I told the guys before embarking on this move that regardless of what we caught it was the right thing to do. We began the voyage with gang busters action on beautiful yellowtail for the first two days; enough so that we did not need, or want, to take any more. As such we headed offshore fully satisfied with the catch in the hatch, ready to add to the voyage's success with a little variety.

In today's case "a little" is the correct term. We saw them. We pursued them. And we caught a precious few. Bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna were the quarry. Both were landed in small numbers. Both were seen in fair numbers. As is the theme for 2010 however - seeing is not believing. The catching part of the equation, the validation that is, is tough to come by. Although, if it counts as a consolation, we did validate their presence through plenty of fish crashing around delighted to accept our offerings.

And so passes my fair attempt at humor. Less the comedy, there are plenty around, but they had lockjaw today. Yesterday and the day before, not so much - there were some good catches made on both species. Today, they dished out some more punishment teasing most anglers to grief by dangling the unattainable goal just beyond reach. Devils.

As such we close the book on this voyage pleased with the ultimate result that speaks a tale of success. Even more so, we are pleased and grateful for the fantastic group of anglers assembled by long time favorite, Royal Star charter master Ty Brietman. All of these stellar anglers receive our most sincere thanks for a great time on the water in good fishing and bad. Although, I hesitate to say "bad" when it comes to fishing. What is the old saying - "the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of work". Perhaps that is a stretch, but I'll go with it. We make a good time of it no matter what. We meaning the crew, and our epic groups of anglers.

Bad is too harsh a term to assign to a vacation. It definitely gets bad up on the bridge, or tough may be a better choice of words, but it definitely should not get bad on deck for a fisherman out to enjoy a vacation. When the fish don't bite it is certainly grounds for disappointment, but there is plenty of good company to share, and a good time to be had regardless. This superb group of anglers is a perfect example. Especially this afternoon. Fishing wasn't great, and wasn't showing promise of getting any better, but they were out back whooping it up, enjoying the day, making a good time of it. This is as it should be. To be completely honest though, that RSW tank plugged with beautiful yellowtail in perfect condition made it easy to shrug off slow fishing. As I have said plenty of times now, thank goodness for them.

Now it is up to the master as Captain Toussaint takes the helm on our annual Labor Day five day adventure. Good prospects prevail and the weather is lining up to be ideal. Look for Randy's reports to continue tomorrow and beyond. Photos for the day feature long time Royal Star veteran's Donny Maxwell and Gary Bobay living the moment we all come for. Have a fine day!

Tim Ekstrom

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It's probably better to let the pictures do the talking today as we caught almost zero on the long northerly trek. Not that we had big visions of production; we were prepared for this as the weather was up and we drew an inside line to avoid the worst of it, but it would have been nice to grapple at least a little something. All told by day's end we were in good position. The sea state backed off enough that we busted a move outside for a late afternoon shot. Still, it didn't happen.

Two things made the day's results, or lack thereof, easier to tolerate. One - we had to travel up regardless. Two - it was necessary to make tracks towards the promising offshore zone above. In short, this was a positioning move with the ultimate goal of reaching the grounds tomorrow. We'll see how this well contrived strategy plays out. It looks good on paper.

Photos for the day feature angler Ray Ochoa and Captain Brian Sims with a beautiful "premium" yellowtail taken on the surface iron and long rod, young Matthew Kui with Captain Sean Bickel and his nice "primo", and long time Royal Star veteran Dave McGrouther enjoying the moment pulling on a good one.

Tim

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We had a great day in every respect. Very good morning action on 18 - 25# yellowtail followed by a perfect afternoon scratch on "primos". A more ideal day of yellowtail angling, complimented by the flat calm conditions we have become so accustomed to around the islands, could not be found. We are ecstatic. Not only about our day of angling either; reports from the offshore grounds indicate big happenings relative to the past four weeks. A revival perhaps? The beginning of a September to remember? We'll see. For now at least we are heading in the right direction. Quality, 30 - 50# yellowfin, decent grade bluefin, and a smattering of "fatso", 25 - 35# albacore are on our bow. At least, they were today.

With sufficient yellowtail in the hatch we are heading out regardless. Regardless of the fish, regardless of the weather - that right now is none too good. Oh well. There are those inevitable times when the tab comes due. We are paying right now. Pocket change though. This is not bad at all. Plenty of bumpin' and jumpin' as we work up with visions of tuna dominant in our mind. Nothing to arrest forward progress.


A couple of great photo's to share from today's fishing. The first features Royal Star veteran Martin Rudolph with his 39.8# yellowtail and a clear message for his friend Anthony who could not make the trip. Though the print may be small in the photo, the shirt says it all. Hope to see you next year Anthony. Also long time Royal Star veteran Dave Bookin, who was absolutely on fire the entire day, is featured with Captain Gregg Tanji and another fine, 35# class premium yellowtail. Have a great day!

Tim Ekstrom

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It took almost to the end of the day to get on anything substantial. And when we did it was smiles all around as anglers were happy to stretch out their muscles and get down to what we came for. The pace was ideal, the weather was fine, the scenery was pleasant - a good beginning in every respect. With nothing to piss, moan, and complain about I hardly know what to do with myself. I'm going to have to reach for some new material.

From the sound of things offshore the mixed size class yellowfin made a pretty fair showing with a decent percentage of fish landed in the 14 - 25# range. According to information from our colleagues, who reliably evaluate and report size averages, a little less than half of what was landed were the better size fish. The remainder were keepers by the floating scale of how many days one is out, and how hungry anglers are. Believe me, the way things have been offshore over the past four weeks, there are no judgments being passed. The psychological therapy of fish coming over the rail, especially for the local guys, is too important right now.

