Fish Report for 3-6-2006
Royal Star Fish Report
3-6-2006
Royal Star
Along with these photos I am including a short recap of our latest Revillagigedo tagging voyage hoping to convey even a portion of the satisfaction I/we are feeling following such a unique, richly rewarding fishing experience. Now that I have had a good amount of time to reflect upon the details of the 2006 Revilla voyage I am very thankful that a group of anglers had the vision and sense of adventure to partake in this first ever opportunity that challenged every aspect of long range fishing previously known.
On the street that is how it was perceived anyway ? believe me, I heard it directly from the curious as well as the skeptics whose perception of such an adventure, fueled by more than a few inside nay sayers, was automatically negative simply because of the fact that anglers could not retain any fish. Other than this detail, that is presently considered the cornerstone of the long range fishing experience, every approach, from methods and tackle used to areas fished was identical to previous Revillagigedo island voyages.
I know I have already stated that the tagging portion of the trip was incredibly rewarding, but I have to emphasize the fact again; especially to those hundreds, if not thousands of long range anglers out there who have huge amounts of fish landed to their credit. First of all, I was shouldering the burden of uncertainty this voyage as it was the manifestation of an idea formed several years back that I could only hope would be accepted. I honestly did not know how anglers would take to the prospect of releasing all of their catch in the name of science or otherwise. As I was keenly aware of the skepticism surrounding this visionary project, I was especially watchful of the individual participants as well as focused on the group ?feel? from the beginning fishing moments through the final stop. After nine and one half days of pure tag and release fishing in the Revillagigedo island reserve I have concluded that the act of tagging your catch adds a element of victory and satisfaction that goes far beyond a standard catch and release. I don?t know what the explanation is, whether it is some psychological trickery or otherwise, but I can definitely say that the tagging aspect of the fishing somehow justifies and rewards the effort. This was demonstrated daily by the effort anglers dedicated to the project at the rail that began at full throttle, and aside from a few stops that coincided with mealtimes, never slacked until the very end. In fact, I was amazed by the enthusiasm, even exhausted at times, by these angler?s efforts to reach our tagging goals for the trip. Needless to say this level of interest was exactly what I had dreamed of and validated that an occasional, or perhaps annual, tagging voyage is something we want to promote into the foreseeable future.
The big question at the annual Fred Hall show last week was of course about the fishing and the islands themselves that have not legally seen any commercial or sport fishing since March of 2002. I can say that the fishing this voyage was reminiscent of many prior Revillagigedo island voyages I have captained from 1989 through present. The obvious standout was the wahoo fishing at Clarion that reflected the four year no fishing stretch with spectacular quantities of fish that were completely oblivious to any and all attempts to catch them. I am always cautious about using the exclamation ?the best I?ve ever seen?. In the case of the wahoo action we experienced at Clarion, I can make that claim with confidence. Most amazing was the fact that the action we regularly encounter upon arrival in a ?fresh? area, where the new fish are incredibly aggressive, grabbing the casting lures and performing spectacular aerial feats close to the boat, never abated, with stop after stop, day after day producing the most incredible, lightning paced action one can imagine. Honestly, the wahoo fishing was beyond description, and I can only tell you that all the fish stories you hear related to the wahoo action on the now legendary 2006 Revillagigedo tagging voyage, regardless of how outrageous or unbelievable, are probably true. It was that good.
The yellowfin tuna fishing was also excellent and consistent and what I would consider typical for the Revillagigedo islands. Using the ?old standards?, meaning the days before the incredible 2005 ? 2006 fall/winter big fish blow out that annihilated all sense of reality in the giant yellowfin tuna fishery, the tagging voyage yellowfin tuna results were a admirable success with ten giant yellowfin from two hundred seventeen to two hundred sixty three pounds tagged and released, forty five from one hundred twenty to one hundred ninety, and another approximately two hundred seventy five released from thirty to ninety pounds. Clarion was the best producer of big fish although we saw promising sign at Socorro that we only had one day and a morning to capitalize on. Roca Partida was corroded with yellowfin from thirty to one hundred forty pounds and San Benedicto appeared to host a tremendous quantity of fifty to ninety pound fish although we gave it only our final morning as we simply ran out of fishing time. I can?t say that any of the inside islands impressed with the amount of wahoo around but by the time we arrived in that zone we were definitely more interested in pursuing yellowfin tuna. All told I would report the indications of tuna around the Revillagigedo islands to be very good but in no way above anything I witnessed in fifteen years of regular fishing in the now closed marine reserve. It was very encouraging to experience good tuna action at every island but again in my estimation it was nothing extraordinary attributable to a lack of fishing pressure.
