Adventures with Ben Secrest

Accurate Crew hits the East Cape.

2009-11-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

The Accurate crew took a worksman's Holiday this last week and spent some time fishing the waters off Punta Arenas for some pelagic gamefish with good success. Myself, Douglas, David, and Jack were joined by Sean Montgomery for three days of fun fishing on Mark Rayor's 35 foot Innovator, the Jen Wren. We set up came at John Irelands Rancho Leonero, which if you haven't been there you definitely need to visit. It's old time Mexico at its finest with small, quaint rooms with patio's on each one. Great atmosphere located on the bluff above the beach.
This trip was to review products and that is what we did. The first day we saw a full blown bite on Sailfish which was a kick on the Boss 870NXC and the 7030 Xnergy rod. This was the perfect outfit complimented by the AccuBraid 50 lb and 40 lb P-line top shot. We used Blackwater 60lb leader and live mackerel to get the job done. We also had a decent Dorado bite with fish to 20 lbs the first day, great snacks with the after fish drinks.
The second day saw a completely different turn of events. We did not see any billfish except one jumper as we drove towards a porpoise school that ended up holding some nice YFT's.
We had our Halco 195 Laser pro's in the pattern and "boom" it hit the fan. When the dusk settled I had one 30 lb tuna and Douglas had one about 75 lbs. We caught back up to the school and bingo, it all started again with one more about 75 lbs for Sean and a couple more small ones. Total for the day was six tunas ranging from 25 lbs to 75 lbs all on Boss 870NXC's with 50 lb Accubraid. The "Small reels Big fish" was definitely happening and we were loving it.
Our third and final day we saw no life after the wind blew out of the north but we kept our hopes up and were rewarded late in the afternoon with one Sailfish for David, a nice 50 lb tuna for Douglas, and my best ever, a 50 lb Dorado which all came from a small pod of porpoise 30 miles out.
The trip overall was awesome with a lot of fresh ideas discussed and some fond memories for years to come. We missed our friend Del but on the last day we left part of him right in front of Mark's house, a place he loved dearly. We all miss Del but knew he was on the deck for every fish we caught.
Hope your fishing adventures are as successful.
Till next time.

Ben

Local Yellowfin With Bongo Joe

2009-09-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lucky for us, Dave's friend Pete had booked a trip on the charter boat
Bongos and invited all of us to go. Dave, Douglas, Pete, and I all met
up earlyThursday morning to go chase the local yellowfin tuna everyone
had been catching on the paddies and under the porpoise schools. We got
down to Davey's locker at 5 am to meet Joe and Marty, load the boat and
head off in search of theYFT's.
We met up with Pete's friends and
our six pack was complete and ready to roll. We stopped by the bait receiver and filled
the tanks with bait, bigger dean and mini mack. Then tried making some mackerel in
front of the jetty for nothing.
Joe headed out towards the 277 and
turned it south towards the 43 running a course over the 289 as we
headed towards the border. We baited a few paddies forNada and kept
going until we started to see some life. We were a few shy of the 289
when we saw some terns working. As we got closer we could see breaking
fish under the birds. We put the boat in close proximity to the birds
and threw some bait which instantly got boiled on. It was game on with
all rods bendo and mass mayhem going on in the corner. The bite lasted
about 45 minutes with 16 or 17 fish boated in the 15 to 25 pound range.
Much better grade of fish than I expected.
We continued the search
for more birds and porpoise schools which we found one that cooperated
that ended our day with 21 fish total and one fish towards the 35 lb mark.
As
we sped in towards Newport we ran into huge bird schools with the local
5am to 5pm boats chasing them trying to get baits to the fish for very few
fish. Joe's idea to make the run paid off for us and we really had a
good day of fishing while it lasted.
I really look forward to the next trip before the year comes to an end.
Hope you find some time to catch a few. Until the next trip.

Ben

The Passing of My Mentor.

2009-09-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends I am sad to tell you that on September 6th, 2009 my favorite fishing friend passed onto the big waters in the sky. He was my best friend, fishing buddy, most knowledgable guy I knew, he was my dad. Ben Secrest Sr. was the one that gave me my start in the world of fishing which has lead to a lifelong passion and career letting me do what I love to do.
Without his love and support throughout the years I would have never been able to attain my dreams and aspirations. He always had time to take me fishing and enojoyed his self no matter what the conditions were. From the days of bluegills with a small hand made cane rod to fishing his love, the green bass, my dad was my hero. He was always there no matter what, his support and guidance have shaped my life, and those of you who knew him have an idea of what I am talking about. The man never had a harsh word to say about anyone and loved my mom whole heartedly.
I hope the pond he is fishing has a load of 8 to 10 pounders and its all topwater, his favorite technique to fish. Send a prayer out for old Ben, a true fisherman and the greatest man I ever knew.

I hope all your time on the water is memorable.

Till the next time.

Ben

Accurate visits Norway the land of the Goliaths.

