Looking forward to the reports!!

Early report: Not wide open, but a steady pick for 27 YFT's to 90-100#. Not a ton of blackfin this trip.
Joe caught a massive AJ, I caught some nice Almaco's
MarkK had an AWESOME trip (limited)! we all ate like kings &
some good stories, pics & video to come
gotta go clean fish & gear now.........

Great Trip! Seas 3-6 entire trip- trolling on way out -little action-1st stop northern rig- first night produced about 11 YFT - jigging & chunking produced about half the action- other half was top water action- fished 1st stop till about 11am - deep drops produced nice AJ one 70-80lb caught by Joe- Amaco Jacks where active good number caught- moved to another northern rig for next night - deep dropping produced AJ / Amaco/ Cudas - finished the trip with around 30 YFT- 1 bull Dolphin - Good number of black fin- offshore fishing reports on YFT where that other boats in port a had a grand total of 5-6 YFT - so Scat cat had the edge with a great crew & fishermen that had every jig - top water lure- working each to see what was getting the bite - thanks to the Great Chefs that brought the most tasty delights! WOW - Enjoyed seeing everyone - Have a great Holiday season & Take Care!

Sounds like y'all rocked it!! Great job!! Put the whippin on those stubborn tuni!!

This was a trip to remember for me. Started off with seas slightly rougher than predicted but nothing that the Scat Cat had any problem handling. I on the other hand, did my usual one time purge when we arrived at Dianna and promptly shook it off. Funny, a deckhand saw me railing and asked if I was ok. Since I had my mouth full, I just gave him the ok sign.

Started jigging and was not getting the usual BFT love so took a turn on the bow casting maguroni's. No love there either so I took a clue from last weeks Scat Cat report and tried sending out a sardine with a 2oz egg sinker on the line. Capt Russell saw a lot folks not working their free lines actively and gave some friendly advise to keep feeding them out like chunk. Started working he sardine more actively and then letting it come up and start over. On the second or third drift, I came tight on a nice yft (pic below). Well, if it worked once, maybe it will work again....
Start working it the same way and a couple drifts later, bingo, #2. This one was a fat dude and must have been in the mid 70's. Even deckhand Jackson commented on his dimensions after the first attempt to put him in the chiller can. That first night was a slow but steady bite for the rest of the boat with a variety of methods working as Brian mentioned. No consistency to any one technique.

Second day, we head over to Boomvang followed by Nancen for some daytime dropping. I gave it a shot but no love for me there. The Capt decides to head back to Boomvang for the nighttime tuna bite as it showed better marks. This is where it gets interesting for me.

Since the sardine gig got me two in the cooler, I skip jigging and popping and get to working the sardine again. It wasnt too long before I had the first limit on the boat. A YFT tuna limit is a first for me so I'm having a blast! A lot of other folks started working sardines with a few successes coming in. I keep working the sardines and soon enough, hooked up again. Feeling its a yellow and not a black, I handed the rod off to Kerry who fought it for a few minutes with a break off occurring. A few minutes later, the Capt comes over with a hook and length of line in his hand and asks if it is mine. I look at the pink yozui and hook and say yeah thats mine, where'd you get it? Somehow, the tuna got tail wrapped under the boat while Kerry was fighting it and it came on on the other side with my hook in its mouth after the breakoff!

I get back to working the sardines and come tight on the next float and again, pass it off to Kerry. He boated a nice 70# YFT. So whats next? Back to working a sardine of course. A float or two later and come tight again with another YFT and pass it off to Brian. The bite pretty much slowed down after that with the fish going deeper and the sardine trick stopped working. It was great while it lasted. 6 hook ups, 5 fish boated.

All in all, it was a great trip with a great bunch of guys. A few virgins were sacrificed this trip with the requisite hearts being eaten. The food on this trip was out of sight. From Jim's stuffed pork tenderloin to Steve's and Bill's smoked tuna dips (both very different but equally great), we ate like kings! I saved my bourbon marinated (4 days) steak tips for the ride in on Sunday with cherry, barely 1' swells.

I have more pics and video to post but Im wiped after the drive home today and fish cleaning. Will post up soon.

Had a fun trip but fishing was tough for me for YFT. Didn't have a single YFT on. Caught 8 BFT with 3 nice ones coming on a popper. I threw everything for YFT including standing a few feet from Mark using almost identical setup with sardines. I tried sardines with and without weight but they liked Mark's better. He was sure on fire. As mentioned the assortment of YFT came on a variety of ways with no one method much better than the rest. I would say a slight advantage was with sardines. Food was great and so was the company. I slept a total of 2 1/2 hours the entire trip other than the ride in so I gave it my all. Highlight for me was my second keeper AJ ever coming in at 70lbs on a 2lb blackfin fillet. Won the 100.00 big fish pot. Would have liked to have some YFT also but thats how it goes sometimes.

Joe

http://mail.aol.com/37185-111/aol-6/en-u...ox&partId=1

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CLICK THIS PIC-v-

I just got back from a 36 hr trip with Dolphin docks, the bite was slow for us as we only landed one yft, there was several bft caught. I only managed to land 6 total and lost probly 4-5 at the edge of the boat. I feel like they cheated us on time, a few others on the boat feel the same way. It took them 12hrs to get us to the Hoover Dianna, we should have had 12 hours of fishing but instead got only 9.5 hours and the capt dogged it very slowly back to port. I wont be going back out with them any time soon. When should the new sighn ups for next season roll around? I want in with you guys.

Scott, I used to fish dolphin dock and have never said anything, not even in private conversation, but I feel strongly dolphin dock errors way to far to the conservative time on travel in the favor of the owner not the customer. It could be the condition of the seas made the return home longer than the trip out, but unlikely. I have been curious if I was the only person that suspected this. Who was the captain? They go through captains like most folks do underwear.

It was capt Mike, thats all I know. I spoke with him at one time and he had said he was, or has been the Capt of the La Pesca for about 15 years, or so he had said. The seas was rougher on the way out there and he was going fairlly fast, it was alot nicer seas headed back in and he slowed way down, we left the Hoover Dianna at 4am and got back to port at strait up 5 pm. I wasnt exspecting to leave the fishing grounds when we did, he was kinda chicken s#*t about it in my opinion. All night as we would drift he would say rollem up lets relocate, he done that a number of times but the last time he never once said hey folks its time to go back in, he just said rollem up and everyone assumed we were relocateing once again and he just headed back in with no warning at all. Would it do me any good to complain to them most likely not so I just wont go back out with them again.

Here is our catch on our 34 hour run, its not a bad catch but it might have been better if given our full fishing time.

And this is what I ended up with. Im not unhappy with my catch as there was guys who didnt catch anything but I feel I could have done better if I had more time. Over all Im happy I sopose.Just would like to be happer.

I know of the captain, I allways thought he was a good one, but that was at least 10 years ago. The other docks are better class operations which is also reflected in the price. Dolphin Dock is still good for the person with a tight budget and tourists. Talking to the office has never been productive for me, but I will also say I am not willing to get ugly or loud to push the issue.

The result is now that my budget does not know the difference between a $550 trip and a $710 trip, I havent rode with dolphin dock in a long time. It could still happen, but not likely.

He didnt say you were leaving because buttholes like me would take a really long time to bring that jig up! or drop it back down if someone else was still fighting a fish.

I really wished i could have gotton on the trip with you guys, ohwell theres next year I guess and I know about it now,dont get me wrong I had fun and am ready to go again as I speak. My brother wants to try and get a trip together after xmas in mid january would the tuna still be around then? Who should I look to book a trip with say a 48 hour? Any recomendations? Port A or Galveston?