We are keeping all options open basing our next move on what transpires tomorrow both here and there. It is a fine position to be in. That is if everything goes according to plan. In closing for the day I want to let everyone know that we have plenty of availability on a couple of upcoming voyages. The September 12th - 18th six day is wide open, as well as the 18th - 24th. Both voyages will run as scheduled and promise to offer "ultra limited" deck conditions being shy of a handful or more anglers each. This is a great opportunity to jump on a Royal Star voyage if you have the time. Signs of fish are excellent in the six day range and promise much good fishing to come. For any anglers out there hesitating to call this is an ideal time. Things are beginning to wake up, and who knows what else. Good news is forthcoming.

Photo of the day features anglers Ray Ochoa and Trevor Fulks enjoying the moment as they pull on a couple of good "yellas". Good fishing; good fun; more to come.

Tim

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And with the departure of the annual Ty's Tuna five day I resume my position at the helm. Before I speak of fishing however I must indulge in the opportunity to promote Captain Brian Sims' latest effort, and the depth his skill and experience brings to our operation. And when I say "our" I mean Randy, Brian, and I as owners of this grand endeavor.

When it comes to Brian I think the words of an angler I spoke with while manning the office a few days back described it best. The angler was scheduled on an upcoming voyage and inquired as to who would be running the boat. I responded that I had the pleasure and was greeted with a response I never imagined. "Damn, I was hoping to fish with Brian" was the exact quote. I had a heartfelt laugh explaining to the angler that Brian would be on board as chief engineer regardless. Then there was a awkward minute or so as the slightly distressed angler stammered through an explanation about being pleased to fish with me, but, he was looking forward to fishing with Brian again following several trips he made with him as Captain of the 105 a few years back. I didn't take the comment as an affront to my ego in the slightest. I beamed with satisfaction. It was recognition of the fact that no matter who runs Royal Star, Captain Randy Toussaint. Captain Brian Sims, or I, anglers are heading out with an experienced professional. We all have a unique identity, but the net results for anglers venturing a Royal Star voyage are the same regardless of who pilots the vessel. It is a component of our operation that provides anglers with tremendous confidence in our ability to consistently deliver. There is no "B" team. That goes for the Captain's, all of whom have a vested interest as owners in the business, and crewmembers alike.

So Brian returned from the latest successful six day with a beautiful load of yellowfin tuna from below and premium grade yellowtail from above. What a perfect catch that was unloaded in perfect condition. Every expertly cared for tuna showed the obvious signs of being spiked, bled, dressed, and placed in the thirty degree RSW. Every premium yellowtail appeared as if it were still alive their natural color maintained by efficient handling and rapid chilling after being landed. That the boys performed their job well was easy to determine - both in the appearance of the catch, and the demeanor of the departing anglers who were all compliments and smiles. There is no better feeling for me. To see such successful results always reinforces the quality of our operation in my mind.

This voyage begins with an offshore jaunt day one seeking whatever we may find in transit. Reports of the offshore grounds beginning to wake up are on the wire with signs of tuna appearing in several different zones. Mixed bag in the size department with the majority being keepers is the information in hand. As dead as things have been in general this is fantastic news. Rest assured we will position ourselves accordingly as the voyage progresses. For now we are underway well prepared to make the most of what we encounter. Look for the daily narrative to continue. Have a great weekend!

Tim Ekstrom

Today we traveled up the coast. We stopped a couple of times looking for a few fish to break up the ride home. The fish chose not to cooperate. We have decent weather and will arrive at the dock at 0700 on Friday morning. We will depart again Friday with Tim at the helm for our next five day adventure.

Brian

We made the long run up the coast and were rewarded with fantastic fishing for premium grade yellowtail. We had a memorable surface show for the entire afternoon as 28 - 40# yellows were erupting around the boat. The action was hot and heavy for the first couple of hours after finding the fish, then settled in to a steady pick until dark. For any surface iron aficionados on the next few trips. "Don't forget the long rod". If that's not your style. No worries, they bit the bait very well. Long time Royal Star regular Greg Poldy makes a long trek across the country from Washington D.C. with his dad every year. He proudly displays one of his "premiums".

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Today our good weather and good fishing continued. An early troll produced a few Wahoo, then we got the anchor down and proceeded to enjoy a steady pick on tuna. The tuna were the same grade as yesterday, but we had a much higher percentage of the larger grade. The flyline sardine was the hot rig and the fish uncharacteristically spread themselves out amongst our anglers. In the late afternoon, the bite slowed and we took off. We will be up on the coast looking for yellows tomorrow. Our first picture today shows a happy Mitch Otera with a 70# yellowfin. Mitch puts a lot of work into his charter to ensure a good time is had by all. Our second shot is of Mike Russell and crewman Blake wasano. Mike landed his 58.5# Wahoo on straight 20# mono along with bragging rights for this unconventional catch.

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We were full of anticipation this morning after making the long run down to our fishing destination. Things got off to a good start with a few good grade Wahoo. We then settled in on the anchor for a pick bite on 50 - 75# tuna. Things slowed down in the afternoon, so we made a move and were rewarded with good action on a mixed grade of tuna from 20 - 70#. When the dust settled after dark we managed to put just over 100 tuna onboard for our efforts. Today's shot is of the last fish of the day and shows Maurice Williams with his prized catch, a 55# tuna.


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We got an early start on our annual Mitch Otera 6-day, clearing the point at 10:45 yesterday with a good load of bait aboard. We are currently traveling south and will begin fishing tomorrow morning. We have excellent weather and more of the same in the forecast. The day was spent rigging tackle and relaxing before we get down to business in the morning.

Brian