Hi Friends and Family:

Over all we had a great trip. It was an honor to share charter master duties with David Choate, aka Wahoo Dad, who is an expert angler and generous teacher sharing his knowledge with others wanting to learn some of his hard earned knowledge.

As we left San Diego behind us the air was thick with anticipation and excitement. We were headed to the Clarion Buffer Zone or the Hurricane Bank knowing our quarry was big tuna. Captain Andy Cates welcomed us aboard, introduced his professional crew and reviewed the schedule of big tuna and wahoo seminars for gear and techniques we would be using on our target species.

Methodically we prepared for battle and on the way bonded with our fellow anglers, crew members and enjoyed the fine cuisine prepared and presented by Chefs Stan and Rick. Day 2 we had our first raffle. Larry's sponsors generously loaded him with hundreds of raffle prizes which were raffled in a fund raiser to support youth fishing. A huge thanks to all of our sponsors who contributed and a reminder to all of our anglers to remember to show their thanks by visiting these sponsors at the fishing trade shows and buying their products at your local tackle dealers. Here is a list of Larry's sponsors:

AVET Reels
Phenix Rods
AFTCO
Booyaa
Shimano
Owner Hooks
Body Glove
Baja Fish Gear
Big Hammer Swimbaits
Fishermans Processing
Izorline
Chuck Byron Art
Sportfishing Magazine
Sportsman Seafood
Western Outdoor News
InvisaSwivel
Fisherman's Landing Tackle Shop
Knot2Kinky Nickel Titanium Wire
MDRA
Best Fishing Tackle Shop
High Tide Holy Mackerel
JOAB and HT Jigs
Long Range Sportfishing "San Diego Style" Book

Thanks to all of our great sponsors and all anglers participating in our raffle.

Congratulations to the anglers winning the big ticket items. Mike Yamamoto won the Avet 2-Speed JX Reel; Martin Gomez, Jr., won the Phenix Rail Rod blank; and Chris Minnick won the Full Wet Suit by Body Glove, which he gifted to Captain Cates, who said he would give it to his daughter. The raffle generated $1,790 for various youth fishing charities.

Wahoo Dad, who represents OKUMA Reels, sponsored several fun give-aways and contests during the trip. Everybody received a nice OKUMA t-shirt and hat, and two OKUMA reels were awarded for the first 100# tuna going to Chris Minnick and the first 200# tuna won by Greg Winfree. Congratulations to Chris and Greg and thanks to David and OKUMA. Our sponsors definitely contributed to the success of the trip and were well represented in the fish counts during our trip. My Avet Reels and new Phenix Rail Rods performed flawlessly on a score of big tuna for myself and several hook and hand fish. I landed 2 tuna taping at over 200#s and another just shy of cow status which may make the grade when weighed at the dock, along with many other tuna between 60 - 150 pounds. Chris Minnick and John Dixon also put on clinics with their Phenix Rail Rods. Wahoo Dad's Okuma Makaira reels also performed terrifically on many big tuna and wahoo.

High Tide Sportfishing provided us with several new proto type wahoo jigs and trolling lures to test on our trip. I gave the proto type jigs to Wahoo Dad and Allen Lemberg to test out and kept one for myself to try. The HT wahoo jigs caught wahoo for each one of us trying them, even though the vast majority of the wahoo were focused on bait and not jigs and nearly 100% of the wahoo were caught on bait while at anchor fishing for tuna. The crew put 2 of the High Tide JOAB trolling lures on the Red Rooster's Trolling Rods and they stopped the boat 5 out of six trolling rotations. These new wahoo jigs really work. The manufacturer will be perfecting them and they will soon be available on the market. See them at the High Tide booth # 1321 at the Long Beach Fred Show.

The other innovative product donated by a raffle sponsor was the Knot2Kinky Nickel Titanium Wire. This new product is knotable with an easy perfection loop, is extremely kink resistant and actually stretches and then returns to its original length. Unlike other wire products for wahoo it can be re-used multiple times because it does not kink. Several anglers selected a sample package of the Knot2Kinky wire and successfully used it on the elusive wahoo. Wahoo experts David Coate and Chris Mininick spoke very highly of the knotable and kink resistant nature of the wire. After experimentation Chris Minnick and David Choate concluded the perfection loop was their preferred knot to use with the Knot2Kinky wire. I am also very impressed with this new, very innovative, nearly magical product and will use it as my wire of choice on all future wahoo trips.