The final one a one half day "introduction to long range" voyage has ultimately arrived and with it, we hope, a major change in the local offshore picture that promises good things to come. Before we start counting our lucky stars however, we have our work cut out for us with a full day of offshore prospecting to complete. I can say with certainty that the feel of things has definitely improved with several different zones showing signs of life and favorable conditions developing at a rapid pace.

Overall this series of short trips, a marked deviation from our regular long range routine, has been a huge success in that we had a good time fishing with many new anglers we now consider friends. Of course we have high hopes that at least some of those who made one of these rare short trips on Royal Star will take the next step and venture a true long range voyage with more time on the water to build a varied catch of quality gamefish. So far this early season on the offshore grounds has been slow to develop but thankfully all of our trips were fortunate enough to put at least a fair to decent catch of offshore yellowtail in the hatch. A fishing trip should be judged by the overall experience however, and in this respect, this year's series of one and one half day voyages have been a huge success. Whether or not we include a few of the shorter trips in next season's schedule is yet to be decided, but it is likely that you will see at least a couple of one and one half day trips on Royal Star in late May or early June 2008.

Before all that becomes relevant however, we will focus on the present and do our best to put together a good trip on the local offshore grounds today. Look for consistent fishing reports to continue for at least the next week as I, with my obvious affinity for story telling, am back on the boat for a short stretch.

Tim