Before signing off I have to mention a word about the shark population in the Revillagigedo reserve that has always been an element of fishing in this area. Indeed the sharks were prolific and aggressive, but no worse than I have experienced on many previous Revillagigedo voyages. Just like past voyages, there were places where the sharks were worse than others and our fishing strategy was definitely geared towards shark avoidance; especially considering our goal of releasing all specimens carrying tags. In many ways it was a fantastic education as an operator, and I can report with huge enthusiasm that some of the offshore methods we have developed in the past several years during our fall season definitely apply at the Revillas as well. In fact, I harkened back to the ?old days? more than once remembering circumstances, where we never even considered fishing as we do now, that likely would have produced remarkable opportunities. This is the beauty of fishing of course and I can?t wait to get back down there and expand on what we began to uncover. Going back to the shark factor I have to say one final time that the sharks in the Revillagigedo islands are normal, and a fact of life that we have dealt with from the beginning of our travels in tropical regions. In those areas, sharks frequently travel with schools of tuna, almost always present when the fish start biting. Also like the tuna and other pelagic game fish, sharks frequently move in and away from the islands as changes in conditions occur. This explains the variety in shark numbers we frequently observe in these regions. Obviously, in the case of this latest adventure, the numbers of fish successfully tagged and released reflect the fact that the sharks did not win the battle.
I will conclude this report for now but will likely continue over the next few days as I think of more to report. As we are entering our annual one month maintenance period, our daily fishing report are on hold until April 7, 2006 when we depart on our annual ?spring break? eight day Alijos rocks adventure. In the meantime we will keep you posted with relevant news. Enjoy round one of these fantastic photos.
Tim Ekstrom
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
On the street that is how it was perceived anyway ? believe me, I heard it directly from the curious as well as the skeptics whose perception of such an adventure, fueled by more than a few inside nay sayers, was automatically negative simply because of the fact that anglers could not retain any fish. Other than this detail, that is presently considered the cornerstone of the long range fishing experience, every approach, from methods and tackle used to areas fished was identical to previous Revillagigedo island voyages.
I know I have already stated that the tagging portion of the trip was incredibly rewarding, but I have to emphasize the fact again; especially to those hundreds, if not thousands of long range anglers out there who have huge amounts of fish landed to their credit. First of all, I was shouldering the burden of uncertainty this voyage as it was the manifestation of an idea formed several years back that I could only hope would be accepted. I honestly did not know how anglers would take to the prospect of releasing all of their catch in the name of science or otherwise. As I was keenly aware of the skepticism surrounding this visionary project, I was especially watchful of the individual participants as well as focused on the group ?feel? from the beginning fishing moments through the final stop. After nine and one half days of pure tag and release fishing in the Revillagigedo island reserve I have concluded that the act of tagging your catch adds a element of victory and satisfaction that goes far beyond a standard catch and release. I don?t know what the explanation is, whether it is some psychological trickery or otherwise, but I can definitely say that the tagging aspect of the fishing somehow justifies and rewards the effort. This was demonstrated daily by the effort anglers dedicated to the project at the rail that began at full throttle, and aside from a few stops that coincided with mealtimes, never slacked until the very end. In fact, I was amazed by the enthusiasm, even exhausted at times, by these angler?s efforts to reach our tagging goals for the trip. Needless to say this level of interest was exactly what I had dreamed of and validated that an occasional, or perhaps annual, tagging voyage is something we want to promote into the foreseeable future.
