Intrepid 8 day Oct. 8 thru 16
Its been a few days since we returned from our 8 day on the new Intrepid. I had been in contact with Carol in the front office so I knew this was going to be a load of 10 or less and sure enough that was exactly what we had. This meant each of us had our own stateroom and about 30 feet of rail between each fisherman. Talk about spoiled rotten.
Since the loading rotation is based on monies received at the office there was no need to get there super early except to avoid traffic. We were greeted by Steve Hoffman who gave us our boarding passes and signed us in. Although I had watched this boat being built and had seen it in various construction phases I was still left speechless when I entered the finished Salon for the first time as were the other passengers. We really were on a Yacht/Sportfisher. I also got to meet Dan (Limit) from this and other boards who turned out to be a great guy as well as an excellent and experienced fisherman.
Loading was fast and easy as the crew handled pretty much everything. They were fun, friendly and got to know our names almost immediately.
Plenty of room for tackle and gear and with these few passengers I could leave every Jig, windon boxs, tackle boxes and reel bags in the tackle storage as only about 1/3 of the spaces were taken after everyone had stored their gear.
At the bait docks the crew checked just about every bait holding cell to make sure we had the best available and they were big and high spirited.... The bait and the crew.
Once underway and past the mandatory Homeland Security distance from the Harbor we had a chance to take a tour of this new boat. I already mentioned the amenities we found on a different post so I won't go into that again. Needless to say we were all very impressed. Guy and Annette from Ringed Hooks.Com and Spanyid Jigs were nice enough to provide a wonderful assortment of giveaways and the boat provided Intrepid mugs and shirts to all the passengers. The mug thing is cool as they have an automatic name tag maker so you just stick that on your personal mug and then place in a wood holding area right off the stair well so you can grab it when needed for coffee or cocktails as you are going up or down to or from your stateroom. Just rinse it out when you are done, place it back in the wood racks and it will be there waiting for you when next you need it. Very Cool idea.
Danny the skipper decided to head to Cedros to make some bigger baits before heading to Alijos Rocks. We arrived there late in the afternoon the next day, fished for yellowtail and made a few baits.
Heading to Alijos we watched the water temp gauges hoping we would see it rise to numbers relating to Wahoo and Tuna. Alas, this did not occur as upon reaching the Rocks we were greeted with snotty weather,
69 - 70 degree water and a current that was going in a funky direction. We saw the Supreme coming around from behind the rocks and watched as they anchored in what the hoped was a great spot. We could see a lot of dropper loop fishing and a bunch of anglers on the transom but did not see much in the way of bent rods. Not a good sign.
We hung around the rocks for a while hunting for anything that looked like fish on the meter or birds working. Again neither occurred so we anchored up just a bit aways from the Supreme. I am not sure how many casts I made with my jigs but it was becoming apparent the Rocks were not going to happen at least not the way we wanted it to. Danny made the decision to head south towards the lower banks or at least that directon.
As we headed down we started getting into some 75 - 76 degree water so things were looking up. As we got to the banks we made a few stops for some small YFT, Yellow tail and 1 Wahoo which Dan got on one of the give away Spanyid Raiders and turned out to be the only one for the trip.
We hit just about every bank I had ever heard of and more that I had not. Danny has been a commercial fisherman for years so he knows more than just the usual spots. We put on one heck of a lot of miles in search of the right conditions and fish. We found several spots of WFO fishing for the right kinds of fish but the wrong sizes. Fish were charging the boat and anything you put in the water got bit. It was a regular grab bag for YFT, Dorado and Yellowtail. However, we wanted bigger versions so we continued to try out different banks and locations.
One thing I loved about the boat is while we are fishing at any spot the live sardine chum keeps on going. No stopping to conserve baits as we were either going to keep the school we had or chum some bigger schools to us. The bait holding capacity is enormous and fantastic for keeping baits fresh.
We ended the trip back up at Cedros where other boats were also hanging out longer than usual as the conditions just were not good anywhere. We made several drifts and had very good yellowtail fishing for larger models. This Island has been a blessing this year.
In short, this was a tough fishing trip but what a great group of folks to hang out with on this Yacht cruise. Chatting with Danny, the crew and the passengers the days just seemed to speed away. Normally, when the fishing is tough the days can be long but the tenor of this boat and crew is one of fishing hard when stopped and relaxing in the lap of luxury when on the prowl. Every day it seemed like cocktail hour was being held on a yacht in Monaco. Fantastic food was served up almost non stop. Watching the football games over the weekend on those three giant flat screens was a blast and of course having USC and UCLA Fans on the boat at the same time made it a bit more interesting. We even had a pool going for the Cowboy /Patriot game.
