Joe Roder, FISHING aboard Ranger 85 got a 345-pound bluefin. News 8 reported “the entire crew” took turns fighting the fish off San Clemente over an hour and 45 minutes. Two of the group posed at H&M Landing September 20. Photo posted by H&M Landing. Very good yellowfin tuna angling was also experienced that day, with 362 anglers taking 1121 yellowfin, 199 skipjack, 84 dorado, 25 bluefin and a solitary yellowtail. That score was shared by overnighters and dayboats.

Friday was a decent day for local fishing, with 587 fishermen posting a catch of 1,756 yellowfin, 148 Dorado, 51 Yellowtail, 25 Skipjack Tuna, 13 Bluefin Tuna, four Bonito.”

Nine-Day Bruisers

“We just got back from the Big Al nine-day trip,” reported Excel skipper Justin Fleck September 24, “where we covered all of the bases. Big Bluefin over 200 pounds, stellar yellowtail and ridge-sized tuna fishing, and fun Wahoo fishing that rounded out an excellent trip. Thanks for everything. We'll see you guys next year.”

“Boil, Boil, Boil”

“What a drastic contrast between yesterday and today,” wrote Bill Cavanaugh from the Intrepid September 21. “We awoke to a calm ocean and dark clouds. Today's game plan is to spend the day looking offshore for schools of yellowfin tuna. We located a small school associated with a kelp paddy shortly after first light and had decent action on school sized fish that were mostly 12 to 18 pounds. If was short lived but a good start. About an hour later we picked up a school on the sonar. Steady chum on the starboard corner, and as we came around on this school, all four trolling lines went off. Hook up!

“Boil, boil, boil. The school charged the boat and it was on. Wide open. Every bait that hit the water was a fish, for a couple of hours. It was awesome! Everyone had such a great time. We caught most of our fish on flylined sardines but the guys fishing the small flatfall jigs and the colt snipers were getting bit too. Oh, they were eating the skip jig good as well. When the dust had settled we had our fill. The rest of the day we spent looking for dorado on kelps and we found 2 kelps holding fish and managed to pick up 21 dorado to go with the best tuna bite most of our group has ever seen. A great day to say the least. I was too busy to take any pictures today. We will try our luck for yellowtail tomorrow.”

No Kidding, They’re Big

“We arrived to our destination at 16:30 hours,” reported Royal Polaris September 22. “We looked around, saw a few schools of Yellowfin, but they didn’t bite So the search continues. We didn’t have to search very long, Jonathan found a school, and it didn’t take long for them to start biting. It was a steady pick on the sardines and the kite bite was good also. Most of the fish were in the 120 to 135-pound range. We did have a few mishaps, with some anglers going in with 40 and 50 pound test. They soon found out, that the seminar talk was no joke. I heard some anglers saying, ‘I thought the captain was kidding about the size of the tuna.’”

Leg In The Sand

“Our final day was passed in travel mode after a quick, hour and a half morning break behind Isla Geronimo to try for a butt or two and square away our gear,” posted Royal Star skipper Tim Ekstrom September 22.

“In weather far more agreeable than forecast we trudged up the line with ‘one leg in the sand,’ avoiding the offshore wind and swell dished up courtesy of Mother Nature. As luck would have it, and it definitely was luck, nothing else, the storm fizzled out, opening the door for us to proceed with our original plan. To everyone's benefit that storm actually receives credit for spreading out the fleet making plenty of elbowroom at all destinations. Final voyage photo features Steve Dennison with his 64-pound wahoo coming over the rail.”

Classic Night Bite

“We took off,” posted Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates September 19, “and we are heading up in hopes of yellowtail up the beach.

“A few nice yellows mixed in. The action lasted until Ten in the morning and after all night we were done. What a great bite on quality fish.

“At 11:00 last night we dropped the anchor and had a great night bite on quality yellowfin tuna. Classic ridge night bite.”

La Paz: Las Arenas/Muertos Fleet

Jonathan Roldan reported for the week ending September 24: “After the storm sort of passed through, we let our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Area sit and rest for awhile because this is where the winds hit hardest and waters were turned over quite a bit.

“It started a little sticky but no doubt the tuna that were there before the storm were still there. It got a little better every day until it was pretty much up to full speed. Football 10 pounders up to 25 pound yellowfin seemed to be in a nice line from the lighthouse at Punta Arenas then south through Muertos Bay and south again to Boca de Alamo, about a three-mile stretch of fish. Best of all, the fish were literally 100 to 200 yards from the beach.

