By Bill Roecker

A five-day Sport Chalet charter with 24 anglers returned aboard American Angler to Pt. Loma Sportfishing July 24. Skipper Patella was optimistic about seeing an improved albacore bite.

“Stand by,” he said, “the albies may float soon.”

Leland Blankenship of Watsonville won first place for a 35.6-pound albacore. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook tied to 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 30-pound P-Line. He used a Daiwa Sealine 40 reel and a Seeker 6460 Black Steel rod.

Regular angler Tom Szczeblowski of Yorba Linda won second place for a 34.6-pound yellowtail he got in the shallows of Cedros Island on 30-pound line. Mike Caballero of El Monte won third place for a 34.8-pound yellow. He fished with his dad Art, another boat regular.

Braid Trip Finds W/O Forktails

Chartermistress Jan Howard had some on the dock remarks about her Braid charter with 31 anglers aboard the Excel after returning to Fisherman’s Landing July 24. We fished offshore the first day for albacore,” she said. “I got a couple for the galley.”

“The second day we fished a Cedros, at Augustine,” she continued, “but the seals were very bad there. We went down below to the bays and found some wide-open yellowtail fishing. On our last day we fished offshore again and got 41 albies at 100 to 135 miles.”

Mike Lerner of LA won first place for a 37-pound albacore. He said he took it with a sardine on a 1/0 Flyliner hook, 30-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 65-pound Blackwater Spectra backing on a Trinidad 30 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

Sid Gee of St. Louis, MO won second place for a 32-pound yellowtail, and Chris Revives of Manteca won third place for a 28.4-pound yellow.

Rod & Reelers Score

Skipper Joe Crisci docked the Qualifier 105 at Pt. Loma Sportfishing on July 24, after his five-day trip with the LA Rod & Reel Club. Unlike most of the other boats, Joe didn’t sample the island fishing.

“The weather was so nice,” he said, “we decided to stay outside and fish the kelps the whole trip.”

It paid off with a nice catch of mixed tuna, dorado and yellowtail. Larry Methvin of Upland found the biggest fish, a 40.4-pound albacore. He got it with a sardine on a 3/0- Mutu hook, 30-pound Big Game line, a Pro Gear 542 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

Dave permut of Valencia won second place for a 39.4-pound albie. Sean McKenzie of Encino got third for a 37.4-pound yellowfin tuna.

By Bill Roecker

Mike Keating’s Spirit of Adventure docked at H&M Landing July 23 after a three-day charter. Steve Powell, chartermaster, ran the “Never Give Up” trip with 24 anglers.

Michael Cox of Big Bear City won first place for a 39-pound albacore.

He said he took it with a sardine on a 2/0 Eagle Claw hook, 30-pound line, a Torium 30 reel and a Seeker Classic seven-foot rod.

Guadalupe’s Big Yellowtail Biting

Owners Tim Ekstrom and Randy Toussaint brought Royal Star home to Fisherman’s Landing July 23 after a five-day trip with chartermaster Steve Kimbrough of Huntington Beach.

“We had good fishing,” said Steve.

“The first day we got over 100 albacore, but the second day wasn’t so hot. We also got a few bluefin and yellowfin.

"We spent a day fishing at Guadalupe, where the yellowtail bit good.”

Kimbrough won the jackpot for a 48-pound yellowtail.

Art Dotson won second place for a 46.6-pound yellowtail, and Russ Steyer got third place for a 42-pounder.

Had he entered the jackpot, Dr. Warren Sakamoto, an LA area vet, would have won for a slightly bigger fish. Instead, he posed with Dr. Andy Cooperman of Encinitas, as the pair displayed a nice brace of flylined fish: an albacore and a yellowtail.

About Fighting Belts

I remember fishing with Carl Newell in the old days, when Carl’s “fighting belt” was a piece of conveyor belt. To my surprise, he got some very large tuna that way. But I never saw anyone else try to do that.

These days, most anglers wear a fighting belt or use a Knobie or some other sort of padded protection when playing tuna, large yellowtail, marlin or other hard-pulling fish. This is well-advised, since you can hurt your innards by putting too much pressure on them with a bent rod. It’s really just common sense.

There are many good brands of belts, and I don’t disparage any of them, having tried most brands over my fishing career. Lately, I’ve been using belts from a new series made by AFTCO. They come in three models: the Alijos, the Socorro and the Clarion belt.

