Return of the Guam fishing report!

[Night Moves]

Thanks!

I had a busy week and the trip last week on Sunday was hard to recover from. There is lot to do to keep everything in order to do these trips right. Lures need to be re-rigged, line and reel maintenance and the boat always needs something. That all takes time so I wasn't sure if this weekend included a fishing trip. Well, the weather looked like we were going to get another break in the winds and the fishing had been good. A little voice kept saying "You gotta go when the gittins good". I couldn't pass up on a chance at another epic trip so I made the decision Saturday and changed the oil in the motors and rounded up a crew!

This weeks crew included some guys that I have wanted to go for a while, but the timing just had never worked out, until now. A lot of times I have guys on board that haven't fish much or don't pick up on how blue water fishing works. This week was not the case. With a crew of outdoorsmen everyone was working like a well oiled machine very quickly and that was good cause we were gonna need it!

When something works, don't change it. That was the plan with todays trip. Do what we did last week. The ride out was great and I was so looking forward to a calmer day of fishing. As red hot as it was last week, we started a little slow. Maybe a half hour of trolling before a small Wahoo came aboard. Wendall joked that he was starting to get worried but we had dinner in the boat for the skipper so all was well. About half way down Galvez the action started to heat up with bird action that resulted in a mix of Mahi, Wahoo and 1 Yellowfin in the boat. Last week I had wondered if I should have just stayed at Galvez where there were fish instead of heading south so I spent a little more time there this week but still continued slowly south. All the guys got in on leadering and gaffing. After one Mahi turned sideways right as Bordo went to stick him and got away, almost all the gaffs were picture perfect the rest of the day. Two notes on gaffing for the day. Bordo came within an inch of free gaffing the escapee which would have been total redemption and Dustin can no longer bust my balls for my wayward attempt a few weeks ago after one of his frenzied flailing attempts that ended in the fish just being pulled in ungaffed. I mean you can only give someone so many shots before you call it!

We made it to Baby bank and caught fish there too. The Skipjack were another addition to the box as they were under the birds as they were last week. Though they were not the big bombers from last week, they were welcomed on the boat as species number 4. We had a respectable box of fish by now, not 21 fish, but it had to be in the high teen club. I figured it was too late to head to stu bank. Its a good 35 min troll there and why leave fish to find fish right? Well, Dustin had that gleam in his eye. Probably the same one I had last week so we pulled in the lines and ran there in less than 15 min. It took about 30 minutes to pick up, but when it did we started getting Yellowfin. Unfortunately the sharks zeroed in on them too and we lost 3/4 of one and a whole one along with the lure to the tax collectors. Now its getting a little late and the wind has picked up to around 20 mph with some rain. We were all hoping the wind would lay down after the rain, but it was not to be. It was the steepest 3-4' I had been in for a while as it was a building sea. Great only 30 miles to go in this slop! The good news is there were fish all along the way with Galvez blowing up as we got near the center. There were birds everywhere with no one direction to target. We continued to pick up all four species including a 3 banger consisting of a Yellowfin, Wahoo and Mahi. And then it happened again, no not the center line slamming down with a huge Wahoo on the line. It was another Rainbow runner coming over the rail to make it another Guam slam! 5 species in one day two weeks in a row! By now the box had to have near 40 fish in it and even though I had brought extra ice and some ice blocks, it was hard to keep them all buried in the ice. It was hard to leave the red hot bite, but with the ice situation and the time we turned towards Agat. I keep bragging on how great the ride is on the Kuleana is, but everything has it's limits. With just topping off the fuel tanks at 240 gallons, 6 people, gear and what has to be 4-5 hundred pounds of fish and ice. Kuleana met her match. Normally she can get up on top and run, but the steepness of the waves with the heavy boat made it too rough. So we trolled. Its a long run back, but the good news was, we kept catching Mahi. There was a small weed line 6 miles off Galvez that kept producing fish. About half way we pulled in the lines to make better speed and the closer we got the more it laid down.

Sure made for a long but productive day. Got back to the house at 8pm and then still had to wash the boat. Saved fish cleaning til the next day. Everyone commented on how well they had slept! Final count was 17 Mahi, 11 Wahoo, 8 Yellowfin, 6 Skipjack Tuna and 1 Rainbow runner. 43 fish. The teamwork on the boat was spectacular. Wendall wrapped it up best with "That was one epic day". Sure was. Until next time.....