“Later in the week, the sardine schools moved right into Muertos Bay and so did the tuna schools and we were catching both tuna and dorado as well as rooster fish right within sight of the boat ramp! Our pangas were limiting early then chasing other species. On the days when there were fewer limits it might have been a direct correlation to the fact that larger fish were hitting that day and more fish lost. Overall, just some really nice fishing.”

Last week’s speculation about a yellowfin influx proved right. This week the ¾ day boat Liberty had a good day Thursday, September 14, when 53 anglers decked 170 yellowfin tuna and 70 skipjack. With that many onboard, there must have been some perplexing tangles and more than a few tuna escapees. The Premier’s morning half-day run got 14 yellowtail for eight anglers, while Old Glory’s overnighter with 17 fishermen took 81 yellowfin, 18 dorado and 11 skipjack. San Diego, on a ¾ day trip, bagged 253 yellowfin for 54 anglers, likely also making for some hilarious action. The day’s dock total for the municipal docks: 1,113 yellowfin, 173 skipjack, 45 dorado, 36 yellowtail and 14 bluefin tuna, for 304 anglers, all 16 boats included.

Friday’s tuna numbers doubled, to 2,369 yellowfin for 636 anglers, who saw the bluefin count dwindle to nine. Some 31 Oceanside 95 anglers popped 160 yellowfin and 21 skipjack tuna. The good fishing didn’t drop through Saturday, when 655 fishermen brought home 1,355 yellowfin tuna and 103 skipjack, as bluefin went extinct in the dayfishing count at seven P.M. Things didn’t change much Sunday, as some boats struggled to find biters and others took home near-limits of yellowfin.

Lady Angler Scores Bluefin Cow

On September 17, Intrepid’s report from skipper Bill Cavanaugh said, “We spent today offshore and enjoyed some beautiful weather. We concentrated our efforts on an area of bigger bluefin and it worked out good for us. We had some honest shots at fish over 100 pounds throughout our afternoon. The fish we landed today were between 125 and 228 pounds. The highlight of our day was a fish that taped out at 228 pounds and was landed by first time long range angler Jessica Sharp.”

Big Better

“Size does matter,” posted Mike Heishima for the Royal Polaris September 17. “Ladies, the truth be told the guys on this boat know that size does matter. We arrived to beautiful conditions and looked around finding scattered fish. Although we didn’t catch a lot today, most of our fish were in the 120 to 145-pound class. Johnny “Not Again” Yamate landed the first and best so far at 145 pounds. Leon Van Holsbeke caught his personal best at 118 pounds and received a refreshing shower for his efforts.

“The fish story of the day took place as it was getting dark. Joe Carrillo had a huge blowout while on the kite. The fish took a ripping run on the kite gear and fought like a big one. It came to color and was definitely a cow. I say was because it won its freedom at the very end. Big D and the Skipper swear it was at least 225 pounds. Needless to say, we stopped fishing with 60-pound test.”

RP’s report for September 18 noted: “Starting at sunrise, we began hooking fish and it didn’t stop with three to five hooked until after 3 P.M. We had a similar fantastic grade of tuna as yesterday with only a handful under 100 pounds. Most of our 59 tuna were between 120 and 171 pounds.”

Late Biters Big

“What a perfect set up and execution,” wrote Royal Star skipper Tim Ekstrom September 15. “Captain Toussaint did a masterful job…with a first afternoon and next morning of clobbering local yellowfin tuna followed by morning of leisure at the island that set us up perfectly for the main event. And what a main event it was.

“A few jumbo bluefin were the taster from mid to late afternoon then the final stop of the trip ended up being the one that we all wait for. As fast as we could turn it kite bites resulted in 125 to 160-pound bluefin on the deck. For about 45 minutes it was all hands. Much to everyone’s delight this fortunate group of anglers got to see us kick into high gear. It was a chance for anglers whom have never experienced big league long range fishing to see what it’s all about. With a bunch of those beauties all dressed and chilling in the 30 degree RSW at the conclusion everyone ended the day, and the voyage, in a state of pure satisfaction. Spirits were high and flowing as we slid down and in toward home preparing for the next seven-day adventure departing tomorrow. Final voyage photo features Charter Master Ed Hansen who drew first blood on the big bluefin landing this 128-pound at mid afternoon.”

