Trip 29 (6 day) Oct 8-14 The Ridge
Capt Art shows all the terminal tackle needed for wahoo fishing!
Hello anglers:
We are travelling south all day today and are headed for The Ridge. We arriving there Monday morning. Our goal is to get some action on yellowfin tuna and get everyone a wahoo. (Click WAHOO for an article about wahoo fishing.) So today we’ve been working on getting ready: a tackle seminar and time to get our gear rigged properly.
Our seminar covered all the bases from trolling, live bait and casting lures and wahoo “bombs.” The crew helped everyone get rigged after the seminar–lots of wire leaders needed.
We have awesome weather today with calm seas and overcast skies to keep it cool. We are planning a movie matinee this afternoon with popcorn and Red Vines for everyone.
Team Searcher
Trip 28 (5 day) October 3-8, 2016 Jackpot winners
- Greg Bilson, Venice, CA — 27# yellowtail
- Jim Berg, Hartford, WI — 24.6# yellowtail
- Bo Hamada, Cottonwood, AZ — 24.4# yellowtail
Trip 28 (5 day) Oct 3-8 Ultra-limited load
Wednesday/Thursday
Hello anglers: We had some action this afternoon on some nice yellowtail. There was no current until late this afternoon, but we had some time to fish.
Jim B from Wisconsin shows off a nice yellowtail.
The weather is coming down and we’re happy about that for our travel north to look for fish offshore.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Hello anglers:
We had some action this afternoon on kelps with some small yellowfin tuna and some dorado. Here is a sample of the dorado that we caught by Bo H. 
We’re gonna spend the night here and fish for about half a day before we call it a trip.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Friday
Hello anglers: We just finished our trip offshore and are now headed for home. We found a kelp this morning that had some dorado, so we had some action before calling it a trip. The weather is very nice. We’ll be at the dock tomorrow morning.
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Trip 28 (5 day) Oct 3-8 Ultra-limited load
Tuesday/Wednesday
Hello anglers: We started on the beach today looking for yellowtail. Unfortunately the conditions rolled over and the water got 7 degrees colder and greener than the day before. So we continued down the beach hoping for better conditions, but had the same results. So now we are headed offshore hoping to find some warmer blue water to fish this afternoon
Capt Aaron and the Searcher crew
Hello anglers: It was a tough day here fishing for yellowtail. However, we had a little bit of action this morning and we have scratched a couple at each spot that we have tried today. The weather is getting better all the time and we’re happy with that. We’re hoping for an action-packed afternoon
Here is a sample of the yellowtail were seeing caught by Paul Harmon:
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2, 2016 Jackpot winners
Congratulations!
- Ezio Petrella, Mission Viejo, CA — 54.6# wahoo (left)
- Wayne Burnette, San Diego, CA — 49# wahoo
- Ezio Petrella, Mission Viejo, CA — 48.2# wahoo
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Friday/Saturday
Hello anglers: We tried hard today in several spots for yellowtail with not much result. We even tried some spots that haven’t been tried this season. However, we found great conditions with 70+ degree water and clean, but a lack of fish. We are headed north to try the coast for a few hours to end the trip.
One highlight of the day was the fresh yellowfin tuna dinner by Charley and Dan that was “off the charts” and good!
Team Searcher
Hello anglers: We had a few extra hours so we stopped and fished the coast. Conditions were good with warm, clean water. We saw a sign of yellowtail up to 20 pounds and we landed a few. There was some action on big bonito that we released and a few rockfish. Since we only had a couple of hours, we didn’t have time to look around much. There might be some good yellowtail fishing in this area for the next trip.
We travelled the rest of the day, broke down the tackle and scrubbed the boat. What a great trip in all aspects–weather, fishing, and comraderie! Looking forward to having everyone back next year.
Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Friday
Hello anglers: We found a sample of yellowtail this morning, just a sample, but there were good conditions present. We’re seeing clean, warm water and good current, just not a lot of fish so far. 
We have the rest of the day to find something to work on. Jim H and Capt Aaron are posing with a nice yellowtail that Jim caught on a blue-and-white yo-yo lure.
More later, Team Searcher
Trip 27 (7 day) Sep 25-Oct 2 The Ridge
Thursday
Hello anglers: We had a great morning fishing wahoo! Everyone had landed 1 or 2 wahoo for the trip and we all had a great time this morning. We had lots of opportunities to land one on casting lures, wahoo bombs, raider lures, and trolling marauders. We saw lots of fish and of course, the losses are part of the game with wahoo.
Craig Gantz is pictured with his nice wahoo–it’s at least 50 pounds.
There was fresh sushi and sashimi for afternoon snack and fresh wahoo for dinner!
Team Searcher
This is crewman Ben’s first season with Team Searcher — his first long-range job. This is his first wahoo! Congrats, young Ben!