[Shock&Awe]

Great fishing report John. The April 1st trip was awesome and truly "epic." Thanks for allowing me to be part of the team. Bordo

[Night Moves]

Almost forgot to post this. Went out last Thursday chasing the good weather forecast and the sweet bite. Didn't get the numbers we did on Sunday, but we managed another Guam slam! I think we ended with 6 Mahi, 3 Wahoo, 4 Skipjack, 3 Yellowfin and a rainbow runner. Another boat that trolled all the way to Santa Rosa reef caught two Marlin. The highlights of this trip were one big Mahi and Wendell and Bordo teaming up to bring in a Mahi on the spinning gear! Good times!

[Mackeral Snatcher]

Awesome reading and pics

[Night Moves]

Thanks for the props! Glad to do it.

After spending all last weekend in the boat doing upkeep, I was ready for another trip even if the last one was only 10 days prior. The weather forecast changed everyday as the drop in the winds seamed to keep moving farther out and as we targeted Sunday as the most favorable day. It too seamed like it might not be as good as it looked earlier in the week as we prepared to head out. I was hoping for it to lay down on Saturday night so we could make the long run to White Tuna. It settled down to 10-13 all night and that was enough to make the run possible. Big question was, would it pick up during the day like it has the last few trips and make the 40+ mile run back in ****ty?



We got an early start and were on the water at 0530. The run takes you right over Galvez and as soon as we got there at sun up, there were 100 birds piled up and it was soooo hard not to stop and start fishing. I looked at Dustin as it wouldn't have taken much for me to stop. Dustin stuck to the plan and motioned to keep running. With it being such a long run, you want every minute there to fish cause you can't stay there til 1600 and expect to make it back in before dark. Man that was tough, but I was sure it would be worth it. Past Galvez, right by baby, past stu and on to the top of White Tuna. A good hour and a half run. No birds to speak of, but we hooked up to a nice Mahi within 15 min of trolling and then another, and another. We kept working out way down seeing just a handful of birds that almost all held fish. We worked in a few Wahoo and some Rainbow Runner. I figured since we had the RR, another Slam would be a given! I even keep think of what spread I wanted to put out when we saw and started chasing the bird piles for Tuna. Theres always Tuna at White Tuna! But alas, it wasn't to be. We didn't see a single Yellowfin or Skipjack all day. We did however catch the banks namesake, a dogtooth Tuna otherwise known as a "White Tuna". He was just a little guy and to keep the Karma on the Kuleana going strong, we threw him back to grow up to be a 200lb monster that we can come back and jig up one day.



At about 1400, we had made the full round trip down the East side and back up. We didn't feel like gambling on the back side as the front had been so productive. I knew we would have a good shot at a Marlin if we trolled all the way back in the deep water, but to maximize or fishing time, we picked up the lines and did a little "run and gun" to Stu bank, then baby on to Galvez. We even baited up the spinning rods and had a blast bringing in a few more Mahi that followed in our hooked fish. Pulled in the lines at Galvez NE and ran back to Agat arriving at 1730. 12 hours on the water. Finished with 13 Mahi, 4 Wahoo, 2 Rainbows and the Doggie. Mahi averaged a nice size. I hope they stick around just a little longer! Hook up ratio was a little off today as we had about 10 knockdowns that didn't stay hooked. Most were Mahi who took to the sky and did somersaults and back flips to get off. By the time we got the boat washed and cleaned up, it was 2100. After waking up at 0340 that sure makes for a long day, but great days on the water like that are worth it. Its awesome to be able to enjoy Guams beauty and catch some fish in the process!

[privateer19]

All of your reports really make me want to fish there. Great work.

[J-Rod]

Whats up with the guy always wearing dirtbike jerseys. Damn jealous sirrrrr.

cheers

[dolfanjoey]

Great reports. Thanks for posting.

[Night Moves]

Well for all of my faithful followers that have been waiting for a current report, all I can say is sorry for taking so long. It's just hard to write a report when you don't take a break from the fishing!