Skin In The Afternoon

Searcher posted September 17: “We had some nice fishing for yellowfin tuna this afternoon with several fish in the 30-40 pound class. Live sardine with 30 to 40-pound line was the primary method. A few dorado were mixed in, and five more wahoo for a great afternoon of fishing. We have great traveling weather as we head north to try the coast for yellowtail fishing tomorrow for a few hours before heading home.

Collections

“Shogun departed last weekend,” noted the boat’s office September 17, on a seven-day collecting trip with Stanford University; the boat returned this AM. The trip was a very successful trip, returning with a good number of 12 to 18-pound bluefin tuna. Those tuna are on their way up Hwy 5 to be delivered to Stanford's Tuna Aquarium. We also tagged several 175-pound class fish with numerous tags, including some with cameras. The Shogun will be departing tomorrow on a 10-day collecting trip with Monterrey Bay Aquarium; the primary target is 10 to 12-pound yellowfin tuna.”

La Paz Peek (Jonathan Roldan)

La Paz Weather – It was great until a little “rain in the forecast” suddenly turned into “Hurricane Norma” that had us all scrambling.

Water – It was good. I’m more interested in seeing what wind and rain will do to it this week.

Fishing – For the past 3 weeks, the best tuna fishing in several seasons. Dorado strong. Roosters still around, until the storm.

Catching – Limits were the rule rather than the exception. Everyone going home with full coolers.

Forecast – Norma petered out and moved off, but still expecting some crazy wind this week that could make it tough on fishing and some rain showers and scattered thundershowers too. The La Paz port captain is very cautious. We’ve already been shut down for several days under the threat of a storm even though not a single drop has fallen. He might just open the port but then shut it down again and we can’t go out. Vamos a ver!

Maybe the local change is finally here. On Saturday, Grande and Mission Belle had yellowfin and skipjack tuna, 100 yellowfin between them, for 40 anglers. Mustang and Old Glory, on overnighters, shared in the tuna glory, as did Tribute and Outer Limits. For the first time in a while, bluefin came in smaller numbers than yellowfin. The same story repeated Sunday, with around one yellowfin per angler though that figure includes nearshore boats that didn’t even fish for tuna. Fishing’s not red hot, but things may be looking up.

Skinny Winners

“The Skinny Pirates returned this morning with a nice catch,” posted the American Angler September 9. “Special thanks to Steve Powell and Mas Kosaka. Steve wanted to shout out to our good friend Matt Salas to thank him for the donation and to let him know that he caught four wahoo and all were caught on Salas Lures!

“Congrats to JP winners:

1st place: Ed Hosaka 56.2-pound wahoo

2nd place: Tom Christiansen 51.8-pound ‘hoo

3rd place: Tom Friddle 39.8#-pound ‘hoo

Honorable mention: Steve Yoshimura 54.4-pound ‘ hoo.”

Plug Gets Trolled

“Fishing has been stellar for the past two days,” reported Excel skipper Mike Ramirez September 9, “on both yellowtail and ridge sized tuna. We were so busy that I forgot to take pictures. Here are some pictures of the crew successfully releasing a black marlin hooked on the troll yesterday.”

Choice Trip

“What an awesome day of fishing for bigger bluefin tuna we just had,” posted Intrepid skipper Bill Cavanaugh September 5. “We were fortunate to have fish on us all day and a honest chance of hooking up on any cast. With all of our fish today between 120 and 140 pounds, most of the group was fishing 60 or 80 pound gear. We did land one fish today on 50-pound test line that went right at 120 pounds and it took the angler about two hours to land. The best set up today was 60 or 80-pound Soft Steel Fluorocarbon to a 3/0 ringed circle hook. Our weather was good all day with no more than about 10 knots of wind mid morning and come late afternoon we had no wind at all. This was a perfect ending to an already great trip. A special thanks to Anglers Choice Tackle for sponsoring this trip and to everyone that joined us. We look forward to fishing with everyone again next year.”

Windup

“Today was the last day of our SImpatico five-day charter,” posted Polaris Supreme September 8. “We decided to try our hand again at these Bluefin Tuna. The weather was choppy and it was uncomfortable for everyone. We only scratched up a couple of small tuna during the day. It wasn't until the evening that we found a school that wanted to play. We got our shot right before dark on a school right at the buzzard, at the end of the day. The fish were from 25 to 80 pounds, a nice mixed school to bring aboard and save the day! We had a great drift until dark, and we were excited to get the action in. What a great way to finish a great trip! An unbelievable variety on this trip including White Seabass, Halibut, Yellowtail, Dorado, Yellowfin Tuna, and even a 141-pound Bluefin Tuna!”

