75# toothy Bluefin on the Eclipse
 

I stepped off my plastic battleship to get it while the getting is good!

With the bluefin ban lifted, hit the pens with the rest of the fleet on a 1.5 day in hopes of some bluefin. Kick off an early morning start with some yellowfin. Every bait was getting annihilated but anchovies seemed to work the best. 1/0 hooks and 25-30lb test did the trick.
At some point in the morning I somehow offended the Captain, "M", when he noticed I liked to use Spro #50-80 swivels instead of tying Albright knots for my fluro to braid. I do this because they're so small fit through the guides, incredibly strong, and I can use a 6-10ft leader that can be easily switch out to a larger or smaller # line. After that sentence, Captain "M" basically gave me a "what the F**K do I know? I'm only the captain of fishing boat" then called me an idiot before he walked off. Not really sure what to make of that customer service experience, so I kept fishing :)
I heard that the bluefin caught the past week were deeper under the YFT in the mornings and evenings, so I decided to throw on a sardine with a 3/4oz rubber core on my 65# braid/40# fluro with the dreaded Spro swivel. Within 5 minutes I'm onto a big fish. About an hour later a huge bluefin comes up! The first gaff attempt was a swing and a miss, I'm sweating now! The just as the second attempt hits home a huge hammerhead comes up from under the boat and bites the tail off as they try to pull the fish on deck. Crazy!
We get limits of YFT the rest of the day and I managed to nab one of the few dorado caught too(There was a wide open YFT bite at the stern and I decided to check out the bow with a megabait. Turns out there was 5-10 dodo's swimming around the bow with nobody fishing there! I guess sometimes it pays to skip some of the chaos at the stern)
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Everyone caught fish, I got a trophy, good food, and the deckhands were on it.
One thing I really didn't enjoy witnessing, and I hate to write about this, is poor customer service from the captain. Multiple times he would be literally screaming at people during the YFT bites. We had some inexperienced people on the boat that were doing their best to keep up with the fast paced shuffle, many of who were older gentlemen. Tangles are inevitable. Plenty of fish landed already too. I talked to a few of them who literally sat down because they were sick of being belittled and screamed at...not cool. Putting people on fish is great, but being respectful and fun to fish with is another aspect of customer service.
End of the trip, my bluefin was the largest caught by atleast 40-50lbs. The captain smirks at me and says it was shark bit so I don't get the jackpot...even though it was gaffed. Even the deckhands seemed uncomfortable with his ruling. But, his boat his rules I guess. I was gonna pay my $20 galley tab and give the rest of the jackpot to deckhands anyways, those guys earned it. Ouch.
It was a memorable trip to say the least. Sorry for the novel, on with the fish porn.

-The tail-less weight at the docks was 69.8!
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"M" sounds like a real douche. Sounds like the crew was good though. Obviously the fishing was outstanding too. Good job!

That's BS that the skipper didn't let your fish qualify because it was shark bit. Also, many folks would have said something for bring berated while fishing. You did a nice job and deserved the jackpot. Congratulations on the great fish and your self discipline and patience.

Thanks for sharing the report and the pics
The captain is obviously a dickhead but at least the fishing was good. :)

Congrats on the nice catches!

I went on the Eclipse a while ago out of Seaforth Landing. Trip was overbooked and people were sleeping in the galley. Mark is a douche no doubt about it. One of the worst experiences ever on a cattle boat. You wouldn't believe it, but he kept telling me to use a mono leader. Not liking someone to repeatedly tell me to do something with attitude, I fished straight 40lb braid. Ended up with 5 YFT on the overnighter. Last time on that boat :the_finger:

me too
 

Nice Feesh Zach!!!!!!! Thats a sweet bluefin and a very hard fish to get to the boat! Its funny, I had the same experience a few years back on the Eclipse. The captain had a meltdown on all the passengers about tipping the crew and called out individuals in front of everyone and basically required everyone to tip at least a certain amount, it was bonkers. He also flipped out on a private boat that seemed to be following his vessel. I made the personal choice to never go on that boat again. Its too bad because its a nice boat, but no reason for a captain with an attitude problem like that. Oh well, live and learn.

