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THE UGLY TRUTH Early in the week fishing was pretty incredible for tuna and marlin. Marlin fishing is still pretty much wide open. Most boats targeting marlin are returning having released one to six fish. The tuna have become a different story.. Huge fish can be seen crashing on bait at the 88 high spot but the fish are very line shy. Anglers interested in landing a big tuna have 2 choices; Keep using the heavy gear that is appropriate for this grade of fish and hope for the bite or, drop line and hook size to enhance the chance of getting the bite and then hope the equipment is enough to endure the battle. Lately I have heard too many stories of anglers spending too many hours working on a fish only to be disappointed in the end. Personally, I'm not going to a gun fight with a knife. Two years ago we were in a school of 50 pound tuna when a 200 pound fish ate our bait. Being under gunned with 50 pound test line it took us 8 hours and we were very lucky to get the fish. I swore I would never do that again. It is easy for me to sit in the bridge and tell anglers to put more pressure on the fish. "Remember, when you rest the fish rests." " The longer the fish is on the line the better the odds you will never get em." I think to myself sometimes, let me come down there and pull on the rod, I'll show you how. It is also easy for anglers to sit at home and read the fish reports with anticipation. Just wait till I get down there! I'm going to kick some fish bootie! The truth of the matter is a 200 pound tuna is a handful. Below are some photos sharing my experience with a big fish last Tuesday Look at the smirk on my face. Diego asked me if I wanted a harness. No, this won't take long was my reply. (A few minutes later) This fish is tougher than I thought. It's pulling back. (A little more time) Yeah know, maybe that harness isn't a bad idea. Yeah, yeah, I know, when I rest..... Thank god! It might not have been purdy but it is mine! It would have been a heart break to hang this fish on the wrong gear. Tomorrow morning we head out for a 5 day charter. Plan on doing some fishing, diving and snorkeling. The idea is to head north and visit the islands above La Paz. On the last trip we made it as far as Loreto. I will post about our trip next week. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

EAT YOUR WHEATIES! There is nothing like the tail beat of a tuna. The thump of their tail resonates up the line and can be seen in the tip of an anglers bent rod. A small fish goes thump..thump..thump.. A larger fish goes thump....thump.... thump.... The bigger the fish the slower the thump. Large or small there is not much doubt that it is a tuna. Fishing buddies Ralph and Lyle came for a visit this week and fished on Jen Wren III. Their request was to catch some tuna. One of my neighbors had done pretty well the day before on the 88 spot so we made the 33 mile run out there. Shortly after arrival we could see huge tuna crashing and feeding. Getting them to go was a different story. After more than an hour Ralph finally hung what I know was a monster. The fish ripped off more than a hundred yards of 100 pound test line from Ralph's reel in a short moment and never stopped before coming unbuttoned. It was sickening to watch the line go slack. He had the right fish on the right gear but I guess it just wasn't the right time. We gave the spot about another hour without a bite and decided to move on. A school of bottle nosed dolphin had been spotted about 10 miles from us and the boats there were getting a few nice tuna. Shortly after running to the dolphin Ralph got hooked up and by the end of the day both anglers had bagged a 100 pound class tuna. Ralph putting on the heat! Look at the bend in that Calstar 6460XXH. The reel is an Accurate ATD50 loaded with 130lb spectra and a 100lb mono top shot. It is definitly the perfect elephent gun for big tuna. Ralph with a dandy Lyle is not out done Here is more than a cooler full Lyle tops it off with a hoo I was really bothered that the big tuna we had hooked on the 88 spot came unbuttoned. Yesterday I had a day off and decided to go back out there and look around. Fishing with a bullet tuna for bait it didn't take long and I was on. I don't think this fish was as big as the one we lost but I have to say, it kicked my butt After a 55 minute battle Jen Wren deck hand Diego Romero sunk the gaff and ended the fight. The yellowfin tuna taped out at 190 lbs. Now I'm taking today off to recuperate from my day off yesterday. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

