shimano wax wings coming soon

11/2 day seeker albacore special

Fish with Frank Ursetti aboard his 85' Ranger 85
trip is $285 w/ give aways from seeker and permit included

Check out some of The wsb from the Mirage

The mirage wacks the cbass

The SUN BEAUTY'S LAST VOYAGE A true story Written & edited by: Arnold Fernandes

It was a sunny morning in June 1948 when we left San Diego with a crew of ten headed for the eastern tropical pacific in search of tuna.
After spending a few days in the shipyard at San Diego Marine Construction in San Diego the Sun Beauty looked like a yacht with its new white paint job.
The tuna clipper " Sun Beauty" was about 100 feet long and she carried about 100 ton of tuna packed in ice and brine.
The weather was fair heading out of San Diego for the first few hours as we headed down the coast toward Mexico. During the late afternoon the seas began to build up due to a chubasco brewing off of Cabo San Lucas, but not bad enough to cause any concern.
At midnight I was awakened by a crew member to take my watch at the helm. All went well during my four hour watch, with no indication of any problems.
At 4: AM I was relieved of my watch by another crew member; I headed for the galley for a quick cup of coffee before hitting the sack.
As I started falling asleep I felt the ship starting to roll a little more than before but not enough to be alarmed. At about five AM I felt my feet going up in the air and my head wedged against the starboard side of my bunk. I knew then we were in trouble. I reached down to the bunk below me where "Red" the navigator was sleeping and shook him saying "Red let's get the hell out of here the ships going over and she's not coming back".
As I looked out at the open door I saw the water coming over the starboard rail and into the cabin. Red and I managed to get out of the cabin onto the deck where most of the crew was climbing over the rail ready to abandon ship.
My brother Clarence Fernandes, the skipper, was already on deck telling the crew to stay calm and telling them not to jump as we would probably never find them in the water. I ran around the deck with my knife cutting anything loose that would float so that passing ships might see the debris and the crew would have something to hold on to if they ended up in the ocean.
Then I went up to the pilot house to try turning the rudder hard over in hopes of righting the ship, but she was too far gone and would not respond.
We lost our speedboat and small skiff when the ship rolled over, but as the ship filled with water it righted itself giving us a few minutes to launch the large net tender skiff. We had to launch the skiff by brute force as all the booms and equipment failed.
The Sun Beauty was on its starboard side and moving in a slow circle as she filled up with water. My brother Clarence held on to the bow line as the crew boarded the skiff, telling them to stand by astern, until we were able to board.
As the ship filled with water the engine room flooded, we lost all power and the Sun Beauty began to sink, bow first.
For some unknown reason I picked up a bottle of Seagram's VO and a can of asparagus that was rolling around on the deck. Little did I know then that this can of asparagus would be instrumental in saving our lives?
When the crew was safe and accounted for, I threw the bottle of VO and the can of asparagus into the skiff as my brother and I boarded. If we had not saved the large skiff I'm afraid we would all have been lost at sea.
My brother and I were the last to leave the ship before she took her final plunge.
The last thing I saw, a sight that I will never forget was "Sun Beauty, San Diego" on the stern before she disappeared below the surface. The whole crew had tears in their eyes. It took about fifteen minutes for the Sun Beauty to sink.
We were all in our shorts as we had no time to dress. Our clothes and all our belongings went down with the ship. We spent all day in the skiff rowing bailing water out of the skiff and looking at the horizon for ships.
We tried to head toward shore hoping that someone would see us or some of the debris left floating after the Sun Beauty went down.
About six hours later we saw a couple of Albacore boats on the horizon headed for Colonet to escape the oncoming chubasco but we were so low in the water they could not see us. When we went up on a swell we could see the horizon but when we went down all you could see was water.
At about 5PM when the sun was going down on the Horizon we spotted a small boat headed south toward Colonet. I figured this is our last chance. I picked up the can of asparagus polished the lid with my hand and began sending an SOS, dit---dit---dit--- dah___dah___dah___, pointing the can directly at the sun and at the boats flying bridge. Our hearts began to sink as we watched the small albacore boat head south, then all of a sudden it turned and headed toward us, they saw the SOS flashing above the waves. It took what seemed a lifetime for them to reach us.
When they saw we were all OK they threw us a line, my brother, me and a couple of crew members boarded the "Lillian Ann" an albacore boat out of Fort Brag that wasn't much larger than the skiff we were in. The remainder of our crew stayed in the skiff as we were towed into the harbor at Colonet.
The "Lillian Ann" with two crew men on board was small but very sea worthy , they had no radio but she saved our lives. She was the last vessel headed in before the sun went down. I don't know if we could have made it through the night with the storm ready to hit.
When we arrived at Colonet we found a boat with a radio and relayed a message to the US Coast Guard in San Diego.
The next day the 165 foot Coast Guard Cutter Perseus , out of San Diego arrived to pick us up. They gave us food and water, a pair of jeans and T-shirt so we didn't have to land in San Diego in our shorts.
AS we approached the embarcadero in San Diego we could see our families waiting .
Someone had spread a rumor earlier that the Sun Beauty had gone down with all hands, so our families were very worried.
Everyone in our crew was questioned by the insurance company and the US Coast Guard as to what made the Sun Beauty roll over and sink. No one could come up with the answer. My theory was that the ship took on a large wave from the port side rolling her over to starboard and causing the ice in the hold to shift from port to starboard. Today this still remains a mystery.
Two weeks later my brother purchased another ship called the "Sea Wolf" we fueled up, put on supplies, kissed the family goodbye and headed back out to sea again.

