Newport angler lands first albacore of 2004 season

JIM NIEMIEC

Bob Hoose of Newport Beach had high expectations of catching the

first albacore for the 2004 season when he headed his fast 28-foot

sportfisher, Prospector, out to San Clemente Island on New Year’s Eve

with his good fishing buddy, Todd Garrett of Newport, along on the

exploratory trip to the fishing grounds southeast of the Cortez Bank.

Hoose pulled into Pyramid Cove early on New Year’s Eve where the

two anglers caught squid and enjoyed sharing the evening with a top

side dinner and a glass of wine. The plan was to head out early in

the morning to reach a temperature break that had been pinpointed by

the staff at Terrafin and at 3 a.m. Captain Hoose set a course for

the bank.

At daylight, on New Year’s Day, they were near the fishing grounds

but other than lots of bait and porpoise they didn’t see any signs of

breaking albies or tuna. Hoose spotted a kelp paddy, Garrett cast a

FishTrap plastic to the floating kelp and hooked up with a

yellowtail. The water color was a deep purple and looked like it

could be an area to troll around in hopes of hooking into a longfin.

At 10:40 a.m. the trolling rig on the aft corner bent double under

the weight of a fish that had jumped on a Sevenstrand Tuna Clone jig

in the hot new NJB color. Garrett got to the rod and began reeling it

to the boat on 20-pound dacron. The fish came to deep color and Hoose

was standing by with the gaff as the ablie began doing circles under

the boat. Once the fish got to the surface the veteran captain put

the gaff into the longfin and the first albacore of the season was on

the deck of the Prospector.

Hoose and Garrett fished around the Cortez Bank for a few more

hours but there were no more hookups, so they headed the fast 28-foot

Cabo to Catalina Island to weigh in their trophy catch at the Avalon

Tuna Club and then headed back to Newport Bay, where they collected

the Balboa Angling Club’s first albacore of the season flag. The

albie weighed 26.12 pounds and out of a fleet of 17 other private sportfishers hoping to land the first albacore for 2004, Garrett’s

catch was the only one reported locally.