Blog bLog blOg bloG

Galvez, Baby, and 11 mile

Went fishing on Tuesday. Tim Gair and Jay Sternadel joined me for the day. The seas were great, 2-3 feet. We left out of the Agat Marina at 5 AM and ran down to the NorthEast corner of Galvez. Took us about 20 minutes to find the birds. First or second pass at the birds and we got a 5 banger of yellowfin tuna. We got three in the boat. Number four was sharked and I had the honor of reeling in the 5 foot shark. Jay was reeling in the 4th yellowfin and the shark cut back across the back of the boat and cut off the 4th fish. We got the shark to the side of the boat, but just as we were about to retrieve the lure, the leader got caught on the outrigger line and broke off. So we boated three 15 lb yellowfin tuna and lost two lures to one shark. A great way to start the morning. Unfortunately, by the time we got done dealing with the shark, the tuna school was nowhere to be found. We continued to work the birds for a while but after about an hour without any takers, we started heading towards the finger of Galvez. Made some runs in over the bank to try to see if there were any wahoo home, but didn't find any. We trolled all the way to Baby bank without any knock downs. Baby bank was pretty dead when we got there. Just a few birds here and there. We did manage to pick up one small rainbow runner. After about an hour at baby bank we started heading back North. We trolled all the way back of the West side of Galvez without any strikes. We finally got into some birds at the NorthWest corner of Galvez. We picked up a couple nice sized skipjack there. We trolled all the back to NE Galvez. Not much was going on there, so we decided to run up to 11 mile and check it out. There were more scattered birds at 11 mile. We fished it without any action for about 45 minutes and then started heading back in towards Agat. We trolled past were the 9 mile buoy used to be and about a 1/2 mile past it we found another Skipjack school. We worked it for about 30 minutes, picked off two small skipjack and then put the marlin lure back out and started heading towards Agat again. We came in along the coast for a last ditch wahoo run and pulled lures all the way to the Agat Marina without any takers. We had the boat out of the water by about 4:15 PM. Sound the tally for the day was 3 yellowfin tuna, 4 skipjack tuna, and one rainbow runner. It was good to catch some fish, but it was not as good as I was hoping for. Fishing has gotten so expensive with the $4.00+/gallon fuel price. Not sure when I'll be back out. We split the gas cost three ways, but it was still pricey. A big thanks to Tim and Jay for coming along and crewing the boat, I wouldn't have been able to go without them. Sorry, no pics, I seem to forget to bust out the camera when I'm running the boat.

The kitty is awesome

Kitty Chloe has really adapted well to our house. She's been here for over a week now, and she is fitting in perfectly. She has not had one accident; she goes in here litter box every time. She likes playing with the boys, but will settle down and nap on your lap. She has been cuddling up to Cyndi and I at night and sleeping in our room. Although she does get up expect someone to play with her at 5 AM every morning. Overall we are very happy with our new kitty.

11 mile on Father's Day

Father's day started with a mellow morning at the house. We had breakfast and just chilled out and watched some TV for a while. I decided that I wanted to take the boat out and go fishing that afternoon. Cyndi and the boys came along as the crew for the day. We put the boat in at Sumay Cove at Noon and started to head out towards 11 mile bank. We ran out there to get ahead of a few thunderstorms that were coming over the southern mountains. We got out there about 1 PM and there were a few scattered birds. After about and hour the birds started forming up and Jon Jon reeled in a nice 10 lb skipjack tuna. It was a little while before we hooked our next fish, another skippy, Andrew reeled it in but it got cut off on the back of the boat. We fished for about another hour and Cyndi and the kids started beggin to go back in, it was a little bumpy on Sunday, somewhere in the 3-5 ft range and I think they weren't feeling too good. So after catching a couple more fat skippys we started heading back in. I would have like to stay at least another hour or so, cause the bite was just starting to turn on. There was one other boat out there and he stayed until about 6 PM. He ended up catching about 10 nice skipjack and two 15 lb yellowfin tuna. He also caught a 40 lb Mahi. Oh well, at least I got to make it out for a while. We finished off the evening with some swimming at Dadi beach before heading back in to the marina. Overall a great way to spend Father's day.

We got a cat

After going a year and a half without any pets (other than goldfish) we finally decided to add a new member to the family. So this last weekend we visited GAIN (Guam Animals In Need), and we a adopted an 8 week old kitten whom we have named Chloe. She had to make a visit to the vet before we could bring her home, and we picked her up today. So far she has been awesome! Cyndi and the boys (especially Jon Jon) are very excited about the new kitty.