Jack Nilsen has become the self-appointed photographer and ambassador of having a good time for Accurate reels. Not only is it always a good time when he visits, the fish always bite. This trip was no exception. By our second day the count of marlin released was in double digits. We ended up losing count of how many double hook ups we had and how many marlin were released. Dinner strategy meeting with the dream team. Let me introduce them. Jack setting up his temporary office Assistant camera man Wayniac Wayniac's squeeze Kelly Field testers Dave "Fendo" Fender with his son Collin and Master engineer Dave "Dreamer" Hellmers. Jack and Kelly with our first double marlin hook up Fendo almost got zipped as my marlin on the SR12 twin spin had the right of way. As hard as they try even Accurate doesn't always get it right. How could they send the boss out looking like this? Wayne and Kelly with a pair of nice dodos Jack struggling to hold up his big catch for a photo. Let the good times roll! For more great photos of this trip check out Jack's blog at: http://jaccurate.blogspot.com/2011/06/accurate-jen-wren-sportfishing.html For a You Tube of Jack's last trip to the East Cape http://www.youtube.com/user/accuratefishingreels?feature=mhum#p/u/7/UCDtdCJ31II Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

What a week we have had! East Cape fishing has been outstanding. Both in shore and off shore the bite has been full speed. Doctors told David Wilson he doesn't have much time and he should perpare his bucket list. Catching a rooster fish was on that list. I was happy that we were able to help David cross that one off the list. Fat boy hits the Jen Wren III deck Dave Hellmers of Carlsbad California wanted to hunt tuna. He was rewarded with this dandy. 82 year old Russel Sauer has been coming to East Cape's Rancho Buena Vista for 45 years straight. This year, with 2 of his fishing buddies Dave and Denny, they stayed at Buena Vista Beach Resort. For 3 days the boys had outstanding marlin fishing Russel still gets just as excited about battling a striped marlin as he did 45 years ago Denny is the new guy on the team. He has only been visiting the East Cape for 16 years. Sighted our first spinner dolphin of the season. Oh boy! This is going to get good! Jaccurate just arrived with some new Accurate gear to field test on the Jen Wren boats. Stay tuned. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

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This morning we hooked a marlin at 7:30. While La Rissa Travers battled her first marlin, my VHF radios were going crazy. It was enough to make me crazy. Dorado under serggaso grass, tuna on spotted dolphin, marlin feeding, it sounded like the whole Sea of Cortez had just erupted. The action never stopped and at the end of the day most boats returned to the dock flying outriggers full of flags. Oh, I forgot to mention it was La Rissa's life long fantasy to catch a marlin. I thought she was putting me on until I found out she actually named her third son Marlin Dreams do come true. Not only was the marlin huge, it was a huge moment for La Rissa. Sarggaso grass. Little patches like this are loaded with dorado. A little hand full of sardine and kazam! It is not taking much to get em going This bad boy got hooked in the tail by our Halco GT jig. We have hooked several marlin on Halco GT jigs. This was the first one in the tail. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

No footballs, no dinks. This spring has been all about quality not quantity. Last week tuna fishing just started to get in gear when the winds came up and made it impossible for boats to travel outside to the tuna grounds. Yesterday the wind subsided and the tuna fishing picked up right where it had left off. Most fish have been between 30 and 100 pounds. Normally spring brings smaller football sized tuna and the larger fish start to show as summer approaches. Not this year! It has been straight summertime sized fish. Something odd, is that the tuna are traveling with bottlenosed and not the white sided dolphin. As the sea temp warms, Spotted and Spinner dolphin should show and that is when it really goes ballistic. Large schools of summertime sized dorado have also shown up under patches of sargasso grass and are cooperating with anglers. None of those little spring time schoolies, these fish are bending rods and anglers are getting their moneys worth. Billfish are also in the game. Huge schools of greenback mackerel have shown up near Punta Pescadero and the striped marlin are on the attack. The thrill of hooking your first marlin Brothers Matt and Bone had that thrill fishing Jen Wren III this week Both boys release their first striped marlin. Between marlin and dorado the action never seemed to stop... Until a pod of orcas showed up. That shut the bite down. This turtle didn't care. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

