Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Reports & Expeditions

JIGNPOP 9/15 days trip on the Excel out of Cabo San Lucas

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Kil Song:
The 9/15 days trip on the Excel  finally  ended on Feb 3 as we arrived at Cabo San Lucas after fishing 9 days.
We had a good mix of fishermen from West Coast., East Coast, Mid West, Korea and Japan.

The trip is finally over and I am in NJ now.
It took whole day to upload pictures of the trip.

10 fishermen flew to Cabo San Lucas from the East Coast and we met Jin and Shin from Korean and Konishi san of Carpenter and Ajichi san from Japan at the Los Cabos airport.
I know everyone from the East Coast personally except Robert who flew to San Diego from Boston. They are all hardcore fishermen.

The last time I visited Cabo San Lucas was when I fished 7 days on the Searcher years ago. The Searcher and the Q105 were fishing out of Cabo San Lucas in winter then.













On the next day we took a panga to get to the Excel which anchored outside the harbor.















The first thing we noticed on the boat was banana. I think the Excel believes banana bring good luck. I had to eat lots of banana everyday to get rid of them. :)



By 1:00 pm, the Excel left Cabo San Lucas for fishing destination.




fishermen from Korea. Jin and Shin



Orientation by Capt Justin.  Capt said we were going to fish off Tres Maria Island as fishing report from the Islands are good while fishing off Clarion Island slowed down.













We had plenty of time to prepare tackle until tomorrow morning. I saw lots of spinning reels and light tackle which are unusual for 15 days trip.

Kil Song:
We arrived the destination next day morning. Max and Scott were the first cast of the trip and both were hooked up on their first cast.






















very ununsual scene for 15 days trip.:)







Jamie has an idea.:)

Kil Song:
cow time



















Max was using JM PE10 filled with 550 yards of Jerry Brown 80# hollow. The reel is single speed, but it is extremely strong and enormous cranking power for its size,







Max is extremely luck to land a cow with opened Owner hook.









squid are tickets for cow


Scott fighting 251 lb cow with 350g Black Hole Cape Cod Special/Avet Hoo-X rod filled with 80 lb FinS braid.
Even if Scott landed the cow, 350g Black Hole Cape Cod Special jigging rod is not designed for cow, but for 50  - 120 lb tuna.
Scott brought Black Hole Giant custom rods as well as Black Hole Cow Special rods for cow. Scott did a great job to land 251 lb cow in 30 -40 minutes using 35 plus lb drag.






















ready to throw second reel.










Capt Jimmy fighting a big tuna using 6' prototype Black Hole Giant rod which landed several giant in 700 - 900 lb in P.E.I. After he landed the tuna, I asked whether there would be any modification. He said the rod is just fine as it is and he ordered 4 Black Hole Giant blanks for his boat.


















Shin from Korea is very innovative. Even he never caught tuna before, he found a way to fight tuna. :)  When he hooked up the tuna, there were very few tuna were caught that day. He continuously sent out squid and reeled in slowly repeatedly.

















jigging time


I tried to jig daytime in Mexico on long range boats for several times, but all results were negative. For some reason tuna down there hit jigs early in the morning, late in the evening and at night though small tuna take jigs daytime.

This 160 lbs yft took my 250g Super Sardine jigs at 2:00 am. I hooked up four yft in 110 - 160 lb range on the same jig and all were caught in the evening and at night.
(two were lost on the surface as 130 lb Yozuri Fluoro Carbon broke.)

Tuna hit long jigs, but they definitely prefer short jigs in 6- 8 inches. All tuna on jigs were caught on short jigs on this trip except one nice tuna on a medium length jig by Konishi san of Carpenter but unfortunately the main line got broken by scratching on the bottom of the boat when tuna ran under the boat.

All my tuna were caught while I was jigging slowly up and down in 120 - 150 ft down on this trip. Many jig fishermen crank very fast for tuna, but it is as effective to move your rod up and down leisurely.

I used 5' custom Black Hole Cape Cod Special 450g and JM PE10 filled with 80 lb Jerry Brown 80 lb hollow.  This setup is good even cow.
160 lb yft on 250g Super Sardine jig






110 -120 lb tuna on the same 250g Super Sardine jig







Brian fighting a nice 110 - 120 lb tuna on 230g FCL Labo jig. He lost bigger 150 - 160 lb yft on a jig  as the leader line got broken on the surface on the trip.
He used 400g JM Power Spell rod/Stella 20000.

Kil Song:
KOnishi san's fighting technique

Konishi san is one of the most famous popping fishermen around the world. His Carpenter rods are top of the line in Japan. He travels all around the world to test rods and lures.
We had a rare opportunity to see how he fished on the trip.
He landed about 150 lb tuna within 15 minutes using 8' long popping rod. He gave constant pressure throughout the fight.  Like we fight big fish on harness, he tried to make a half turn or one turn by lowering the rod quickly. I am going to post a video of his fighting when it is ready.

 

Kil Song:
coffee grinders and conventional reels mixed

Many are skeptical about using spinning gear for big game fish. I was too years ago, but I changed my mind after I used them and landed big tuna.
We didn't have proper spinning reels and rods for big tuna years ago, but we have now.  Some spinning reels generate more drag than big conventional reels.
Enjoy pictures of fiahing tuna with spinning setup. The spinning set up as you see in the pictures are very light as most tuna were 50 - 100 lb range, but they had heavier spinning setup ready in case they encounter big yft.





8'Black Hole Magic Eye 804S/Penn Spinfisher 9500S in action. The Magic Eye rod is for 40 - 50 lb line for inshore fishing and we used the rod for tuna just for testing.










the






This tuna is close to 100 lb.

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