Polaris Supreme Trip Update

Dec. 26, 2000- Jan 11, 2001

DEC. 26 TUE
We are finally going fishing . All of us worked on sat. 2 of us worked on sun. with the wood workers and we where all off for Christmas day. Its sooo nice to be going fishing. The new main engines are running great , they are quieter than the old ones. Our gear reduction and prop size are the same so we will see our same average speed running down of 10.7 knots, there will be no surprise there. What we are looking for is a decrease in fuel consumption. Also so far they are very clean not one drop of oil. We will let you know how we do on fuel consumption in 2 1/2 days.

Alright enough of boat work talk . We cleared the dock today at 10:30 with 9 anglers (that's right 9) on George Davis annual 16 day charter to the Revilla Gigedos Islands. After picking up 260 scoops of sardines at the receivers we cleared the point at 12:30 on our way to Ensenada to clear Mexican customs and immigration as required for all vessels before entering the Revilla Gigedos Island reserve. We arrived Ensenada at 1800 hrs. where cleared by 1910 hrs and clear of the outer bay by 2000hrs on a course for Clarion Island. The weather is great.

DEC. 27 WED
On our first full day traveling we have had great weather. Our day was spent doing a wahoo seminar and rigging for wahoo we made one stop after dark for squid with no luck. All is still running good. Now that I have had a chance to stand back and take a look at all the work we have done its amassing what we accomplished in one month. Its like we have a new boat. Will sea you tomorrow Tommy. 

DEC 28 THU 
Today we did our tuna seminar and stopped at Alijos rocks bank to load up on chunks for hurricane bank witch went very well. After leaving Alijos Bank we have been running a course splitting Hurricane Bank and Clarion island until we decided on our final destination. Witch we will do some time tomorrow. Reports of wahoo fishing from Roca Partida are excellent but too sharkey to anchor and fish tuna. Our weather is great still.

DEC 29 FRI 
Today was our final day of traveling and we have decided on Hurricane bank to target the 160 to 200 lb. tuna the last boats that were there saw and caught a few. The boat that was at Roca Partida yesterday is at Clarion today and had another great day on the wahoo. So it looks like if their is no wahoo on the bank we will have two places to go to target them. We will arrive at Hurricane Bank early tomorrow. Weather is a little choppy and rainy. Hopefully it will pass by tomorrow. 

DEC 30 SAT
Sorry about the delay with the last few up dates being late but our email server for the boat is having problems. Its not me or the web designer. Well  today started off rainy with calm seas. But it only lasted for about an hour after day light then was sunny all day. We had a great day fishing wahoo , they bit till 3 in the afternoon until we anchored up for tuna. We only kept 8 tuna for the day 5 where in the 40 - 50 lb class one around 80, Allen Muller caught one at 110 lbs, and Marvin Pridemore with his 160 lb tuna. We definitely seen enough signs to stay another day. At one point there where 3 tuna swimming around in the chunk line. 2 of them where over 100 lbs. They were there for over 40 min. and never bit, why I have no idea. We will try for flying fish tonight for bait tomorrow. It should help us get through the smaller tuna. Some of you may be wondering how our new mains did on the run down. Great ! We got a 15.5% fuel savings at 1500 rpm. pulling 280 hp. per engine we did 10.7 knots fully loaded. The last day we ran 1575 rpm and did 11.6 knots. We are totally stoked with their performance.
Sea Ya Tommy.

DEC 31 SUN
Yesterdays pics didn't go through so I have resent them. The first one is of George, Danny, Marvin, and Tom with 160 ponders. The second is of Charlie with another 160. The third is of Danny again with another 160. All caught today. The fourth is of Marvin and another 160. And the fifth is of yesterdays rain. The last two are the shots from yesterday. We caught 8 of the nicer tuna today, kept another 6 in the 50 lb class and released another assorted 10 tuna. We also picked up a dozen hoo. Most of the tuna where caught on live flying fish. And most of the wahoo where on the troll. The weather is calm with occasional rain. But it is a downpour right now. We are on our way in to Clarion Island and will be in their tomorrow after noon. It sounds like it is good fishing on the 50-70 lb grade tuna with a shot at one or 2 over 200 lbs each day. Man is it raining . But that's ok the seas are calm.
Sea Ya Tommy.

