Independence Fish Report for Jan. 01, 2009

Well, happy New Year to all. I am pretty sure we here on the Independence caught the first cow of 2009, one of our passengers, Doal Miller landed a 202 lb. tuna at 0630 this morning. Sam Fillingame landed a 240 shortly after that. Then Ryal Richards also landed a 240 lb. tuna, his second of the trip. There were some 100 to 160 's also, as well as school fish today.

We are going to give this a try again tomorrow, so please wish us luck, Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 02, 2009

Wow! What a day we had today on the independence. About the only way to describe things here today would be to say it was just plain epic fishing for bigguns. Things got off to an early start, and proceeded to amaze us all day. We ended up with 16 tuna, 8 over 200 lbs. and 3 over 300 lbs. for the day. Andy Bosforo landed a 350 lb. fish, mike Brennan landed an amazing 340lb. tuna on 100 lb. line, and Rubin Brasil landed a 355 lb. tuna also. As for the remaining lucky guys who got big fish today I lost track of who got what, but we will get it all figured out when we weigh them all on Monday. We are truly fortunate to be involved in this fishery we have here. The weather is still great as well.

Thanks for checking in on Jeff, the Indy crew and us

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 05, 2009

We arrived back in port today with an epic catch. Our Jackpot winners were as follows. 1st place was Andy Bosforo with a 346.8Yellowfin, 2nd place was Paulo Brasil with a 323 Yellowfin, and 3rd place was Ruben Brasil with a 322 Yellowfin. Congratulations to all of you. Everyone on this trip worked very hard to bring home their personal best. It definitely shows as the boat brought home 19 over 200 and 4 over 300. Some of the other big tuna that were weighed in were (not in order of size) Robert Douglas had a 229 and a 211, Larry Lauve had a 256, Rubin Brasil 215, and a 240, Robert Dreesseen 290, Al Besara 202, Roy Sakul 230, 240, Peter Moose 198, Doal Miller 215, Sam Fillingame 242, Calvin Kumamoto 258, Mike Williams 224, Ryal Richards 232 and a 246.

Thanks to a great bunch of guys and hope to see you all next year. This is the trip that was. All of our 300 pound winners received Independence Jackets. You deserve it. The Indy Crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 06, 2009

We departed San Diego at approximately 9am. Stopped by the bait barge and loaded up with bait for our 16 day trip. What a great way to start off 2009. West Coast Marketing group had a great bunch of give-aways and we are currently rigging up and having seminars to get ready for anything we may encounter on this trip.

Stay tuned and check back for more updates. Jeff, Kyle and the Indy boys.

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 08, 2009

We are still in our traveling mode and should reach our destination soon. We have had very good weather and we are looking forward to our first hit on tuna. Computer seems to be back on track.

Check back soon Jeff and the Boys

Independence report 1-11-09

"Good evening from the vessel Independence," said the report from Independence January 11. "Things are going just fine for us out here on the high seas. We again had a good day today, pretty much like yesterday, 40 tuna, half of them 125 lbs. to 225 lbs. most 150 to 190 lbs. and the rest 70 to 90 lbs. everything is working on them. Allen Smith caught a fish right at 200 lbs. and Conway Woo had one at 215 lbs. and I can't remember who the other lucky guy was. The weather is good as well, and we are going to try again tomorrow."

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 11, 2009

Good evening from the vessel independence. Things are
going just fine for us out here on the high seas. We again had a good day today, pretty much like yesterday, 40 tuna, half of them 125 lbs.
to 225 lbs. most 150 to 190 lbs. and the rest 70 to 90 lbs. everything
is working on them. Allen Smith caught a fish right at 200 lbs. and
Conway Woo had one at 215 lbs. and I cant remember who the other lucky
guy was. The weather is good as well, and we are going to try again
tomorrow, so please wish us luck, Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 12, 2009

Hello again from the independence. We again had great fishing for beautiful grade yellowfin tuna, and a sprinkling of Wahoo. The over all grade of fish is 130 lbs. to the biggest being 250 lbs. there were some 75 to 90 lb. fish also. The final tally for today was 39 tuna 7 Wahoo. Big fish honors goes to Betty Stewart with a 250 lb. giant on the kite. The weather is fantastic as well. We will try this again tomorrow.

