Independence Update 1/3/06

Today the boat returned from our end of the year 8 day. They did come in with a fair catch of tuna a nd yellowtail but did not catch any of the big fish. The days they spent in the big fish area the weather was up and made things tough on locating any of the bigger fish. The weather came down and the bigger fish came up and bit for the guys that were there. We will be leaveing on our first long trip of the season on the 5th. We have had some probelms with both our web site and the e-mail link on the boat and we are trying to get things worked out asap. Thanks for checking in.

Had Some Weather

Independence arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing January 3 under Jeff DuBuys' hand, after an eight-day trip with 30 anglers to the southern banks.

"We had some weather," said Jeff, "a little chop on the banks. We found some 40-pound school tuna down there but they didn't bite very well. The water was 69 to 71 degrees. The other boats located the big ones the day after we left, when the weather turned nice."

Dave Smith of Alta Loma won first place for a 47.3-pound tuna, "The biggest one I ever got." Dave said he caught it with a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 60-pound Big Game line on a Penn 15 KG reel and a Seeker 6465 XH rod.

Thomas Horanyi of Northridge was second, for a 45.4-pounder, and his dad Gabor Horanyi, also of Northridge, was third, for a 45-pound tuna. Ed Coleman of Bakersfield tied Gabor with another 45-pounder in a tie for third.

Independence Update 1/6/06

The Indy left San Diego on Jan 5, picked up a good load of bait and headed South to Big Fish country. Our Sponsors on this trip is West Coast Marketing (Rick Ozaki), Avet Reels, and Smittie's Belts. Today They did seminars and started rigging up gear. The weather is great, perfect traveling weather. Flat seas, no wind, blue skies, lots of sunshine. The Indy still be traveling on Saturday, So with the Satphone still not working, Jeff said he would call in with a report late Sunday night, so check back for further details.

Independence Update 1/8/06

Hi to everyone from the passengers and crew. The first day for fishing was good action.. 180-245#. Today they tagged 19 fish of which 5 were over 200. Weather is ok, hopefully improves. If we put together another day like today we'll be in good shape. Check back tomorrow for more news aboard the Indy.

Independence Update 1/9/06

Today was another great day of fishing along with beautiful weather. We were fortunate to land 38 of these great tuna. We had 30 fish from 175-199 pounds and 8 over 200 up to 275#. This epic fishing just keeps going with no let up in sight. We are still seeing good schools of big fish, and are anxious for tomorrow to get here so we can get back to fishing. Hope to have another good report tomorrow.

Independence Update 1/10/06

Hello to everyone, We really had some great action on 185-195 pounders. What a day!! Tagged 29 and released a few.. We had 8 over 200, 2 we figured were 280+. Louie MARZARI and Dana TRIESCHMAN were at the top of the heap with their 280's. What beautiful fish. We're going to continue this spectacular fishing frenzy on Wednesday. Tune in again for our epic fish stories. Hi to all the families, your husband/boyfriends/and sweeties are having a time of their life.

Independence Update 1/11/06

Excellent flat calm weather, beautiful sunshine today, we had a good morning bite, but the afternoon was on the slow side. Tagged 12 tuna from 175

Independence Update 1/12/06

WOW!!! What more can we say about this weather.. Just another great day in paradise. Everyone should be here. Our fishing today consisted of 29 beautiful tuna that weighed in between 185

Independence Update 1/13/06

Wow here we are once again with just a great day in paradise.. The fishing could not be better for us. The yellowfin tuna fishing at it's finest!! We tagged 27 from 175-235.. Out of the 27

Independence Update 1/16/06

Well, we arrived at Hurricane Bank at midnight on Jan 15. Anchored up and did some fun night fishing. We were able to pull in a handful of 150-170 Yellowfin tunas, 2 were 190 pounders. Today our morning bite was off, but this afternoon we enjoyed some very good fishing. Tagged 29 Yellowfin.. 10 were over 200. A couple of 205's, 215's, 220's and 235. In amongst the big tunas we managed to tag several 185-195. The weather is not the greatest here at the Bank, but it's still workable. We have 2 more days here to see what Mother Nature will and our good luck will have in store for us. So tune in again about this time Tuesday night for more up-dates on the Independence.

