LONG RANGE TUNA TRIP ON THE POLARIS SUPREME
Number Two: I am truly lucky to have the opportunity to go fishing with the Top Guns of Tuna and to take time off work to go fishing for a good part of three weeks. And Number One: I am blessed to have a wife that understands my fishing disorder and encourages me to follow my dreams and goals even though they take me away from home........................ For me, the trip starts when I get the phone call months or years before the date. But the adventure begins when we're pulling away from the dock and I go down to my stateroom and turn off my cell phone and empty my pockets of coins that have no value where we're going. From San Diego to way south of the tip of Baja California, it's a four-day boat ride to our destination, Hurricane Bank. This sounds like a lot of time, but it's essential time for tackle tuning and fishing clinics that are presented everyday by the crew and Captain Tom Rothery. I was intrigued how this was so parallel to my craft because it's all about tricking fish......................... Our prime targets were Wahoo (or Ono), truly one of the quickest fish in the ocean. Once hooked, these fish can travel the length of a football field in seconds, making an angler run a full sprint to the bow or the stern to keep up with them. The fish range in the 40 to 60 pound class and the tackle of choice is in the 40 to 50 pound category. This is one of the ocean fish that is the most fun to catch; hard hit, smokin' runs, and strong pullers (also very possible on the fly). We also fished for the giant Yellow Fin Tuna. This pelagic fish never sleeps. It's built to swim with a body that is a bicep with fins. Our worst nightmare was to be pulled over the rail by the sheer power of this fish or to have to hand the rod off to another angler because the fish beat us.................. The tackle of choice were two-speed reels (fast retrieve and a one-to-one ratio), and the line choice was 100 to 130 pound test. The rods were like pool cues, stiff as broom sticks. It was truly spectacular how much pressure we put on these fish. Our reels were set at two settings for drag; 25 to 30 pounds at STRIKE and 35 to 45 pounds at FULL. These settings allow you to be accurate with how much pressure is put on the fish during different stages of the battle. When the fish is hot, the STRIKE setting will allow for runs without pinning you to the rail or losing your feet. The FULL setting is for winch mode; it was important to apply smooth increasing pressure until the end. The only way to describe the pressure is that you pull as hard and you can, as long as you can, and then do it for another half hour or longer............... The essents of the hunt were the same as in all fishing; find out were the fish were and put stuff in front of them that they want to eat. We used things from kites to balloons to keep our bait on the surface (dry fly), and weights or not weights to go sub-surface (shallow and deep nymphing). It was important to adjust for the time of day and listen to the Captain (guide). Most of the tuna were found under diving birds and porpoises. The boat makes grid patterns, mowing the tuna grounds looking for life with binoculars: scanning the water for hours, looking as far as three miles away. This would be like looking up river the length of two football fields for a single trout raise in wind and bumpy water. These guys are really good............................. The Readers Digest version of our trip is that the fishing was world class: two days of fantastic fishing for Wahoo on Hurricane Bank. The bulk of our tuna fishing was spent on the Lusitania Bank northwest of the tip of Baja. Most anglers aboard hooked and landed cows, (Yellow Fin in the 200 pound class.) The biggest tuna was caught by "Cowboy" Tommy Fullum, it weighed over 300 pounds on the scale in San Diego. Many Yellow Fin and Wahoo were released; some on purpose some on accident......................... My hat goes off to Chef Pedro for the extra five pounds of weight I came home with, not being able to pass up one of his blue ribbon meals. The crew was outstanding; they all love the ocean and are deadly fisherman. Captain Tom Rothery falls second to none in the long range world. The boat is truly connected to his body; you can read his pulse by the sounds of the engines. He's the guy who finds the needle in a haystack. Tommy is easy to fish with and brings out the best of his crew and anglers. He's an excellent guide???and he can fly fish. He runs his business from his home in Santee, thanks to his wife, Susan, who is the nice voice behind the phone and number one bookkeeper and Mommy to two great girls. I've fished many boats and find the Polaris Supreme home for me and highly recommend this boat for any of you that want to try the salt water world. ............www.polarissupreme.com It's about the love of fishing: catching four-inch Blue Gill under a dock or 30-pound Steelhead with a Spey rod. It's about a jerk on one end of a rod waiting for a jerk on the other. And it's about time to go fishing again?Ķ