My life long fishing buddy who I credit with restarting my fishing addiction flew in from Alaska for a week of hard core fishing, so I took leave in hopes of writing a new chapter in our fishing adventures! I fished growing up in south Florida, but once I joined the Navy I didn't do it as much being in different locations and not knowing anyone who fished. That all changed on my first tour in Pensacola when I met Mike. He just purchased a new Dusky 233 CC "Night Moves" with a 225 Evenrude OB and was ready to start hitting the fish hard. And fish hard we did. At the risk of our marriages, we fished days that should have put us in the dog house for good. Mothers day, anniversaries, birthdays, you name it. If not for two of the most understanding and awesome wives we still have, we would have never been able to pull it off. I brought out everything I had learned fishing in my youth and Mike came up with some leading edge ideas of places and ways to fish. We routinely made 30-40 mile runs back when most boats thought getting 9 miles out to the Russian freighter was a haul. Mike picked spots by looking at the charts and we would be the only boat anchored out on the ledge between Destin and P-cola. The only other boats we would see was the battle wagons out of Destin trolling the ledge for Wahoo which we also caught by floating live baits under balloons. We hooked Sailfish, Blackfin Tuna, Mahi, Kings and more Bonita than I can count. We also bottom fished and scored somenice Gag/Black Grouper, big Red Snapper, AJs and Mingos for everybody! We really had it wired! Fast forward 16 years after tours in Jax, Alaska, and Key West for him and Guam and more Pensacola and Guam again for me. His boat is where I came up with my fishing forum name as I took care of it for 3 years in Pensacola. The boats finally gone after 14 good years, but the spirt lives on with every post.



Mike had been talking about a trip to Guam for years and as my time here neared an end he made the effort to get here with a grueling flight that was only made worse by travel for his work just 7 hours prior to departing for Guam. He got in early Sunday morning and got some much needed sleep. That day was seeing some sights and prepping for the fishing that was to come. The weather forecast called for light winds starting Tuesday so I had big plans starting then. Monday was 10-15 so we did a half day and tried to hook a Marlin. It is a little early in the season so we didn't hook up. Only got a Yellowfin which made for some good dinner. Tuesday was the big trip. I gathered a great crew consisting of Dustin, Wendell and Bordo. Not too many guys willing to just take off work mid week for fishing at the drop of a hat, but these guys all share my addiction. The plan was to overnight out at white tuna and do some trolling, shallow bottom fishing and then head deep and drop some sword baits.



The weather forecast was dead on for a change. 5-10 knot winds with less than 2' waves and a 3' swell. Perfect! Mike brought the tunes and the boat was jamin down memory lane. We started trolling at Galvez and worked our way down catching a mix of everything though it didn't start out so good with us pulling the hook on a nice 30-40 Mahi. We hooked him in the shallows and thought a shark was after him as we saw a fin pop up behind him. We told Mike to put the heat to him before we realized it was the Mahi's own tail as he was a bigin. We arrived down south in the evening and started to bottom fish and jig. My first drop in 300' was met with my jig getting blasted by a nice Dog Tooth Tuna. Lots of Jacks, Mafuti, Groupers, Snappers and others were coming in the boat, one after the other. Everyone caught some nice Red Snapper called Tugafi here. The big ones are known to carry ciguatera so they all went back, but we must have caught well over 20 of them with the biggest going 30+. Tough fighters and a blast to hook on bottom rigs. We had about an 85% moon so it was almost bright enough to see. The lights on the Kuleana are great. There are a bunch of LEDs that light up the whole boat with out blinding you. Dustin was chompin at the bit to get the sword baits out so we headed out to deeper water right after midnight and threw out the large florescent light he brought and deployed the squid baits. We did a 3-4 mile drift in about 5 hours with the sea anchor out but had no bites. We all got a little sleep with some getting more than others though someone was always awake. You might think it would be hard to get some good sleep on a 27cc with 5 guys. Not for Wendall. He got a solid 8 hours out here only interrupted when Dustin asked him for the bait cooler with the squid in it. Here's where it got ugly. Wendall tried to pass the cooler over his head while lying down and unfortunately turned it sideways and had the squid juice spill right onto his head and into his ear. YUCK!!! Hopefully nothing starts to grow in there!



