BY GUNDY GUNDERSON
SAN DIEGO – This season’s 7- and 8-day trips have been hugely successful for the long range fleet. The trip begins with above-average yellowtail fishing on the Baja Coast and a saunter down to the Ridge or Rocks. After a catch is made on the structure, the boat turns northbound and offshore finishing the trip on the bluefin grounds. The trips combine fast and furious yellowtail action with solid school-bluefin fishing to go with a few trophy-size fish. Long range boats on shorter trips, ranging from 1.5- to 3- days, are putting steady catches on the deck. Pretty consistent fishing for bluefin.
RP at Alijos Rocks
The Royal Polaris rolled the dice and bent the southerly route outside to take a look at Alijos Rocks, a spot that had not been hit for a while. The move was a bold one but the results were a miss. The boat sent this message, “We arrived at the Alijos Bank in the early-morning hours. Things were not in out favor, we had very poor conditions for this area. But we gave it the old college try. For our efforts, we caught very few yellowtail and a handful of grouper. The weather is is overcast skies, flat seas, just perfect for fishing. So at 13:00 hours we licked our wounds and we are now headed to the Ridge.”
The great thing down here is that there are a many different options on a longer trip. The move to the Ridge was the right one as the boat had a stellar day of fishing, “Well, after two days of limit-style fishing, we are headed north once again. We had two days of excellent yellowtail fishing. Most of the fish were in the 12- to 18-pound range with a good number in the 22- to 35-pound category. It was a good bite on the yo-yo iron, the surface iron and fly-lined sardines. We also caught a few grouper and a lone pargo. Weather continues to be excellent with a slight breeze, overcast skies and flat seas.”
On the bluefin grounds, the boat made a catch. “We had an excellent day of bluefin tuna action. The morning was a bit slow, but by mid-afternoon the bite was steady. Most of the fish in the afternoon were in the 22- to 30-pound range, with a few in the 50- to 60- pound category. The fish in the morning were a bit larger, in the range of 90 to 140 pounds. Weather continues to be good, with 12 to 15 knots of breeze, clear skies and sunny. With one more full day, we are hoping to find another good school to finish off our trip.”
AA starts with yellow, finishes with blue
The American Angler was on the front end of an 8-day trip, starting on a high spot along the Baja Coast. The result was excellent yellowtail fishing, “Today we experienced all-style fishing for yellowtail using various methods of attack. Very good surface, sight fishing on the plug and we have beautiful weather.”
The next day, more good action, “Phenomenal day on the grounds. Plenty of yellowtail for everyone. And got a full bonus afternoon of yellowfin tuna fishing. Fast and furious has been the name of the game so far. Heading up all the time looking for more.”
Once on the bluefin grounds, the action continued, “Steady action on school-grade all day and the big ones showed when the sun went down giving us some of the best night-time fishing we’ve seen in awhile. Didn’t matter what your speed was, it was fun for everyone. Oh, and the weather is grease.”
Indy 8-day
The Independence with Capt. Matt Kaullen at the wheel, was also on a 9-day trip. The boat sent this first report, “We left a couple days ago for 8 days with Lori Barber, our fearless chartermaster. “We have been busy, to say the least, and are all fixed up on yellowtail. We started working our way up and ran into some yellowfin tuna in offshore. We scraped up 58 yellowfin tuna from 10 to 15 pounds. We are making our way back up for bluefin now and will be on scene tomorrow night.”
The bluefin fishing was good, “We experienced phenomenal fishing yesterday on bluefin tuna. The weather is great and we are on the hunt for trophies today. We have had some great fishing and we are extremely grateful for our catch. The grade of fish is the 25-to 35-pound fish and we are hoping to catch a few of the bigguns to finish up the trip.”
The Intrepid returns
The Intrepid, with Capt. Bill Cavanaugh on the helm returned from an open 8-day sponsored by Avet Reels. The boat experienced the same excellent fishing. The veteran skipper sent this final report, “We arrived back to Point Loma Sportfishing this morning at 0530 with an impressive catch of yellowtail and bluefin tuna. We ended up having a decent day on the bluefin grounds yesterday. We had epic battles on a couple of bigger fish and landed one. The rest of our fish were in the 40- to 60-pound range. Our jackpot winners for the trip are as follows: third place went to David Wilson with a 118.7-pound bluefin, second place went to John Egan with a 179.2- pound bluefin, and first place goes to Jeff Giese with a 179.7-pound bluefin tuna.”