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March 2004

FISH REPORT

FROM:  RED ROOSTER III          

               LEE PALM SPORTFISHERS

               SAN DIEGO, CA.

 

CAPTAIN:                   ANDY CATES

DATE OF TRIP:   TUESDAY, MARCH 9 TO SATURDAY,  MARCH 27, 2004

LENGTH OF TRIP:    18 DAYS

PASSENGERS:           15

AREA FISHED:          HURRICANE BANK, MEXICO

 

102 YELLOWFIN TUNA

167 WAHOO

 

7 YELLOWFIN TUNA OVER 200 LBS

 

1ST. PLACE JACKPOT:          247.3 LB YELLOW FIN TUNA caught by:

                                               LARRY MARTIN OF IMPERIAL,CA

 

2ND   PLACE JACKPOT:            239.4 LB YELLOW FIN caught by:

                                                 GERRY MILLER OF LOS ALAMITOS,CA

 

3RD PLACE JACKPOT:            233.8 LB YELLOWFIN caught by:

                                                BARRY KNOWLES OF PALOS VERDES ESTATES,CA

 

218 LB     GERRY MILLER OF LOS ALOMITOS , CA

215 LB     GERRY MILLER OF LOS ALOMITOS ,CA

208.8 LB  JIM KOKESH OF EL GRANADA, CA

200.8 LB  LARRY MARTIN OF IMPERIAL,CA

REMARKS:  GOOD TRIP.   THE AVERAGE WEIGHT WAS 150 LBS ON THE YELLOWFIN TUNA.     EXCELLENT WAHOO FISHING, ALL WITHOUT GOING TO “THE ISLANDS”.  

March 10 2004
Good evening folks, we left yesterday on an 18 day fly back from Cabo trip. Our bait looks like it will be fine. They looked a little rough this morning but it looks like they are going to cure up just fine. We want over a few things about fishing the Bank this morning and then spent the rest of the day rigging up. The weather is nice. Not like it was in San Diego but we will take it any day. We will be going by Alijos rocks in the morning and then on our way to the Bank.
No sign of albacore yet, but plenty of good clean water, 62.5 degrees and blue. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 11 2004
Good evening folks. Not much to report today. We went by Alijos rocks this morning . The water was 65 degrees and just a little bit of small fish up on the North end. We only made one pass and hopefully things improve there for the spring trips. We made a stop for squid and missed we will try again tomorrow night.
The weather has only gotten better with almost no wind this afternoon. We will report again tomorrow
Andy Cates

March 12 2004
Good evening folks. We will be fishing first thing in the morning. It has been a long 3 days and everyone is ready to go. The weather is very nice and starting to get warm. It has taken a long time for the water to warm up and currently we have 74.5 degree water and climbing. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 13 2004
Good evening folks. Today was a bit of a disappointment. Although we had decent action on wahoo the tuna side was very poor. With just a handful of tuna things were pretty slow. Had not for the 45 wahoo we scratched on the anchor it would have been really tough. The skipjack and small tuna were very aggressive witch made fishing a sardine or chunk almost impossible. And if they did not get you the wahoo would.
Hopefully things are in our favor tomorrow and maybe we will get a hit sometime tonight. I posted a picture of one of the better size fish caught today. We are hoping for more like it. Andy Cates

March 14 2004
Good evening folks. And we thought yesterday was slow. The only high point was a school of big fish we got on off the bank. It cost us some bait but what a show. We only hooked two fish out of it and only hooked a few fish on the anchor this evening. The rest of the day was just a struggle. We moved around a lot only to find the same results. Very aggressive small tuna and skip jack. And then the sharks. This evening we did have sign of tuna and wahoo. A little action on the wahoo and a couple of chances on tuna. Hopefully things improve. Today was rock bottom. I posted a picture of Mike Deppe with a decent size fish. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates.