2009-08-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry for the late post but been on planes all over and just got home to share the adventure of our Norway expedition.
We have a Pro Staff guy in Tromso Norway Per Jonasson, who has told me for a while about stories of giant halibut over 400 pounds being caught up in the north land so with an invite from a friend we traveled up to see what we could catch. My crew included Doug Olander and his beautiful wife, and John Beath, noted outdoor writer.
My adventure started at LAX and after flying accross the United States and into Oslo (13 hours) with a 8 hour delay in Oslo, ended two hours later in Tromso, Norway.
I was greeted by Per at the airport and driven to his fish hide away, some forty minutes north.
Remember in Norway this time of year there is no night time, its light 24 / 7 and can play tricks on your body. Per had a couple other writers / friends staying with him, Peder and Soren who were very hardcore fishing from 6 am to 11 or 12am everynight catching a lot of fish between 100 and 200 pounds.
My first day on the boat with the guys was very slow with me hooking one nice fish that came unbuttoned quickly. The bait of choice was a savage swim bait baby calico color (brown, gold, and black) on a 6 oz lead head. All the fishing was done in 50 to 75 feet which was completely different than my Alaska fishing. The key to the fishing was you could use smaller reels with braid because the fish coul not spool you in deep water.
My personal experience with big Halibut is they don't pull really hard and if you keep constant, even pressure on them they swim to the boat rather easily. This wasn't the case here, these fish would smoke an initial run like a Bluefin and you couldn't control them unless you put the drag up, and I mean up around 18 to 20 lbs. This was a real workout but it gave the tackle the test that I like to see.
We caught a few nice halibut over the five days but to watch Per on one that taped over 200 pounds with all the drag and land the fish within 15 to 20 minutes was amazing.
I truly learned what kind of drag it took to stop a fish like that and how our little B-197XC could handle it. He has been doing this for a few years with lots of fish between 100 to 200 pounds under his belt, and his reel of choice, a single speed B-197 with a 6:1 gear ratio.
Besides the Halibut we also caught Atlantic Cod and the ugly Wolf fish that looks like a monkey's head on an eels body.
The weather was unseasonably warm with 70 to 75 degrees during the warmer days and maybe 50 degrees in the morning as we ran out to the fishing grounds.
We all got our chance at the bigger fish and we caught some decent ones but this trip turned into the "One that got away" with that happening to all of us at least once.
I had one fish light me up for several minutes, as we started to follow him with the boat he feel off but he pulled as hard as anything I have hooked throughout my years of fishing.
A real stud, like a pitbull on steroids chasing the local mail man.
All said in done, this was one of the most unique trips I have every taken with a great group of people to share it with.
I would definitely get back to Tromso to chase that Goliath Halibut hoping to land the trophy of a lifetime.
Thanks to Per for his guidance, it was much appreciated.
I hope we are able to get back there and give it another shot some day.

Till the next trip, hope your time on the water is productive.

Ben

A Day on the Ohinemuri River

2009-05-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

At Accurate they really keep us hopping either looking for new ideas or spending time traveling to far away places doing shows or better, spending time on the water. I recently returned from the Auckland Boat show in New Zealand and had the pleasure of spending a day trout fishing with Brett Tapper, father of our distributor, Kane Tapper of Decoro Fishing.
I spent all night flying from LAX and upon arrival at a early bird 4:45am Wednesday morning (left on Monday and lost a day in the air)was greeted by Brett who had everything ready to go.
Sun was coming up to a rather brisk day, maybe 51 degrees with a little rain and we were off. If you have a dream of rolling farm lands with the coolest green color intermixed with cattle and flowing rivers, this is the place.
After a couple hours on the road we reached our destination, the Ohinemuri river, which reminded me of the days I spent fishing the west Walker river with my dad as a young boy. The morning was rather slow with a few fish caught but as the sun heated up the water in between rain showers the fishing started to get good. The river itself is full of solid riffs with a lot of larger rocks casting shadows. As we worked our spinners down through these riffs and into the shadows we ended up catching a lot of 12" fish with a few larger models but the brown trout eluded us.
Mid day Brett fired up his portable stove and brewed up some fresh coffee and made the best corn beef sandwiches possible followed by home made cake and cookies. Then he set off to find the old Brown trout hole on some private land he knew. As we walked through the pastures to get to these hidden holes I opted to go North and he went south on the stretch. Unfortunately for me he landed the nice brown we where looking for and I ended up with one more rainbow.
As luck has it, after the last fish the skies opened up and poured on us. I could not have had a better day knowing I had to stay awake to get on there time zone and trust me with fishing like that it was hard to remember I was tired. I want to say thanks to Brett and Kane for their time and this for sure will not be the last time I fish the Ohinemuri in pursuit of those legendary big browns.
Hope all is well with you and your upcoming fishing is off the hook.
Cheers Ben.

