Planning a Trip to Revilla Gigedos

By Dave Braun?

You are standing around the bait tank waiting for the boat to let loose her lines and get underway. Realizing that this trip may be the adventure of a lifetime, you wonder if you have planned everything correctly. There are many decisions that you have made up to this point. Many of them are of no consequence, but you can't afford to make mistakes on the big decisions. If you are a working class guy like me, you will have to use your resources wisely. Follow along every step of the way as Dave and Jeff plan their trip.

For years we have dreamed of going on a trip that targets giant yellowfin tuna and rocket propelled wahoo. Hoping to be one of those lucky anglers to land a three hundred pound tuna or just to even get hooked up on one. We have been secretly squirrelling away high quality tackle for years, knowing that someday we would need it.

The biggest decision that we needed to make was to select which trip to go on. Since I have limited vacation time. I could not go on a 16 day trip that departs from San Diego to target the Revilla Gigedos Island chain. Instead we will load our gear on board before the boat leaves San Diego and fly down and back to Cabo San Lucas where we will meet the boat. My work schedule prevents me from booking a trip a year in advance and I felt lucky to find a few open spots with less than a month before the trip. Jeff and I decided to go on trip number two aboard one of our favorite boats the "Qualifier 105". There were several other factors that influenced our decision. We have been on this boat several times before and each time we had excellent trips.Capt. John Klein and his crew are experts at fishing Mexico. They work around the clock to insure that everyone will have a memorable vacation. John has owned and operated the Qualifier 105 for the past twleve years. He has that special 6th sense that lets him know if the tuna are going to bite and a full array of high tech electronics to find them. The Qualifier 105 is a smooth riding boat that was designed to be exceptional sportfishing boat. It is luxurously appointed with air conditioned staterooms with TV, VCR and sinks provide a level of luxury that few boats can rival. The meals will make you think you are on a cruise ship. We will have to be careful not to put on too much weight from over eating. I really enjoy having my catch professionaly processed. Having your fish packaged into meal sized packages and blast frozen preserves it's freshness for many months.

My first long range trip I thought I would save a few bucks and do it myself. I regretted that decision once I returned home with a pickup truck full of frozen tuna stacked like cord wood. Me and a friend processed my catch for 16 hours. Then we had to find additional trash cans to hold all the mess. Believe me, my neighbors still joke about the smell. This trip includes fish processing and packaging into two boxes that hold about 50 pounds each that we will take aboard the airline on the way home. One hundred pounds of fillets is enough to feed my family for a year.

Most of the time we will be competing in the catch and release program. This is done to conserve the valuable resource and preserve the adventure for generations to come. The fish that could not be released will probably be donated to feed the homeless at local shelters. The tax deduction will help the family budget a little too. By selectively targeting only the trophy sized tuna we increase our chances of getting them. It can be dificult to pass up hungry school sized tuna in search of giants, but it must be done to conserve time and bait. The Qualifier 105 holds an enormous 500 scoops of live bait. It returns to San Diego to resupply every other trip.

We hope to learn much from the tackle seminars and pass along their latest tackle tips. Since this is our first trip, we will save the details until after we return from our trip so we can tell you what actually worked. We spent the past two weekends visiting out local tackle stores and getting advise from the helpful sales staff. I figured that I would find out what each expert had to say and compare. I have found "The Edge Big Game Fishing Journal" to be a valuable resource. It's only published quarterly but it's crammed full of useful information.

I have my Penn 50SW International loaded with 500 yards of 100 pound test spectra backing and there was still enough to get 300 yards of clear 80 pound Berkley Big Game line. I have installed a gold anodized aluminum reel clamp for additional strength. It required me to make longer mounting bolts from three inch 1/4-20 Stainless bolts and nyloc nuts. The reel is mounted on a Sabre 6460 XXH sporting Aftco roller guides, heavy duty aluminum reel seat and butt gimbal. This rod will be my primary giant tuna outfit. Jeff has a similar outfit for his giant tuna bait rig. We will be sharing Jeff's Penn 80ST as our kite fishing / chunking rig. We are confident the spectra backing has given us enough line capacity and will keep us from having to attach it to a float and secondary rod if we hook into a giant yellowfin. I would be very nervous about snapping my new $1,000 outfit to a secondary rod and throwing it overboard. While this is not I.G.F.A compliant it is necessary at times.

We have several different coils of leader material from various manufacturers. They range from 150 to 300 pound test. I've even been convinced to bring some fluorocarbon leader material by trusted anglers, but I'm still skeptical about it's value at a dollar a foot price tag. I'm bringing some Owner Super Mutu semi circle hooks and I'll try them too. Some of the state of the art tackle can be hard to find. Turners Outdoorsman was well stocked with latest high tech tackle at competitive prices. They made my shopping easier. You would be suprised how much time it takes to get all your tackle ready.

I've packed my 300 pound Momoi wind on leaders that we use for Thresher sharks in the Catalina channel incase it's needed. I'm glad that much of my heavy duty gear that we use on threshers is suitable for our giant yellowfin safari.

Stay tuned for more info....