BY DAVE HURLEY
HALF MOON BAY – It’s here – northern California bluefin season has begun with the first days of a flat ocean, but the window closed as quickly as it opened as offshore wind came back on Sunday, July 27. Mid-week, the first bluefin tuna were landed out of Half Moon Bay by private boaters, and that’s all it took for the six-packs to jump on the bluefin bandwagon.
Captain Justin Young and the Codfather out of Alameda has been one of the top bluefin boats in the Bay Area, and they didn’t disappoint during their inaugural trip on Friday, July 25. Deckhand Joseph Green said, “It was our first trip of the year, and we went two for three with everything taking place in the morning. We ran 15 miles south of the Half Moon Bay Weather Buoy, and there were a handful of boats out there including Captain Ricky Acosta of Feeding Frenzy and Shawn Taylor of Reel Addiction, and they also got in on the action. Once the first bluefin was landed, that’s all anyone has been talking about for the last three days. We set out three lines with 240 Nomad’s Mad Macs at 90 seconds, 70 seconds, and 60 seconds, and our first fish came in at 130 pounds on a pink 240 Mad Mac at 90 seconds. Two of the hookups came on the 90-second rod with the second fish landed at 100 pounds on a 240 Mackerel Mad Mac on the 70-sceond rod. Private boats have landed as many as three bluefin early in the week, and most of the action is off Half Moon Bay as the reports were slow from the north and the south. The weather window is closing, but we will back out again on the grounds on the next weather window.”
The six-pack, the Diamond, out of Emeryville had a double at the end of the day, landing both fish, after experiencing a bent treble hook along with another hook up that came unbuttoned after a short fight. The first weather window provided a glimpse of what is to come as the epidemic spreads.
