Ten knots of wind or less: Beautiful, ideal; say goodbye to plenty of cows.

Ten to fifteen knots of wind: Plenty workable, but more difficult to see surface signs and locate the fish; still good catching weather.

Fifteen to twenty two knots of wind: Seas become a significant obstacle while hook to land ratios on two hundred pound class fish plummet.

Twenty two to twenty five knots. A real challenge to overcome these conditions while targeting big fish. It is difficult enough to find them let alone land 'em.

Twenty five to thirty knots: Forget it. Time to go top off on bait or any other activity to make better use of available time.

Now the above scale relates specifically to offshore drift fishing for giant yellowfin just like we have been doing for the past three months. Of course with a few minor variations it can be modified to fit all types of fishing we do, but for now I am focusing on present conditions. What we had to work with yesterday was the bottom of the scale with a stiff thirty knot breeze at daylight combined with eight to fourteen foot seas. Needless to say our fishing results were scant with only a couple of one hundred forty pound class fish landed and one big boy lost following a futile, ultimate challenge battle. I'd love to start harping about this or that being the reason, providing more good cannon fodder for the armchair quarterback contingent, but the fact of the matter is that the weather was just hideous and that was that. Now, being seasoned veterans who are well acquainted with these situations, we did give it half a day before heading up to the bait grounds to top off our ample supply. In the process we were very pleased by the indications of big fish around and took off at noon content, at the very least, with the knowledge that the fish remain. Although the weather forecast is far from good for the next couple of days, we will be back on the grounds tomorrow and beyond waiting for the break we need. What we do have on our side at present is time and believe me, we are mighty thankful for that.

Following an easy baiting we are presently steaming back towards the grounds with high hopes for an improvement in working conditions from yesterday.