The EXCEL (124'x32') is the worlds largest, most luxurious, long range sportfisher. Millions of dollars have been invested to make sure she is the best equipped fishing platform ever put on the water. The owner is Captain Bill Poole. She has 16 double-occupancy staterooms. She has 7 heads with showers, wet bars, commercial ice makers and hot/cold drink centers. The Excel has 3 Caterpillar 3412 Diesel Engines. She has all the hi-tech equipment at the cockpit. I can't list all the good stuff - too many things to mention about this fine vessel. Excel is always the best of the fleet.

I got to San Diego around 6 am and pretty amazed that there's already passengers lined up at the dock. I met few celebrities like Mr. Bill Poole, Frank Lopreste and Bill Rockers. We left the dock around 10:20 am and went directly to the bait receiver. We spent couple hours there just filling up all our bait tanks with live sardines. While we're waiting Captain Justin gave us the safety lecture then Jordan gave us seminar how to rig our stuff for all different applications. I couldn't believe all the new knots that I've learned on this trip. Our charter master is Mr. Danny Colonello. He said that we'll have a raffle each day and have three grand prizes on our final day. Captain Justin said that Guadalupe and Alijos Rocks are all open options right now but the Yellows are biting at Benitos Island right now.

Wednesday 9/12 ??? We traveled straight to Benitos Island.

Thursday 9/13 ??? We arrived at Benitos Island around 1:30pm. We're the only boat there. We started chumming and Yellows started to boil around us. We're getting bit here and there. We scratched about 20 plus Yellowtail ranging from 25 to 30 lbs. Just before dark, we started to fish for our bait. We managed to get few hundred mackerel on board. Captain Justin told us that we're going to go 150 miles South offshore trying to see if we could find some Wahoo, Tuna and Dorado. The water there he said is about 70 degrees. The weather started to lay down as we traveled south.

Friday 9/14 ??? Today we're on the hunt for Wahoo, Dorado and Tuna. We took all our Marauders out for the troll. We trolled through clean 70 Degrees blue water most of the day with no biters. Later on the day, we ran in to nice big kelp and the Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna started to explode. The entire boat was getting bit. The Dorado were nice size keepers but Yellowfin were on the small grade Tuna. We landed 34 Dorado and 20 Yellowfin Tuna. We released lots of Tuna due to their size. Tonight we traveled back to Cedros Island. The water was pretty choppy about 6 to 8 swells.

Saturday 9/15 - We finally arrived at Cedros Island in the morning. The Yellows were boiling everywhere. Everybody was hooked. These are big big Yellows(30 lbs plus range). They're biting surface irons, yo-yo jigs, flylined baits and dropper loops. Even Mr. Ken Bell got a 45 lb Halibut on a flylined bait. We ended up with 270 plus Yellows. Just gorgeous nice calm weather. It was just terrific awesome day. Captain Justin told us that we're going to Geronimo for some bottom fishing in the morning and then travel all day to Cortez Bank. The total travel distance will be 350 miles and we'll have bad weather ahead of us about 12 footers plus swells. We need to cover all our belongings. With the size of this vessel, it wasn't that bad at all.

Sunday 9/15 ??? We arrived at Geronimo at the crack of dawn. We fished for couple hours and took in lots of Reds and Whitefish. Then on we went and traveled all day and night.

Monday 9/16 ??? Our final day of fishing. We arrived at Cortez Bank around 5:30am. There were big waves and all. We started rolling at 6am with six anglers on the troll rotation. It was not too long before we got a hook up. They were huge Albacore close to 40 lb grade. We fished all the way to 7:30pm. I jigged most the day and got my limits. We had a terrific day. We ended up with 58 Albacore.

Jackpot Summary:
1st Jackpot - George Milliron of Riverside with a 37.6 lb Albacore.
2nd Jackpot - Bill McKeever of Santa Monica with a 36 lb Albacore.
3rd Jackpot - Ken Bell of Camarillo with a 40.8 lb Halibut.

Total Fish Count: 305 Yellowtail, 58 Albacore, 34 Dorado, 20 Yellowfin Tuna, and 75 Rockfish.

I would to thank Captain Justin Fleck and the entire Excel Crew for a superb effort! I would also like to thank Chef Jason Fleck who served us all gourmet meals ??? They're all awesome. I never seen a crew that work so hard. If you haven't tried a long range trip on this great ship, go for it. I promise you'll have a super stellar trip.

If you're interested of getting a copy of your photo, just email at edgar@sportfishingreport.com.