FB TEST Jun 22 (2.5 day) Offshore
Good morning,
We got into an area of fish last night around 12:30. There were some opportunities to catch some 25-50# fish on the lures. We scratched up a few handfulls until the sun came up. Now that the sun’s up, it is very hard to get a bite. There is still an incredible sign of bluefin around. Hopefully this afternoon we’ll catch a few more.
Captain Mike and the boys
Good evening,
We have been seeing this fish all day and we have managed to scrape up a decent sample. The ones we have landed are 25-100#, mostly in the 40-50# range. Pretty tough fishing still but it seems like it may be on the upswing.
We’re hanging out and hoping for a hit this evening.
Captain Mike and the boys
October 21-26, 2011
This 5-day trip had 21 anglers and they caught 14 yellowtail, 215 yellowfin, and 1 dorado. The jackpot winners are:
- Fred Rasp, Fallbrook, CA– 69.2# yellowfin tuna (left)
- Joe Saldana, La Mirada, CA — 65.4# yellowfin tuna
- Bill Zemba, Castaic, CA — 64# yellowfin tuna (right) and an honorable mention to Adam Goldring, Chandler, AZ for his nice 38.75# yellowtail
October 14-21, 2011
This 7-day trip had 14 anglers and they caught 146 yellowtail, 66 yellowfin, 67 dorado, 3 bluefin, and 4 grouper. The jackpot winners are:
- Bruce Gothar, Menifee, CA– 27# yellowtail (left)
- Dennis McDougall, Idyllwild, CA — 26.8# bluefin tuna
- Bruce Gothar, Menifee, CA — 24.2# yellowtail
Bluefin Bracketed
The next bluefin to show up on Fisherman’s Landing dock was a 26-pounder caught by Dennis McDougall of Idyllwilld, one of only three taken from a good school on The Ridge found by Art Taylor and his Searcher.
“I got him after a long soak with a sardine,” said McDougall. “I had half my spectra out.”
He told dock reporter Bill Roecker the trip was seven days with 14 anglers, and that he used a 2/0 Owner Flyliner hook on 30-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon, 30-pound P-Line and 60-pound Line One spectra on an Avet MXL reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.
It appeared at first that McDougall’s bluefin would win the jackpot, but it was sandwiched by a pair of yellowtail caught by Bruce Gothar of Menifee, who got his 27-pound yellow along with a 24-pounder, good for first and third place. Bruce said he got the better yellow on a mackerel bait and a 4/0 Mustad hook on 20-pound Izorline and 30-pound Power Pro spectra. He fished with a classic 220 Newell Blackie reel and an eight-foot Seeker Deckhand Special rod.
“Excellent fishing,” pronounced skipper Taylor, “with good variety on The Ridge.”
October 8-13, 2011
This 5-day trip had 14 anglers and they caught 78 yellowfin tuna, 73 yellowtail, 11 bluefin tuna, and 3 dorado. The jackpot winner swept the jackpot:
- John Lindsey, Costa Mesa, CA– 75# yellowfin tuna, 48.3# yellowfin tuna, and 34.8# yellowfin tuna
Guadalupe Super Sweep by Bill Roecker
It was 88 degrees at Fisherman’s Landing when Bill Roecker departed the docks Thursday morning at 10 AM. It was almost as hot as John Lindsey was at Guadalupe Island when he caught the three fish that swept the jackpots for a five-day trip with Aaron Remy skippering Searcher, with Lindsey and 14 anglers aboard. A three-fish sweep can only be done on a few of the fleet’s boats, and it makes hen’s teeth seem common.
There was a larger fish caught than the winner, weighing 86 pounds on the scales, but it was missing a foot and a half of its propulsive unit, courtesy of one of the island’s numerous white sharks, and therefore ineligible. It was Remy’s first trip with the boat to Guadalupe, and he remarked that it was a good one.
Lindsey’s fish were: a 75-pound yellowfin tuna, a 48.3-pound tuna, and a 34.8-pound yellowtail. The big one bit on a sardine and a 1/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 50-pound Suffix fluorocarbon and 65-pound Suffix 832 spectra on an Avet MX reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 H rod.
“He fought for about 45 minutes,” said Lindsey.
“He got into the rudder and the props,” added skipper Remy, “with two sharks around.”
“My advice to get a big fish,” said Lindsey, “is to change your bait.”
He then made a request.
“I was a good friend of Bill Poole’s,” he told Roecker. “Would you mind taking my picture next to his statue?”
October 1-8, 2011
This 7-day trip had 21 anglers and they caught 205 yellowtail, 19 yellowfin, 3 wahoo and 94 dorado. The jackpot winners are:
- Jennifer Funk, Redondo Beach, CA– 29.6# wahoo
- Jennifer Funk, Redondo Beach, CA — 26.8# yellowtail
- Jim Marshall, Jackson, CA — 26.4# yellowtail
Hook-free Skin by Bill Roecker
Jennifer Funk of Long Beach took the top two spots aboard Art Taylor’ Searcher October 8 following a seven-day trip with owner-operator Art Taylor and 21 anglers. Her 29.6-pound wahoo wasn’t huge for its kind, but big enough to beat out the boat’s near-limit catch of yellowtail and dorado. It was even more notable that it came aboard without ever being hooked by the scrambled eggs Salas 6X Jr. jig in its mouth. It just refused to let go until it was gaffed, and then the jig just fell out.
Jennifer’s jackpot was all the more remarkable in that she swept the top two spots for her second-place fish, a 26.8-pound yellowtail. The wahoo was brought to the boat on 50-pound Izorline on a Penn Baja Special reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.
“We had excellent yellowtail fishing on The Ridge,” commented skipper Taylor, “and we tried Cedros on the way home, but there wasn’t much going on when we were there. We got lots of dorado down below, too, in 75 to 76-degree water.”
Jim Marshall of Jackson won third place for his 26.4-pound yellowtail, a fish he bagged with a green and yellow CP 105 jig.