The big question at the annual Fred Hall show last week was of course about the fishing and the islands themselves that have not legally seen any commercial or sport fishing since March of 2002. I can say that the fishing this voyage was reminiscent of many prior Revillagigedo island voyages I have captained from 1989 through present. The obvious standout was the wahoo fishing at Clarion that reflected the four year no fishing stretch with spectacular quantities of fish that were completely oblivious to any and all attempts to catch them. I am always cautious about using the exclamation ?the best I?ve ever seen?. In the case of the wahoo action we experienced at Clarion, I can make that claim with confidence. Most amazing was the fact that the action we regularly encounter upon arrival in a ?fresh? area, where the new fish are incredibly aggressive, grabbing the casting lures and performing spectacular aerial feats close to the boat, never abated, with stop after stop, day after day producing the most incredible, lightning paced action one can imagine. Honestly, the wahoo fishing was beyond description, and I can only tell you that all the fish stories you hear related to the wahoo action on the now legendary 2006 Revillagigedo tagging voyage, regardless of how outrageous or unbelievable, are probably true. It was that good.
The yellowfin tuna fishing was also excellent and consistent and what I would consider typical for the Revillagigedo islands. Using the ?old standards?, meaning the days before the incredible 2005 ? 2006 fall/winter big fish blow out that annihilated all sense of reality in the giant yellowfin tuna fishery, the tagging voyage yellowfin tuna results were a admirable success with ten giant yellowfin from two hundred seventeen to two hundred sixty three pounds tagged and released, forty five from one hundred twenty to one hundred ninety, and another approximately two hundred seventy five released from thirty to ninety pounds. Clarion was the best producer of big fish although we saw promising sign at Socorro that we only had one day and a morning to capitalize on. Roca Partida was corroded with yellowfin from thirty to one hundred forty pounds and San Benedicto appeared to host a tremendous quantity of fifty to ninety pound fish although we gave it only our final morning as we simply ran out of fishing time. I can?t say that any of the inside islands impressed with the amount of wahoo around but by the time we arrived in that zone we were definitely more interested in pursuing yellowfin tuna. All told I would report the indications of tuna around the Revillagigedo islands to be very good but in no way above anything I witnessed in fifteen years of regular fishing in the now closed marine reserve. It was very encouraging to experience good tuna action at every island but again in my estimation it was nothing extraordinary attributable to a lack of fishing pressure.
Before signing off I have to mention a word about the shark population in the Revillagigedo reserve that has always been an element of fishing in this area. Indeed the sharks were prolific and aggressive, but no worse than I have experienced on many previous Revillagigedo voyages. Just like past voyages, there were places where the sharks were worse than others and our fishing strategy was definitely geared towards shark avoidance; especially considering our goal of releasing all specimens carrying tags. In many ways it was a fantastic education as an operator, and I can report with huge enthusiasm that some of the offshore methods we have developed in the past several years during our fall season definitely apply at the Revillas as well. In fact, I harkened back to the ?old days? more than once remembering circumstances, where we never even considered fishing as we do now, that likely would have produced remarkable opportunities. This is the beauty of fishing of course and I can?t wait to get back down there and expand on what we began to uncover. Going back to the shark factor I have to say one final time that the sharks in the Revillagigedo islands are normal, and a fact of life that we have dealt with from the beginning of our travels in tropical regions. In those areas, sharks frequently travel with schools of tuna, almost always present when the fish start biting. Also like the tuna and other pelagic game fish, sharks frequently move in and away from the islands as changes in conditions occur. This explains the variety in shark numbers we frequently observe in these regions. Obviously, in the case of this latest adventure, the numbers of fish successfully tagged and released reflect the fact that the sharks did not win the battle.
I will conclude this report for now but will likely continue over the next few days as I think of more to report. As we are entering our annual one month maintenance period, our daily fishing report are on hold until April 7, 2006 when we depart on our annual ?spring break? eight day Alijos rocks adventure. In the meantime we will keep you posted with relevant news. Enjoy round one of these fantastic photos.
Tim Ekstrom
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
Photo here...