In Search of the Golden Lady

2008-12-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I got a call from a friend, Brandon Hayward, and he wanted to fish the beach looking for a large Calico bass, hopefully getting a bruiser for a photo. We met up at 5:00 am at my house, hooking up the skiff and getting down to the launch ramp around 5:30 am with coffee in hand.
We were greeted with flat calm seas, over cast skies and an air temp around 50 degrees.
Once launched we set our course up the beach to a few stones I have fished over the years which in the hay day would produce the fat ones. We fished diligently through the first hour without a bite then Brandon caught our first keeper around 2.5 pounds on a swimbait. As the tide started its way down from a 7 + foot high(highest of the year) with a 61 degree water tempature, we were in position to get a big bite.
Brandon started off getting smoked without getting a solid hookset with the fish coming unbuttoned. I had the same happen after one them doubled my heavy Lamiglass rod and took line off a REVO 50 with new AccuBraid line on it. I was starting to wonder if we had our chances when I got bit again, this time getting a solid hook set and the fish dogging deep. At first with the head shakes I thought we were going to see a nice sea bass until I saw a brown shadow below the boat. It dogged me for a minute or so until I was able to get it close to the boat. It was a solid fish that felt pretty hefty. It had been awhile since I had caught a fish as nice as this one so I really enjoyed it. We took a round of pictures and I released her back into her stones. I was really happy to have the deep teeth marks in the palm of my hand, knowing she was the biggest fish I had caught in a couple years for sure. It was nice to see that with all the pounding our local stuff takes there are still a few goods one to catch.
I had a nice morning until about noon when the wind started blowing out of the south and I knew I had to go straight into it on the way home.
I love fishing the Calicos and really appreciate the chance to test our new products(AccuBraid) to see what they are made of. I appreciate the time on the water with friends, sharing stories and creating new ones of the fish either lost or the ones caught. However I look at it, I am definitely blessed and couldn't ask for a better life. I hope your Holidays are good ones and you spend some time on the water. Until our next outing, I hope all your fish are big ones.

Ben

Fishing Flamingo with "Hitman" Eddy Carmen

2008-11-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Florida Saturday night to spend some time with my good friend Ed Carmen of the Biscayne Rod Legacy. I have known Ed for over twenty years, sharing many fishing adventures with him and his brothers and we planned to head off to Flamingo (Florida State Park) first thing Sunday morning. After a great dinner with the family we hit the hay and were up at 5 am ready for the hour drive south. For those of you who have not heard of Flamingo, it is the state park located right across from the keys near Florida City that has a myriad of fish living in its shallow waters. The species include tarpon, bonefish, redfish, seatrout, and the elusive snook. We have had many good trips catching all the species but this trip we are heading down with 40 mph winds and the first cold snap they have seen this year in Florida.
Our day started out with Ed's son Zach pushing for position on the front deck, I knew the competition was on and here used his local knowledge to slam dunk me in the morning with two snook and two redfish to my one lady fish. As the afternoon wore on I finally put a red in the boat myself but was well aware that the conditions had us beat.
I really appreciate the few good friends I have, Ed is truly one of them. Their are a lot of people that move through your life over the years but the ones that linger are usually the true friends.
I had a great time with Ed and his son Zach. I really enjoy staying with him and revisiting the old fishing trips, they live on in our minds which I plan on enjoying for years to come.
I hope you are able to spend time fishing with friends over the Holidays catching some fish that pull drag.
Until next, good fishing to you.

Ben

Our final day on the reef: Swimming with the Sharks

2008-10-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our final day on the reef starts with the same weather we have seen for the last couple days, wind and swell. We got up nice and early to get a start on the reef chasing the dream of catching a grander but the twins opted for a dive first thing. We had anchored by a balmy (Coral Head) and the water was maybe 30 feet with great visibility all around the head and on top was maybe four feet deep. As they got into the water myself and the deckies didn't feel adventurous so we declined the invitation for the morning dive.
I sat patiently watching the twins swim around the coral head looking at the abundant sea life and snapping pictures when Dave's head popped up and said there was a big shark to the side of them.
They grouped together and started to swim back at the boat when in their words the 6 foot Black tip shark charged them never getting more that 6 feet from them but very agitated.
After hanging with the twins for several years they are very daring and when they told me the entire story I believed it 100%. For me I will stay land based or on top of the water surfing.
After their thrilling swim we headed off to fish bait for a while than off to the grounds outside the reef. We got our baits out and put the laser down the middle for any additional by catch that might be available. Within an hour we saw the laser rig go off and Dave landed a nice forty pound Yellow fin tuna, this was followed by a nice Dorado, then another Yellow fin in the same size range.
We fish towards afternoon knowing we had to get into Cook town by 4:00 pm and as luck has it we had a nice one up and actually had him on for a short time before losing him. This was our last shot for Bill fish and the reef adventure was coming to an end.
We raced to get into Cook town to catch our 5:05 pm flight and made it in with time to waste. If you are talking going back in time, this place hasn't see the changes that today's society brings.
John Cook used this port to fix his boat after he ran aground on the reef. He was there several months before the boat was ready to sail. The airport and plane reminded me of the earlier days of flying to the Bahamas on the east coast. It was definitely a roller coaster ride with some unique Carney operators. Once we landed in Cairns it was like being back in the home lands and we were off for a good pizza and some rest for our 16 hour flight home.
We visited the local stores and saw a couple friends prior to hitting the hay.
Its been a great trip and the opportunity to travel with some friends sharing the same interests has been really enjoyable. I look forward to visiting Australia next year.
Till my next blog. Hope all your fish are feisty ones.

