Big bad Bluefin were the name of the game for the 1.5 Charter on the Pacific Queen that returned on 7/23. The 85 ft. fishing machine is well equipped with a huge fishing platform, 2 RSW holds, a nice bow, with upfront bait tank, and great accommodations - from private staterooms to the Diner style galley.

Headed by Captain Drew Card, the crew was hard working, helpful and had obviously well honed there craft over the years. Drew began his sportfishing career in 1999, aboard the Windsong, with Captain Oscar Olsen. On the Windsong Drew cut his teeth fishing the waters off northern Baja. Next Drew spent the following year fishing on Paterno\'s six pack, Limitless, before joining Captain J.J. Gerritsen on the Apollo. Drew spent nine successful years on the Apollo, earning him the opportunity to run the trips the last three years. During his time on the Apollo Drew fished hard from Point Conception to the southern tip of Baja and developed his competitive nature that keeps his fish counts at the top of the charts on a regular basis.

We departed at 8:50 pm and headed for the bait receivers. The crew carefully loaded our bait for the trip and we were off for the fishing grounds. Drew called all the passengers to the bow of the boat and gave us the game plan for the trip. We were heading approx. 100 miles down to where the schools had been seen and going to look for both tuna and kelp paddy yellows. With all the passengers fired up for the morning, we all split up to to tie knots, grab a last beer before bed or relax a bit, before retiring to the bunks.

When we awoke around 6:45 am the Captain had us on the first kelp paddy of the day. As the baits went out you could see the yellows charging the boat. The fish ranged in size from 10-27lbs. It was a bit of chaos as the excited anglers all hooked up but as the fish started hitting the deck everyone settled into a great rhythm. Over, Under, going to the Corner..everyone worked together. As we were about to limit out on Yellows the Bluefin started to appear. They seemed to push out the Yellows and we began hooking a fantastic grade of tuna. BOILS, BOILS, I loved hearing the passengers yell in excitement. Over 35 fish were landed from 47 to 25lbs. 40lb Test was the ticket but many were managing on 30lb.

It ended up that our initial school was going to be the show for the day on Tuna, as we only scratched out 3 more smaller grade fish on the troll during the rest of the afternoon. Drew worked diligently to work all the angles as we hit the offshore pins in different locations and found many more schools that just didn\'t want to participate. We ended up hitting a couple more paddies as the day concluded, to finish out our limits on Yellows, and one Angler landed a beautiful Dodo.

We retuned to the dock around 6am with the boat spic and span and all the requested fish beautifully fileted. It had been an epic trip and I can\'t wait to get back out on with the guys on the Queen. All in all one of the best 1.5 trips I have ever been on.