bit. We had by some crazy luck found a floating pallet holding a bunch of wahoo. It was what we needed and deserved. The balance of the trip, we caught a bunch of smaller grade tuna, a few nice one’s (one more over 200lbs) and a good batch of wahoo. We did really, really well given the loss of 3 fishing days and Shark fest Part II.

Captain & Crew: The captain and crew did an amazing job as they always do. Jonathon made all the right calls and figured out each day how to scratch fish. The crew did their magic keeping us out of tangles and of course, we were entertained by daily standup routines (both matinee and evening shows) by Roy Rose. Needless to say, we had constant entertainment while pulling on fish and sharks. It is hard to describe the efforts they go through to make sure we are having fun, catching and taking care of the fish for home. The trio of cooks did an amazing job, food was the best I’ve had on the boat (sorry Kenny & Anthony). They are an amazing group of guys and all my friends.

Passengers: As stated above, the chemistry of this trip was phenomenal. One bad seed could have sent the trip spiraling into the trip from hell. Instead, we laughed as much as we always do, horsing around and hosing down people for personal bests (and sometimes just for fun). This group deserves high praise for keeping optimistic and super positive. We did however, sorely miss the personalities of Sue and Bill as their laughter and energy are contagious. It wasn’t the same, but we certainly made the best of it. Thank you for hanging in there!

UFC: Due to the loss of fishing days, we revamped our end of trip Combat Fishing (Ultimate Fishing Challenge) and turned it into a skills competition between the old (Roy, Eddie and Dharyl) and the new (Jonathon, Terrence & Deron). The first event was the best Frank Lopreste imitation with the Little Frank Bobblehead. Oh, I forgot, they had to dress in skirts and pink tops with funny hats and scarves. Absolutely hilarious until Eddie came up and had cut out the entire back panel of the dress exposing his G-string underwear. You were either sick from laughter or sick from the sight of Eddie’s exposed flesh. In either case it was sick (in a bad way). Old Guy’s have had more mimic experience and won that contest, young guns got hosed down for their loss. Next up casting distance with a sardine. Oh yeah, they had to cast utilizing an Penn 80. Roy had the longest legitimate cast at 16.4 feet. Jonathon utilized the breakwater beer can technique and threw the bait a little over twice Roy’s distance, Old Guys got whipped cream pies in the face for their loss. Next came the gaffing contest, in which they tried to gaff an orange being pulled through the water. It was a whirl wind of swing and misses, no one connected so they all got flour bombed for the loss. The tie breaker was a winding contest in which we set back two 5 gallon buckets at equal length on kite gear and the young guys beat the old leading into a good old fashioned water balloon fight. Too much laughter and hilarity!

Interim Chartermaster & Ghostwriter: This was a tough trip for me having two of my favorite people have medical issues. The crew always treat me like a friend playing practical jokes and harassing me for entertainment. The best for me was just prior to the UFC, three of them simply picked me up and chucked me into the water. Truly deserved, but just remember payback is coming next year! Signing out, your humble interim charter master and ghost writer…