Ben

Day Three on Ribbon Reef Number Four

2008-10-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Day three saw another day of 4 to 6 foot seas and 25 knots of wind. After a quick dive behind the reef we got to catching bait behind the reef. Our daily usage of bait is around 4 scads and usually a couple scaly mackerel or a tuna. The bait is abundant behind the reef which is caught on Halco Laser lures (rapala like lure) on a 665 loaded with 65 lb braid on a fairly stiff rod. Why the such a big set up for smaller bait fish? We learned why on the third day with several as they call them "Long Tail Tuna" which to us is a blue fin tuna. These fish were between 20 to 50 pounds and would smoke us on a regular bait rod with 30 lb. We ended catching a few on morning three and we used them for skip baits for our big bait. The boys run two rods on the outriggers, one with the small scad that is rigged to swim down and looks like its very much alive. The other rod is rigged with a bigger bait usually a scaly mackerel of 10 to 15 pounds or a long tail tuna up to 25 pounds. The Blacks do not have a problem eating the bigger baits, even a small male will get in and give it a try.
After the bait fishing we headed straight out to the reef where we find fish right on the outside of the reef to the outside fathom curves. Laurie was fired up on the #4 ribbon reef with many stories on thousand pound fish caught here and it didn't take long before we saw a small male in the baits that ate a bait and spit it before we even got to the rod. This was the beginning of a frustrating day of bites with no fish hooked. We saw one more bite on the scad and then had a couple fish in the baits just checking things out but no action. Interesting fact with the Black marlin is they turn black when they get charged up to bite versus the neon colors the Stripe or Blue marlin turn when they are excited.
David also caught a fifty plus pound Wahoo on the laser rig down the middle we troll for tunas or other type of baits swimming in the action zone. It was a beautiful fish but they are let go normally because there are tastier fish to eat. After a full day of fishing we ended up camping behind number 4 reef and busted out the gentleman jack and bundy for a great ending to our day of fishing. We ate a great dinner and cap it off with a good cigar ready to give our best effort for the last day.
I will fill you in on that outcome tomorrow.

Ben

Day Two on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

2008-10-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Dave, Doug, and I had a phenomenal first day on the Lyndon Bank to start our Great Barrier fishing adventure catching a fish each and seeing other boats near by catching fish in the 900 and over range. We set up camp behind the reef that night and had a fantastic Laurie Wright dinner of Coral trout caught jigging in the afternoon by "Mr. Jigger" Douglas Nilsen. After dinner we shared some fish stories, imagine that, and hit the hay knowing the hunt for big fish was on.
Day two saw a different face on the Lyndon Bank with solid 4 to 8 foot seas and 20 knots of wind. After several passes over the bank we started heading north towards the ribbon reefs fishing opal and number one seeing two fish all day that followed the baits for a long period of time, never lighting up or charging the baits. For me it was a dream come true, spending all day sitting next to Laurie who has had hero status in my eyes as well as some of the top skippers in the world.
He was very thorough with his electronics as he fished all the high spots, focusing a majority of the time fishing the deeper troughs leading to the shallow water. If he saw a fish or we got a bite he focused on the area and boxed it in to see if there was more than one fish.
We spoke a lot about tackle and he was a major proponent for circle hooks with the health of the fish in mind, but so far we are 3 for 3 but I am still not sold. The bait rigging was very interesting and I spent a lot of time watching Dingo and Davo rig the scads and scaly mackerels with final outcome being the most realistic swimming dead baits I have seen.
The highlight of the day for me was Laurie's stories about the beginning of his career on the reef and his exploits in Hawaii, Mexico, and Bimini. Laurie is a wealth of knowledge with a variety of species targeted and caught throughout the world. Laurie and Peter B Wright are the last of the old time skippers on the reef and I feel very honored to being able to say that I know them and have shared time on the water with them. It will be interesting to see the next generation of skippers who are presently sharpening their teeth on the reef learning the ins and outs of catching granders plus innovating new bait rigging techniques.
I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings for us on the reef.

