Sometimes the planets line up

I have been in somewhat of a long range slump when it comes to big tuna. It had been almost two years since I had landed a 200 pounder, and that was with some trips that others had caught 200 pounders. It just wasn't my time, and that's fine.
My goal during the slump was to be as pleasant and helpful to others as I am when I'm having a great trip.
And according to my friends and the long range skippers, that's exactly what I did.
I knew it was just a matter of time until I landed another good one.
If I'm on a trip where good ones are being caught, I refuse to drop down in line size to get a bite. I simply think I need to sharpen my angling skills.
On this trip, I had all my Accurate ATDs working extremely well, with the freespool as good as you can imagine, the drag smooth as butter, and shifting gears easy as pie. I had some specialty rods built for this trip, a couple of Super Seekers with regular guides instead of the long range staple roller guides. And I fish a very short topshot of straight flourocarbon spliced into the Jerry Brown Line One spectra I'm always fishing. I feel this gives me the edge I need to get my bait out in the zone, and it still have lots of energy left to
entice a bite when the tuna are in the area. I discovered some
new hooks from Mustad, the Hoodlum series that I find are
very light and easy for the sardine to swim effortlessly, yet they maintain the strength necessary to land a large tough fish like Yellowfin Tuna in excess of 200#.
We fished Hurricane Bank first, and caught all the wahoo you could need, but there was no tuna there to speak of. So, skipper Justin Fleck decided to run into Clarion where they had been finding small schools of big tuna under the birdschools or black porpoise. Upon arriving at Clarion, we checked in at the camp, and went right out to the buffer zone to look for the fish signs. It didn't take long, we found a school, and I found my slump was probably over. I started off slow, with a 182 pounder, kind of a nice warm up fish. Next, on a school not far from the first one, I caught this 196. I knew it wasn't two hundred pounds, but felt I finally had it going on.
The next day was slow for me, no tuna to speak of, but I wasn't worried. I was having a great trip, with a fantastic group of people, onboard a wonderful very comfortable boat, the Excel. The weather was superb, very good supply of lively sardines and mackeral mixed, so things were definitely positive.
The next morning, on a birdschool we got on right as we slid into the 6 mile range buffer zone, I got two fish on the first stop! I caught one on a sardine, but since I don't try to catch more than one fish per topshot, I grabbed another rig which had heaveir line and a bigger hook. What the heck, I'll try a mackeral I thought.
BAM! Nice feeling I had here, 180 pound test Seaguar leader, Accurate topless 50 full of 130# JB spectra, Super Seeker 6463-3X rod, and a big ole circle hook.
I didn't catch anymore this day, but doggone, starting a day with 200 pounders back to back is a pretty incredible day in itself, let alone on one stop.
I had a couple of dry days after this, but I had the opportunity to take some time and help out some other anglers. I made some leaders up for friends, told of how I fish my flyline sardines, and watched as they caught fish using my leaders and tips. I was extremely thrilled to see them come out of their own slumps using techniques and gear I had the chance to share with them. To me, that is becoming a much greater thrill to help someone else have a better fishing trip.
Sometimes the karma payback from helping others is way more than I could dream of. The very next morning, early again, we got on a birdschool about 10 miles off the island. (Thank God for those gyro stabilized binos) And, it was my kite turn too. Jason Fleck, Justin's twin brother who is also a captain but mostly the chef, is also a expert at fishing these plastic molded flying fish under a helium filled balloon. I wanted to learn his techniques, so he set me up, and talked me through the procedure.
Basically, since the boat is drifting, my balloon went downwind, and I let it out about 150 feet from the boat. Sometimes the tuna bite while you are letting it out, but no easy ones for me this time. Then, you wind the reel and the balloon makes the fake flyer look real, skipping across the surface. Wind a bit, stop, wind a bit, stop.
I felt I was getting the technique down ok, and let it back out for a second try. I was using a prototype fake flyer made by Braid Products, and it wasn't getting any takers, or so I thought. (Shoot, it was only my second wind in) Well, only about 50 feet from the boat, and whoosh, a big giant boil. Jason, still by my side, coaching me, says:"Whoa, Choate, that was a big one"!
Darn it though, he missed it. Well, I wound just a couple more feet, and the tuna circled back around, and whoosh again, game on!
I haven't had a tuna take a run like that in a long long time. This fish had some energy to burn, it ran out there easily 700 yards. But I had so much confidence in my Accurate ATD50W, I never had a worry. I just put a big bend in the rod, applying maximum, and he finally stopped. Then it was time to go to work. It was a constant back and forth battle, in and out of high gear, low gear, periods of easy winding, times when line was tough to gain. My motto is if the lines not going out, it should be coming in. And I practice what I preach.
It didn't seem like very long, and my fish was basically straight up and down. This is when you can get a feel for the size, and right here I knew I had a heavy. My Excel crew member with me Jordan was coaching me, but I must have been doing ok, as he wasn't saying much.
Finally, the big brute came into view, and this is the one I was looking for, a very good specimen of giant Yellowfin Tuna!
No big surprises, no trick moves, this fish just made nice circles, and the crew was there to sink the gaffs in. I feel very lucky to have had an opportunity to battle a great fish like this. I truly enjoy every aspect of long range fishing, and try to appreciate each and every day I get to do this wonderful sport. The pay off, in the form of a big fish like this, is simply the icing on the cake.
Even though I am somewhat of a journeyman long range fisherman, I listen and heed the advice the crew members on the boat offer throughout the trip. These guys are out there every day, and they want us to land fish, not lose them.
Many thanks to my wonderful sponsors who allow me to test gear, and listen to my feedback to develope products that hold up well to the vigors of a battle like this: Accurate Reels, Seeker Rods, Line One Spectra, Seaguar Flourocarbon, Mustad Hooks, and Braid Products.
I had a wonderful time on the Excel 17 day Joann Mikkelsen Memorial Big Fish Special, (formerly the Ralph Mikkelsen of the same name, but Ralph's wife of 53 years, Joann, passed away 2 weeks before the trip, thus the namechange).
If you want a shot at a big tuna with some wahoo thrown in for variety, and to spend a trip with some of the most wonderful people you can go with, I suggest you look into this trip. I believe Ralph told me there were 6 guys on the trip with three hundred pounders under their belts. My biggest on this trip missed by a bit, at 297.3, but there were two other caught that made the magic mark. Al Scow of Rancho Palos Verdes landed a 303, on a plastic flying fish made by Carolina lures, and Peter Gammarano of Shoreline, Washington landed a 309 on a flylined sardine.
But if you want a big one like this, get good gear or go on an Accurate sponsored trip where they bring lots of loaner gear, book a trip on a long range boat out of San Diego, and you too can have a fish story to tell as well!