Someone asked on this board if it was possible to only fish artificials on a ten day trip. I cheated and actually threw a total of 2 live baits for this entire 8 day trip of which we fished 6 days in total or in part. The rest of the time was spent throwing all sorts of inanament objects with hooks attached and I had a blast. I will admit, by the last day my casts were not as far or possibly as often but I loved every minute of it. On this trip were the artificials as effective as the bait... Not even close but that was never the point. I got my fair share of fish and released all but 4 of them. The fresh filets from those 4 have already been consumed by friends and family.
This boat is everything it claims to be. Beautiful, Luxurious, incredibly well geared from electronics to rental gear, rides fantastic and fishes well. Amazingly enough it is also a fairly dry boat even at anchor in snotty weather. Water coming through the scuppers is minimal and my socks rarely got wet even though I wear Crocs. Under way the boat does not roll as the stabilizers really do work.
For the person looking to take the wife or girlfriend on a long or short range trip hoping they will actually take to it this may be the boat for you. For the fisherman looking to fish hard this may be the boat for you as the most amount of passengers you will ever see is 25 and for the person looking to fish and relax this may be the boat for you. This really is a boat for all personalities and desires. Danny said it best. It is his job to put the passengers on fish. It is not his goal to load the boat up with those fish to run up the boat's fish reports unless that is the desire of the passengers. The passenger always comes first here and if that passenger would rather spend the day watching TV or reading then there is zero pressure from the skipper or crew to go out and catch fish. On this trip we could have
had limits on everything but Wahoo but some of the folks just chose to take what they needed and release the rest. Some decided to fish part of the time and relax part of the time and others fished every minute they could. We all did what we came to do and had a ball. To me that is just WAY COOL.
This really is a new generation of long ranger and probably will be the only one of its kind. Time will tell how the operation will do but if getting a fantastic skipper, a well known and respected chef, several seconds who are great fishermen in their own right and young guns to handle the rest of the crewing chores and outfitting it with almost every conceivable fishing or comfort device is the right way to start then this operation is destined for greatness.
I look forward to my next trip on this beautiful Yacht/Sportfisher.
Jamie
This post edited by fishordie 10/18/2007
Its been a few days since we returned from our 8 day on the new Intrepid. I had been in contact with Carol in the front office so I knew this was going to be a load of 10 or less and sure enough that was exactly what we had. This meant each of us had our own stateroom and about 30 feet of rail between each fisherman. Talk about spoiled rotten.
Since the loading rotation is based on monies received at the office there was no need to get there super early except to avoid traffic. We were greeted by Steve Hoffman who gave us our boarding passes and signed us in. Although I had watched this boat being built and had seen it in various construction phases I was still left speechless when I entered the finished Salon for the first time as were the other passengers. We really were on a Yacht/Sportfisher. I also got to meet Dan (Limit) from this and other boards who turned out to be a great guy as well as an excellent and experienced fisherman.
Loading was fast and easy as the crew handled pretty much everything. They were fun, friendly and got to know our names almost immediately.
Plenty of room for tackle and gear and with these few passengers I could leave every Jig, windon boxs, tackle boxes and reel bags in the tackle storage as only about 1/3 of the spaces were taken after everyone had stored their gear.
At the bait docks the crew checked just about every bait holding cell to make sure we had the best available and they were big and high spirited.... The bait and the crew.
Once underway and past the mandatory Homeland Security distance from the Harbor we had a chance to take a tour of this new boat. I already mentioned the amenities we found on a different post so I won't go into that again. Needless to say we were all very impressed. Guy and Annette from Ringed Hooks.Com and Spanyid Jigs were nice enough to provide a wonderful assortment of giveaways and the boat provided Intrepid mugs and shirts to all the passengers. The mug thing is cool as they have an automatic name tag maker so you just stick that on your personal mug and then place in a wood holding area right off the stair well so you can grab it when needed for coffee or cocktails as you are going up or down to or from your stateroom. Just rinse it out when you are done, place it back in the wood racks and it will be there waiting for you when next you need it. Very Cool idea.
Danny the skipper decided to head to Cedros to make some bigger baits before heading to Alijos Rocks. We arrived there late in the afternoon the next day, fished for yellowtail and made a few baits.
