East Cape - Nice twins

East Cape - Nice twins
OMG! For the first time this season I put on a sweatshirt. Yes, the chill of winter has finally hit the East Cape. Until now sea temp has managed to stay above 80 degrees but we will watch it plummet now. Normally we are in the mid 70's by Thanksgiving so it is happening a little late this year.


We finished our season moving our boats to Cabo San Lucas to compete in the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot. With 168 entries this year it was again the largest tournament in Baja. The theme of the tournament is "Fish hard party harder" and we did both. Both Jen Wren III and Vaquera made great showings finishing in the top 20.


First day I just couldn't get it going on Vaquera but Jen Wren III skipper Polo found a school of porpoise late in the day and hung two nice tuna. After a few minutes one came unbuttoned and now the battle with the other fish was a race against time to make the scale before it closed at 6PM. Still 25 miles away Polo called on the VHF with the news that they finally boated their fish. There was no time to waste and I had my fingers crossed and told him put the hammer down you can make it. Just a few minutes to 6 it was a relief to see them turn the corner for the scale. After all teams weighed Jen Wren III was in 5th place.


Day two was better for Team Jones Fish on Vaquera. In the morning I spent a couple of hours looking for the porpoise school that Polo had found the day before. The Sea of Cortez was getting grumpy so we moved more inside to Gordo Bank. Chunking squid on the drift we landed a 120lb tuna at about 10:30AM. The highspot is small and looked like a parking lot with boats. As the day wore on the wind picked up making it difficult to drift bait and navigate the other boats. It didn't appear anyone was getting bit and I was getting restless.


Looking through my gyros it appeared the inner high spot 3 miles away did not have much traffic. I decided to make the move. We only chunked a few minutes in our new location and bendo. We were bent again. When quality tuna bite it is hard to get a handle on how big they might be until they settle down. Ripping line off our Accurate ATD 30 I thought this might be the one. In a few minutes it settled down and turned out to be another 120lbs tuna. The action was fun but we were looking for a cow.


All we could do was keep fishing hard. Tournament rules are lines out at 4PM and time was getting short. I was just checking my watch at 3:30 when bendo, we are on again. This one is acting like a good fish. Twenty-five minutes into the battle it hasn't sounded and I have to continually back down the boat to stay with it. Now it is after 4PM and we haven't even slowed this fish down. I'm finding we are in the same time predicament Polo was yesterday. Finally the fish goes straight down and the tug of war is on. Inch by inch we start to gain line until color can be seen. This is the one we have been looking for. 4:40PM Team Jones Fish wins the war and the tuna comes to gaff. Diego and I slide it through the transom door and there is no time to waste.


There is no other feeling like cruising to the scale with a contender on the deck. Just beating the 6PM deadline we tied up to the scale dock waiting our turn to weigh. When we swing open the transom door the fish can be seen by spectators and I can hear the buzz. Jonathan Roldan walks by and shakes his head yes, "looks like the biggest of the day". Our turn comes and Pat McDonald announces the official weight to be 251lbs. In first place for day two there is only one more fish to weigh and I'm sure we have it in the bag . Then, I can hardly believe my ears when McDonald's voice comes over the loud speaker "official weight 274lbs" the crowd cheers and we are out.


We had a great 2016 season finished off with an exciting time in Cabo San Lucas. WON, Pat McDondald and staff do an incredible job every year putting together the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot. There is no tournament that is more fun and I look forward to participating again next year.


That's my report. Now I need to go search for my Ugg Boots. Brrr!


Turtles nested late this year. This little guy was released in front of our place


Dressed up for the "Show us your Costa's" contest


This one's for Jack. It's all about the reel!


Rob Jones, Team Jones Fish with our 251lbs cow


Chick Stix team captain Bob Solee puts Jen Wren III in fifth place. Check out skipper Polo and mate Armado hugging the fish.


Nice twins. We were so busy weighing the cow I forgot we had twin 120's in the fish box


Diego on the wire.. Bill Frevold had never caught a marlin so after the tournament we took him to the Finger Bank. It was going off and he release five.


Changing the game. That is Accurate's new Valiant 300 in my hand. We put five of them in service this year. It is the biggest innovation in reel technology since the ball bearing. Looking forward to adding the just released Valiant 400 to the arsenal for 2017.


Got my sleeves rolled up. All in a heap for service are the oil/fuel cooler, heat exchanger, after cooler and air cleaner from Vaquera's port motor. One by one each of our motors will get the same service One of my favorite sayings is "it is not a matter of it will break, It is a matter of when it will break". Personally I'd rather act then react and do what we can to keep our boats in top shape.


This is a look at our new Jen Wren App. To download it on your phone just text jw to 76626. Yes, it is that easy to view our webcams, booking calendar and new fishing reports.