Izorline 3-day First String Trip Report (July 11-14, 2013)

Izorline sponsored a 3-day trip on the First String and Mike Riley and myself were the Izorline representatives.  Mike had to get a medical problem taken care of and was checked out at a local hospital and I am happy to report that he was just dehydrated.  Mike is fine and actually on another Izorline trip as we speak.

We left H&M landing, loaded some very large sardines and headed southward towards the kelp patties approximately 70 miles from the point.  We spent the first day catching school size yellowtails off nermous patties.  We had lot of action all day long and ended up with approximately 300 yellowtails and 3 Bluefin Tuna (BFT) the first day.  The second day, we were further south (over 100 miles) and were focusing on BFT.  We added 50 more yellowtail and a dozen BFT up to 65#.  On the final morning we added a few more yellowtail and had to head for the barn around noon. 

The winner of the highly coveted Izorline Lunker Award trophy was Juan Sanchez with a BFT just under 50#.  Close behind was Freddy Solis with a 45# BFT (Izoline hat).  I also wanted to recoginize Fernando Padilla, owner of Precision Engineering Surveyors Inc.  Fernando brought 17 of his employees fishing.  What a wonderful way to bond with your fellow employee as well as the boss. 

This was my first chance to use a Accurate FX-500 Boss Fury reel on a tuna.  I had no problem landing the two 40# BFT with this reel.  I had 400 yds of 65# Izorline spectra and 19 ft of Izroline 30# fluorocarbon with a Mustad Demon 39942 3X 4/0 circle hook.  This is a pretty sweet combination for this application.  There would be no problem using 40# fluoro on this reel.  The Accurate Boss Fury FX-400X would make a perfect 25# or 30# outfit with 400 yds of Izorline 50# spectra.

Thank you to Izorline for providing line to fill up passengers reels & fluorocarbon leader material, Salas Lures for 6x JR jigs & 7X surface irons, and Mustad hooks (94150 hooks that I installed rings on).  Thank you to Bradley Phillips for doing an outstanding job of skippering the First String and finding yellowtail and giving all of us a chance at a BFT.  The crew  and cook Mark were outstanding (as usual).  And thank you to Alex for the special attention during the fish cutting, my parents and friends really appreciated. 

Izorline has one more trip on the First String this season that leaves Aug 4 (2-day trip).  Contact either H&M landing or the First String to make your reservation so you can participate in the fun. 

Thanks for checking out my blog,

Gary Teraoka