Ben

Accurate's first Day at the Lyndon Bank in Australia

2008-10-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

We started our day waking up to fresh coffee and toast compliments of the Wrights watching the sunrise over the hills at their beautiful farm up on the table lands above Cairns, Australia.
After little work on the computer we were off to the boat where Dingo and Davo were awaiting our arrival to start our adventure on the reef. Once on the boat all the big tackle was thoroughly checked by the crew with 130 lb mono and a 400 pound top shot on both the ATD 130 reels that were matched to a pair of 180 unlimited custom rods that Laurie had since he started fishing the reef. If those rods could only talk, imagine the stories they could tell. They have been re wrapped several times and still look good to go. The boys scaled the drags on the ATD 130's with strike being about 60 lbs of drag. Whats interesting is talking with Laurie he rarely used more than 60 lbs of drag even on the biggest fish which is contradictory to what most guys say they are using. Its all about the boat driving and the ability of the crew coupled with the angler's ability. I believe that the combination of the these factors and of course the fish increases your percentages to land a big fish. It's like the stars are in alignment and something good happens. Preparation is the key to success with these guys. They know what to do and when to do it.
After all the preparation with the tackle we spent some time going over the cockpit process with the crew upon a fish being hooked and what needs to be done as it is leadered. Most leader guys want the reel in free spool click to avoid any injuries in case they need to let go of the leader during the process.
Once everyone was on the same page it was Doug who got the first shot which didn't take that long. We knew we had a afternoon tidal window and Laurie had a pretty good idea of where the fish would be. It really helps to be with someone that has spent three decades doing this and over 25 granders to his credit. The bite started around 2:30 pm with Douglas getting a feisty little male that put on the aerial display of the trip. The fish was around 175 lbs and jumped throughout the battle thinking he was more bird then fish. After a perfect wiring job by Davo and tag shot by Dingo the fish was off to his next opponent. Watching two really good wire men in the pit together operating on a fish is like watching two really good dancers knowing all the moves, these guys are the best.
Next up on the rod was yours truly, I got up on my perch to watch the baits and it didn't take long before I was hooked up to a 300 lb + fish taking me through the ropes and making me work for the line I retrieved. This fish fought down and only jumped a couple times but gave me another lesson that chair fishing is an art of its own. We got the fish in about 10 minutes and the circle hook came out on the leader before we could tag him. As the afternoon was coming to a close Dave Nilsen was up in the chair and again it didn't take long before he was hooked up to a 400 lb + fish that pulled hard and at one point almost took Dave swimming. This fish was the best of both worlds fighting hard down than coming up with a full aerial routine. It took Dave about 15 minutes but the fish was successfully leadered and tagged. On average to catch a fish for every day on the reef is about average. We kick started the trip with three fish in one afternoon from 175 to 400+ pounds and to tell you the truth are stoked beyond belief hoping that the numbers keep up. The boat driving skills of Laurie coupled with the boys deck ability gives us an added advantage to our catch rate.
I will have more on our Australian adventure tomorrow.

Till then.

Ben

Australia

2008-10-04T12:24:00.001-07:00

In Australia with the Wrights

2008-09-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the land down under this morning early after getting up at 1:30 am to get our flight in Auckland / Sydney then up to Cairns. We are extrtemely fortunate to have friends like Laurie and Julie Wright who opened their home to us for a fantastic dinner and a night of fish stories. It doesn't hurt that Laurie Wright is also one of the most respected Black Marlin skippers in the world with over 25 plus granders to his credit.

We are here to spend four days on the Ningaloo pursueing the large model Black Marlins for the ultimate test of our Accurate ATD 130 reels.

We will be getting on the boat this morning and starting our quest for the fat one with our first stop being the Lyndon Bank in front of Cairns and heading North up the ribbon reefs.

I will be keeping you abreast of our adventure as the internet is available.

I hope all is well with you and hope you find some time to wet a line.

Until next time.

Ben

Accurate encounters New Zealand Kingies

2008-09-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well we have spent a few days preparing for our jigging trip with the boys from DeCorro fishing supplies with all jigs polished and ready to go, and all our knots tied and triple checked we head off to the outside reef in search of the elusive giant Kingie (yellowtail). After a fifty mile run from port in the early morning hours we find ourselves in the open ocean in solid 4 to 6 foot seas with about 20+ knots of wind on it looking extremely nasty. We end up taking a few drifts in 240 to 300 feet of water with our heaviest jigs unable to reach the bottom vertically due to wind drift and heavy cross current.

Our captain, Mark, a very experienced angler, sees this is not going to pan out and suggests running to White Island another twenty miles back to the main land. After a severe beating in a 23 foot aluminum boat riding back up hill in the crap weather we set up in a little better conditions and start some long drifts over some very fishy structures.

It didn't take long before Doug with his Bass Pro Shops Extreme jig hooked the first Kingie and the fight was on. It didn't take long before we got our eyes on the first fish with the new proto reel / and Xnergy rod making short work of the Wiley opponent.

This was the start of a day filled with smaller Kingie's and a great great learning experience for the yanks from overseas. With any type of fishing, the more you pay attention to all the small details, the more you can learn for future fishing use. I had a great time exchanging ideas with the local crew walking away with some new knots and a clearer idea of what their fishery is all about.

Jigging in New Zealand is still in its infancy but with guys like Mark, Kane, and Matt will continue bringing new ideas and techniques to their local fishermen to help them more effectively catch the local Kingies. Our last night we spent at a group dinner in the Tauranga Big Game Club being able to see all the beautiful fish mounts and see how they do it in their country.

This trip has been very eye opening for us and as we head to OZ for a week on the reef we look forward to better weather and bigger fish.

Until next time, hope all your fish are good ones.

Accurate Lands in New Zealand

2008-09-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Houston we have landed. The twins and I landed in NZ at 4:45am and are still waiting for our ride to Rotorunda from our friend Kane. I think he might be lost in action but we will patiently await his arrival. We look forward to seeing the country and fishing the kingies (giant yellowtail).
I will keep you informed of our travels here downunder.
Till the next blog, tight lines.

