It was 88 degrees at Fisherman’s Landing when Bill Roecker departed the docks Thursday morning at 10 AM. It was almost as hot as John Lindsey was at Guadalupe Island when he caught the three fish that swept the jackpots for a five-day trip with Aaron Remy skippering Searcher, with Lindsey and 14 anglers aboard. A three-fish sweep can only be done on a few of the fleet’s boats, and it makes hen’s teeth seem common.
There was a larger fish caught than the winner, weighing 86 pounds on the scales, but it was missing a foot and a half of its propulsive unit, courtesy of one of the island’s numerous white sharks, and therefore ineligible. It was Remy’s first trip with the boat to Guadalupe, and he remarked that it was a good one.
Lindsey’s fish were: a 75-pound yellowfin tuna, a 48.3-pound tuna, and a 34.8-pound yellowtail. The big one bit on a sardine and a 1/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 50-pound Suffix fluorocarbon and 65-pound Suffix 832 spectra on an Avet MX reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 H rod.
“He fought for about 45 minutes,” said Lindsey.
“He got into the rudder and the props,” added skipper Remy, “with two sharks around.”
“My advice to get a big fish,” said Lindsey, “is to change your bait.”
He then made a request.
“I was a good friend of Bill Poole’s,” he told Roecker. “Would you mind taking my picture next to his statue?”