Independence Update 1/17/06

Hello everyone, just a short run down on our trip here at Hurricane bank. Really had some great fishing on the Wahoo. We tagged 38 Wahoo in the 25

Independence Update 1/18/06

Well today was our last day at the Bank. spectacular fishing at it's finest. Today we tagged 25, 21 were over 200 up to 250 the other 4 were 190-195. Also picked up a few wahoo.. We left the Bank early as the boat is wedged. Weather was much better today that it has been for several days here at the Bank. For the most part it was a vast improvement, small breeze, good traveling weather. We're going to start making our way home, but may stop off to do some other type fishing. There won't be much posted here until we arrive back in San Diego. However feel free to visit back on our report page for ETA or even maybe some other trivial information. Thanks for checking in.

Independence Update 1/22/06

ood-day everyone, here is the final report from the boat. The weather has finally subsided, so we are now having much better traveling weather. The boat will tie up at Point Loma Sportfishing at 6:30am. Mark will post land report after the weigh in. Thanks for checking in.

Independence Update 1/23/06

Hello everyone, This is our final trip report from our West coast marking / Rick Ozaki 18 day adventure. We ended up with 82 fish over 200 pounds. The jackpot fish were Ron Moy 1st place with a 292 lb. yellowfin tuna, Dana Trieschman with a 280 lb. yellowfin and Louie Marzari with a 269 lb. yellowfin. Everyone on board caught a yellowfin that went 200 pounds or better, a first on the Independence. Rick Ozaki 201, 200, 207, 216, 217, and 258. Allen Smith 200, 202,219,228,234,237 and 268. Jim Mann 206, 207, and 235. Louie Marzari 200, 206, 226, 232, 234, and 269. Anastasia Schmoll 201, 221, and 267. Victor Ness 200. Norm Sogioka 217 and 253. Beans Sogioka 201, 217, 222, 229, 231 and 239. Bruce Sogioka 217, 226, 238 and 249. Don Sogioka 207, 220, 221 and 225. Dana Trieschman 220, 224 and 280. Yo Shibuya 240. Don Drummey 208, 213, 223, 230, and 244. James Evans 206 and 236. Dave Rocchi 215, 223 and 239. Rodney Couch 200, 230, 231, 233, 238 and 246. Alan Moy 241 and 246. Steve Chambless 205 and 220. Ron Moy 202 and 292. Art Caballero 215, 217 and 247. Eddie Sison 203, 208, 215, 231, 233 and 234. Al Day 241 and 255. Sarkis Alajajyan 201,214, 228, 239. we would like thank Rick, Dave and Alan from westcoast marking and Sarkis from Avet reels for all the give aways during the trip. This was by far the most gear I have ever seen given away as prizes on a trip. A big thanks also goes out to all the fisherman that made this record breaking trip so fun to be part of. Take care and we'll talk to you soon, Jeff, Mark, Kyle, Sean, Ted, Ron, Walter, Rolf and judy.

How About 82?

Independence arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing dock after an 18-day trip with skippers Jeff DuBuys and Mark Pisano, who brought in a new all-time tuna record of 82 cows, or tuna over 200 pounds, for 23 anglers. That topped Shawn Steward's mark on the Excel of 79, set December 12.

"We had good fishing wherever we went," said DuBuys. "We started on the beach (outside Mag Bay) for six days of good fishing; then we went out to the Hurricane Bank for three days, to top off our wells and get some wahoo. We got 60 skinnies, and had even better tuna fishing than we did inside.

"All methods were working out there," continued DuBuys, "with the Hurricane fish biting on chunks, the kite, surface fishing with sardines, skipjack or mackerel, and on jigs."

Ron Moy, an LA motorcycle patrolman from Mission Viejo, won first place for the biggest tuna, a 292-pound fattie that worked Moy over for an hour and 45 minutes.

"I got this one on the second day," said Moy, who also had a 202-pounder, "and he stayed up on the surface for a half-hour with his sickle fin out. He bit about ten feet off the stern. He stayed way out there, and took me around the boat five times."

Dana Trieschman of Alpine won second place for a 280-pounder he brought to the boat in 40 minutes. He also had a 224 and a 220-pounder.

"My best fish," said Dana. "He fought outside."

Trieschman said he fished with sardines on 5/0 Hayabusa hooks. He used Yo-Zuri 100-pound line, 130-pound Spectra backing on an Avet 50 SDS reel and a Calstar 7455 XH rod.

Louie Marzari of Yorba Linda won third place for a 269-pound yellowfin.

"It took two hours," he said. "He bit on a long soak, and he got with Dana's fish for a long time. He went around the boat five times and then went back and forth. He's my best fish ever."

Louie said he fished sardines on 5/0 Hayabusa hooks, and used 100-pound Yo-Zuri line and 130-pound Fins Spectra on an Avet 50 SDS reel and a 755 XXH rod he wrapped himself.