Ben

Kea Kai does the Pesky Tournament

2008-09-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do not know the Southern California Marlin circuit there are a number of money tournaments and than there are the others like the Master Angler Billfish Tournament and the Los Pescadores Billfish tournament. The later being the funnest tournament on the coast with a variety of personalities running amuck having the times of their lives. You have the Bounder as the tournament boat with Randy Wood and Andy Crean dishing out the the radio chatter and confirming catches. If you haven't done this one you surely should and you leave all the stress at the door its all about having fun.
Our team has fished in it several times and we always have a ball but still try to get the fish to the boat for the annual bagel on the bill release. This year they added the Olympics theme where any angler had to wear the full toga and head dress while fighting the fish.
I was fortunate enough to hook a couple fish and wear the garb for the duration and we had one fish fall off at the leader with a quick release format and we had another fish eat a bait and let him go after about 20 minutes. Both fish were caught on a 870XC with 20 lb MoiMoi line and a 7040C Xnergy Accurate rod. Its amazing how the light, smaller set ups make the whole experience that much more enjoyable. I really believe as anglers catch on that smaller is better and definitely more comfortable, anglers will be scaling down their tackle.
As this Marlin season starts winding down I feel very fortunate to be part of the Kea Kai team and friends with jock, he is a great guy who is the best at what he does and really cares about the resources future.
I look forward to many more tournaments with Jock, Dave, and Charlie sharing those moments that are future memories for those years we can no longer do it.
Tomorrow I am off to NZ for some jigging for kingies than off to the Barrier reef for the Big Black Marlins. I should have some good stories for you in the next week or so.
Until than may all your lines be tight ones.

Ben

2008 MABT: Never Too Old to Learn

2008-09-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Every year we put our best team forward to fish in the MABT (Master Angler Billfish Tournament) which is the most prestigious marlin tournament on the West Coast.
Our annual team includes Jock Albright, Charlie Albright, Dave Elm, and myself on Jock's 44 Pacifica the "Kea Kai" and this year we had a guest from New Zealand, Jocks brother in law Ross.
The tournament was a 2 day tournament Friday and Saturday. The guys had prefished while I was in Alaska and found some honey holes around the islands holding fish. With marlin fishing, "What was good today" doesn't hold true for tomorrow and we found ourselves making changes to the game plan dependent on the conditions which change hourly.
We had good dope (information) that there was a group of fish on the beach in front of San Onfre and checked that first thing Friday morning for sleepers. After looking through the first tide we ended up heading up towards the fleet on the backside of Catalina. We ended up getting up there around 8:50 or so and we started fishing. It didn't take long at all to find out there were a couple fish around Salta Verde. I had put the flat line rod out and was working on getting the right rigger rod out while I was holding the line to put it into the rigger clip I had a fish pull the line out of my hands and it was game on. The fish was very aerial for the first few runs with plenty of jumping and head shakes but on 20 lb nothing that gave us a scare.
While I was fighting the fish on the bow Dave Elm had put the drop back in because we I had seen a couple fish in the jigs and while clearing the lines he got a bite on 12 lb which ended in getting the bait back. The fish continued its hot run with plenty of air action and after 27 minutes we landed the stripe marlin for our first fish on the board. All scoring is done by the line class you catch the fish on which could be 12, 16, 20, or 30 monofilament and all fish are released to fight another day.
The rest of the day we saw a few fish but opted to stay out of the fleet which was like being in a bar during the Super Bowl with many big yachts crusing the zone up west.
We ended the day with two bites, two fish hooked, and one landed.
Saturday started with us having some numbers in front of Northwest Harbor on San Clemente Island and we got up and rolling around 4 am and were on the numbers by 6:15 am and by God's luck we found some sleepers ten minutes before lines in and "hatched them" which in lay mans terms means waited till lines in. All three of us, Charlie, Dave, and myself had our twelve pound rods ready for action and it turned out that the last cast, mine, ended up getting bit at 6:32 am to start off the second day of the tournament. I have caught a lot of stripe marlin in Southern California as well as Mexico and Hawaii but never have I seen a tougher fish in my entire fishing time. With 12 lb test you are unable to pull very hard due to the possiblility of breaking the fish off. There are a lot of variables that come to play while fighting fish on light line. Having the right tackle, a reel with a smooth drag (B270XC), the right rod (Anglers Center 12 lb caster, good line(Momoi IGFA 12 lb), and most importantly a experienced crew. The captain is the most integral part of the team with boat positioning being key and communication with the angler vital. The wireman has to be on his game able to read the conditions on the water and knowing exactly what the fish is doing and able to pounce on the leader at a seconds notice. And the rest of the crew needs to be able to hand out the support and encouragement neccessary while the angler battles these light line opponents with the percentages in the stripe marlin's favor.
Honestly, I have battled a lot of gamefish many of them for several hours including a 291 lb swordfish in front of Dana for 3 hours and five minutes, a 300 lb Thresher on 30 lb for 3 hours 40 minutes, but this fish took the cake. I thought I had seen it all but as they say if you pay attention you can learn something new everday which I did on Saturday.
After fighting this fish for over 5 hours I realized that it was going to come down to who made the first mistake, me or the fish. Hour after hour went by with my focus on several key variables, where is the fish in comparison to the boat, keep the rod bent, and watch how much drag is being put on the fish at all times. It only takes a small mistake to end hours of focused, hard work and you end up empty handed. The importance of the drag on the reel can never be stressed enough especially in 3 to 4 foot seas with the fish traveling up hill. I had between 5 to 8 pounds of drag on the fish the entire fight knowing that if he had too much line out and ran hard I could break him off in the belly of the line between the rod tip and his mouth. I kept him within 50 to 100 yards of the boat the entire battle.
It's amazing how when you are in situations like that your mind plays tricks on you, throwing you vsions of the fish breaking off, thoughts of work or family come in, but the key is to keep your focus on the matter at hand, keeping your rod bent and making sure the line is coming off the reel smoothly and evenly. The whole process might sound simple but effectively keeping the rod bent through smooth, even pumps and regulating the drag dependent on how much line is off the reel, knowing that more line off the reel increases the drag resulting in the angler backing off the drag, and as line is gained putting the drag lever back up to strike. The focus and ability to hold your attention to these variables gives you the stamina to wait out a light line fish with the results being in your favor, if all goes your way.
Well with 7 hours and 50 minutes on the fish, guess what, he made the mistake and came to the surface to show us a flurry of jumps and run around on top. With Jock's excellent boat handling, and wireman Dave's experience, we got the leader and ended up with a release on 12 lb that helped us secure 4th Place High Angler in the tournament but most importantly taught us all something about light line fishing and giving us informtion for our memory banks for future fish with bad attitudes.
This fish swam away from us like with started, fresh and ready to do battle with whover is in his path.
I learned a lot about myself and how important a good drag is on a reel. Without my crew, the light line fish of my lifetime would not have been possible.
Till next time. Have a great time on the water with tight lines. Ben