Another mako at catalina island

Fish was filmed aboard the Truline out of long beach

halibut must be stupid. Dave's 47#er

Friends newest find of bone jigs and hetzel lures

A great score of hetzels, inlayed ivory, bone, and wood. These are classic vintage tuna jigs!! I'm allways buying or trading for jigs like these. thanks eric

Another cool video. Baja at its best

A movie for my fellow clay shooters

one crazy knot

LIVE SQUID Tim Athens and the "OUTER BANKS"

tim called me this morning. He will have squid for sale at the channel islands harbor. Try channel 18.

Feed him to the sharks

For this fishing team, $1-million prize is the one that got away
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
If a person gets caught fishing without a license, in most cases, it results in a fine of perhaps a few hundred dollars.

For those aboard Citation, however, the infraction represents a setback of nearly $1 million.

The vessel's anglers had been participating in the 52nd annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, June 11-19 off North Carolina. Andy Thomossan landed what was by far the biggest fish: an 883-pound marlin, a tournament record.

The team on Saturday was declared winner of the prestigious competition, and there was plenty of celebration.

However, there also was a post-event lie-detector test, after which it was revealed that one of the hired crew did not possess a valid fishing license, available in North Carolina for only $15, or $30 for non-residents.

That was a violation of tournament rules and after lengthy deliberation, according to Evans Kistler of the Carteret County News-Times, tournament officials late Tuesday disqualified the catch and and denied the Citation team the winning purse.

End of celebration.

"No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it's a nice ending to the story isn't it?" Thomossan told the Jacksonville Daily News. "He failed to get a fishing license, but we didn't know it. He told us he had it. He didn't. So you take a man at his word, you know?"

That man is Peter Wann. According to the state's fisheries division, he went out and bought a license after the catch of the monster marlin, bringing more shame to his team. He'll be fined $35 and ordered to pay court costs totaling $125.

The new winners are those who fished aboard the vessel Carnivore and caught the second-largest marlin, weighing 528.3 pounds. They net a grand total of $999,453.

Michael Topp, one of Citation's owners, figured the tournament board would not rule in Citation's favor.

"I think the Big Rock committee is doing what they have to do," he said. "I understand that. I'm a retired colonel. I know about rules."