Into The Dark

“With a good load of bait and a great group of anglers, the crew and passengers had high hopes,” said the report from Royal Polaris September 6. With good reports from the boats in the area, we arrived to our first destination around 14:30 hours. The area was very busy, with many boats with hook-ups. The decision was made to keep moving. We traveled for another two hours, and we got lucky. We found an area of fish that wanted to bite.

"The bite was not wide open, it was steady. As the sunset, we had five or six going, but nothing on the deck, after an hour of battle. It was almost two hours into the action before we would land our first fish over 100 pounds this trip. We would have success with a few more fish, but the overall hook to land ration was low. The fish were in the 80 to 130-pound range, as we would land our last fish of the day at 21:00 hours, and that’s first call for dinner. So we will patch our wounds, and get ready for another day.”

Friday Flurry

“We finished up our seven-day trip today with pretty good afternoon bluefin fishing,” reported Royal Star skipper Brian Sims September 8. We saw them in the morning, but they wouldn't respond until afternoon. Today's shot is of Royal Star regular Nate Beneze and his 124-pound personal best bluefin.”

Skipper Kevin Osborne Retired

This was posted on Facebook back on July 29, but I didn’t see it until chartermaster Ken Bush told me Sunday about this sad event, and I found Kevin’s simple, honest announcement.

“With a very Heavy Heart I make this post: The back injury I suffered on the Intrepid last Dec. and the surgery to correct it has ended my Career and my Life Long Passion prematurely.

“I want to thank all of my family, friends, colleagues, and all of you avid, passionate fishermen whom I had the extreme pleasure of sharing in the making of so many GREAT memories.

“Our time together & experiences out on the Pacific will forever hold a very special place in my heart and soul. Please feel free to share your memories here. I will cherish them.”

The long range fleet has lost one of its most hard-working, caring and productive operators. Skipper Kevin Osborne is seen here in better times, with Bush and a fine yellowfin. I wish Kevin the best future possible.

Southern Baja Recovers

(From Jonathan Roldan’s Week At A Glance)

Weather – Some isolated thundershowers during the week here and there, with some cloudy days but overall sunny, warm and humid. Mid-90s in the day. Mid-80s at night.

Water – Some areas still dirty green and brown after the storm with a lot of debris, but overall waters recovered faster than I have ever seen, with mostly good warm blue water.

Fishing – Tuna and dorado! Some roosterfish and marlin. Plus lots of bonito, jacks, pargo and cabrilla of you want them. Some days the dorado go nuts. Next day it’s the tuna. Dorado growing up!

Catching – A few days this week it was stupid. Everyone with limits by 10 a.m. Some larger tuna lost.

Weather Forecast – Hopefully no more major storms, but this is the time of year when we can have isolated or occasional thundershowers ever week. They come and go fast.

Fiji-Style Skins

“A Fiji fish update; yesterday we caught 10 ono (wahoo) from 25 to 76 pounds,” said Roger Cundall by email September 9. “Seven of the 10 were over 50 pounds, caught very close to the house. Caught all ten in two hours. We had ten strikes and landed every one.

“Last troll through the pack saw all five rods go off for three fisherman and we got all of the fish in the boat.

“Being from Hawaii, we are using custom lure heads that are skirted here. We are using 500-pound cable and BIG Japanese double hooks. Every fish is hooked in the upper back mouth; they attack the lures from behind, not the side. There is a very large school of these and we get them everyday in the same location. Will keep you posted throughout the month with more photos. The ahi are due to show soon.”

Feller name of Adam Pacholka posted a shot with a yellowtail purportedly caught from the beach at Del Mar. Could be, I suppose.

Local yellowfin have yet to attempt mass boardings of sportboats, but bluefin began to step back up last Wednesday. The bluefin numbers caught weren’t impressive, but some of the tuna were. There seem to be more bluefin of 60 to 200 pounds in our waters than ever before.

Yellowfin bit well for boats that could get below the 100-mile mark, and boats fishing below Cedros Island had some excellent catches. Bluefin are biting a bit; yellowfin not so much. This bite pattern is a bit puzzling, and could possibly reflect what some fisheries scientists suspect; that something in the water, maybe heavy metal or other pollution, may be keeping tuna at a standoff distance from San Diego. Maybe bait and/or other water conditions are responsible. With September already here, time to catch ‘em is growing shorter.