Man what a great trip!

as far as the captain and boat go, thanks for letting us know. I'll never fish it and tell people about your experience. In the end, it really doesnt matter how you get bit, it matters if you get fish in the boat. nice work!

Awesome fish
 

Awesome fish, good for you knowing what works best for you and sticking to it. I would not fish the Eclipse after your report so thanks for the warning. These guys work too many back to back trips and slowly go crazy. What they really want to do is gaff a customer in the neck. I saw a deckhand beat a guy with a frozen fish one time for not tipping. That guy went on to own the Legend and remains intense.

DOOOD! NICE FEEEESH!!! :luxhello:

I stopped participating in jackpot's on boats for exactly that reason - rules made up as they go. At least you got a friggin' pig! :cheers1:

Good to know man I thought all the boats in seaforth was cool

Sucks to hear that about the Eclipse. I had a great experience fishing with Steve on the boat. Not sure I know Mike or if he was on the boat then...Sounds like a tool.

super :)

The Mexican ban on Bluefin was never lifted. A select few got lucky the three days the verbal ok was given because they thought they were safe, but the written reversal never came from Mexican authorities.

This is what was explained to me as we passed a bluefin boil in Mexican waters this past Tuesday. All the captain would say over the PA is if you hook them, we'll cut you off.

That "customer service" sounds more like customer abuse.

If I was on that boat with the capt. calling people out on tips, I would have called myself out louder and prouder than he did...." Casey! A big fat $0 tip because the capt is a prick!"

Real nice fish, you got all the good parts. Most good and all great skippers nurture their crews and ALWAYS treat the customers with respect while schooling them in the finer points of our sport. That is what skippers, crew, and guides do to succeed and keep our sport growing. All hats off to all you hard working gentlemen.:you_rock::you_rock::cheers1: AND THANK YOU ALL for what you do everyday for OUR sport.

Obviously this guy has been doing this for a while and it's apparent Seaforth doesn't care or he'd be gone. There are plenty of good Captain's out there that would love his job and take care of the customers so they would be more willing to tip the deck hands.

I know the deckhands work real hard out their for the tips but when a Capt. acts like that then a bad vibe goes around the boat like cancer and people wont feel like paying out the pocket for a trip that had a dickhead for a Captain.

That's too bad.

Good on you for a good haul and that fish is worth a whole lot more than the jackpot. :cheers1:

Congratulations on your fine score. I worked albie boats before and never heard of a shark bit fish dq'ing somebody from the pot. I could understand in the case of 100lb bigeye or bluefin cut in two, during the middle of a fight, and outweighing another whole tuna that was 30 or 40 lbs. But, a quality fish, losing it's tail at gaff shouldn't be dq'd, IMHO.

That captain is a douche, and doesn't deserve to be a skipper. I feel sorry for the other passengers on your trip, who's day was ruined by him.

I hope you copy and paste this trip report to ALL the other boards, especially BloodyDecks. Seaforth and the Eclipse will lose customers. People need to know.
Even if it was limits of 75lb bluefin going on, I wouldn't board a boat with an asshole like that.
BTW, you have great patience and an outstanding attitude. I hope you contact the landing as well as your post here, to let them know of your experience.

Funny about the spro swivels. I've had the same thing happen multiple times. I have never had one fail, and the only knot I really know how to tie well is a san diego, so I use them too. I can retie without assistance in the middle of a bite, at night, or whenever. If you compare size and weight of my connection with albrights or RP knots there just isn't that much difference.

Technically he was correct that a sharkbit fish can't win, but he should have made the call in your favor if the gaff was in the fish.

I've ridden the Eclipse with Mark at the helm plenty of times. I must have just missed you, as I was on the trip prior to yours. All of my experiences on the Eclipse have been different than yours, and each time I have found the capt and crew to be very customer service oriented.

