Indy Brings Home 8 Cows

The morning after Halloween, Jeff DeBuys docked Independence at Pt. Loma Sportfishing after the Tunaholics ten-day trip with 29 anglers. Dennis Evans was chartermaster, and like the group just in front of his, he had the third-best tuna. "I'd have to rate this a ten-plus trip," said DeBuys. "We had excellent bluefin fishing on the way down, and we also got a lot of pargo and dorado and yellowtail."

Norman Chibana of Gardena won first place for a tubby 248-pound yellowfin that bit his sardine on a 4/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 80-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon. He said he fished with 80-pound Izorline and 80-pound spectra on a Penn 30 reel and a Calstar 6465 XH rod, and that the fish fought for an hour and a half.

Terry Williams of Lancaster won second place and became the first angler of the season to bag three 200-pound tuna. His winner weighed 225 pounds, and bit a sardine on a 3/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 100-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 130-pound spectra on an Avet 30 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod. His other tuna weighed 200.4 and 200 pounds even.
Dennis Evans of Austin, TX won third place for a 208.8-pound tuna. He caught it with a sardine on a 12/0 Mustad circle hook and 80-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon. He used 80-pound Line One spectra on an Avet HX reel and a Calstar 700 XH rod.

On his first long range trip, Gary Conterno of Rough & Ready CA bagged a 207-pound yellowfin with a sardine and a 7/0 Owner Super Mutu hook. He said he used 100-pound line and 130-pound Line One spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Baby Boomer rod. The fight lasted 45 minutes.

Jay Graham of Auberry snookered a 206-pounder with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook. He fished with 80-pound Seaguar Premier and 80-pound Line One spectra on a Daiwa 30 reel and a Calstar 700 MH rod. Jay said the fight went an hour and a half, and that it was his best fish ever.

Keith Kamimura of Fountain Valley caught a 200-pound yellowfin tuna with a squid under the kite on one of the boat's loaner rigs.

Quit A showing

The Indy arrived at 6am this morning with cool overcast skies. We want to thank everyone for a wonderful trip and great camaraderie. Our Jackpot winners for our Tunaholics group was 1st place Norman Chibana from Gardena Ca with a 248.8 pound yellowfin tuna (way to go Norman), 2nd place goes to Terry Williams from Lancaster Ca a whopper at 225 pound Yellowfin, and our chartermaster Dennis Evans, Cedar Park TX. was lucky enough to bring home 3rd place Jackpot..Wahooooo Dennis a 208.8 yellowfin. Overall the Tunaholics managed to bring home 8 over 200. Just to give recognition for our Anglers that weighed in their big fish (not necessarily in order of size) Bill Rodriguez 169.6, Terry Williams 200, 200.4, Jim Nakagawa 160, 180, Ken Aiso 195, 187, Jay Graham 206, Gary Ritchie 180, John Franke 190, Tom Kyelberg Our former chef 112, 154, Scott McReynolds 175, George Slevkoff 182, Paul Chamberlain 200, Gary Conterno 207. We departed this morning again with
Gary Kimura's Group at approximately 10:30am heading due south Looking forward to much anticipation of the same quality. Check back for more updates. Our Crew: Captain Jesus Companioni at the helm, Captain Paul Strasser, Doug Brink, Alan Fay, Jeffrey Jessop, Matt Kaullen, Ed LaComb, Oscar Marroquin and Rolf Rittman.

Heading South

Hello Anglers, friends and family
Just a short preview of things to come. We're still heading down the coast, managed to pick up some yellowtail, yellowfin and a few dorado. You all are having stormy raining weather while we are sailing in calm flat water and sunny skies. In the next day or so we hope to have great fishing reports,
Jesus, Paul and the Indy crew.

Heading South

Hello Anglers, friends and family
Just a short preview of things to come. We're still heading down the coast, managed to pick up some yellowtail, yellowfin and a few dorado. You all are having stormy raining weather while we are sailing in calm flat water and sunny skies. In the next day or so we hope to have great fishing reports,
Jesus, Paul and the Indy crew.

