Extreme would be an understatement to describe the contrast between conditions yesterday and today. Yesterday was sweetness defined; paradise I believe I dubbed it - calm seas, inviting breeze, conditions working in tandem with us not against; today not so much. We made a catch regardless. In fact the early morning produced yet another round of excellent fishing on tuna in the 70 - 130 pound class followed by a drift for a dozen or fifteen of the 130 - 180 pound models, then the wind got on it. Or better said, the wind got it on.

Our delightful drift track was wiped white by thirty to thirty five knots of breeze that did wonders to diminish enthusiasm for standing out in it fishing for a bite. The only good part of the equation was that being a local condition the sea state was far less severe than would normally accompany such stiff ocean breezes. That and the incredible phenomena of up drafting generated by the three thousand four hundred foot Socorro island that created dramatic wind lines, eddy's, and complete direction shifts as we drifted along amidst the theater. One minute it would be howling with such authority you could hardly hear someone standing next to you speaking in a normal voice then, in a matter of one minute, it would slack off to a gentle pleasant breeze. Then the direction would shift one hundred and eighty degrees and the side of the boat an angler was correctly fishing from reversed, or the boat would start spinning doughnuts; crazy conditions to work with no doubt. One can imagine the havoc it played on the boys attempting to maintain the kite; more than once we were on top of the wheelhouse disentangling gear from the shrieking rigging and antennas - pure fun.

And the final significant change to contrast was the ubiquitous population of local sharks that finally decided to assert their prerogative to annoy, hassle, harry, pester, bother, steal, take, and make a general nuisance of themselves in every way, shape, and form. Nothing changed as far as their numbers were concerned, the aggression switch simply turned on making for a few handfuls of corn cobbed, or totally lost tuna, and plenty of sacrificed leaders and hooks. To quote the late Marty Milner from the original Let's Talk Hookup cast - "A little of that goes a long way". I couldn't have said it better myself.

But with all this pissing and moaning we still had another excellent day of production tagging exactly fifty yellowfin tuna in the 70 - 180 pound class. The breakdown was similar to yesterday with about half from 130 - 180, and the remainder 70 - 120 with the majority in the 90 - 100 pound class; not a bad day of fishing by any standard. Admittedly though the present standard has been skewed by so many days of phenomenal fishing we have experienced throughout this voyage. As of now, with one final morning to go, six of the nine fishing days thus far have been excellent to stellar. In such consistency it is difficult to find fault. Being human though we'll go to any length to find a chink in the armor.

By day's end we were sad to be going, but glad to go and be gone. It was time. The place had an air of change today that elicited that thief in the night feeling. Motoring up toward San Benedicto the farewell to Socorro was in good spirit. We are grateful beyond measure. Any little thing tomorrow, any little bonus round will place a cherry on top of and already colossal portion of good times and fun. And then - we are going home.

Today's image features a bow action shot of "Stan" pulling on one of his four 160 - 180 pound class yellowfin landed today; that's just the big ones I mention. I don't even know how many others he landed from 75 - 130 pounds. I can not even begin to relate Stan's enthusiasm for fishing that goes far beyond extraordinary. He is insatiable driving himself to produce through sheer will winding in these big tuna one after another on his equipment of choice - Shimano Talica 25's and smaller, custom rods. The gear the Thai anglers use is topic in itself that I will expound upon during the upcoming week. I have plenty to say and pictures to share on the subject. This is Stan's moment however that he earned ten times over - every day of the trip. I have never seen a better, more enthusiastic fisherman.

Tim Ekstrom

Photo Here...