BY LUKE BURSON
POINT LOMA – I recently returned from a very successful 10-day long-range fishing trip out of San Diego on the Red Rooster III. We fished as far south as 700 miles from San Diego. I have been going on these trips for a long time with my first trip back in 1969 as a high school graduation present. This marks my 47th trip, and although this might sound like a lot, there are many anglers who have gone on many more.
I am fortunate to have seen some great fishing, but this trip just might have been the very best for these reasons:
- Great weather every day.
- Only 21 anglers made it very comfortable on this 105-foot beautiful vessel.
- Fished with three of my closest friends along with many others from last year.
- The trip was sponsored by Accurate with a truly professional representative making sure everyone had an opportunity to experience their high-end reels.
- Food is always good on these trips, but this year it was even better.
- The captain and crew are among the very best!
The best part was the fishing. On these fall trips, we target yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, wahoo, dorado, and yellowtail. One this trip we caught them all plus two of the yellowfin and bluefin being “cows” over 200 pounds.
The totals for the boat were: 92 yellowfin to 222 pounds, 44 bluefin to 247, 109 wahoo to 80 pounds, 30 dorado to 30 pounds and 35 yellowtail.
And I personally had a great trip: 13 tuna that averaged right at 100 pounds each including the big bluefin at 247, nine wahoo with the largest at about 70 pounds, four yellowtail and just one dorado. There were also a couple of special fishing moments for me including catching a wahoo on a surface iron (this is the most exciting way to catch a wahoo and hard to do), and, on a brand new long surface iron fishing rod, I caught a yellowtail on the first cast. Both of these are great memories, and this was truly a trip of a lifetime and most of us signed up to go again next year.