Please wish us luck, Jeff, Kyle and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 13, 2009

Hello again, today we saw good signal early and late in the day, but we did not have the caliber of fishing we had the past 3 days. We did catch 17 tuna and 10 Wahoo for our efforts. There were no big fish honors today, as the biggest fish was a 170 lb. fish. The weather is quite outstanding, and we are enjoying the heck out of it.

Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 14, 2009

Good evening from the independence. Today we saw very good sign of tuna for most of the day, but getting them to bite was another thing. We ended the day with 23 tuna, half 70 to 100 lbs. and the rest 130 to 200 lbs. big fish honors went to Charlie Smith with a fish right at 200 lbs. also there was a hand full of fat Wahoo landed. The weather is as goooood as I have seen it out here.

We will try this again tomorrow, Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 15, 2009

Hello again from us out on the high seas. Things were pretty much the same today as yesterday, except that the over all grade of tuna was better today. The score is as follows. We landed 22 tuna, 10 of those were 130lbs to 185 lbs. Most 150 to 175 lbs. there were 2 stand outs, Frank Bartel caught a 215 this morning, and Allen smith got a 204 lb. this the afternoon. The remaining grade was a good 80 to 95 lbs. we did get 3 Wahoo. The weather continues to be outstanding for us. Everyone is having a great time so far, with 2 more days to fish.

Please wish us luck, the Indy crew.

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 16, 2009

Well, we have seen better days, and worse days out here. Today was right about in the middle as far as fishing goes. We had a change in conditions today, and we sat where we had been doing well, and we did o. k. By today's standards. We ended the day with 17 tuna, the largest one 175 lbs, and the remaining ones that beautiful grade of 100 to 160 lbs. the wahoo made a brief showing and we caught 1 fish.

Thanks for checking in on Jeff, the Indy crew and us

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 17, 2009

Well, today was our last day fishing on the bank. We awoke to different fishing conditions, but we did a minor adjustment and things got off to a good start as Clarence Becker landed a 215 lb. tuna right out of the gate. The rest of the day was really fun fishing for tuna and Wahoo. We ended the day with 26 tuna and 10 Wahoo for our efforts. The weather is a little breezy, but good enough to travel. We have had an excellent trip by any standards.

We will check in later, Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 18, 2009

Well, today was a relaxing day of movies and much needed rest for all. The weather was breezy in the morning and lasted until late in the afternoon, and then it was civil. We have had a great trip, and a great group to enjoy every day out here. We will have an e.t.a. Sometime in the next few days.

The Indy crew

Independence Fish Report for Jan. 22, 2009

The Independence just returned from its 16-day trip. Incredible fishing at its best. Our jackpot winners were:

1st place Betty Stewart a 267 pound, soaking wet she less than 130 pounds, ft high. Remarkable. Way-to-Go-Betty!!!!
2nd place goes to Andy Baldwin with a 225.1 Yellowfin, and topping off.
3rd place goes to Clarence Becker 224 pound Yellowfin.

In 2007 Clarence had a 209 and 190. As the say. The older one gets the better one gets. Here is a list of impressive fish brought home by our Anglers: (not in order of size) a long with the 224-pound tuna that Clarence brought home he also landed a 201. Louie Marzari a 208.6, Charles Smith 197.8. Allen Smith, 185, 210.8, and a 212, John Jeffreys 200.2, and a 185... John Hancock a 213 and a 192.8, Ken Buzzell a 191.7, Scott Bishop 184, Conway Woo 210.8 and a 208, Frank Bartel 220.4. There were many fish at the dock that were not weighed in that were over the 150 pound mark that we want to give congrats to, so guys if you didn't weigh in your tuna you are also deserving a great big WOW.