-- Photo: Angler Andy Thomossan (left) and Capt. Eric Holmes stand alongside 883-pound blue marlin caught during the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament off North Carolina. Credit: Evans Kistler / Carteret County News-Times

Captain Mike Pritchard joins the Intrepid

Mike's bio:
Growing up in Ventura in the late 80's, I spent all of my free time fishing. I was fortunate to start my sport-fishing career (at the young age of 9) with some of the best, such as the Cavanaugh brothers and Shawn Steward, of whom I have been fortunate enough to have crewed with. Throughout my school years, I worked summers and weekends on two of the premier charter boats in the area, the Mirage and the Pacific Eagle (the Mings family speaks for itself). In 1996 I moved to San Diego. I went to work for one of the industries' best, Ray Sobiek (if not the hardest captain to work for) on the Producer. During this time I acquired my captain's license by the age of 20 and was taught to fish San Diego and Northern Baja Sobiek style (110%). Looking for a new challenge, I went to work with Pat Cavanaugh and the crew of the Excel in 1998. As I quickly moved up in the ranks, I took on the role of engineer within my first year. Bill Poole's motto was (YOU CAN'T RUN THE BOAT UNTIL YOU KNOW HOW TO FIX IT!) By 2001 I had earned the right to start running the boat alongside Shawn Steward. After several years on the Excel, I was offered the opportunity to run my own operation. So in early 2003 I left the Excel, and began 5 very successful years aboard the International Star, an ultra limited load 1 to 6 day charter boat. With private staterooms, big catches, and an exemplary crew, customer service and satisfaction were the main priority. Until recently, the year of 2009 was spent as Captain of the charter boat, Coral Sea. Our winters were spent fishing Oxnard and summers in San Diego. Thoughts of buying this clean charter boat was thwarted by our shaky economy and when the chance to run the newest top of the line long ranger presented itself... I had to jump aboard. My wife, Melody and son Alex have spent their share of time on the water as well as taking part in the business from time to time. My hobbies include hunting, snow boarding, golf, surfing, diving, and of course fishing.

Avet jx and lx raptors

Letting everyone know they are finally available. After a long wait and alot of bitching we finally received the damn things. They look great and will be super tuna reels!

Lee gets a golden grouper

I left the harbor today with less then a handful of sardinas but I didn't care. I've known all along we fly fishermen can catch fish with out chum. I also know it sure helps to keep the dorado and roosterfish around up here.

First stop was the eastern side of Isla Carmen from just below Bahia Balandra to La Cholla. We saw action action and more action and whenever we made it to where that action was......it was gone. This went on for an hour when we finally got to where it was happening and saw a huge school of needlefish. We swore that some of that action was dorado and confirmed it when we saw some jumping in the distance but we could never catch up to it. I did however see one small hen swim by but she went deep when the sardina hit the water, never to resurface while we were there.

I then fished the northern end of Carmen from La Cholla to Punta Tintorerra. Nothing along the ends but it was a cabrilla a cast in the middle. It started with a pargo, we could have filled the boat with the cabrilla I boated and tossed in some ladyfish to boot. I also caught 6 snakes, coronetfish. Highlights were another giant hawk fish and finally..........I got a GOLDEN GROUPER. After all these years, I got one!

All these fish were caught on the same fly. A pufferfish even tried to eat it but it was too big for the little guy

One more day to go this trip but it is a sight seeing outing with the wife.

Loreto w/ Lee 6/19

I'd love to tell you all that it is a typical year for great fly fishing down here but that would be a lie. The fishing is there but there is not a sardina to be bought, borrowed or stolen. Most are going the conventional gear route and but I'm stubborn and am sticking to the fly rod. I think we left the harbor after an hour of netting with a dozen sardinas in the tank.

First stop was the waters off the old pier by the old El Presidente holtel for some roosterfish............none were around.

Then we headed over to the rock in front of the El Camino Real, no body home there either.

From there we headed to the northern end of Isla Danzante where I got some hits but all were misses. We did see two dorado swim by but they spooked and went deep when the lone sardina hit the water.

Next stop was Punta Baja but the wind was up now and I could hardley stand in the boat because of the swell. I got some more hits but nothing stuck to the hook. What was going on?????????????

Back to Danzante then a run over to Puerto Escandido. I fished a spot I always catch a pargo at and got nothing but while drifting there, I cast to a lone dorado and landed him. He's tonight's dinner guest. We left there and fished the rocks facing east at Puerto Escondido and I got a really noce cabrilla, dinner quest two. I got a bunch more carbrill and a hog fish tossed in.