Chartermaster Rick Ozaki of Gardena, who owns Raider Jigs and reps Smitty belts, Yo-Zuri line and Avet reels, had six over 200 pounds, at: 258, 216, 216, 207, 200.8 and 200 pounds even.

Rick said he fished with live skipjack for his biggest tuna, on 11/0 Mustad hooks. He used 130-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra backing on an Avet 50 W reel and a Calstar 7460 H rod.

Tied with the chartermaster for high man on the boat was "Beans" Sogioka, 86, of Chino, who got six cows. The Sogioka family is well-known to long rangers, with several regulars. Beans had three family members, Don, Bruce and Norman, with him. Beans' best was a 239-pounder, and he had others of 231, 229, 222, 217 and 201 pounds.

"I fished with sardines," said Beans, "on 7/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks. I had 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XH rod by Yo's. I got two of my fish with the kite. I saw them boil on the bait."

Sarkis Alajajyan, an Avet principal, was aboard and took two cows, of 214 and 239 pounds.

"I fished with 35 to 40 pounds of drag," said Sarkis, who used sardines on 5/0 Hayabusa hook, on 100-pound Yo-Zuri line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a 50 SDS reel and a Seeker 6463 XXH rod.

After the weighing and the counting was finished, skipper DuBuys had some final words.

"I'd like to say that the reason all this happened was that our group was so well-prepared. Their tackle was impeccable. They all used good knots and splices. They changed line every night. That's why we had this success."

Independence Update 1/24/06

Hello everyone, We just left San Diego this morning about 10:30am on another 18-day trip. Stopped off at the bait receiver and loaded up on some good bait. Had our seminar on safety, rigging and what is expected when we arrive at our destinations. Everyone is just relaxing in the galley, playing cards, watching TV and we just enjoyed a great dinner created by our master chef Garret, its time to sit back and enjoy talking fish stories and tomorrow we will prepare our gear for what lies ahead. If the Tuna Gods are with us we are hopeful for another historic trip. Tune in again for more info on this trip, its only the beginning.

Independence Update 1/27/06

Good morning everyone. We are still in our kickback mode. We're all trying to get as much rest as possible for the big tuna that lie ahead, plus the anglers are still preparing and rigging their gear. We're going to have our final seminar in the galley today. The guys have lots of questions. We are having good traveling weather. We should begin our fishing on Saturday. Wish us luck and please check back Saturday night for more updates.

Independence Update 1/28/06

Hello everyone. We arrived at the Hurricane Bank about 3pm today. The Anglers were all very excited to get some line wet and we only had a couple hours to fish before it got dark so we dropped anchor, threw some bait and managed to pull in 7 tuna 40-80# and 1 was 130#. The weather is fair, good kite weather. We are going to get a good start at the break of dawn in the morning. Check back for another report Sunday night. Wish us luck.

Independence Update 1/29/06

Hello everyone. Our first full day of fishing was very eventful. For the most part we had some good steady action on the kite. Brent Taylor had a yellowfin that tapped out at 295 lbs. Way-to-go Brent!! We kept 31 fish that weighed in between 150-295 lbs with 8 over 200 lbs. we also landed a couple of wahoo. we had some action on smaller tuna in the 40 to 140 lb. range that were released. The fish were caught on just about everything including squid, sardines, flying fish and chunks. Tonight we are trying to catch more flying fish for bait. Check back tomorrow for more updates.

Independence arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing dock after an 18-day trip with skippers Jeff DuBuys and Mark Pisano, who brought in a new all-time tuna record of 82 cows,
or tuna over 200 pounds, for 23 anglers. --report by Bill Roecker

Independence Update 1/30/06

Good evening, Today we had about the same weather pattern with 15 to 18 knots of wind and moderate sea conditions. The fishing was a bit on the slow side this morning but improved as the day wore on. We had 5 fish over 200 lbs. up to about 250 lbs. We also kept about 13 in the 165 to 195 lb. range. We are currently trying to catch some flying fish for the kite. Hot baits for the day were Chunks and sardines for the flyline guys and squid and flyers best on the kite, so nothing new there. Thanks for checking in

Independence Update 1/31/06

Hello again, Another good day on the tuna as we had 10 over 200 with two tapeing out at about 290 lbs. We also had 1 last night at 240 lbs. We are going to stay put to night in hopes of a night bite on the cows. We also kept 9 more tuna in the 160 to 195 lb. range as well as 17 wahoo. weather is the usual 15 knots we have had the entire time here fishing. Thanks for checking us out and we will report again tomorrow.