JAN. 1 MON
Rain rain go away.  Our first visit to Clarion Island this season was a rather wet one but it sure didn't seem to bother the wahoo.  We arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon, the island being as green as we've ever seen it, and didn't stop catching wahoo until the sun went down behind these gorgeous thunderheads.  Hey, were not complain, the seas are flat and the water surrounding Clarion is full of life.  Our passengers and crew are soaked to the bone and could very easily be miserable though you could never find a group of happier guys on the face of this earth.  It was non stop jig strikes, bomb fish and bait fish all afternoon.  The grade was beautiful with the majority of the wahoo being between 30 and 40 pounds, a few bigger, a few smaller .  We never even anchored up to try out the tuna fishing.  Never had the chance.  We ended up with 41 fish for the four hours of daylight we were given and probably hooked 80.  For those of you who have had the chance to experience such type of frenzied action you can relate with the casualties we had to deal with.  Wahoo are not known to be very slow and didn't prove to be this afternoon either.  Anyway, Javier just made first call for dinner.  Rack of lamb anyone?  We're going to catch a tank of salamis tonight and are looking forward to tomorrow with a slammer already full of live flying fish we drug out of Hurricane bank last night.  They seem to work well on the kite.  We'll be in touch tomorrow.  Attached is a photo of some of the action. I'm outta here, Danny. 
 
 

JAN. 2 TUE
We kicked the heck out of the wahoo again this morning and are heading Back out to Hurricane bank to try for cows the next 3 days if they bite. We have our trip limits on wahoo so we don't need any more of those. Weather is great. Sorry no pics today got to go Tommy

JAN 3 WED
Hurricane bank was not good to us. It down right stunk. To start off the weather turned from flat calm last night at dark to over 30 knots of wind by mid night. We anchored up right away when we arrived at 0300 am to find sharks that weren't here before swarming the boat immediately. As you might expect as day light approached we found it impossible to catch any thing but sharks. By the time we departed at 1530 hrs we managed to scrounge up a couple wahoo apiece and 2 90 lb tuna that looked like partial eaten corn cobs. Their was no sign of the 160+ lb tuna. weather improved greatly and we are getting a nice ride back in to Clarion. We will be in to the Island mid morning tomorrow. Sea Ya Then Tommy. 

JAN 4 THU
We kept 12 tuna from 50-100 lbs. today. We did no wahoo fishing we have plenty of those. There where fair signs of tuna midday but the afternoon took a dump. Enclosed is a pic of a bait ball of mackerel that the tuna ,sharks and rainbow runners have pushed to the surface. There was a 125 and 170 lb tuna in the middle of it but they wouldn't bite. Also enclosed is a couple of pics of the guys and some of the tuna caught today.  We have 2 more days to fish and will probably finish up at Clarion Island. Sea Ya Tommy.

JAN 5 FRI
Patience is the word to describe the frame of mind needed at the rail to simply get bit, let alone land a fish, today. Those who hung tough and put in their time at the rail had a shot at some quality yellow fin tuna. Up until around 9:00am we had no current, which equals no fish, but shortly after this dry spell conditions changed and we started hanging fish. Within this three hour window we put aboard 8 nice fish between 60 and 125lb's. We also finally hooked our first two cows of the trip, the first one chewing through at color, the other breaking off half way through the anglers spectra. Frustration is now sinking in but with an encouraging attitude everyone sticks with the program until the current pulls a 180 on us and shuts down what ever bite we had going. Time to look around and looking was about all we did until we found some life on the other end of the island. Here we sat up until dark, putting aboard 5 more nice fish up to 110lb's and releasing a whopper of a manta-ray which had us all fooled. That about sums up our day. Tomorrow will be our last day of fishing before we head for Cabo to drop off those who are flying home. Everyone has high hopes that our luck will change. We'll get back to Ya tomorrow with what we hope will be a lengthy report. Adios, Danny.

JAN 6 SAT
Clarion is going off. I can't believe it waited till our last day fishing to do it. The whole east end of the island was solid bird schools and breaking fish. The current was going perfect and the tuna bit. The weather was great and there was no shark problem except for 5 tiger sharks that kicked our butts. Enclosed is a picture of a 14 ft.+ or - tiger. Its the same one Crew member Danny is on his knees fighting with the rest of the boys standing around chuckling in the pic enclosed. The angler who caught it is Danny Stokes in the white shirt on the right tipping his hat. It took him over a hour to land it. When every body saw how big it was they wanted a picture. The problem was the tiger took another run and that's when Stokes said if you want a picture you guys can fight this *#!*&% thing your self and turned it over to the crew. It then Preceded to get their butts kicked for another 1/2 hour . Also enclosed is 2 more pics. of just a few of the tuna caught today. Most of the fish where 90-105 lbs. Sardines where the bait of choice with a dozen or more tuna being caught on chunks and the kite. For the tigers the salami mackerel worked best. We will be traveling all day tomorrow heading into the Cape. I will have one last picture for those of you who couldn't make it this year with George and the boys. It should be in by dark tomorrow providing good weather, sun shine and plenty of ice. So Larry, Craig, And Fred tune in tomorrow. Sea Ya Tommy.