Good grade YFT's

Hello everyone, today we picked away at nice yellowfin all day long. Most of the fish were 90 to 170 pounds with 2 that were up around the 200 pound mark. We also had a few heartbreaks, but that just goes with the territory when you are fishing bigger tuna. The weather is nice but we did have about 10 to 14 knots of wind with a mild sea state to go with it. Tomorrow will be the same menu trying to hook and land these bigger yellowfin tuna. The water is 82 degrees with the air temps also in the 80's, very pleasant to be out on deck fishing. Check back in a day or two to see how things are going.
The Indy Crew

The Cows are here

Captain Paul Strasser called in for an update on today's fishing. Excellent fishing on yellowfin. We managed 30 YF for the trip so far and a few over 200, 13 on Sunday, lost about 8 brutes. Other Anglers managed to bring over the rail YF ranging in the category of 90-195. The tuna were definitely boiling around, but not in the biting mode. Tomorrow we are going to work our way back up the coast for Dorado and Yellowtail. It is noted that Jerry Watkins and Andy Rafkin each will be bringing home some cows. Check back again for further reports on the Indy. Any interest for anyone there are a few openings on our Dec 10 and Dec 26th departures. The Indy Crew

The Independence Reports "Excellent" Yellowfin Fishing, November 7, 2011

Captain Paul Strasser called an update on fishing November 6: "Excellent fishing on yellowfin. We managed 30 YF for the trip so far and a few over 200 pounds, with 13 on Sunday. We lost about eight brutes. Other Anglers managed to bring over the rail YF ranging in the category of 90 to 195 pounds. The tuna were definitely boiling around, but not in the biting mode. Tomorrow we are going to work our way back up the coast for Dorado and Yellowtail. Jerry Watkins and Andy Rafkin each will be bringing home some cows. Check back again for further reports on the Indy. There are a few openings on our Dec 10 and Dec 26th departures."

The Ridge

Well, we are headed back up the line stopping off first to fish the Ridge. Ending up today with an assortment of Yellowfin and Yellowtail. Passengers all had a good time yanking and cranking. The weather seems to be calming itself down so with good weather and good fishing today it was enjoyed by all. Check back for more reports later this week. The Indy Crew.

The Trip Ends

Hello Anglers, What a great way to end a trip. We ended up beautiful fall weather and fantastic fishing. During our stops yesterday we were able to land yellowtail in the 18-22 pound category. Our trips for 2012 are now posted and are gearing up for the new season. We welcome all. Our ETA for the Indy will be 5:30am Friday Nov 11. Thanks for checking in. The Indy Crew. Sign in starts at 7am. Bring passport to office.

THANKS TO OUR VETS

Hello Gang, before I talk about our 10-day report I would like to take my hat off to all the men and women in the Armed Forces that put their lives on the line every day and on hold while serving to protect all of us from evil throughout the world. For all the veterans who fish with us and are planning to fish with us in the future we THANK YOU on Veterans Day. Well we just returned this morning from Kimura's Tackle 10-day and after the weigh-in we ended up with 3 cows over 200 lbs and 27 over 100 lbs. The jack pot winners are as follows: Jerry Watkins with a 212lb, Andy Rafkin with a 209 lb, Joseph Armstead with a 202 lb. Joe was our first super cow angler a few years ago with a 302. good going cow catchers. Other anglers go as follows: Jake Hamstra with a 199lb, Robert Durio with a 176 lb and a 153 lb, Mike Wilson with a 172 lb, Conway Woo with 156 lb, Howard Sawa with a 135 lb, Keith Malech with a 145, Steve Cappello with a 134, and John Lanz with a 149 lb not to mention Jeff Jessop with a 190 lb tuna these were a few of the 30 that were caught during our 2 days on the finger bank as you been following our reports we had a unbelievable yellowtail bite the last day just like we planned and an unbelievable ride home. Good going and stay in touch, I have a feeling the 12-day is going to be a trip to watch for in the following days. We have a few openings on a few of our remainder trips call Judy for info. Thank you the Indy crew Paul, Jesus, Allen Doug, Oscar, Matt and galley Chef Ed and Rolo.

