Never ever call a trip until the fat lady sings. The trip out was no walk in the park and some serious fishermen could care less. They were going fishing period end of discussion. Real viking customers going on a mission not tourist from Toledo, Ohio with his Zebco rod and hush puppy shoes. With his little cooler full of power drinks. 6 foot cooler set of rods needed rigs all pretied an dprepped. Everyone with their secret little tricks for tile fishing.

First day the sea was not cooperating and the winds were blowing hard enough that the tile fishing was not going to happen today. So we trolled for mister tuna for the day. Not much to write home to your ma. Mother nature was being stubborn. That night we anchored. Chum slick went out and we picked away at the tuna, one here and one there. Then in the midst of the wee hours I hear all this commotion going on in the back of the boat. A 12 foot mama of a marlin swam right into the ship... right under these two guys noses. That will wake you up in the canyon. A fw dorado were caught and a few tuna's on the jig.

Next morning it was tile day. The truth is Capt. Steve dropped us on the mother load. Steve knows his honey holes Viking style. Every rod was bent over, drop after drop after drop. No one left those rails from 10 AM to 7 PM. Steve kept saying at the end of the day, one more drop... make it good and just couldn't bring himself to stop. Those rods kept bending over, he kept smiling from ear to ear. I saw fish from 5 lbs. to over 40 lbs. and a slew in the 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. range double headers.

Michael Estivo, Sr. and Michael Estivo, Jr. and son three, Francis Estivo... Big Mike had tile to 42 lbs. Little Mike had tile to 30 lbs. and Francis had tile to 28 lbs. Mike's family slaughtered the tiles plain and simple.

They'll be eating tile fish for the winter for sure. As for the rest of these happy customers will also be filling their freezers.

Everyone was exhausted. Tired to the bone. Arms all four inches longer. We're looking at one more night of tuna fishing The thought of my rod going off after the day of fishing we had was a blur at best. Fourteen tuna did make th eboat but the same were lost. Who cared after all, we came we got, we smiled... coolers filled... expectations fullfilled. Not a grump to be found. Sorry duded, you definitely missed a classic Viking trip. But Steve has a few more to go and a few spots remaining open. Plus the tuna have really just started hitting the chunking at night. When that blow out with the tile I pity you guys with little coolers.

This trip gets ScreamingReel's 4 Stars!

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