That is a nice BFT. I bet it was a hell of a fight. Bummer about it being sharkbit, but I bet it tasted good regardless.

I saw it...
 

Happen on an 8 dayer shark bit right at gaff.
Gaff, disqualified him and it was big
money like 500. bucks! Captins call
sad to hear Mark is an ahole, was
looking forward to fishin that boat,
not no mo!!

Whats the reasoning behind disqualifying fish that are bitten by a shark? If it still weighs the most even after having a chunk removed I dont see why it shouldnt qualify

Try The Cortez
 

Sorry you had to experience a first class prick. Try the Cortez. Rambo runs a tight ship and makes sure everyone gets treated fairly. I have never heard a complaint and always see people smiling at the end of a productive trip.

The theory is that if your fish gets chomped, your last x number of minutes of the fight is with a fish with no tail or dead from a chomp out of the middle, did you really win the fight with that fish or did you have an advantage over someone whose fish was a pound lighter but unmolested by a shark. I don't have strong feelings either way but it is pretty much a standard rule on every boat I have been on.

#1 that sucks. i've had great trips on that boat.

#2 sad for the newbs or tourists that get picked on for sucking or being clueless.

#3 ditch the spros, learn an albright :)

I understand now, thats why stating at the gaff would make some difference. Part of fishing I guess, there are fish fishing for themselves also.

Congrats on the quality fish.

Guadalupe trips would bump into this rule back in the day. I have not seen it applied here locally, but then again the hammerheads seem to only show up in El Nino conditions. Either way, as noted it was the captain's call and that just sucks that he made a bad decision IMO. Glad you still took care of business and didn't let that captain on the rag ruin your trip. Congrats on a trophy local BFT!

If I remember correctly, the Eclipse used to be up here at Davey's Locker as the Cat Special. When Kenny ran it, it was always a great experience. Sucks to hear about the current captain.

Hmmm, Cat Special, huh? Fished it myself a few times under different skippers and different names, Julie, too. I didn't know it was the Eclipse now. I also liked that boat layout, no matter the name.
Maybe this Captain was skippering one too many days without enough sleep. I know from experience, that's tough on anybody. I still wouldn't risk a trip with him as the skipper, just from your experience alone, I don't give a hoot if he's pretty good 9 out of 10 days, it's that one day that really counts.
Aaron

Sounds like an awsome experience and life long memories.

I fished a 3/4 day on the SD last week and spent a lot of time on the bow. Caught an average sized YFT on a shimano colt sniper and a couple on bait. We ran into a couple hammer heads also. There was an older gent that out-fished everyone. He caught about a dozen on a huge, pink popper.:confused:
Good times

Thanks for the comments fellas. Hopefully most of you have gotten a stab at the tuna action. I was very stoked to have such an awesome kill box. There was some positives about the Eclipse too, the deckhands rocked, food was good, and we caught fish. The other captains of the boat might be great guys. Just my personal experience, along with a few others, could have been better. As far as gear goes, use what works for you and be open about sharing ideas/equipment.
Go get 'em.
-Zac

Nice fish! Sorry to hear about your bad experience! I've been buying the Fred Hall 10-day packages for the Eclipse the last few years and have never had a problem. Capt. Mark and the crew have always been great and I've really enjoyed my trips on the Eclipse. One of my favorite boats to fish on.

Awesome fish and report.

I was on the San Diego out of Seaforth yesterday and had the absolute best captain and crew ever. Ever!

Plus it was WFO and we had a boat limit of YFT, 5 per rod.

My best off shore trip ever.

Bummer on the shit session but I gotta say this is one of the best sporties Ive been on, I believe we had Mark and Chris and the service was nothing short of top notch.
At least you got a nice fish...

Nice report and awesome haul man. I also know which boat I'm NOT going on. Thank you!

"That's why skippers/owners who came up through LoPreste and Poole succeed where others don't!"

Ain't that the truth!!

Too cool. Beautiful fish, I'm way jealous. Bummer about the captain, but hard to complain when you have 70lbs of bluefin!!!