Tribute to Nathan Choate

As some of you know, my son Nathan recently passed away. My exwife didn't want to do an obituary in the paper for her own personal reasons, but I feel I have some things to say about Natey boy.
He was born July 8th, 1980. Upon birth we saw a cleft lip and clecft palate, but Nate's problems were worse than that. He definitely was born with some challenges. He spent most of the 1st nine months of his life in the hospital. And he had many surgeries after that as well.
Even with all these hardships, Nate was a trooper. He wanted to be just like all the other kids, loved to play games, but knew he had handicaps that wouldn't allow him to be a star. He did play a season of Tee ball little league, which I still vividly remember. He tried his heart out for that team.
I can't remember ever having to raise my voice, or give him a timeout. He really was that good of a son.
I love to fish, and Nate loved to join me whenever he could. Nathan was blessed with his mom's side of the family, in that he never got seasick, not even once. I always had concerns in rough weather of him falling down due to his lack of mobility, but it just didn't happen.
I worked on a charterboat on weekends for my friend, Gary Lacroix on his boat Highliner. If it was my weekend to have the boys, Nate and Matt would join me. Matt was a good helper with my duties, and fished a lot too. Nate wasn't really into the fishing, but definitely didn't want to stay home. He often said in the last few years:"Dad, when we going fishing with Gary? I miss that, those were the good old days!"
Nathan had another favorite boat to join dad on, the Shogun, out of San Diego. He knew where everything was on the boat, loved to hang in the salon and watch videos, loved the food, really enjoyed the card games. Nate used to join me every year on the Shogun spring trips from 3 to 8 days in length.
Nate's idea of fishing was hanging out with dad until dad hooked one, then reel it in. Here we are on the bow of the Shogun on our last trip we made together.







Nate got a blood infection early this year, and passed away on May 7th, 2008 after a brave battle back and forth with the complications from that problem. We had a deal that he would join me on a September 5 day trip on the Excel with my buddies Tim Turis and Kenny Cirks. Nate will still be joining us, just in spirit instead, not what I was hoping for.
Not only was being a father to Nate a great joy, I also feel he saved my life. Nate was 6 years old, looked up at me through his funky scratched dirty glasses, and told me he didn't like some of the things I was doing to myself.
I listened, as I wondered how a child with disabilities like he had could stand up to his father, so I though he must really be concerned about me.
I took a hard look at myself, and made some changes which I am certain ended up saving my life. And my life has been blessed as a result.
So the next time you are a little angry with the kids, remember, nothing is for certain. We don't know when some strange event, such as a trip to the dentist or a drive to the beach, can be the last time we see our kids healthy and strong.