Fish Report from the Independence, November 11, 2011

Paul Strasser called in with this report on the Independence 10 Day Trip, "We had an excellent trip we traveled 2 days down to the lower Ridge we had a sprinkling of some Yellowtail, a few Wahoo and then ventured off to the finger bank. Spending 2 days on the finger bank we had 30 fish averaging anywhere from from 120 to 218 lbs. We had very good fishing on the finger one day catching 17 the other day catching 13 fish. Obviously losing anywhere from 5 to 10 fish per day. After leaving the finger bank we had good Dorado fishing and a sprinkling of marlin which we all hooked and released. But good Dorado fishing outside of Lazaro and back up to the Ridge. Fishing the Ridge on the upper ten, we had a mixed bag on the Yellowtail and about 55 Yellowfin Tuna, a smaller grade anywhere from 18 to 25 lbs.

A day and one-half later fishing Bonitas Island we had excellent Yellowtail fishing approximately 172 Yellowtail anywhere from 18 to 25 lbs. After the sun went down we ventured home. Beautiful weather on the way home, and we arrived home at San Diego on Friday morning at 6 o'clock.

We have openings on our next trips departing on December 10th, December 26th and we have a few spots that just opened on my January 6th 16 Day Trip fishing Hurricane bank. For more information call 619-226-6006.

12-Day Start

Hello again from the Independence. We are currently out on a 12-day extravaganza, which started out on the wet side as far as the weather is concerned. Things are now back to normal, weather wise. We have been rigging, and enjoying each others company, with high hopes for the trip. We will report back when things get going. Thanks for checking in on Jeff, the Indy crew and us

The catching begins

Hello Everyone, Jeff got a short window of phone service and was able to report that they had a good first day of fishing. For the day, over 30 tuna hit the deck with the largest being 365 and two other cows at 240 and 280, the rest of the fish are all in that 120 to 190 class. The weather is beautiful and everyone is enjoying themselves. We will try to report daily if the satellite service allows, the service has been hit and miss, mostly miss for the entire fleet that is on the same system. Thanks for checking in, the Indy staff.

Sat. phone is down

Sorry for the lack of reports but the Sat. phone is not working, we have talked to another vessel who has been in contact with the independence and all is fine. they have a good catch of yellowfin tuna and are now headed home in nice weather. If we get an update we will post asap. Thanks, the Indy staff.

CLASSIC BIG FISH FISHING

CLASSIC BIG FISH FISHING. Sorry about the lack of reports, as we had some difficulties with our sat phone. We spent our time down in the southern fishing zones, and were not disappointed with the fishing and the weather. Every day was different, as one day it was 130 lb. to 200 lb. fish, and the next day it was mixed up 100 to 180 lb. fish. I would have to say that every method worked this trip. If you were planning to try this in the near future, I would recommend more 100 lb. outfits, and a 130 lb. for good measure. The sardines were the hot ticket, as at times we would have 8 to 13 fish going, and other times 3 to 5 going. We had quite a few anglers that had not fished for these big tuna before, and after day 1 they were tuned in, and were doing very well for the rest of the trip. As I said before, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, with flat seas. Taking a quick survey, I would have to say at least half of our anglers caught their personal best this trip. One angler that comes to mind is Martha Parker, who weighs maybe 95 lbs., now she put on a clinic one day, as she landed 5 of these brutes one day, all personal bests. We are traveling up right now, and will have another report with an E T A, thanks for checking in, Jeff and the Indy crew

Independence has "Classic Big Fishing"

"Sorry about the lack of reports," said Independence's report for November 21, "as we had some difficulties with our sat phone. We spent our time down in the southern fishing zones, and were not disappointed with the fishing and the weather. Every day was different, as one day it was 130 to 200-pound fish, and the next day it was mixed up 100 to 180-pound fish. I would have to say that every method worked this trip. If you were planning to try this in the near future, I would recommend more 100 lb. outfits, and a 130 lb. for good measure. The sardines were the hot ticket, as at times we would have eight to 13 fish going, and other times three to five going. We had quite a few anglers that had not fished for these big tuna before, and after day 1 they were tuned in, and were doing very well for the rest of the trip. As I said before, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, with flat seas. I would have to say at least half of our anglers caught their personal best this trip. One angler that comes to mind is Martha Parker, who weighs maybe 95 pounds, who put on a clinic one day as she landed five of these brutes, all personal bests. We are traveling up right now, and will have another report with an ETA."

