august 2013 - the second annual garcia-ouano charter

august 2013 - the second annual garcia-ouano charter

checklist - laundry, bills, haircut, answer all e-mails, pm's and posts, change the oil in the cars, wash all the cars, and THEN start prepping for the trip. my wife is wondering why in the world i would worry about doing bills before i leave when i could just as easily do them when i come back. i'm not going to tell her this, some guys from the bay area went on a fishing trip a few years ago and they didn't come back. i dunno, just call it superstitious.

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thursday, 8/22/13 - packing for the trip did not start until 18 hours before we were supposed to leave, scraping spools of line, jigs and reels off the garage floor. what a mess! things just got tossed into bags and bins. they would have to get sorted out on the boat. no sleep tonight.


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friday, 8/23/13 - good thing i had roger with me again to do all the driving. it took some doing to get a hall pass from his wife, but he pulled it off. with a new baby at home, i'm guessing he had to be extra good! we are traveling with four ice chests, 20 rods and reels, milk crates and duffle bags.







we hit a little saturday traffic in los angeles, then sailed straight through to san diego. the first stop was charkbait!



second stop was squidco. nik pandza from squidco will be joining us on this trip.



the third stop was the vagabond hotel to dump off our gear, and then a short walk over to the mexican place for dinner. one margarita and i was done for the night.




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saturday, 8/24/13 - roger and i grabbed a quick breakfast at dennys, then pulled the truck over to fisherman's landing to unload our gear.







we were there at 8am and were the last to pull in. meed tony garza of soft steel, chartermaster ben ouano, ben's wife jill, jennifer spohn and chartermaster gil ayuyao.



loading our gear on the royal star was quick and easy. the "red shirts" on the dock do all the heavy lifting from the dock to the boat, and royal star deckhands help as well. you could almost sit back watch the entire process, but no one does.















we took the normal cruise to the bait receivers to load up.











meet george valenzuela of senortuna.com.



we got a really nice afternoon snack once we got underway. on these trips, you have to figure that you will gain a pound a day. tony garza of soft steel again.









meet allenn terre, later to become known as "mr. 134!"



the big guy is matthew chang, prostaff with soft steel.



father pedro lopez, the fishing priest!



roger shu with the new penn torque 25 narrow two speed.



oops! now how did that shot get in here?



george, captain brian sims, gil and ben showing off the chartermaster/captain's shirts.



we had a quick meeting with the captain. gil and ben took some time to give out some raffle prizes. we had some great prizes and gifts from okuma, phenix, senor tuna, squidco, soft steel and even me!

















ah, raffle prizes!



father lopez won a cortez!



roger won a rod from okuma.



i won a megabait! i love these things, and you will see why later.



ok, enough goofing off. remember that i said 20 rods and reels? roger put all of these together while i tied on the topshots.





up first are my old progear classic series 501's with the calstar rods. the progears are still my favorite star drag reel. they are rigged with 50# spectra and a 40# topshot.



next came the makaira 8 II's with the phenix hybrids 838's. 50# jerry brown hollowcore and a 40# topshot.



third up are the andros 5 two speeds on the plain 7 foot phenix black diamond rods. 50# jerry brown and a 40# topshot.



fourth up, the makaira 10's with the 7 foot phenix hybrids. 60# jerry brown and a 50# topshot.



then, the penn's - the torque 25 narrow two speed on a penn jigstick, the international 12 vsx on a calstar westcoaster, and the international 50 vsx on a calstar westcoaster.



and lastly, the makaira 50 on an old school calstar! i still love these old fiberglass rods. both my makaira 50 and my penn 50 will see little action on this trip, but they should get a workout on the maximus out of puerta vallarta in march of next year!



why so many 40# outfits? i thought we were going to have guys on the boat that would not have their own gear.



the starboard side of the boat had just as much gear. meet matt lytle in the distance, his father mark lytle of lytle screen printing in huntington beach, and roger. mark's shop made up much of the gear you will see on this trip.



so remember, a pound a week is what you will gain on this trip. soup, a main course of seared bluefin, and dessert.







deckhand nestor parada works mostly in the galley. fresh apple pie is what's up for dessert.





a few last minute items and we are ready for tomorrow.




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sunday, 8/25/13

breakfast, 5:30am, bacon fried rice, sausage and eggs.



we're out in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight. captain tim ekstrom set us up on a drift that we pretty much stayed on most of the day. fishing for me was spotty. had a few technical issues. roger fared better.



allenn terre got his first ever bull dorado.





jennifer caught her first bluefin ever!





meet duke ekstrom, the captain's 8 year old son. he is, without a doubt, one of the most well mannered kids i have ever met. good fisherman, too. yup, that is me getting outfished by an 8 year old!





blue fin were coming over the rail, slow and steady all morning, but we were going to have rain to deal with. lee putnam found this for me. Tropical storm Ivo warnings for Baja California - CSMonitor.com



meet jeff tseng of phenix rods! winds were light, and fortunately the rain was, too.







ben has an andros 5 two speed and a phenix rod. you will see this rod again later.



one of our deckhands, paul caramao, getting ready for some weather.



pedro lopez, the fishing priest.





finally, a light lunch of teriyaki chicken skewers and miso soup.



we had a little break after lunch before the rain started coming down. we were catching fish, but we were also going to get drenched and really cold.











here comes the rain......









meet brandon cotton from okuma.



meet nik pandza from squidco. we are starting to get wet.





i think this is the first fish i hooked up on!



roger scores again!



late in the afternoon, the rain got pretty steady. so did the wind. i was chilled to the bone and had to quit. that doesn't happen often.



by the time dinner came around, we had all pretty much showered and changed. it was tri tip and mashed potatos for dinner.





ben, jill, jennifer and gil.



allenn, nik, mark and roger.



brandon, pedro, matthew and tony.



me in my pj's, jeff and george.



dessert was a fruit cheese cake.