Day Six in Sitka Sees Silvers go on the Bite

2008-09-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Our last day of the Sitka trip has ended with a very good afternoon of Silver Salmon fishing in the sound. Mac had a honey hole in an inner passage which turned out to be a perfect close for a trip that saw a variety of species caught with a lot of effort on the anglers side. We took the Point Break up the inner passage to an inlet and the Silver fishing was phenomenal on spinners for fish up to 12 lbs, with eight fish caught, and at least that many hooked and dumped.

We saw a lot of pinks and had to wade through the humps to get at the silvers but the aerial antics of these fish is nothing less than awesome with us hooting at each others fish as they erratically fight to the finish. Theresa, Mac, and I didn't even leave the lodge until noon and within in an hour ride had a total blast.

For those of you who have not been to Alaska the variety of fish is great but the atmosphere of where you catch them is breath taking.

This has been a great trip for myself, Rich, and Theresa and if you are looking for a trip to really see the outdoors, Alaska is the place and Frontier Lodge definitely has the accomendations.

If you want to bring your family, friends, or maybe have a business retreat, they have the facility to meet your needs.

Well until the next trip, this is Ben signing out and I hope your fishing time is spent with tight lines and many fish caught.

All my best.

Ben

Day Five Sitka Shows its Nasty Face

2008-09-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today we woke to rain and wind at the lodge hoping for the best we set out for the harbor to get on the point break. Didn't seem that bad while we were running out until we hit the rock pile (half way mark) towards the cape. At this point we decided to abort the morning Salmon run and run directly to the Halibut hole. We got to the spot with friendly 20 to 25 mph gusts of wind and solid 4 to 8 foot seas we put the baits down and proceeded to fish for the next three hours without a bite except Mac's favorite, the occassional Ratfish. After about four hours on the spot we saw a few Big, Big Lings 40 plus pounders, we got our first Halibut which Theresa put on the deck. Within about thirty minutes we caught two more fish about twenty pounds each plus several sharks including a blue shark by Rich.

The weather continued to get worst and worst which made us finally pull the hook and head in, which for trips was a terrible feeling knowing we were about to get the crap kicked out of us.

We have had a slower trip than normal but with a focused approach we have caught our share of fish.

I have had a great time with my buddy Rich not only fishing but at the lodge, sharing all the moments from twenty plus years of fishing. Theresa has enjoyed the reading time every night, taking advantage of the quiet time without our three kids and the daily fire drills.

We have one more day on the water and we look forward to filling out a days Salmon limit.

Until we blog tomorrow.

Ben

Day Four sees Sitka Heat up in the Halibut Hole

2008-09-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to clear skies, warmer weather, and dead flat conditions which had fish written all over them. We were able to run right out to the cape and fish the outside spots which had relatively slow bomber fishing with a few bigger ones taken including a couple good yelloweyes. Today was different, we found salmon that wanted to bite and while trying to catch the rockfish, Rich decided to mooch a bait which resulted in a clean ten pound silver salmon followed by Theresa's fish that burned around the boat but ended up in the net. We dumped a couple others before we set out for the Halibut hole.

We showed up on the fifty fathom line in the sound with Summer Wind( Mac's other boat) on the alpha spot with a couple already in the boat. We set up the lines and started our patient wait. During the process we caught some legal lings and some mondo ones that could have been 40 to 50 pounds.

After a good hour and a half the first chicken ( smaller Halibut) showed for Rich which was matched by another fish that was the same size for Theresa. The chickens continued until probably an hour before we picked up when Rich caught a fish around 60 lbs and another one about 30 lbs. Of course there has to be the one that got away story and I had a toad hooked with one good run and ended up with a bare hook returned. Fishing is looking up with the Summer Wind crew getting two fish over a hundred pounds for the day.

