This season has been the best one I can remember for bluefin tuna. Based on reports from the multi-day fleet and what I saw myself, there are more bluefin spread over a larger area than we've seen for decades, ranging in size from 15 to 150 pounds. Dayboats fishing from one to two and a half days have also been able to tap these fish on occasion. At the moment, yellowtail fishing remains very good for them, but bluefin fishing hasn't picked up.

"That pen fishing seems to have dried up right now," Excel skipper Justin Fleck remarked to me. Still, the latest reports from H&M and Seaforth indicated day and a half boats were getting lots of yellowtail and one or two tuna per angler. Remembering all the past years when there were few if any bluefin for those boats, that seems pretty good. I think we'll see the bluefin schools come even closer to San Diego not long from now.