SCDAC Secretary Tony Barksdale's 213 lbs. Yellowfin
Tuna shattered
Steven Anderson's 204 lbs. Yellowfin Tuna record!
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Red Rooster III Reports/Pictures
Departing on February 8, 2002
We had a total of 6 SCDAC members booked on this trip. Their names were Steven Anderson, Tony Barksdale, Scott Butler, Scott Hostetler, Steve Turner, and Blake Smith. This was the second long range trip for both veterans - Steven Anderson and Steve Turner.
February 9, 2002
Good morning folks Today was our first day of travel. Most of the day was
revolved around getting unpacked and settling in on the Red Rooster. We spent
time today going over the Jack Pot, options for your catch and basic routines to
look for on the deck. We were rigging up a couple of rods today, one for catching
squid and one for catching mackerel. Our bait did look good, although we did
have a problem with it in Ensenada harbor.
We thought it would be all right. We would check it out this afternoon. The weather
was nice,
and the group seemed to be nice, so wish us luck on the fishing, we would take it.
February 10, 2002
Good morning folks. Not much to report here, it's been a little cold on the way
down so far. We did drive by Alijos rocks and saw 2 schools of smaller size tuna
on south Ridge in 66.6 degree water. Today we went over a tuna seminar, the rest
of the day we will spend getting rigged up. We will make a decision on where we
are starting tonight. The pictures shown above were taken with a view of the
famous rocks ALIJOS ROCKS in the background. See you later Andy Cates
February. 11 , 2002
Another day of travel, we are staying busy . There are a lot of things to
prepare for. We went over a wahoo seminar today, primarily safety but also some
key techniques. With the report of slow fishing at Roca Partida, we have decided
to try Hurricane Bank. The deaf boys were busy setting up their fishing gear
with crew's assistance in providing the correct drag setting of 25 percent per
each # of test line.
There hasn't been a sport boat out here for a month so we are anticipating a hit
on wahoo. Hopefully there are decent size tuna to go with it. We will know
tomorrow. It could be good, it could be horrible. We will report again tomorrow.
February 13, 2002
Good morning folks.
Well here we are at Hurricane Bank. We had a nice first day of Wahoo fishing
with a grand total of 90 for the day! We also had couple of decent tuna
mixed in there. Yesterday evening we had a show of 70 pounders with some good
action on the kite. Steve Turner boated an estimated club record of 60 lbs.
wahoo after perspiring 30 minutes battle on 30 lbs test line. It's starting off a little slow this morning with 4 large tuna and a
few wahoo so far. Several guys picked up some nice fish this morning on a sardine.
The weather has been nice which always makes for pleasant fishing. We will
report later on today hopefully things pick up.
February 15, 2002
Good Morning folks
Yesterday we finished up with just a couple more decent fish and again an
evening bite on the 70 pounders, we did slip in a 120 pounder caught by Scott
Hostetler. It was a beautiful tuna. We also picked up some more wahoo and
ended the day with 33 wahoo and 12 tuna . Not too shabby. So far today we are catching some better grade fish . We don't see much
around but every time they swim by we hook a couple. I got some pictures
and take note most of these guys have never been down to the Islands and these
are the biggest fish they have ever caught. Blake Smith,
and Scott Hostetler. A nice one being brought over by the crew
belonging to Tony
Barksdale after an incredible one hour and 40 minutes tiring battle. We will report again tomorrow
Feb 16 2002
We had good action today. We didn't see the grade of fish we saw yesterday, but
with 37 tuna and 28 wahoo we were plenty busy. We did pick off a few of the
better grade fish but nothing over 140 pounds All the action came after lunch
and in the evening with a good show on the kite and the rest mostly sardine. The
stock grade fish here today was 60 to 90 pounds we tried to keep the fish 70
pounds or better. With suggestions of chunking the smaller ones. We really
didn't have many opportunities for pictures, hopefully tomorrow. Below are more
pictures of huge yellowfin tuna.
February 17, 2002
Good morning folks
Yesterday was a bit slower although we did get the better grade fish today. We
had twenty fish that we kept 10 that were over a hundred pounds. We have been
selecting the fish that come aboard so we don't run out of fish hold room. The
afternoon brought in the better grade fish and Ron Hirao started things off in
the skiff with 165 pounder and then it kept going from there. It did not last
long but it was encouraging to see the better grade again posted some pictures
of some of the nicer kite fish. Blake Smith and his
group caught some decent yellowfin tuna and wahoo by sardine bait. So far
today it has been poor .
Hopefully we get another shot at the better grade here today. We will
be at Clarion Island tomorrow.
February, 19 2002
Good morning folks.
We spent the day at Clarion. We did a lot of looking around throughout the day.
We did pickup 20 Wahoo in the process. In the evening we fished by the camp . We
did get an 85 pound tuna here at lunch and the area did have the best of what
little life was here. We got one nice fish caught by Steven Anderson. Scott
Butler hooked
another good one and lost it in the rocks. Another 100 pounder also was landed on
the kite. It was not much but the fact Dale's fish was 225 pounds we thought we
better try here again for the last day. So far this morning we have caught one
small tuna. We are going to sit it out today and see if we can finish off with a
couple of big ones
February 20. 2002
Our last day at Clarion did not bring us any big ones although I do think we had some chances. Because our fish hold was full, we had to release all fish under 150 lbs. Scott Hostetler battled a huge yellowfin estimated to be 140 lbs but it had to be released much to his disappointment. Otherwise, we would have kept it for him. We arrived at Cabo San Lucas where most of our anglers flew home. Steve Turner already purchased a plane ticket to fly home; however he forgot to pack his ticket into his baggage so he had to weather an anguishing time of waste by 3 day long ride back home to San Diego. Here are 3 guys who had to ride home. They all said they would make sure it wont happen again. Shame on Steve.
We arrived at the San Diego docks and unloaded our fish catch. There was a huge crowd waiting to greet our anglers. Here are the results after all the time consuming task of weighing all the fish requested by passengers.
Feb. 24th, 2002
Jackpot Winners
1st Place 228 lb. YFT, Dale Sommers of Costa Mesa, Ca.
2nd Place 216.4 lb. YFT, Ron Hirao of Huntington Beach,Ca.
3rd Place 213.4 lb. YFT, Anthony Barksdale of Huntington Beach, Ca.
Also making the Red Rooster III 200 lb. Club were Art Green with a 201.5 lb. YFT, and Blake Smith twice with a 201.5 and a 200 lbs. Blake also had a 190 lbs YFT. Dale Sommers just missed his second 200 pound fish with a 197 lb. YFT. Trip summary - We started the trip at Hurricane Bank for some excellent wahoo fishing. Five of the six fish over 200 pounds were caught at Hurricane Bank. The sixth and largest YFT was caught at Clarion Island on our last day. Any YFT under 70 lbs. were released. We had excellent weather for the entire trip.
