# Thanks Tai fishermen on the Royal Star.



## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

I am really happy and satisfied after I read the Royal Star report.
The report by Capt Tim of the Royal Star could change the perception of tuna fishing with light, but powerful jigging/popping tackles ,which I liked to see it happen for so long. 
Whenever I posted my opinions of tuna jigging and tackles on sites of the West Coast, I was extremely careful not to offend them. Still I got some criticism not to use heavy enough tackles for big tuna. 
Many doubted or didn't believe when I said I landed a 100 lbs tuna with such liht jigging tackles in 10 minutes, and light drag kills you, not the sizes of takcles you use.  
Those who doubt or criticize are not novices fishermen, but usually regular members with lots of fishing experiences of their own. 
They judge from their knowedge and their own experiences, and are very hard to accept someone tells something which they are not familiar with. 
The first West Coast fisherman who sent me a PM after reading the Royal Star report is David ( wahoodad) and said 'I stand corrected, they are doing well.' David is regarded as one of the best among long range fishermen and I know he was skeptical about fighting big tuna with light tackles. It shows why he is such a great fisherman. He open his mind to accept new things. 
Thanks Tai fishermen. You made them believe. 

____________________
*From the Royal Star*
*A remarkable side note, to me anyway, is the performance of the Thai anglers using high grade spinning tackle to land these spirited 100 - 150# class yellowfin tuna. By mentioning this I am far from attempting to begin a new trend, but I have to admit that I am fascinated by the success ratio on the big spinners that defies just about every idea of big yellowfin tuna fishing that west coast tuna fishermen entertain. With the Shimano "Stella" 2000 series reels loaded with one hundred thirty pound spectra and mono top shots, and short, beefy rods, time and again these incredibly capable fishermen made short work of yellowfin tuna in a size class that most southland anglers would hardly believe possible, or assign to the pure luck category. Between pulling like madmen, an obviously elevated skill set, and premium equipment designed for duty far more extreme than I imagined, these anglers have expanded my fishing knowledge by a wide margin. And like I mentioned these successful battles are not long drawn out nightmares on the brink of disaster at all times. Over the past few days I have witnessed at least twenty five battles with yellowfin tuna over one hundred pounds on the spinning tackle that last an average of five to ten minutes.
Today took the cake however as a couple of anglers threw down against yellowfin in the one hundred forty to one hundred fifty pound class using the spinners and again commanded the outcome dishing out straight punishment against their opponents that were landed in about ten to fifteen minutes. Amazing. I have to admit that I am really hoping for a few giants to latch on tomorrow as my skepticism has been soundly rebuked in every respect thus far. Now I really want to witness the outcome of a skirmish with a 200 pound class tuna on the spinning tackle. I know what my idea of the outcome is. But, like I said, thus far my notions about the capability of this tackle have been authoritatively proven wrong.
*


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## stryper (Nov 10, 2008)

Lets hope they get into some quality like Tim says


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

*from Greg report*

I thought he brought Hots 77XXXH popping rod. Hots One Pitch Slider showed strength and resilianace when we fought a couple of 200 lbs bluefin in Cape Cod last season. But I am afraid to use those graphite rods on big party boats as you easily bang against the boat when big tuna charge under the boat. 
Greg tried to break my 350g Black Hole rod ?  

*
2/17/10 Clarion Island 
"It was grease calm today and we had a pick of fish this morning. Then nothing for 6 hours, then as the sun set, the jig bite went off a bit. One of the Thai guys hooked 2 nice fish on a jig. Tonight it finally happened, I got the right fish on a jig. I used a FCL 230gm Labo jig on the 350 gm Black Hole, jigging master PE 6 reel with 80lb. JB hollow braid. (There was snickering from the west coast contingent.) The rod handled just fine, even though I tried my best to break it. I high sticked it for all it was worth and it still wouldn't break. Sorry Kil! I landed a 120 lb. yellow fin tuna. 2 casts later I hooked an idential fish, but after a 100 yd run, it spit the hook. Using these barbless hooks its hard to keep the fish buttoned up. 
There is still some resistance from the west coast crowd, but they are evn slowly seeing the light with the new tackle. 
We still haven't seen the 200 plus cows that Clarion is famous for, much the dismay of the regulars. " 
Greg says pics will follow but the video might be disappointing, because when the bite is on, he is fishing. 
2/18/10 Quick update, final report to follow 
"The bite is really going off today and we are finally on bigger fish. I landed a personal best and trip best yellow fin tuna, 152 cm and 155 lbs. On a Hots Gipang 79XH popping rod and branbus lure (Greg tells me that this is a stickbait?), shamano stella 20000 reel with 80 lb. JB hollow braid. The wind picked up to 15 knots. We were flying a kite bait on the offside. They started blowing out of the kite bait, so I flipped out and immediaty was bit. After that fish, I got 2 bites on my second cast. I went 5/7 on yellow fin. Had 2 - 100 pounders eaten by sharks, landed another fish at 110 and the rest were around 50 lbs." 
Note from the wife, Greg said he'd call with the rest of the report tonight and hopes the jigging bite will go off later. 
2/18/10 End of day 
"Had 2 more bites on on the brabus, but no good hook ups. We had about 80 fish for the day and least 50% in the 120-150 range. The broken rod report from 2 of the Thai guys includes 2 hots 1 pitch sliders, broken under the first guide when a fish ran under the boat. A Shimano blue rose and and orgininal blue rose where the top 3 guides flattented out under heavy drag." Greg said I was to post that this is an unbiased report as to what happened with the gear. 
2/19/10 am report (left on my voice mail) 
"10:30 am and what a great morning, went 5/7 with one pulled hook and 1 top shot failure. Another fish fell to the brabus lure. 110lbs in 10 minutes. Will call with a full report later." 
From the wife - Greg said he already caught 4 or 5 fish with the top shot before it failed, which bugs me because I spent a good part of the winter making those top shots. 
2/19/10 end of the day report 
"Today was amazing, simply amazing. 4 fish on the Brabus lure, 2 made it to the boat, 2 spit the hook. 1 - 115lb and 1 - 110lb. Went for 7/11 all 100lbs. or better. Had 2 nice fish get sharked too. 1 - 190lb. yellow fin today with most of the fish 100lb or better. Tagged about 63 fish. It was just an absolutely unbelieveable day. It was a pretty great trip over all with 500 fish tagged." 
It was about 7:15 pacific time when I taked to Greg last, he was headed to the shower and a very early night. He'll be back Sunday night late and I'm certain he have corrections for my posts and photos soon after. *


