|
|
Send This Page to a Friend!
It didn't take much for Beth Smith to get hooked on the long range circuit. Back in 1993, her brother, Don, introduced her to the long range scene aboard the Spirit of Adventure for an 8 day trip out of San Diego. What got her hooked was a 69.9 pound tuna that bruised her body, but not her spirit. "I had no clue what I was doing that day," quipped Smith, a senior network engineer for SBC Long Distance in San Ramon and a board member of United Anglers of California. "It was my first long range trip and my first tuna. I didn't know how to reel in slack line or work the fish and I paid for it with bruises on my stomach and a very tired and sore body. But I got the fish to the boat and won the jackpot for the trip." During a July 1st long range trip on the Red Rooster III, Smith hooked and landed her personal best, a 254 pound bluefin tuna. The fish is believed to be the largest bluefin taken on the west coast by a woman. |
|||
|
However, she was disqualified from an IGFA Record by allowing deckhand Julio Ochoa to maneuver the fish around the anchor and other anglers. "That's the down side to long range boats. There are so many obstacles that it's a must for the deckhand to assist you," noted Smith. So what did Beth use to capture this monster blue fin? "I used a 760M Calstar rod teamed with a TLD 30 reel spooled with 80 pound Izorline Spectra line and an 80 pound leader," said Smith. "I baited my Eagle Claw 6/0 Mag Hook with a Spanish mackerel." Before pitching out the mackerel on heavy gear, Beth was fishing lighter tackle with 50 pound test. "One guy next to me, Sam Cornell, was struggling to reel in a 100 plus pound fish using 50 pound test and Captain Andy Cates saw much larger fish circling the boat, so I went with heavier gear." "The fish must have been ready to die, because it came charging towards the boat when I first set the hook," said Smith. "After that the fish circled the boat and made only a few long runs, staying on the surface most of the fight." Smith spends her entire vacation on long range trips out of San Diego, with the occasional weekend trip out of her hometown. "I try to do at least 3 to 4 trips a year with my brother or good friend Allen Lemberg." she noted. To split up her adventures with the San Diego fleet, Beth joins the same group of anglers for a 10 to 12 day trip aboard the Qualifier 105 in spring. One of those trips produced her second largest fish, a 170 pound yellowfin taken in 2000. In the summer, Beth runs with the Red Rooster, again with the same group as well as the American Angler in fall, both 10 to 12 day trips. Besides chasing down long range tuna out of San Diego, Beth also makes occasional trips down to Panama for tuna, billfish and wahoo. "My most recent trip to Panama yielded 6 sailfish and a black marlin to 525 pounds," she said. "The marlin was the only fish I had to sit down to fight." Her largest wahoo to date weighed over 60 pounds. "Wahoo are the second best fish to the tuna," added Smith. "Over the years, I have been on countless trips, and I always keep something to remember the trips by," said Smith. "I have a wall at home with fish pictures and the rigs I landed them on, including the hook and fluorocarbon I caught my biggest fish on." |
|
Copyright © 1997 - 2004 The Fish Sniffer. All rights reserved. |