The Clarion is the heavy-duty belt, meant for cow tuna and big marlin, to be worn low for maximum leverage, likely with drop straps. The Socorro model is a bit smaller, meant for medium to large game fish (the company recommends it for 50 to 80-pound tackle) and just right for 100-pound tuna. The Alijos model is the smaller type most familiar to day fishermen and multi-day anglers.

I haven’t had opportunity to truly test the two larger models, but I caught numerous tuna and large yellowtail with the Alijos belt, and I like it very much. It’s light, comfortable, good-looking and it works like a champ. I found I could play fish of up to 50 pounds with it, no problem. I didn’t even remove the gimbal pin, and I had no trouble getting an un-gimbaled rod butt in and out of the cup. The company says it’s for 20 to 50-pound line.

All these new belts have more lovable traits: they float, they snap on and off the belt, and they’re made from high-quality materials, like all of AFTCO’s products. So if you’re looking for a belt, and you should be if you don’t have one, try your local tackle store for one of these sharp and efficient AFTCO belts. You can see ‘em on the AFTCO site.

By Bill Roecker

Art Taylor docked his Searcher July 22 after a five-day trip with 20 anglers, many from Idaho.

“We got limits of yellowtail at the south end of Cedros Island,” he said, “and some bigger ones in the bull kelp nearby. And we fished offshore for a mix of bluefin, albacore and yellows.”

Richard Yoshika of La Palma won first place for a 37.2-pound albacore. He said he caught it with a sardine on a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook, 30-pound Big Game line, a Torium 30 reel and a Shimano eight-foot rod.

Brad Green of Middleton Idaho won second place for a 34.5-pounder, and Justin Buchanan of Napa, ID was third, for a 33.2-pound yellowtail.

Bob Sands Trip Scores

Bruce Smith brought his Shogun anglers home to Fisherman’s Landing July 22 after a five-day Bob Sands charter with Sal Vallone as chartermaster.

“Both this group and the crew were excellent,” said Vallone.

Erik Jackson of Pasadena swept the top two jackpot spots with yellowtail of 35.8 and 34 pounds. He said the larger fish fought for 15 minutes or more.

“It’s my best yellowtail ever,” he remarked. “I hooked him in the shallows near the bull kelp and it was hard to get him out.”

Jamie Massion of Calabasas won third place for a 30.6-pound yellow he hooked on a Salas 6X Jr. jig in blue and white, on 30-pound line.

By Bill Roecker

Kevin Osborne docked Intrepid July 21 at Point Loma Sportfishing, after a day and a half trip with 25 anglers. He said he found fish biting in 68 to 69-degree water at 97 miles from San Diego, on an edge. Anglers managed a mixed catch of over two fish per rod for the day, taking albacore, yellowfin, bluefin dorado and a single yellowtail.

Albies On The Slide

“The X-Raps were working real good on the slide,” said Polaris Supreme skipper Tom Rothery July 21 at Fisherman’s Landing. “It seemed like the best colors were silver or bonito color. The zucchini colored skirted jigs were working real good on the troll. Fishing was good; we got enough fish, with good yellowtail at the islands and good albacore fishing offshore.”

David “Sammy” Samuelson of San Diego won first place on the trip, for his 37.4-pound albacore. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 hook tied to 30-pound P-Line, a Saiwa reel and a Calstar six-foot rod.

Bob Pollack of San Diego won second place for a 33.4-pounder, and Dick Emerson of Rowland Heights won third place for a 32.8-pound albacore. Jonathan Kendrick of Oakley stood in with the winners to show his 37-pound dorado, caught on a Zucker’s jig in Mexican Flag colors.

“The X-Raps are our number trolling for private boats this year,” says Doug Kern, co-owner of Fisherman’s landing Tackle Store.

Auto Alignment Albacore

Glenn Kerr charter-mastered his annual three-day trip with 30 passengers aboard the Red Rooster III with skipper John Grabowski. Kerr owns Glenn’s Alignment & Brake Service in Costa Mesa. The trip ended at H&M Landing July 21with a good mixed catch of yellowfin tuna and albacore.

“They were biting the jig a little on this trip,” said Glenn. “I was surprised to see they liked the Salas Christy #1 in blue and white. That got bit by both yellowfin and albacore.”

“We stayed offshore and found a good influx of yellowfin tuna in the 14 to 30-pound class,” said Grabowski. “Some of these are bigger fish, and I’d advise against using 25-pound line. Use 40-pound fluorocarbon leader instead of light line to get a bite.”