We cleaned up in the morning and got back to a little trolling and more bottom fishing. The bottom fishing was still on fire and we had to call it quits to get back before too late. We ran back to Galvez and trolled there finding some nice Mahi and even redeemed ourselves on the big Mahi we lost the day before as him or his twin brother pounced on one of our lures and we put him in the cooler. Mike caught all the action on his go pro and it's a fun watch. Bordo placed a great gaff shot and then bailed up the side of the boat after the fish came off the gaff and went nuts in the boat. Smart man! Ran in, swung into the co-op and headed home to clean up the boat. Talk about getting a good nights sleep that night!



I was going to take it easy with just a relax day, but then I remembered how much Mike pushed me on my visit to see him in Alaska. King Salmon fishing till 0200, 2 hour ride home, them him waking me up at 0600 telling me we had a boat to catch in Homer for an overnight Halibut trip and that I could sleep on the boat. We put over 1000 miles on his truck in the ten days I was there and I wasn’t about to let him off the hook. After a great lunch of blackened Mahi sandwiches(Yes Warren, they were enjoyed)We headed to Haputo for some great snorkeling. We had the whole beach to ourselves and had a blast. I figured we would do an island tour on Friday as we were still recovering from the over nighter, but as the evening came, the thought of getting back on the bottom fishing arose. At about 10pm, the idea was enough for Mike to say “lets just go get ice now and see if we want to go tomorrow”. I knew then it was on. He asked if I was comfortable running the boat at night and after giving it the thought it deserved bouncing it off my knowledge of Guam’s waters and the boat’s capability, I said “Yes”. I didn’t call Wendell til about 0800 on Friday as the plan was to head out around noon, fish into the night and come home when ever. Wendall was in, but Dustin and Bordo were out. We added Frank and my son Josh to the mix and away we went. Ran a little over an hour strait down to the southern banks looking for some Skipjack schools for bait, but it was quite as can be. There was almost no wind with a light 3’ swell. We started drift bottom fishing and started catching right away. We had a rod out for Flying Fish that went ripping off with a Mahij umping. He spit the bait, which happened to be a Flying Fish that ate the bait with out us knowing. He kept eating the FF, but the FF had swallowed the hook so there was no way to hook the Mahi and he boogied after a while. The drift was fast and we kept repositioning to get the best passes in productive water. As evening approached we ran to my honey hole and anchored up. I wasn’t sure if anchoring would be a good idea, but we were breaking off a bunch of rigs on the bottom with the fast drift. It was slow at first, but once I deployed the light over the side, it got red hot and did not let up. Lots of Humpback Snapper and Tugafi along with a few nice Uku(Green Jobfish) and lots of Trevally. I’ll let the pictures do the talking on how nice some of the fish were. Everyone got their share. Wendell even got in a couple hours of much needed sleep. We ran out of bait just about as everyone was puttering out. At 0100 we headed in for the smooth ride back in. I ran in with the radar on making sure I painted the fishing buoy and any possible other boats. Got in after 0200 and made our way home. We filled my 162 cooler with fish and ice and had to go to another cooler to hold the rest. Not bad for a last minute trip.



Well, that about did it, Mike had be at the airport at 1500 so after some sleep and a late breakfast there wasn’t much time left for anything. I just hate to think about when he meets up with someone from Guam and tells them he has been here. They are going to think he is lying as he didn’t see any of the sights and will only be able to talk about the fishing! I told him as he was trying to figure out if he could come that we only live once and we have to make the most out of it. I am forever grateful he made the effort to come and write another chapter in our fishing adventures together. It needed to be done and we made it a huge success! Here’s to life long fishing buddies…

[Plane Fish n]

jon,

GREAT REPORT as usual!!!

I'm really sorry we couldn't get together when I was in Guam twice during my last trip. Too bad I wasn't there a week later but hey... that will come sooner than later. Can't wait to go fishing with you guys.

BTW... thanks for the info on the Chamorro festival. We will hit it the next Wednesday we are there. My copilot and I spent the days snorkeling around the reef at the resort which was kind of neat.

We also drove around the island and stopped at some places I hadn't seen since 1974.

It was also cool seeing Anderson and Iwo Jima again.

Take care buddy... .Congrats on putting your buddy back on fish again and speak soon.

Cheers