Well everyone this concludes our season. We want to make mention that we had an impeccable 2008 season. We sincerely appreciate your support. Anglers that fished the aboard the Independence this year THANK YOU, and we hope that you enjoyed fishing the Indy as much as we enjoyed having you with us. Last but not least thanks goes out to our fish processors: Fisherman's Canning Service, Five-Star Processing and Sportsman's Seafood. They were always there on time and did a great job helping and assisting when the boat returned. Anglers that did not have the opportunity to fish with us because we had a sold-out season, now is the time to call in with your reservation. Some of our trips for 09 are already gone or getting close to that point. Our fishing season will resume in May. See you all at Fred Hall in Long Beach March 4-8.Stop by our booth and say hi. Thanks again for an impressive 2008 season.

Mark, Paul, Jeff, Kyle, and the Indy Crew and Judy.

I Got Blisters

Independence docked January 22 at Pt. Loma Sportfishing after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank with skipper Jeff DeBuys. There were 25 passengers aboard the West Coast Marketing trip and Rick Ozaki was the chartermaster. Two dozen were men. The lady won the jackpot.

"Oh, yes, that's my best fish," said Betty Stewart of Angel Fire, NM. "I saw the balloon marker (she was fishing the kite rig) go down. Then he went out and then down. I got blisters.

"When I could see him I thought,

Independence Fish Report

Hello everyone, We have finished with the 2008 season and are now preparing for the 2009 season during the next couple of months of our yearly boat work period. I would like to mention the final trip of the season we had with Rick Ozaki of West Coast marketing. The many of you that know Rick and righthand man Dave Rocchi know all the work these guys put into their sponsored trips. Products were donated by Rick along with Richard Hightower from H&H marketing, Yo-zuri, Seaguar Line as well as Hayabusa Hooks and Rick's line of Raider jigs and Graph-tech rods. Harry and Sarkis from Avet reels and Ali from Bloody Decks.com all donated products to make this an exceptional trip. Many thanks to them from us on the Indy for doing such a great job. Special thanks also to Dave Roochi from Avet and Westcoast Marketing for all of his time working on the passengers' reels and tackle thoughout the trip. Rick Ozaki and his product line also do the family/kids trip every year and much work goes into making this a one of a kind trip for the kids and parents every year. This year's trip is all ready sold-out and the kids as well as my son can't wait for the trip. New this year for Rick is a 6 day trip in July which is close to sold-out as well! For those of you in question about next years 16 day adventure with Rick's group the price will be the same as this year and you can call Judy for more info. We have many sponsors during the season we would like to send a big thanks to: First the tackle shops in alphabetical order: Big fish tackle in Seal beach, Fisherman's Hardware in Huntington beach, Fish n' Fools in Granada hills, Jim's custom rods, Kimura's tackle in Chino hills, Purfield's tackle in Culver City, Rusty Hook in San Pedro, Sav-on tackle in Santa Fe Springs and Young's tackle in La Palma. Our tackle sponsors for the 2008 season were Accurate reels, Avet Reels, Blackwater Floro-carbon, Fish trap Iron, Graf-tech rods, Hayabusa hooks, Izorline mono. and fishing products,Owner hooks, Raider Jigs, Seaguar floro-carbon, Seeker rods and Yo-zuri mono. And last but certanly not least our great charter groups in order of charter by date, Ric and Brian, the Baja Paddy Hoppers, the Golden group, The Sakamoto Gang, Tuna Turners, Tuna Trackers, Brent and Grant Stevens Group, Globe motor sports and Chi-Chi's Arriba Tuna Club. We again would like to thank all of those who fished with us in 2008 and look forward to seeing all of you in 2009.

Sincerely, Mark Pisano and Paul Strasser and the entire Independence Staff