With the action looking up I think tomorrow will really be good. We have given that B2-30 a real work out with a lot of smaller fish but look forward to hooking a fish over a deuce tomorrow.

Look forward to telling you about the big one.

Till then.

Ben

Day Three in Sitka sees Lings, Yelloweyes, and more Bombers

2008-09-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

The third day of the Accurate Sitka Adventure comes to an end with a lot of fish caught but the wiley big Halibut still not cooperating as hoped. Today we woke up to the best weather so far, no rain, slight overcast, and dead flat conditions. After a really good Damian (Lodge chef) breakfast this morning we got to the boat at 6 am and headed right to the cape with the best conditions I have seen in a couple years of fishing here. We looked the salmon grounds over with very little potential, no bait and no fish to speak of on the fish locator.

Next stop was the rock fish hole where we proceeded to limit out on the Black Bombers and catch a few oversize lings on relatively light tackle that included the single speed B-197 / ACCCR 7020 7' Xnergy rod and the B-870N coupled with the ACCCR 6630 6'6" Xnergy rod. The smaller tackle makes the whole bottom fish experience a lot more fun; feeling like its a decent fish on the 30 and 40 lb spectra we are using.

After the rock fish focus we moved onto the ling thing where we caught our limits of lings in the 30 - 35" slot plus some really big yellow eyes which are the best eating fish, in my opinion, of all the ones we catch up here.

The rest of the day was at least 4 to 5 hours of Halibut fishing in the deep water spots for the 100 too 200 lb fish which saw us hook one nice fish that came unbuttoned at the boat. We focused on these spots knowing from previous history that a big fish is very probable but as mentioned earlier not always possible.

My wife Theresa has joined us up here today for the next few days of fishing hoping that the luck will change for that elusive heavy weight Halibut.

I will keep you posted to tomorrows activities and with the right luck have a picture of a trophy fish to share with the crew.

Till tomorrows log.

Ben

Day Two in the Sitka Adventure

2008-09-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today we got up to the same grey, rainy weather best known here in Alaska. After a great breakfast at the lodge, Rich and I got on the Point Break with Mac for another rough but more productive day. We ran out to look on the outside and the swell had decreased from the day before to 4 to 6 feet with 8 to 12 knots of wind. We took a quick run around the salmon hole and decided to work our way back in not seeing any sign of life in the means of bait or moving fish on the meter. We hit the bomber spot (Black Bass) for limits and Rich hit the jackpot with a very good size Yellow eye as the highlight of our drifts.

We ran over to the inside Halibut hole and preceded to get a fairly quick limit of chikens (28 to 40" fish) with a couple good ligs including a keeper in the slot for Rich. Nothing big yet on the flat side but there are a few more days left and who is to say when the multi digit fish show up.

With time running out in the day we ran back out to the salmon hole and mooched for an hour with one bite and no fish to show. The trip so far has been on the slow side but the weather is looking up for the next few days and we are looking for the window so we can get out to the fishing grounds in front of the Cape to put a hurt on the big guys.

Hopefully tomorrow will be the day. I will keep you posted.

Until tomorrow.

Ben

Day One of our Sitka Adventure

2008-09-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today Rich (Holland) and I got up at 4:45 am with high hopes of snapping Lings and over size Halibut but instead the weather showed us who was boss. We ventured out to the cape with our good friend Mac to the 21 mph winds and 7 to 10 foot swells which made it very difficult to fish, literally impossible. We started around the cape towards Shelcup Island and had boat troubles that slowed us down considerably. After several hours at 8 knots in less than perfect conditions we were picked up by a second boat who was skippered by our friend Levi.

We went back into the passages to avoid any weather and ended up catching a lot of Black rock fish on the B-197 and 7020 rods with small Bass Pro Shop jigs. We also ended up with a keeper Ling Cod that squeaked in under the 35" limit.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better conditions and get us into some big lings and some keeper Halibut for the Box. Talking with Mac the salmon fishing has been fair but right now I don't think there are enough people fishing them to know. I will keep you informed of what lies in our future.

Till tomorrow.

Ben

A Day on the water with the Uncle Al

2008-08-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful day on the ocean and myself and close friend Uncle Al as he is known to the kids fished in the SWBA Dana point Calico tournament which saw a good turnout. Fishing was less than spectacular for most of the field and we had a couple stones to ourselves and were able to scratch a few fish that weighed a whopping 11 1/2 pounds good enough for 10th place.
Our two biggest fish came in 40 feet of water on swim baits with the rest caught on the beach on jerk baits. Its fun to get out and do the tournament gig but it would be much better during the winter months when the pelagic species are not here.
The tournament ran smooth and a 20 lb sack took the honors. These guys run a good tournament and everyone that fishes in them enjoys the camaraderie among the anglers involved. The best thing is the fish are all released back out of the harbor.
Well I have a couple more trips coming up in the near future and look forward to filling you in as they are happening.
Tight lines.

Ben

Front Cover of Sportfishing Magazine

2008-08-21T16:56:00.001-07:00

Check the newstand for the September 2008 Sportfishing Magazine. I did a great Jigging trip with Sportfishing where we went on to Pesca Panama earlier this year. The article was written by Doug Olander and it starts on page 52 titled "Masters of Metal".