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monday, 8/26/13 - loco moco for breakfast.



it's seriously raining right now. who in the world plans for rain during one of these trips? so you adapt, improvise and overcome.









bummer, i missed the call for our mid-morning snack!



but i did catch the portobello sandwiches for lunch!



meet one more of our deckhands, blake wasano!



matthew lytle. this kid can fish!!!!!



brandon cotton of okuma and deckhand jimmy merrill.



duke ekstrom. this kid was unstoppable!



jill ouano on another fish!





tony garza, totally drenched and having the time of his life!





"el jefe" george valenzuela schoolin' us kids again. 58 pounds!



now, remember that andros reel that ben had earlier? allenn terra was fishing with it in the afternoon. he cast out a bait first, then me, then matt. within 30 seconds, allenn was hooked up, then matt seconds later, and i'm stuck in the middle! matt lands his fish quick and easy, but allenn takes a while. when it finally comes up, it takes two gaffs and weighs out at 134 pounds!!!! yes, allenn terre is "mr. 134!!!"













an INCREDIBLE two solid days of non-stop bluefin fishing. i came in freezing cold and every muscle in my body hurt. dinner was a spicey port tenderloin, dessert and tequila from george.






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tuesday, 8/27/13 - breakfast at 5:30am, french toast, sausages, juice.



we ran all night from the bluefin grounds into natividad and cedros islands inshore. the rain was gone and we were finally back to normal, albiet cooler, weather. this was not going to be the cold rainy combat fishing like the previous two days.







spam musubi for mid morning snack!



there was still work to be done!











chili verde for lunch. normally i'm not allowed to eat beans at home, roger isn't going to care!



more afternoon yellowtail.











the action was steady, with some quality fish coming over the rail. not alot of sense of urgency, either. all of us had plenty of fish from the first two days of hard fishing, so many of us took some time to relax.





dinner was incredible. this one was my favorite, it was pesto-stuffed bluefin, dessert and vodka!










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wednesday, 8/28/13 - breakfast, 5:30am, eggs benedict!



we would spend today poking around cedros. it was a mix of yellowtail, calicos and barracuda. we kept the yellowtail and release all but a few of the others. it's a big production to move because the anchor has to go up and down everytime.







our mid-morning snack was yogurt, cottage cheese and sprinkles. when my wife asks about the food, this is the photo i show her.



it was fun getting to see the island again. i never get tired of this place.







now, i'm not normally a big fan of barracuda, but our chef, drew, made some fish tacos and burritos with barracuda. it was absolutely amazing.





now for the fun part. we had been hitting calicos left and right using bait. i decided to just go for those. i got my lightest rig, the progear and the grafighter, and rigged up a megabait. we were anchored up in one spot and i had 25 casts and 25 calicos on the first drop! most of them were HUGE. i was using a 4 ounce megabait, silver belly and blue back. the southern california guys were commenting on how they never see fish this big when they fish locally.









we had quite a variety of fish coming over the rail. it was an absolute blast!













dinner was chicken adobo. it was great, but no one got a photo!



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thursday, 8/28/13 - 5:30am, hawaiian breakfast with eggs, rice, spam and portagee sausage!



there were still yellowtail to be had. most of the guys had limited out already, so i got a couple of handoffs. roger caught a nice one on his own.



lunch! remember those massive calicos we caught the day before? well, here they are again. this was some of the best tasting bass i've ever had.



the weather was spectacular today, so the skipper decided to run up along the weather side of the island. in all the years i've fish cedros, i've never seen this side before. it was a real treat!





this would be a kayaker's dream come true!







these things are everywhere!



one of the nicest things about this trip was how well everyone got along. it was really a top notch group of guys!







time to hit the road!



i had a little time to goof off with duke before dinner! he's a great kid











dinner - stuffed pork chops!



dessert was great!




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friday, 8/30/13 - our last day of fishing! huevos rancheros, breakfast of champions! been a long week.







early morning. doesn't get any better than this!



troll team three is up. we are offshore again, looking to stick a few more bluefin and round out our limits.







off to a slow start.







then, with absolutly no warning, we hook into a school of fish. we leave 'em biting and pass off the school to a friend of the captain's that is called in.





what a way to end the trip!!!!! turkey clubs for lunch.



roger's big fish was 76.8, mark's big fish was 83.2, and allenn's monster was 134!





our last dinner was prime rib! finally got a photo of our captain, timothy ekstrom!























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saturday, 8/31/13 - home again! got everything packed up and ready go to.









for fish processing, we went with fisherman's processing this time, not 5 star as a usually prefer to do. ben had already set this up ahead of time. some guys opted to clean their fish themselves. i can't imagine doing this again. it's way too much work!





the processing went quick and easy. we were back on the road by 9:30.







whew! thanks for sticking with me on this trip. it was pretty incredible. thanks to our chartermaster's ben and gil, and the crew of royal star, timothy and duke ekstrom, brian sims, blake wasano, paul caramao, jimmy merrill, nestor parada and drew rivera. thanks also to okuma, phenix, squidco, soft steel, lytle's screen printing, and senortuna.com.