Looks like yellowtail are the fish of choice right now. I'll see what tomorrow brings..............

Chopper 6/18

Back at it today and boy, have things changed. First off the water has warmed up and the wind in the mornings is gone plus we are finding dorado around. I was neck deep in a school just off the coast of Nopolo and I head about someone getting a couple 40lbers east of Isla Carmen, maybe an hour out from the island.

Started the day looking for roosterfish near Nopolo but all I hooked was a pufferfish on the switch rod. I should have taken a picture though I figured that this one was so aggressive, I'd land a few more. They tried to jump on the hook but they were just too small so no picture.

Next we tried right off the big rock at Nopolo and got in a school of ladyfish, perfect fare for the 7wt ECHO switch
rod. After filling my need for quantity, we went looking for quality.

We saw a lot of sargasso broken off the bottom and floating freely in the channel. From there we found school after school of juvenile dorado, nothing bigger then 15lbs. The school would move around so that kept us busy chasing after them but we also ran into skipjack and huge schools of rays. There was one ray that had to be 7 feet across cruising around but at no time did I contemplate a cast to it........well maybe once.

I was hoping to bring back a dorado for dinner but all I seemed to hook was hens so I passed on distressing the future gene pool.

We then headed over to Isla Carmen to hunt for my ceviche, a trigger fish. I am a true believer in Murphy's Law and we we want something, it ain't around. I can usually count on a triger fish a day but so far, zero, nada, zilch.

Fun day none the less with a the switch rod getting a taste of Baja, getting tired of bringing skip jacks to the surface and boating those pesky chickens.

I'll try and get over my head in fish tomorrow.

vinny at cedros with a niner

charter updates

island tak
july 10th
aug 15th
sept 12th
oct 3rd
nov 7th
4am $125 10 passengers
pacific dawn
aug 17th(9pm)-19th(7pm) 2 day
$600 food and permits included 16 passengers
aloha spirit
july 26th
aug 30th
$100 16 passengers
American angler
sept 2nd(6pm)-5th(am) 2 1/2 days
$700 food included 26 passengers
royal star
oct. 23rd(1pm)-2nd(8am)10 days
$2995 food included 23 passengers

Loreto w/ Lee 6/15

Well, the good news is that water has warmed up some in a few areas, we saw a small dorado in the channel and the jacks are still kicking butt..............at least mine.

The bad news is there are no fish other then jacks(and the ones around the harbor had lockjaw to anything but live bait this morning, and roosterfish for fly tossers. The usual places I have caught pargo and cabrillo are not producing but then again, they are in the cold water areas.

We started out the same spot as yesterday that produced big jacks but they were either full of huge anchovies or just plain off the bite. After many attempts at a hook up we left, especially after seeing the only hook up on live bait.

As we went to Isla Carmen, we saw one lone small dorado, a harbinger of change? We also saw more schools of large jacks seemingly everywhere but they all sounded when we approached.

We then fished one of may favorite bays on Carmen where I have always gotten cabrillo or pargo but still nothing.

My wife was with me and one of the deals was we look for dolphins and other seas life as well as fish. We found a few turtles for her to see but we did not find the dolphins around.

Near Punta Colorado, we found 3 schools of jacks and I changed flies on my ECHO ION 10 wt to a bull candy streamer from a clouser. The first group who got into range, was cast to and the leader turned and brought the masses to eat. They attacked the fly and the fight was on. I'll make the story short and just say, I've boated 120lb sailfish who didn't take as long or put the hurt to me as this 30+ pound jack did. It was the biggest I boated so far on this trip and bottomed out the 30lb Boga. I don'tknow how long it took to boat but I can honestly tell you I thought about breaking it off near the end. BEAST is all I can say about it.

We saw some more after that but I opted for the rocks and cabrilla. I wanted one for dinned as well as a trigger fish for some ceviche but as it goes, when you want one you can never find one. I landed a few more small cabrilla and we went in about 1:30 after the bait was expended.

We take 3 days off and come back for 4 more on the water so as I know it, you will to.