First Marlin for the Rod Bender

This past Saturday, May 31st, was the second annual MWR-Navy Exchange Fishing Derby. Last year I fished the derby on the Split Decision with my buddy Jon Hettel and we won the Grand Prize with a 109 lb marlin and also took 1st place for yellofin tuna and wahoo. This year, I was the captain of my own boat, the Rod Bender but since the Split Decision wasn't fishing the derby this year, I sort of felt like I was defending our title from last year.
I got my boat back from the mechanic the weekend before and took it on a few shakedown cruises to make sure it was in working order. I was joined by Tim Gair and Ken Oakes who crewed the boat for the derby. Unfortunately Jon broke his radial head and was in Hawaii getting surgery this last week, so he was only along in spirit. He also generously loaned me three of his nicest rods and reels to use for the derby.
I decided to fish North because the seas were predicted to be a little rough and there had been some reports of tuna schools near Rota Banks. We headed out of the Sumay Cove Marina just after 05:30. We ran North all the way until just before Double Reef where we put the lines in. Trolled all the way to Ritidian Point without any hits. John Eads had already come through on the Lucky Strike and cleaned out the one wahoo that was there. We started following the birds out towards Rota Banks. At about 08:00, the port rigger goes screaming off. About 30 seconds later, fish is off; from the amount of line it was stripping off, it was a pretty big fish. We kept sloshing our way through the rough water and at about 08:30 the starboard flat line goes off! We were just catching up to the birds and I thought that we had a small tuna on; the lure on that line was a six inch tuna feather with a 125 lb leader. Next thing I know there's a blue marlin jumping at the side of the boat! Ken's on the reel and I told him to just keep reeling. I had Tim take over the helm and I started to help Ken keep his line from getting tangled with the others. I had Tim close some distance with the boat so that Ken could get some line back from the fish, and in no time the fish was at the back of the boat, but not for long! She takes off in a strong second run and shoots sideways behind to boat clear to the other side and takes out quite a bit of line. I told Ken to just keep reeling, his arm was getting a little tired. I had Tim turn the boat to make some headway with the fish for a second time. About another 5 minutes of reeling later, and we had the fish at the side of the boat. I brought her up to the surface with the leader and made a perfect gaff shot. We quickly dispatched the fish and had her in the boat. First Marlin for the Rod Bender!! We got her in the marlin bag, packed her with ice, and then continued trolling towards Rota Banks. We got about 3 miles south of Rota Banks and thats were the tuna schools were. There were several boats out there and we started working the schools. Not long after we hooked a small yellowfin tuna and had it in the boat in no time. One of our competitors was fighting a marlin, and from the chatter on the radio, it sounded like it was bigger than ours. We pressed on and kept working the tuna schools. We caught a nice sized rainbow runner and then the birds started sitting down. So I thought we would make a few passes over a spot that I know usually holds wahoo. We spent 30 minutes getting to the spot to not find a single fish. After that we headed back to were the tuna schools had been, but the birds were real spread out and not much was going on. Most of the boats had moved on and so we decided that we would head in and make a run down the coast to try to pick up a wahoo. We trolled all way to Double Reef without a single hit. We decided to take a break from lunch and go for a swim at double reef. After about an hour we were back at the trolling, trying to get a wahoo. He trolled all the way back up to Castro's Beach and then back to double reef, not a single strike. At that point it was time to head South. We pulled the lines and then ran to just north of Magundas. We put the lines back in and tried the last stretch of wahoo water before coming back in. We had one missed hit in front of the Glass breakwater, but it looked like a small barracuda to me. We made another couple passes and then pulled the lines. We motored into the Sumay Cove Marina at about 18:25 with our Marlin and Tuna flags flying. Our Marlin weighed in at 105 lbs. It took second place to one that weighed in at 160 lbs. Our tuna did not make the board. No one caught a single mahi mahi or wahoo. So I ended up taking second place for the billfish category. We won a Penn 9/0 Senator reel and a pair of crimping pliers. The grand prize was a Penn 70VS International reel. I sold the marlin to the Guam Fisherman's Coop so that it would be eaten and not wasted.
I need to thank Tim and Ken for crewing the boat...it was a long day! I also need to thank them for their help with installing the new bilge pumps earlier in the week and the boat's new stereo system. The stereo system helped keep us from loosing our sanity in the long afternoon of unproductive trolling. Overall it was a challenging but satisfying day on the water and I had a great time.