BY KENJI NAKAGAWA
As the fall offshore season starts winding down most San Diego sport boats typically find themselves fishing the banks west of Santa Clemente Island in hopes of scratching out a few remaining bluefin tuna. But this fall may be the exception as the emergence of quality yellowfin tuna in southern waters may close out the season in a BIG way!
On October 24, I hosted a Phenix Rods-sponsored trip aboard the Aztec out of Seaforth Landing. The trip was scheduled for two days, but Captain Justin Ryan made the decision to forgo the banks and instead run far south to get in on the yellowfin action, reported over the previous days. With the mass of fish located 125 miles below the border, the boat wouldn’t arrive at the fishing grounds until 9 am the following morning.
After running throughout the night, we arrived in the zone around 9:30 am, and the crew set out four troll rods. Within minutes, Captain Justin spotted some dolphins a few miles ahead. As the boat made a pass through the pod, two troll rods hooked up and a couple lucky anglers reeled in twin 50-lb. yellowfin. The other anglers fished live sardines for a few minutes, but the tuna didn’t react. So, back on the troll we go.
Finally, around 12:30 p.m., Justin stops on a sonar school and tells the deckhands to throw the chum heavy. “This is the one we’ve been looking for!” As flyline sardines begin to be deployed, cries of “Fresh One!” echo up and down the rail.
These were not your average school-sized yellowfin that most short-range boats are accustomed to. The anglers, who were now hooked up, were in for some backbreaking battles with these bruiser yellowfins. Most anglers were fishing with 40-pound test leaders and small size 1 to 1/0 circle hooks, which is about as light of tackle we could get away with on these 50- to 90-pound fish. After some 30– to 40-minute fights, the tuna finally started coming over the rail.
I was lucky enough to get a couple bites myself. The first fish was lost to a pulled hook and another that bit through my 40-pound fluorocarbon leader. After retying and regrouping, I sent a fresh sardine out and was bit again after a short soak. The fish made a blistering initial run, then finally settled down after taking ¾ of my spool. After a few trips around the boat and weaving my way around others with fish hanging, the fish came to color. The deckhands made a perfect gaff shot and a nice 80-lb. yellowfin was welcomed aboard the Aztec!
We drifted with the school for the remainder of the afternoon and continued to hook fish here and there. The bite never went wide open, but we constantly had 2 to 3 fish hanging throughout the day.
Right before the sun set, ten-year-old Jake Schexnayder, who was on his first overnight tuna trip, pinned on a jumbo sardine and sent it into the abyss. Out of the corner of my eye I see Jake whisper, “I think I’m bit,” and as he pushed the reel into gear, the rod goes full ‘bendo,’ and he’s pinned to the rail. The rest of the boat erupts into cheers, and everyone is rooting for Jake to land his first ever tuna. Jake and his dad Brian take turns on the big fish for 45 minutes, then the battle comes to a stalemate. Deckhand Nick takes a turn on the rod and after another 45 minutes of back and forth, the fish is finally at color. The big tuna finally comes to gaff and requires a second to be hoisted over the rail. To everyone’s surprise the fish turns out to be a 100-pound Bluefin! A true trophy and a great ending to young Jake’s first offshore trip. If the kid wasn’t already hooked on fishing, I’m sure he is now.
At this point we have fished well past our sunset deadline and are now 160 miles away from San Diego. Captain Justin said, ‘We will need to make our way north during the night and will try a few drifts for bottom fish tomorrow morning.”
On Day 2, most of the anglers elected to sleep in after some tough battles with yesterday’s big yellowfin, but the boat stopped on a high spot and made a few drifts for quality reds and other bottom critters. By 11:30 a.m. everyone’s sacks are full of rockfish, so Justin pointed the Aztec towards the barn, and we begin another 7-hour run back in.
Back at the dock, Justin came over the PA and gave us one last message: “In all my years of fishing, yesterday was nothing short of spectacular. That had to be some of the biggest yellowfin I’ve ever seen locally.”
It was an absolute treat to be able to fish this large grade yellowfin, especially this late in the season. It was also a perfect sendoff trip for Captain Justin Ryan, as he is headed back home to Puerto Vallarta MX to start his fall season running the El Pescador Sportfishing. Big thanks to the Aztec crew and Phenix rods for putting on such a great trip!