Trip Reports

Trip Reports
Sep 182021

Sep 18 (3-Day Trip) sponsored by Penn Fishing

September 18th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We had some opportunity to catch some trophies last night when we arrived on scene at about 11pm. We managed a handful, including this 200+-pounder.

We’re seeing some incredible sign of 70lb class fish at the moment. We had a very good opportunity first thing in the morning but didn’t fare too well.  We’ve got the cobwebs out and we’re scratching away at this beautiful grade of bluefin.

Captain Mike and the boys

A trophy!

Good evening anglers,

We scratched up a nice day on 25-90lb bluefin today. There was an absolutely incredible sign here all day. It’s really a sight to see. They were not in the biting mood however. 40lb test fly lined bait was the go-to rig. Long drifts and picky fishing. We’re going for trophies tonight.

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 162021

Sep 16 (3.5 Day Trip) Private Charter with Matt Boone

September 16th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

Very good opportunity last night with 120-200lb fish on the flat falls.  We gave it until about 11:30 and scored some trophys.  We have been plunking on this 30lb bluefin all morning and it’s been pretty fun fishing!  Nice weather, long drifts, with between 2-7 going at a time.  We’re getting bites on 40lb so were landing most of what we hook now.  Incredible sign of this fish around and its in a biting mood at the moment so needless to say we’re enjoying it!

Captain Mike and the boys

Good evening anglers,

We’ve had a great day on this 30lb grade bluefin. We are able to drift on it most of the day with 1-8 going most of the time. They are biting the fly lined 40lb.  We had three stops that made up our day. We did catch a few of those 60-70lbers like the previous days, just not as many but we are happy with this beautiful grade of fish.

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 152021

Sep 15 (3.5 Day Trip) Private Charter with Matt Boone

September 15th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We started this morning scratching on 20-30lb yellowtail.  We’re hoping we could also catch some bluefin on the anchor as well.  Around 9am it didn’t seem like we would, so we moved and stopped on a large flat spot (click to find out what a “flat spot” is!) of mixed grade bluefin 30-100+lbs and we have been plunking ever since.

Captain Mike and the boys

One of our CalFire heroes taking a break from wildfires to catch a few bluefin!

Good evening anglers,

We were able to sit and drift on that same fish until about 3pm. We made a little move to try catch some big ones this afternoon and tonight we’ve got one on the boat. Good fish around the boat right now. We are hoping for a few more before we put the anchor down for the night.

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 142021

Sep 14 (3.5 Day Trip) Private Charter with Matt Boone

September 14th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We had a decent opportunity on the flat falls when we got on scene here last night and managed to boat a couple of fish at 5am. One was a 75# and another was 120#.  Since then we’ve gotten on the bank and had a good opportunity on the same grade of fish. They are biting the fly lined 40# sardine. We managed a handful of 70-80# fish and lost a few bigger ones.

We’re still seeing them, just seems like a lunch time lull.

Captain Mike and the boys

Good evening anglers,

We had some opportunity on these big fish this afternoon. We got a little shot right before the sun went down.  We have been hooking some on the fly lined sardine as well as the kite. And when the sun went down we had pretty good opportunity on the flat falls.

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 92021

Tackle Tip Thursday Vol. 156 (Yo-yo Outfit for Yellowtail)

September 9th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Tackle Tip Thursday|

Happy Tackle Tip Thursday!

Logan Flaxington, veteran angler at a young age, shows us his go-to yellowtail set-up for yo-yo fishing. Yellowtail are a great target species right now.

Logan will be joining Penn’s Steven Carson on the upcoming 3-day trip Sep 17-20 sponsored by Penn. Logan will mostly like be preparing for that trip with this outfit as described in the video. 

Thank you to Logan and Steve Carson for their support of our tackle tips and Searcher Sportfishing.

Our 2022 schedule up to September is published so book a trip and catch some fun with us!

Want more tackle tip videos? Here’s our channel “Searcher Sportfishing on YouTube” (including more from Logan)

🎣Reel in more Tackle Tips here! Subscribers get hooked up to new videos first!

 

Sep 52021

Sep 5 (3 Day Trip) Labor Day Special

September 5th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We made a move last night in hopes of better weather and better fishing.  We’ve started scratching on a beautiful grade of yellowtail here this morning– 20-30lbs.  Pretty good sign here and they’re boiling all around the boat. The current’s starting to swing around and it’s starting to look like we’re going to have a good day here.

Captain Mike and the boys

Good evening anglers,

We were able to keep picking at these quality grade yellowtail most of the afternoon. Much better weather than yesterday. The best method was fly lined baits on 40lb. Anything lighter and they would get you in the rocks or the kelp.  Nice day of fishing here today.

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 42021

Sep 4 (3 Day Trip) Labor Day Special

September 4th, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We’re scratching at some yellowtail this morning. There’s also a fair sign of big bluefin around the boat as we sit here on the anchor.  We’ve had a few attempts on the kite and boated one.  The weather’s picking up so we’re hanging in here as long as we can right now.

Captain Mike and the boys

Good evening anglers,

We had a very long day with poor weather conditions and tough fishing this afternoon. We caught a few more yellowfin and saw a lot of bluefin. We caught one more 50# bluefin on the anchor.

But the sun went down and they turned on again. We’re picking at 100-200# bluefin on the lures right now. We’re still drifting on our first stop and it’s almost midnight now.  Gotta go. There’s two hanging!

Captain Mike and the boys

Sep 22021

Sep 2 (1.5 Day Trip) Let’s Talk Hook-up

September 2nd, 2021|Categories: Captain Mike's Blog, Trip Reports|

Good morning anglers,

We had a very good opportunity on jumbo bluefin when we showed up on scene this morning. They stuck with the boat for a few hours.  We only landed a few but there was definitely a shot at a trophy.  Things seem to be on the upswing here.  We’re starting to pick at school grade fish now and some yellowtail.

Captain Mike and the boys

Jumbo!

Good evening anglers,

We scratched at yellowtail and school-grade bluefin most of the day.  We picked up the anchor just after lunch and started seeing incredible sign of these jumbo bluefin right away. They were around and they wanted to bite just a little on the flyers. We were on them until dark, and as we were winding our last kite fish in we started to hook some flat fall fish. Looks like were going to be a little late again, but well worth the effort.

Captain Mike and the boys

Jolene with her size large bluefin

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