Bill Whitney of Yorba Linda won first place for a 42.6-pound albie that bit his sardine on a 3/0 Flyliner hook. He said he used 30-pound Izorline on a TLD 20 reel and a Seeker six and a half-foot glass rod.

Jeff Bracey of Newport Beach won second for a 39.6-pounder, and Ben Howayeck of Tucson got third for a 35.1-pound longfin. David “Wahoodad” Choate, pro-staffer for Accurate and Seeker, won the trolling jackpot (a Red Rooster III jacket) for the best fish on the troll: a 41.5-pound albacore he bagged on a cedar plug.

By Bill Roecker

Jeff DeBuys docked Independence July 20 after a five-day West Coast Marketing charter with Dave Rocchi of Cypress acting as chartermaster. There were 30 anglers aboard, and they fished offshore and at Guadalupe Island.

“We tried Guadalupe first,” said Jeff, “and we saw sign of 50 to 80-pound tuna there, but they didn’t want to go. Some good yellowtail did, though, so we fished there for half a day. Then we went to Cedros Island for a spectacular day on yellowtail and a white seabass.

“The rest of the time we fished offshore in 68-degree water. Yesterday afternoon I saw the best school of fish I’ve seen all season, and we got about 30 fish before we had to leave.”

Ron Doty of Santa And won first place for a 47.2-pound yellowfin tuna that bit his sardine on a 2/0 Super Mutu hook. He said he used 25-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader 25-pound Ande line on a Daiwa 30 reel and a Calstar 700 ML rod.

Hot on Doty’s heels, Brian Lackey of Lake Forest won second place for a 47-pounder yellowfin tuna. Mike McClure of Phoenix took third place for a 41-pound yellowfin. Ben Kaplan of Oak Park got a 39.4-pound white seabass on a flylined sardine and 25-pound line. He stood in with the winners.

Bluefin At Guadalupe: Something New

Royal Polaris docked under skipper Roy Rose’s hand July 20 after a Hi’s Tackle trip of five days with 33 anglers. Hi’s owner Jonah Li met the boat and told Bill Roecker he is moving his store in a month or so to 40 Chestnut Avenue in South San Francisco. Check his site at histacklebox.com for more information.

“We found some excellent fishing on offshore kelps,” said Rose. “We scratched away at yellowtail of 25 to 40 pounds and we got three yellowfin of 20 to 40 pounds. We also got two bluefin tuna at the island. They were tight, not offshore.”

Long-time RP skipper Steve Loomis was nearby. “Those are the first bluefin to come from the island that I know about for over 12 years,” he noted. “Maybe things are changing.”

Taking his best yellowtail ever brought first place to Michael Balastrieri of Pt. Loma. The mossback weighed 48.4 pounds. He got it with a sardine on a 6/0 Mutu hook, 30-pound P-Line, and Avet LX 6-3 reel and a Loomis eight-foot rod.

Robert Peterson of Alpine won second place for a 40.4-pound albacore, and David Allsbrook of San Diego took third place for a 40-pound longfin.

Four lady anglers representing the Rounds and Page families posed with some of the fish they caught on the trip. They were: Katie Page, Kathy Rounds, Kristen Page and Nancy Page.

Chartermaster Takes Third

Jan Ishii ran his annual charter aboard Mike Lackey’s Vagabond, and won third place in the jackpot when the boat returned July 20 after the four-day trip with 26 anglers. All the fishing was done offshore, said Lackey.

“Our first day was a blank,” said Lackey, “but the second day was okay, and so was the third. We found one kelp with tropicals on it in 68-degree water. We saw good sign of albacore, bluefin and yellowfin tuna.”

Brian Romine of Rancho Cucamonga won first place for a 34.8-pound albie. He said it came on a sardine, a 2/0 Eagle Claw hook, 25-pound Big Game line and a Seeker six and a half-foot glass rod.

Rick Hutchinson of Lakewood was second for a 32.4-pounder, and chartermaster Jan Ishii found a 32.2-pound albacore for third place.

Fat Alberts For Spirit

Brian Evans brought Spirit of Adventure home to H&M Landing July 20 after a three-day trip.

Bob Taeckens of San Diego won first place for a 37.2-pound albacore. He bagged it with a sardine on a 1/0 flyliner hook, 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 65-pound Spectra backing on a Torium 20 reel and a seven-foot Ugly Stick.

Tommy Meyers of San Diego got second place for his 35.7-pound albie and John Ryan won third place for a 34-pounder.