Capt'n Frank Brenha, 2nd Cap'n Steve and Swabby James

Unlike most of the "New School of Technology" skippers we find today, Frank Brenha is  the real deal. He is an "Old School" Captain and he knew exactly what we should do. 

Co-Owner and Operator, Jim O'Brien. Brenda O'Brien. Daughter of Frank, Jim's wife and a hell of a fisherman, James O'Brien. Grandson of Frank and a die hard fisherman.

After loading the GIANT Bait tank Mon. night I woke up Tues am to a heavy chop and wind. Overcast and cool water made me doubt the wisdom of jumping on a boat after only 2 to 3 days of decent fish counts. In other words I was already hating it and I hadn't even wet my line yet. But here's the thing..... Frank knew exactly what we were going to do. He found a nice sized school pf Blue Fin, and romanced it. We stayed put, Bob and Travis brailed bait like we were getting paid to do it, and we got the fish to rise.

Swabby James and Travis

After farming the first two fish I finally landed one about 18 to 20 lbs. I start looking around the boat at the other fishermen and the fish that they've caught and I thought "No wories the fish are around 15 to 20 lbs". I went to 15 lb test with a mosquito hook. Big mistake.

THe Jackpot* winning fish. See the disclaimer for the real story.

I hooked and landed this fish, which ended up winning the jackpot, however it did take me an hour to land it. I  It took me around the boat 6 or 7 times and the crew was AWESOME. I wasn't going to mention this earlier but there was only 13 fisherman on the boat. 4 of them were first timers, but here's the thing. I want to it very clear to all of you. If it wasn't for Frank and his knowledge about finding the fish and critically his decision to fish acordingly to the conditions and against the current trends, we would have ended up like the rest of the fleet. Chasing phantom schools around fruitlessly. 

A picture of Travis and the GIANT bait tank. This is maybe 2/3rds of the tank.

 

Here's the bottom line. This Captain put us on the fish, defied the "conventional" trolling techniques and kept us on a very nice school of fish all day long. While the whole fleet was chasing fish all day long, we stayed, exercised patience and with the guidance from an awesome Captain, Bob and Travis brailed bait mercilessly, pulled the fish to within 30 feet of the stern and even closer at times throughout the day, and we kicked ass on the rest of the fleet.

Travis and James

Now I'm not one to take sides. But I'm here to tell you that this is a quality operation. The boat is ridiculously clean. The blankets on my bunk were fresh out of the washer. The food was killer and the crew is the best I've seen on any 1 to 3 day boat.

James with a portion of his catch

In conclusion I am ecstatic to have fished on this boat and would be even if we hadn't caught fish. It is perfectly maintained, has an AWESOME crew and is very family oriented. If you like to CATCH FISH this is a vessel I highly recommend. By the way, the count was 23 BFT and 3 Albies for 11 fishermen.

*Brenda, daughter of Frank and wife of Jim, did catch a huge Albie that outweighed my Blue Fin by one pound. She caught it fair and square on bait but since she is the daughter of the Captain, she was disqualified. Bottom line, her fish was bigger than mine, Don't you hate that????