Local Bluefin

“We love having the luxury of getting an early jump,” posted American Angler August 31, “and being within striking distance of some local fish, so we opted to give it a try and test our luck. As it turned out we arrived on scene and it became pretty apparent that our timing was good and things were on the up swing. Young Matt Stoney displays one of these beautiful 30 to 50-pound bluefin we tagged today. Long drifts and plunker-style fishing just how we remembered allowed us to put together an exceptional afternoon on these beauties. Feeling extremely thankful, we are going to have a go at it again tomorrow.”

Tuna Not Elusive

“We worked the southern grounds today in warm water with our marauders and cow bells in tow,” reported Mike Ramirez for the Excel August 28. We did indeed find the elusive wahoo. They put on quite a show in our chum line but unfortunately were not as eager to chomp down on what our anglers had to offer. We did manage to put a day together and were absolutely astounded by the quality of these fish. After putting tags on a top quality catch of wahoo we made a move to the tuna grounds and boy were we busy! Upon a late evening arrival in the tuna zone the bite was hot until a little after dark. These tuna were hungry and we absolutely made the most out of our late evening opportunity.”

The next day Ramirez noted, “Today we set our sights on Yellowfin Tuna. It didn't take long for the first one to hit the deck. We were able to stay busy through out the day. The grade of the fish is good, with most of the fish in the 20 to 30-pound range. The weather is as good as it gets. We will be working our way up the line tonight.”

Right Sized

Independence skipper Mark Pisano reported September 1: “Hello everyone, sorry about the lack of reports, we are out on the Stevens charter and are enjoying good Tuna fishing, 90% of the fish are 40 to 50 pounds with some up to 65 pounds. Weather has been flat calm the last few days with the exception being the first day and a half, we had some sea state and wind but still far from bad. We are lucky to say the least that we ended up on these beautiful grade tuna. We originally were headed south and changed up in mid stride when these things started to bite for the fleet. A call from one of our good buddies alerted us to the change in the mood of the fish. Anyhow it's all working out and with two days left we’re looking sweet as sugar. With great company on board and great weather on tap, we will continue the adventure.”

Wahoo To Tuna And Back

“We awoke this morning to a flat calm ocean,” posted Bill Cavanaugh for the Intrepid on the last day of August, “with not a breath of wind. We picked up some yellowtail throughout the night, and at 0400 I adjusted our anchor position according to the current. At 0430 we hooked and landed the first fish on the new anchor job, a 25-pound wahoo on the dropper loop rig. Shortly after that, we started hooking yellowfin tuna on the dropper loop rigs. As guys switched over to glow in the dark flat fall jigs and fly lined sardines, it was full speed tuna fishing. This bite continued until just after first light and it was about as good as it gets. This tuna was mostly 15 to 20 pounds with some fish close to 30 pounds. As the tuna bite backed off a little, we picked up a few wahoo and a few dorado. One dorado today looked to go around 35 pounds and was caught by Doug Bowen. After catching a few more yellowtail, we picked up the anchor and started trolling the wahoo plugs. It did not take long to get our first strike. We ended up having some pretty good wahoo fishing and our best stop of the morning was a bingo for seven fish.”

Good Enough

“This isn't the best magazine quality snapshot,” wrote Tom Ferrari for the Red Rooster III August 27, “but it's a fun shot of John with his big tuna. We are wrapping up this three-day charter and heading for San Diego. We saw a lot of fish today, making stops all day. We hooked a good amount of bluefin but the vast majority got away. This group of guys really had a great attitude all day and tried to make the most of their opportunities. It's too bad our hook to land ratio was so lopsided.”

Guadalupe Visit

“This voyage featured an excellent mix of action, production, variety, quantity, and quality,” wrote Tim Ekstrom September 1. “Aside from the last morning bust it is noteworthy that the trip unfolded almost exactly as we planned. Loading up on the inside set the move outside in motion providing this fortunate group the opportunity to experience Isla Guadalupe and mix in a little trophy yellowfin tuna fishing.

“Now Captain Brian 'Gerbie' Sims takes the helm piloting the annual Labor Day, seven-day voyage. With Bluefin calling offshore from the west, and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lidia barreling up the coast the stage is set for the guys to hang tight on the local grounds until the all clear is given. Final voyage photo features Royal Star angler Billy Bull with his 160-pound trophy of the trip.”