Heading to Alijos we watched the water temp gauges hoping we would see it rise to numbers relating to Wahoo and Tuna. Alas, this did not occur as upon reaching the Rocks we were greeted with snotty weather,
69 - 70 degree water and a current that was going in a funky direction. We saw the Supreme coming around from behind the rocks and watched as they anchored in what the hoped was a great spot. We could see a lot of dropper loop fishing and a bunch of anglers on the transom but did not see much in the way of bent rods. Not a good sign.
We hung around the rocks for a while hunting for anything that looked like fish on the meter or birds working. Again neither occurred so we anchored up just a bit aways from the Supreme. I am not sure how many casts I made with my jigs but it was becoming apparent the Rocks were not going to happen at least not the way we wanted it to. Danny made the decision to head south towards the lower banks or at least that directon.
As we headed down we started getting into some 75 - 76 degree water so things were looking up. As we got to the banks we made a few stops for some small YFT, Yellow tail and 1 Wahoo which Dan got on one of the give away Spanyid Raiders and turned out to be the only one for the trip.
We hit just about every bank I had ever heard of and more that I had not. Danny has been a commercial fisherman for years so he knows more than just the usual spots. We put on one heck of a lot of miles in search of the right conditions and fish. We found several spots of WFO fishing for the right kinds of fish but the wrong sizes. Fish were charging the boat and anything you put in the water got bit. It was a regular grab bag for YFT, Dorado and Yellowtail. However, we wanted bigger versions so we continued to try out different banks and locations.
One thing I loved about the boat is while we are fishing at any spot the live sardine chum keeps on going. No stopping to conserve baits as we were either going to keep the school we had or chum some bigger schools to us. The bait holding capacity is enormous and fantastic for keeping baits fresh.
We ended the trip back up at Cedros where other boats were also hanging out longer than usual as the conditions just were not good anywhere. We made several drifts and had very good yellowtail fishing for larger models. This Island has been a blessing this year.
In short, this was a tough fishing trip but what a great group of folks to hang out with on this Yacht cruise. Chatting with Danny, the crew and the passengers the days just seemed to speed away. Normally, when the fishing is tough the days can be long but the tenor of this boat and crew is one of fishing hard when stopped and relaxing in the lap of luxury when on the prowl. Every day it seemed like cocktail hour was being held on a yacht in Monaco. Fantastic food was served up almost non stop. Watching the football games over the weekend on those three giant flat screens was a blast and of course having USC and UCLA Fans on the boat at the same time made it a bit more interesting. We even had a pool going for the Cowboy /Patriot game.
Someone asked on this board if it was possible to only fish artificials on a ten day trip. I cheated and actually threw a total of 2 live baits for this entire 8 day trip of which we fished 6 days in total or in part. The rest of the time was spent throwing all sorts of inanament objects with hooks attached and I had a blast. I will admit, by the last day my casts were not as far or possibly as often but I loved every minute of it. On this trip were the artificials as effective as the bait... Not even close but that was never the point. I got my fair share of fish and released all but 4 of them. The fresh filets from those 4 have already been consumed by friends and family.
This boat is everything it claims to be. Beautiful, Luxurious, incredibly well geared from electronics to rental gear, rides fantastic and fishes well. Amazingly enough it is also a fairly dry boat even at anchor in snotty weather. Water coming through the scuppers is minimal and my socks rarely got wet even though I wear Crocs. Under way the boat does not roll as the stabilizers really do work.
For the person looking to take the wife or girlfriend on a long or short range trip hoping they will actually take to it this may be the boat for you. For the fisherman looking to fish hard this may be the boat for you as the most amount of passengers you will ever see is 25 and for the person looking to fish and relax this may be the boat for you. This really is a boat for all personalities and desires. Danny said it best. It is his job to put the passengers on fish. It is not his goal to load the boat up with those fish to run up the boat's fish reports unless that is the desire of the passengers. The passenger always comes first here and if that passenger would rather spend the day watching TV or reading then there is zero pressure from the skipper or crew to go out and catch fish. On this trip we could have
had limits on everything but Wahoo but some of the folks just chose to take what they needed and release the rest. Some decided to fish part of the time and relax part of the time and others fished every minute they could. We all did what we came to do and had a ball. To me that is just WAY COOL.
This really is a new generation of long ranger and probably will be the only one of its kind. Time will tell how the operation will do but if getting a fantastic skipper, a well known and respected chef, several seconds who are great fishermen in their own right and young guns to handle the rest of the crewing chores and outfitting it with almost every conceivable fishing or comfort device is the right way to start then this operation is destined for greatness.
I look forward to my next trip on this beautiful Yacht/Sportfisher.
Jamie
This post edited by fishordie 10/18/2007