It has finally happened! East Cape striped marlin have become aggressive. For the last couple of days boats targeting marlin are releasing multiple fish per day. Fish are close as well. Yesterday afternoon we saw marlin feeding 3 miles from our buoy. Bigger news is the arrival of yellowfin tuna. Yesterday to the North, near Punta Perico, El Loco II found a school of bottlenosed dolphin with large tuna feeding. They managed two hook ups using caballitos. On Jen Wren III we landed a 50 pound class tuna, 20 miles east of Punta Pescadero while hunting for broadbill. Also several boats traveled south to San Luis and all had success. The report on the VHF was lots of tuna feeding on the surface. Most of the tuna to the South were landed on cedar plugs and hoochies. Sunrise (and folks ask me why I moved here!) Yesterday Marine Colonel Bob Tilley and his bride Rene celibrated their 55th wedding aniversiy fishing on Jen Wren III We ran off shore in search of broadbill but had to settle for other species. Bob puts the heat to a striped marlin We were shocked at how hard this fish fought until realizing it was hooked in the top of its head. The day turned into a mixed bag with a surpise attack of a yellowfin. One of my best kept secrets is the Halco GT jig. It has been deadly on wahoo and we have been able to get tuna to go when other methods are not working Our first sushi for 2011. Bullet tuna More good news! When we trolled by the outer buoys off Punta Pescadero our fish finder lit up. There is tonage of bait piling up out there. Camisas Horiltos and babie dorado filled our sabikis on every drop. With all this bait goods things are going to happen for anglers visiting the East Cape. Mark Rayor www.thejenwren.com www.vistaseasport.com markrayor.blogspot.com

A few days ago Tom Shellenberger arrived with three of his fishing buddies from Moab UT to do a little marlin fishing. The bite had been slow but they had 3 days so I was confident we could scratch out a couple of fish each day. The main concentration of marlin had been off of La Ribera but it had been a lot of show and not much go. First day there was a local tournanemt scheduled so we knew the spot known to have some fish would have a lot of traffic. With that, we headed off shore with the hopes of finding tuna, dorado or marlin away from the fleet. The day was slow and the score ended up with one sailfish. Day two was spent off La Ribera where 25 tournament boats only landed 3 marlin the day before. It was reported that fish had been sighted jumping and feeding. Knowing there would be less traffic our decision was made to check it out. We saw marlin jumping and tailing all day and had several fish in our pattern. We tried to get them to go on Ballyhoo, green jacks and sardines. At the end of the day we were zero for 6 good shots. It was a very beautiful day on the water but not what any of us had hoped for. The following morning I knew we needed to make some ajustments. Getting an early start we ran in shore of the location we had fished the day before. I had seen bait there a couple of days earlier and we found a school of small skipjack foaming on the surface. We were able to catch and fill our tuna tubes with this great bait in short order and were in business. We started slow trolling the skipjack and also put one deep with our down rigger. The area looked dead and I was starting to wonder if we had made a mistake when bam! The down rigger bait got bit. It was a marlin and when it surfaced it brought a whole school of marlin with it. Wham! We hooked a second fish and had a double going. Another boat near us trolled by and hung one. Tom Shellenberger and Tim Keogh going different directions with fish on. Jen Wren III deckhand Diego leadering Tim's fish Tom gets a photo before releasing his Bendo! Mike Wilson hangs a fish and the hat trick Colin Fryer brings one to leader and releases it. The boys celebrate with a Pacifico after a great day of fishing. It is all about making ajustments for success. Mark Rayor http://www.thejenwren.com/ http://www.vistaseasport.com/ markrayor.blogspot.com