Something of Everything

Independence Report July 3, 2008
"Tuesday (July 1) we were able to get into the elusive bluefin. Yesterday we had an epic day of yellowtail fishing; the anglers even managed white seabass which were in the 50-pound category and they managed to pull in some 40# halibut! Today we plan to stay in this area and do the same type fishing. The weather is great and everyone onboard is having a great time. The type of fishing we are having at this time is one of the best reasons for doing a five-day trip in the summer. Don Klaus a regular onboard had his limit of yellowtail yesterday, and he caught a 50-pound white seabass and a 40-pound halibut."

Big Black Bass Bite

Royal Polaris Report July 2, 2008
"Weather today was quite nice, with a slight breeze out of the west. We also had a sensational day of fishing. Limits of Yellowtail from 12 to 38 pounds, 2 White Sea Bass, around 35 pounds each and we also released at least 20 Black Sea Bass. We also saw several Black Sea Bass boil. Every White Fish that came up from the bottom was malled by a Black Sea Bass as were many Yellows.

"Our group is having a wonderful time and we are now headed for Alijos Rocks. Angler of the day was Jamie Brown, who caught many Yellows, one White Sea Bass, and released a 175-pound Marlin."

Searcher Finds Albies

Searcher Report July 2, 2008
"Today was a taste of what longfin fishing is supposed to be like--meter marks spinning circles, boils in the cirlces followed by jig strikes, and then leading to bait fish. We had good sign in the afternoon and the schools wanted to bite a bit. I can definitely say that the brighter-colored trolling feathers were getting strikes over all the others, (using a smaller wire hook, not the super thin ones) and no bigger than a 2/0, with a good bait, was almost the best technique possible. We are headed home tonight with 58 longfins ranging 12 to 32 pounds and we are stoked compared to how the fishing out here has been. Good angling and hope to see ya on the water soon, Capt. Aaron."

More Good Fishing

Shogun Report July 2, 2008
"Willies trip is on par after today," wrote skipper Bruce Smith July 2. "Par for this group of anglers means excellent fishing by any standards. Yellowtail were biting iron from the surface on down to the bottom for the guys who wanted to "take a break" and use a dropper loop (since their arms were tired from cranking jigs or pulling on fish!) Before we pulled anchor this morning we had a dozen 28 to 35-pound yellowtail and three 30 to 45-pound white sea bass on the deck. For the remainder of the day we hit spot after spot of willing fish, most being that famous "Benitos" grade of 16 to 22 pounds.

The weather has come down quite a bit from yesterday and we are hopeing it will hold while we make our way back to the albacore grounds.

Good Albie Bite

Vagabond Report July 2, 2008
"Despite choppy weather we managed to put together a batch of nice Albacore together," wrote skipper Mike Lackey. "We picked and scratched most of the trip, but we finished with a wide open bite on Tuesday afternoon. We trolled up a lone Bluefin Tuna.
?ĮWe still have some choice spots on our upcoming trips, please check our schedule page."

Then They Left For Cedros

Red Rooster III Report July 1, 2008
"Yesterday was similar to the day before. Great action on 15 to 20 pound fish with the biggest fish about 45 pounds. We had fun fishing on school size tuna. With a surprise we had chances on wahoo and managed to land 5, 40 plus pound hoos. With the chance of getting a few more wahoo we decided to stay another day and get a few more tuna and hopefully a few more wahoo. Last night produced 22 yellowtail from 18 to 35 pounds. That was a surprise as well. We plan on leaving here today and finishing our trip up at Cedros. Hopefully the Island is on the upswing and we see good action."

Final Score Correction
Re-tallying, Bill Roecker found he'd missed a supercow. So here are the season's corrected totals, as of June 15, 2008: 373 cows, or tuna over 200 pounds, and 25 supercows; tuna over 300 pounds. There were more 300-pounders this year than any year than any year since Roecker started reporting for the San Diego Sportfishing Council in 1993.

The Top Three
American Angler returned home November 20 after a ten-day CME4TUNA charter that produced 13 tuna over 200-pounds including the biggest catch this season; a 359-pound super cow. Owner Brian Kiyohara was at the helm of the fifth annual charter.

On his first ten-day trip, Erik Kinoshita, of Torrance, hooked and landed the jackpot winning big bruiser.

Erik fished a mackerel on a 4/0 Owner Super Mutu hook, 130-pound Izor Blue Top Shot with 130-pound Izorline Spectra backing, a Penn International 50 VSX reel and a Calstar 760 H rod.

Second-Best Yellowfin
"I can hardly wait to go back," Skipper Jeff DeBuys said after he returned Independence to Pt. Loma Sportfishing November 21 after a Farallon Boats charter, a 10-day trip November 21, 2007.

Bill Asbell, 68, took first place with a 356-pound super cow. "I used a friend's rod and reel," Bill said. "I wasn't prepared for this stuff. The reel was toast when I got finished. I caught a 400-pound thresher shark in Cabo San Lucas 34 years ago, but this was a lot better fight."

Bill fished a 5/0 Owner Super Mutu hook, 100-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, a 100-pound P-Line top shot with 125-pound Spectra backing, a Penn 50 S reel, and a Calstar 6465 XH rod.

And Number Three?Ķ
The third-best tuna was a 355-pounder caught by Bill Falter aboard the Intrepid. Tuesday afternoon, December 17, was a busy time for Intrepid anglers and the crew assisting them. Falter, a 51-year-old gas station maintenance expert with 15 years in the business, said his best previous tuna was a 65-pounder he got at Guadalupe Island.

Falter got his jackpot-winning monster on the boat's kite gear. The boat's report said, "?Ķit exploded on a jumbo live squid pinned to a custom double hook leader using an 18/0 Mustad 39960D circle hook and a 12/0 7691 Stinger attached to a 600-pound Soft Steel leader. Backing that up with 200-pound Jerry Brown hollow Spectra on an Avet Pro EXW 50-2 (thanks Harry, you rock) reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH Black Steel Graphite rod."

More White Seabass Biting
Today was just one of the days when things went out way," wrote Aloha Spirit owner-skipper Shawn Steward July 2 after fishing the Channel Islands.

"We got 36 white seabass to 49 pounds on the Pat Gallagher Charter; our best day yet on the seabass."