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Reflections and some photos from the Royal Star!! 
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I have many many thoughts on this trip. Heather did a great job relaying my reports in the 5-10 min sat phone calls from the boat that I called in nightly to keep everyone updated.
I usually do not post a lot because I dont like to get involved in the flaming that occurs when someone posts their opinion. I would like to engage in a discussion on my opinions formed while on this trip.
First, the boat and crew are awesome, second to none. The food was amazing, cruise ship quality.
On to the fishing and what worked and what didn't work. I have been worrying about my brand new accurate since Travis told me about his blowing up this summer. Well, it came completely apart at the seams on the second day. I hooked a ton of tuna the first couple days on jigs. A 180gm FCL Labo jig was on fire. I was fishing 100lb momoi diamond baid on the accurate which I like a lot and about 35lbs of drag. I had 3 fish, probably around 100lbs pull 100yds of line before shaking the jig. Anyway, the reel seized up good and the right side plate is pulling away, the screw completely stripped out. This really ****** me off because that was my "big fish reel" i had mounted on a 500gm jigging master rod. I called Kil a week before I left begging for any way to get a PE8 reel before the trip, but there was no way.
The amount of jack life around Benedicto was amazing. We were not allowed to target them, but any time a jig of any size or shape got near the bottom, you were on! Mostly blackjacks or "choapas" as they are negatively known as but also amberjacks and 2 other kinds of smaller jacks.

We could not fish Soccorro Island due to Mexican naval exercises, what a joke. A 70 mile round trip for nothing! Went back to Benedicto for an afternoon of wahoo and tuna. We spent very little time targetting wahoo due to extremely high post release mortality by the local shark population which can be ravenous. As soon as we got a stike on the marauders, they slow the boat "on the slide". You cast a raider or hammered diamond jig back as far as you can (I was using a salitga 50 with an acid wrapped GUSA Wahoo, AWESOME rod for that) let it sink 10-15 secs and wind as fast as you can. When you get a bite, do NOT swing, just keep reeling. It is very difficult to do as every fiber of your being wants to make you swing.
Roca Partida was loaded with small tuna in the shallows. Unfortunately the sharks were unbearable. It was a jiggers dream as I got 1-3 bites PER DROP! I fished mostly the PE6 reel and black hole 350gm rod with 80lb JB hollow. I lost 15 jigs this day.
We got to spend 5 days at Clarion Island. It had its ups and downs. The jig bite was very good in the evening especially one night when I got a 120lber on a 230gm Labo after one of the Thai guys hooked up. I KNOW it looked to all the west coast guys like I was getting worked by this fish because it was bent to the foregrip. In actuality it was quite easy. The PE6 reel was flawless! It can easily take up line any time you need to. I hooked a similar sized fish the very next cast but the hook pulled. The barbless hooks were extremely hard to keep buttoned up since the violent head shakes cause them to pull.
The highlight of the trip for me was when I finally employed the popping rod. One day we chased bird school after bird school over breaking fish. I was ASTOUNDED that I only had 2 fish boil on a sashimi slider. I threw everything I had but no luck. Also, I never had a jig bite when we pulled into a "spot" of fish in spite of boils around the boat and multiple hookups on live sardines. Anyway, the second to last day the kite was very hot with quick hookups common. My first cast with a Brabus I came tight on a 152cm 155lb yellowfin on my Gipang 79xh with a stella 20k and 80lb test JB hollow. I beat it in about 15-20 min. It was the biggest fish of the trip up until that point!
Here's pics of the 120lber I got on a jig with the 350gm blackhole rod and PE6 reel, the 155lber and 110 I got on the brabus with my Gipang 79XH and stella 20k casting downwind where they were blowing up under the kite baits


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## pqd (May 30, 2009)

What accurate reel is he talking about coming apart at the seams Ksong?


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

pqd said:


> What accurate reel is he talking about coming apart at the seams Ksong?


 BX2 600


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## pqd (May 30, 2009)

Did I read that right or did he typo it? The Stella 2000 or 20000?


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## pqd (May 30, 2009)

Sorry I meant off of the first post where he mentioned the Stella 2000 landing 100 lb class fish.


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