Had a pre-paid trip out of H&M landing that was waiting to be used and I saw the opening on the LEGEND and took it, knowing the fishing has been good and the weather even better.

It’s been a while since I’ve sent out a report to the group, since fishing has been ho-hum on the trip taken this year. This one was different and special since the rest of the country seems to be well into the change of season (= fishing no more) and we’re only getting warmer. Had a pre-paid trip out of H&M landing that was waiting to be used and I saw the opening on the LEGEND and took it, knowing the fishing has been good and the weather even better.

Left out of port on Friday night to the sites of lightning, but we knew it was moving fast and would be smooth seas by day break. Made the steam down 75 miles outside of Ensenada and cut the engines about an hour before gray light in the zone. Threw out the trollers as soon as there was enough light, ready for battle. Within half an hour we got called in by another boat who told us to slide into their school. We didn’t make it to them as the cedar plug got inhaled and it was game one, yellowfin on. Threw bait and the water exploded into a washing machine…..we sat on that school until we were limited out (5 per person in MX). It was so on fire, I was catch and release most of the drift. After my first couple bait fish I changed over to top water plugs exclusively, since that’s the most fun watching fish explode on your bait.

At 9:00 we were done, had boat limits….. so now what? Head west and look for kelp, time for dorado and yellowtail. Kept the trollers in just in case we ran into one of the schools of bigeye that have been around, but every stop was just more yellowfin. How sad is that. The kelp were not abundant, but we would find one about every hour and most were holding fish. Those of us on the bow throwing jigs were usually bit first and would pull the big dorado out and then then the bait guys would slide in and pull up free swimmers or pick up the pesky yellowfin and skipjack. I was fishing the colt sniper stick bait exclusively, which was perfectly for my OTI Tuna Sniper paired with my Shimano Saragosa which could cast for a mile and that was hammering them. Everyone else was throwing iron and was jealous since I would end up snaking their fish with the sniper. It was awesome…until the dreaded tip wrap snap on the cast and that pour lure just kept on flying and eventually sank to Davey’s Locker. I cried. Then had to switch over to the colt sniper iron, which did well, but just wasn’t the same.

Towards sunset, the guy in the crow’s nest yells out “Mother Load” … he sees a kelp the size of a house in the distance. We slide in and captn comes on the PA and yells “Holy Shit, we’re all screwed” because his meter lit up. Just then every line in the water was bit…Chaos ensues on a wide open yellowtail bite that wouldn’t stop. We limited out on boat limits of yellowtail on that one kelp. Then it was done…..We had officially limited out on three species, yellowfin, dorado and yellowtail. Was time for our steak dinner and a cold beer and a shot of whisky…we had won!

I went home with my limits of each and estimate I did catch a release on three more limits. Just short of epic Fall fishing. Best thing about it….I’m out on another private charter this coming Friday night, which has been in the works for months and will have giveaways from TackleDirect, Pelagic, Shimano, Okuma/Savage and Rhino Cases.

Tight lines – Travis