ETA Wednesday

Hello again from the Indy. Arrival on Wednesday approximately 12:30pm. We have been traveling, resting, and relaxing for the most part. We have had some good weather, and lately some breezy, choppy travel weather, which means we will most likely be in around 11 tomorrow. One thing is for certain; it was worth the travel down to the grounds for the epic action we all had down there. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. With that said, I will speak for everyone on board, as a great time was had by all. We hope everyone has a great thanksgiving, and we will be back at it on Friday. Thanks for checking in, Jeff and the Indy crew

12 day back home

We have returned from our 12 day big fish Indy shoot-out. Many thanks to all who fished on the trip this year. Top fish and prizes are as follows: Peter Gutierrez 230 lb. yellowfin tuna, he won a $1,000 indy gift Cert. for next year. 2nd place went to Doal Miller with a 229.8 yellowfin and won an Avet reel. 3rd and 4th place were tied with identical 200 lb. yellowfin and both won Avet reels. 5th place fell to Sam Romero with his 195 lb. yellowfin and he took home a Seeker rod. 6th and 7th place went to Ken Bruner and Ray Smith, both with a 190 yellowfin and each took home a Seeker rod. 8th place went to Scott Ocheltree with his 189 yellowfin that won an Indy Jacket and 9th place fell to Glenn Ueda with his 188 yellowfin tuna for an Indy jacket. Again thanks to everyone,we will be sending out an e-mail with info on next year's trip.

After Thanksgiving 15-Day

Off and running. A very happy thanksgiving to everyone, as we are back at it again after a brief day of turkey, and football. We are currently on a 15-day SavOn Tackle extravaganza. We have a good supply of sardines, and a very eager group of well seasoned big fish fishermen aboard. As far as tackle give- a-ways go, we are going to start this process today, as there are palates of tackle, clothing, rods, reels to hand out today some time. After last trips success, we are going to venture down to the same area in hopes there is some thing to work with when we get there. The weather is good, and looks to be favorable for a few days. As always, every trip is completely different, so we have a brand new puzzle to put together, and see what becomes in the next 15 days. Thanks for checking in, and please wish us luck, Jeff and the Indy crew

Travel Day

Moving south all the time. We have had great travel weather the past few days, and have been rigging everyone, as well as various other tasks. We should be fishing Tuesday morning, so if all goes well, and the satellite phone works we should have some reports in the future. Sea you all then, the Indy crew

Great start to the trip

Hello everyone, We have started the fishing here on Tuesday. We arrived at the bank at around 10 am and the fish went on the bite as soon the anchor went over. The bite lasted all day long and into the dark. The yellowfin tuna were in the 100 to 190 pound range. The fishing was really as good as it gets, 100 pound and a sardine was the ticket as well as the kite. Dale Lethcoe had the best fish of the day which went just under 200 pounds, call it 195 to be on the safe side. The weather is good and we plan on doing this for another day or two before looking into other options. We also had a handful of wahoo to keep everyone on their toes. Thanks for checking in, we will report as long as the sat. phone has a signal. That has been a hit and miss thing lately down here in the lower zone.

More of the same

Hello again, Today's fishing was a lot like yesterday, we picked at yellowfin tuna all day long in the 100 to 200 pound range. biggest fish again was right at 190 pounds, weather again was very nice. final tally was 54 tuna chilling in the wells. We will report again tomorrow as the phone service permits. Thanks for checking in, the Indy guys.