 

March 16 2004
Good evening folks. We had better luck today and a longer show on better size fish. We had 28 tuna and 13 wahoo for the day. We never got a shot on big fish late. The bigger fish were around until just after lunch and then moved off again. Gerry Miller had a nice day on the kite with a 203 and a 240. Mike Yamamoto with a 195 and Roger Nichols with one taped out at 201. Things seem to be turning around for the better hopefully it continues and we get more chances on cows. We will report again tomorrow. Andy Cates

March 15 2004
Good evening folks. Things looked a little better here today. It was still slow most of the day, with a little shot in the morning and then another shot in the evening. We had a tough day as far as our luck. We lost two nice fish in the 200 pound class range although we were happy to have the chances and did get a couple of nice fish. Barry Knowles got this one on the kite that taped at 233 and Ross Wheeler picked up a fish around 180 pounds this morning. Both fish were caught on the kite, one on a flyer and the other on a Puffer.
We ended up scratching 18 tuna and 10 wahoo for the day . Hopefully we are on an upswing as far as the big ones go. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

 

March 17 2004
Good evening folks. Today was much slower and we saw and caught just a few fish in the morning and then a showing and a little hit in the afternoon. The fish today were all nice grade Larry Martin caught this fish on a flyer flown back on a balloon . It taped out at 205 pounds. Gary Grimaud picked up a nice fish in the high hundreds and also Allen Eto with a decent size fish in the evening. Almost all the fish of the 17 tuna we caught today were on the kite or balloon with a flyer . Just a couple on the sardine and one on the chunk.

We are hoping at a shot at cows tomorrow . Hopefully the fish are on the bank for a longer period of time. Today there was a brief showing. We will report again tomorrow. Andy Cates

March 18 2004
Good evening folks. Today was very slow. We had one quick shot in the morning and only one fish in the afternoon. No evening bite. The wahoo kept us busy on the anchor. Another 20 for the day helped out a poor day on tuna. We did get one nice fish on the kite. Jim Kokesh landed this 209 pounder on the kite with a flyer.
There was still sign but very brief. Hopefully tomorrow the fish want to bite a little. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 19 2004
Good evening folks. After dinner we had a shot on decent size fish. The bite lasted until 11:00 and was pretty much done. I posted a group shot of some of the fish from 170 to 195 pounds. The fish were caught on squid with an 8 ounce weight. We lost one real nice fish over 200 pounds after a long battle at color. Larry Martin lost that battle. The morning brought another hit on decent size fish. With a group shot here on fish from 180 to 255 pounds. Larry Martin got another chance and boated this tail wrapped cow on a puffer and 8 ounce sinker.
The rest of the day was very slow. Gerry Miller picked off a 215 pounder on the kite as well as Roger Nichols with a 195 on the kite. Another 15 wahoo throughout the day to keep the rest of the guys busy. The pattern, what little pattern there is seems to be turning into night fishing. A lot of the guys slept most of the day and are hoping for another shot tonight. We will report again tomorrow,  Andy Cates

 

 

March 20 2004
Good evening folks, The wahoo fishing kept us busy for the better part of the day. With just a few tuna we were thankful for the wahoo action. The tuna we did get were all nice size. Carl Newton started the morning off with this 195 caught on a fly lined flying fish. Ben Kita had a nice fish up in the high hundreds and Clyde Brown on the kite got this fish that taped at 206.
Jim Kokesh has been the wahoo king. Here is a picture of one of the better size fish. We have just enough capacity for a couple of nice fish and maybe a few wahoo on top. We are hoping for a shot on cows tonight or tomorrow. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 21 2004
Good evening folks. Clyde Brown landed the last tuna today. Taping out at 195 pounds. We had enough room for one more decent size fish and that was the one. Larry Martin picked off another fish over 200 on the balloon with a flyer and Mike Deppe one, not over 200 but a decent size fish with a fly lined flyer earlier in the morning. Carl Newton had another fish about 185 and one around the same caught by Mike Yamamoto.
We trolled around enough to get through the rotation and then broke down our gear. We spent an hour and a half getting things tightened up and are on our way to Cabo. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 24 2004
Good evening folks. The stop in Cabo was a complete success. The guys had a chance to go into town and have some fun before heading up the line. The weather was great and everyone had a nice time. We picked up more provisions, including fresh shrimp that we will enjoy tonight.
The weather traveling has been perfect. Just a little breeze here this evening. The fax machine shows good weather for tomorrow as well. We will report again tomorrow, Andy Cates

March 26 2004.
Today we struggled with bad weather. Nobody got hurt but our ETA is delayed. 1200 tomorrow looks hopeful, we will see you then, Andy Cates