I would definitely say it was worth the northerly ride to the local albacore zone, but the catching left plenty to be desired as school after school of twenty to thirty pound albacore thumbed their noses at us the entire day. The big moment of glory came late in the day when the incredible abundance of fish was not just witnessed by me using the sonar and fathometer on the bridge, but by everyone on board as a conservatively estimated square half mile of albacore erupted in a surface showing that can only be described as phenomenal. Imagine the thrill, the adrenaline surge while sliding into an area of albacore crashing on the surface so large that the boat passes through solid fish for four hundred yards before we even think about stopping. When we finally do stop, there are albacore jumping and crashing within a short bait cast to a half mile from the boat in every direction; thousands of fish visible at all times. Now imagine - just try to get your head around the almost unbeliveable reality that we experienced this exact scenario yesterday three or four different times without getting a single bite; not one. Needless to say there was plenty of dissappointment and utter disbelief among our fisherman who yesterday witnessed the exact reason why purse seine fishing was developed by pole and line bait fisherman fifty years ago.

Sometimes they just don't bite, and the only thing anglers can do in these instances is keep trying and wait them out as the pattern eventually changes and the cycle comes around. At the very least, we can say with certainty that the present quantity of albacore offshore is more than sufficient to supply both the local and long range fleet for many days to come. With any luck they will get with the program sooner than later and our day's of reckoning will come.

In the end we did manage to scratch up almost twenty of the reluctant longfin before our voyage came to an end. With that, we will be turning around on the next four day adventure today with Captain Brian Sims taking the helm for Rob Sanford's charter. With the albacore up above, and plenty of good kelp action on the yellowtail, dorado, and yellowfin tuna down below, the offshore prospects are very encouraging for the next series of voyages.